August ly, 1882J 



NATURE 



375 



wherever green flowers possess any perianth, or the relic 

 or rudiment of any perianth, or are genetically connected 

 with perianth-bearing allies, they have once possessed 

 coloured insect-attracting corollas. In short, green flowers 

 seem always (except in gymnosperms) to be the degene- 

 rate descendants of blue, yellow, white, or red ones. 



Grant Allen 



THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL 

 ENGINEERS 

 '"PHE town of Leeds is this year the place of the 

 ■*• summer meeting of the above institution. This 

 meeting, which commenced last Tuesday, has brought 

 together a large number of engineers from all parts, who 

 received a cordial welcome from the Mayor and a local 

 committee, and have already gone through the greater 

 portion of a very interesting programme. The pre- 

 sident's address, as well as the papers read in the 

 mornings, not less than the varied nature of the works 

 thrown open in the afternoons, show the increasing con- 

 nection of the engineer with the progress of civilisation 

 and the comforts of daily life. Perhaps no better example 

 of this could be found than in the town of Leeds. It is 

 not necessary, end certainly it would not be very easy, to 

 detail all the varied productions of Leeds, in which the 

 engineer now plays an indispensable part. Cne or two 

 interesting instances may, however, be cited from one of 

 two papers read, to show to what extent manual labour is 

 being replaced by the application of machinery. 



As late as 1S57 nearly all the clothing in Leeds was 

 hand-made. At the present time a machine like a band- 

 saw, but with a knife-edge, is employed to cut out the 

 clothes. Some twenty-five pieces of double-cloth laid on 

 each other are thus cut out at once. The parts are then 

 sewn at the rate of from 700 to 2000 stitches a minute, 

 and finally are ironed by a machine. Indeed, the several 

 processes of cutting out, sewing together, binding, braiding, 

 putting in sleeves, sewing on buttons, making button- 

 holes, and ironing, are all done by machinery. The result 

 is that between three and four million garments are 

 annually made in Leeds alone. In the hat and cap in- 

 dustry, machinery is very largely used, the production 

 being as much as 70,000 dozen per week. The manufac- 

 ture of boots and shoes is carried on almost entirely by 

 machinery, and though each boot passes through the 

 hands of from six to twelve persons, such an article can 

 be completely made in half an hour, from one to two 

 million pairs of boots are being thus annually produced. 

 The saving of manual labour, as seen by the above facts, 

 presents a striking contrast to its waste as shown in the 

 gigantic structures of the East ; but, as the President in 

 his address remarked, there is a reverse to the medal. 

 The smoke nuisance yet overshadows much good work (in 

 few places more than in Leeds), when it is admitted that 

 it is altogether inexcusable, and cannot be too severely 

 dealt with. Science and art have practically overcome 

 it; and experience enables many to assert that money can 

 be profitably laid out and yield good interest in the abate- 

 ment of this unpardonable nuisance. It is to be hoped that 

 one result of these meetings will be to do all that is 

 possible that posterity may not " assuredly lay its finger 

 upon the great blot of waste, and stigmatise our age as 

 the Black Age, which has spoilt by careless, unnecessary, 

 and selfish emissions of smoke and noxious gases, many 

 a noble town and many a lovely spot on earth.'' 



H. S. H. S. 



PROFESSOR HAECKEL IN CEYLON* 

 A FTER a fortnight devoted to the enjoyment of all 

 ■**■ that was new and strange in life in Ceylon, a fort- 

 night fruitful in result to so shrewd and ardent an observer 

 of nature and mankind, Professor Haeckel betook 



1 Continued fr^m page 275. 



himself in earnest to the real object of his journey and 

 looked about for the most favourable spot at which to 

 conduct his zoological investigations. These were to be 

 confined to that class of animal life which has been the 

 object of Professor Haeckel's special study, namely, the 

 Radiata, including star-fish, jelly-fish, etc, as we'll as 

 corals, madrepores and other polypi. He hoped to make 

 acquaintance with many new forms developed under the 

 varying conditions of climate and coast formation and his 

 letter in the August number of the Rundschau opens with 

 a brief and succinct account of what these conditions are : 

 "The conditions under whieh marine animals arrive at 

 their fullest development are numerous and peculiar and 

 it is by no means a matter of indifference what portion of 

 the sea-coast we select for our investigations. The various 

 qualities of sea water, its saltness, purity, temperature, 

 rate of current and depth, must all be taken into account ; 

 and no less important, in fact often more so, is the nature 

 of the neighbouring shore ; whether it is rocky or sandy, 

 barren or fertile and what is its geological formation. 

 Then again, the amount of fresh-water drainage at any 

 particular point, and the greater or less force of the waves 

 have an important influence on the development of the 

 marine fauna. For the classes in which I am more 

 particularly interested : the Radiolites, Medusae, Siphono- 

 phorae, etc. the most favourable conditions are a deep, 

 land-locked bay of clear still water, undisturbed by the 

 influx of any great volume of fresh water and having 

 strong currents setting towards the shore. Such a com- 

 bination of favouring circumstances exists, for instance, 

 in the Bay of Messina, the Gulf of Naples and other parts 

 of the Mediterranean shore, long the chosen resort of 

 zoologists. A glance at the map of India will show that 

 such protected bays are of far rarer occurrence along its 

 coast than on the many limbed and deeply indented shores 

 of our glorious Mediterranean. The coast of Ceylon is 

 provided with three only : the two beautiful harbours of 

 Galle and Belligemma on the S. West coast and the 

 magnificent isle-dotted Gulf of Trincomalee on the N. . 

 East. This last. Nelson declared to be one of the finest 

 harbours in the world. The English government, quick 

 to see the natural advantages of its dependencies and 

 liberal in turning them to account, lost no time after the 

 acquisition of Ceylon in forming Trincomalee into a 

 fortified and well appointed harbour, by strengthening 

 the forts already erected by the Dutch and by promoting 

 in other ways the prosperity of the town. Much still 

 remains to be done to make Trincomalee worthy of its 

 position as the strongest harbour of refuge along the 

 whole Indian coast. In the struggle in which England is 

 sure sooner or later to be engaged for the possession of 

 her Indian empire, this place will have an important 

 part to play." 



To so favourable a spot for the prosecution of his 

 researches, the Professor naturally turned with a longing 

 eye, but the difficulties of the long journey from Colombo 

 to Trincomalee were insurmountable. There is no rail- 

 way beyond Kandy, and from thence the journey must be 

 made in bullock carts over bad roads and through thick 

 forests. The season too was unfavourable ; the heavy rains 

 of the south-west monsoons having swelled the streams 

 and carried away some of the bridges. The carts containing 

 the sixteen chests of instruments, ate, necessary to the 

 Professor's existence, wuuld most assuredly have either 

 stuck fast altogether or only arrived after much delay 

 and with damaged contents. Nor were there any better 

 prospects of a passage by sea. The little steamer usually 

 forming the most direct means of communication for 

 all places on the coast was laid up at Bombay for repairs, 

 and the risk and uncertainty of sailing boats could not 

 be thought of. With much regret, therefore, Professor 

 Haeckel abandoned the idea of Trincomalee, and there 

 only remained for him to decide between Galle and 

 Belligemma. It is a proof at once of his ardour and 



