Oct. 26, 1882] 



NATURE 



633 



allied forms or species by descent from a common 

 ancestor." 



Besides the " Enumeratio," Thwaites published subse- 

 quently a few papers on detailed points in Ceylon botany. 



His tenure of office was associated with some of the 

 most important developments of the Ceylon planting 

 industry. In 1861 and subsequent years he took an 

 active part in the operations undertaken by the Govern- 

 ment of India, in concert with the Royal Gardens, Kew, 

 for the introduction of Cinchona into the East. From the 

 first the enterprise succeeded in Ceylon beyond expecta- 

 tion, and in 1S69 the first ton of bark grown in the island 

 was sent to England for sale. In 1S64 he began to urge 

 the cultivation of tea, and in 1868 a sample, manufac- 

 tured in Ceylon, was sent to this country. Cocoa was 

 similarly brought forward in 1867, and it now bids fair 

 to be one of the most important of Ceylon staples. 

 Liberian coffee was introduced from Kew in 1873. In 

 1876 the plants of Para, Ceara, and Central American 

 india-rubber plants, obtained for the Indian Government, 

 were sent from Kew, where they had been propagated, 

 to Dr. Thwaites' charge in Ceylon, which was made the 

 depot, for their subsequent distribution to India. 



During the later years of his life Dr. Thwaites had 

 been in weakly health, and lived latterly a retired and 

 extremely abstemious life. But his singularly refined and 

 cultivated mind always gave him a position of distinction 

 in Ceylon society, and he enjoyed the esteem and per- 

 sonal friendship of successive governors. He became a 

 Fellow of the Linnean Society in 1854, and of the Royal 

 Society in 1865 ; and in 187S the Crown conferred upon 

 him the Companionship of St. Michael and St. George, in 

 recognition of his long services. Two years afterwards he 

 retired, and took up his abode near Kandy, being unable 

 to persuade himself to leave the island where so much of his 

 life had been continuously spent. He died on September 

 11, and was followed to the grave on the following day by 

 a large assemblage and the members of the Peradeniya 

 Garden Staff, including the coolie labourers. 



W. T. T. D. 



ELEVATION OF THE SIERRA MAD RE 

 MOUNTAINS 

 TPVURING the past summer, in travelling across the 

 -*— ' Sierra Madre Mountains from Parral in the southern 

 part of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico, to the mining 

 town of Guadalupe y Calvo, on the Pacific slope about 

 one hundred and fifty miles from the Gulf of California, 

 some observations were taken with a small pocket aneroid 

 barometer with thermometer attached, which may be of 

 interest to the readers of Nature. Both barometer and 

 thermometer had been carefully compared with the 

 standard instruments in Vanderbilt University and the 

 proper corrections made. 



Starting from Parral, or Hidalgo as it is generally 

 named on the maps, the road leads in a south-westwardly 

 direction to the small mining town of Santa Barbara, at 

 the foot of the Sierra Madre range. From this point 

 there is no road, but merely a trail running westwardly 

 through the small villages of Providentia, Cerro Prieta, 

 and Piedra Larga — the two former in Durango— to the 

 old mining town of Guadalupe y Calvo, a distance of 

 about eighty Mexican leagues or two hundred English 

 miles. The journey can only be made on mules, or 

 horses accustomed to mountain travel, as there are no 

 roads, and the trail passes over several precipitous moun- 

 tains. The distances, as near as could be ascertained, 

 are about as follows : — 



Leagues. 



Parral to Santa Barbara 7 



Santa Barbara to Providentia ... ... ... 7 



Providentia to Cerro Prieta 18 



Cerro Prieta to Piedra Larga 26 



Piedra Larga to Guadaluoe y Calvo ... ... 22 



The heights going westward as determined by the 

 barometer at the several stations mentioned, are as 

 follows : — 



Feet. 



Parral 5,880 



Santa Barbara ... ... ... ... ... 6,490 



1st Mountain 8,670 



Providentia ... ... ... 6,850 



2nd Mountain ... ... . . ... ... 10,220 



Cerro Prieta ... ... ... ... .. 6,720 



3rd Mountain ... 8,760 



Cave ... ... ... ... ... ... 9,270 



Valley of Rio Verde ... ... ... ... 9,110 



4th Mountain ... ... ... ... ... 9,440 



5t h ,, 9.35° 



Piedra Larga ... ... ... ... ... 8,010 



6th Mountain ... ... ... ... ... 9,470 



/ill ,, 9,260 



Guadalupe y Calvo ... ... 7,5°° 



The temperature in the mountains — July 10 to 31 — 

 ranged from 5S J to S5. During five days in Guadalupe 

 y Calvo — July 20 to 25 — the temperature was taken at 

 6 a.m., 12 a.m., and 6 p.m., and found to range from yf 

 to 6S\ Un two days — July 21 and 22 — it was 65 at the 

 time of each observation. The rainy season begins about 

 the middle of June and extends to the 1st or middle of 

 September. The amount of rain that falls increases 

 towards the west. The mountains run generally S.S.E. 

 and N.N.W., and are covered with fine timber, consisting 

 mainly of yellow pine. 



Outside of the villages mentioned there are no inhabi- 

 tants except a few Indians, descendants of the Aztecs, 

 who live chiefly in caves and cultivate small patches of 

 corn, beans, and pepper, and have small herds of cattle. 

 These Indians are peaceable. The Apaches once roamed 

 through these mountains, but of late years their depreda- 

 tions are confined to Middle and Northern Chihuahua 

 and Sonova. N. T. Lupton 



Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., October 3 



NOTES 

 Mr. M. A. Lawson, M.A., F.L.S., having been appointed 

 Superintendent of the Government Cinchona Plantations 

 (Madras), the Professorship of Botany at Oxford will shortly 

 be vacant. 



Although they have M. Cochery as thtir common president, 

 the two Electrical Congresses now sitting in Paris have separate 

 sittings, as well as separate ends. The greater number of 

 Governments have appointed separate delegates for each. The 

 programme for the Congre=s on Electric Units was already pub- 

 lished at the end of the session of the Congress of Electricians, 

 and adopted by them. The consequence is that the committees 

 were established beforehand, and that some Governments, as 

 Belgium and Italy, appointed special delegates for each com- 

 mittee. The total number of delegates i, sixty-two. The 

 German Empire, having the exclusive right of representing the 

 central Government in foreign parts, no delegate has been 

 appointed either by Bavaria or Saxony ; but amongst the five 

 German delegates we find the name of Dr. Kohlrauscb, Professor 

 at the Bavarian University of Wurzburg. After having appointed 

 M. Cochery as president, the Congress appointed a secretariat 

 composed of two French officials ; four others, belonging to the 

 French Administration, have been appointed as secretaires 

 rtdactcurs. The records of the Congress will be published 

 under their authority. The members of each of the several 

 committees have appointed their president or a president and 

 secretary, and will communicate the results of their work at 

 general meetings. It is probable that scientific committees will be 

 established, and that the Congress will dissolve after having 

 appointed them, or possibly adjourn to a future occasion. The 



