. is ke Z id 
MARU TE oe Bat uber 
“Dec. 30, 1869] ~ 
the case, but the eggs remain in the nest in which they were 
originally placed by the parent Cuckoo, and are duly hatched by 
_ the foster-parent. That being so, the necessity for the law of 
nature which the Doctor wishes to establish falls to the ground. 
I do not like to put forward my own opinion against such great 
- authorities as Dr. Baldamus and Professor Newton, but I think 
_the inquiry now set on foot in this country by the publication in 
- English of Dr. Baldamus’ paper in Vaumeannia will be to show 
_ ~ that Cuckoo’s eggs do not in fact vary from each other more than 
__ those of many others, and that the resemblances to the eggs of 
many other species are not greater than sometimes arises in 
many ordinary cases, CECIL SMITH 
The Cloaca Maxima 
Your correspondent ‘* Ignoramus” will find some account of 
_ the drainage of Rome in Pliny (‘‘ Hist. Nat.” xxxvi. 15, s. 24). 
_ He will also find further particulars in. Livy (i. 38), and in 
- Ulpian (‘‘ Dig.” 43, tit. 23, s. 1). 
History repeats itself. Just as the London sewers were origin- 
ally natural brooks or artificial ditches by which the rainfall of 
"the district was carried off, and into which it was penal, down to 
the year 1815, to turn any ‘‘sewage” proper ; so the Cloaca 
Maxima was built originally, in very early times (by Tarquinius 
Priscus, according to Livy), to carry off the rain-water from the 
Forum. Afterwards, however, all kinds of liquid refuse were 
~- allowed to find their way into it; and this seemed such a con- 
3 “venient way of getting rid of troublesome matter, that the whole 
; 
j 
“city was eventually undermined by a network of sewers, includ- 
ing small pipes of wood and earthenware connecting the houses 
with the main sewers. Whether “traps” were also used Iam 
unable to say, but I think it very probable that some simple 
combination of trap and cess-pit, in masonry, was used to pre- 
vent an up-blast of foul gas into the a¢i7um. 
What became of the solid refuse I do not know, but from all 
' that I can gather I imagine it must have been carted away peri- 
odically. I trust some of your readers may have compassion for 
our ignorance, and, by enlightening us on this point, compl tely 
restore to ‘‘Ignoramus” that peace. of mind which he lost in 
~ early childhood. 
I trust also that the days of river cloacal pollution, in this 
country at least, are numbered, and that the advances which 
other sciences haye made in the last 2,000 years will at last make 
our engineers ashamed of their ignorant violation of what I hope 
I may be allowed to cali one of the laws of Nature. 
W. Horr 
ie Hydro-carbon Colours 
CAN your readers inform me of any book in which I can get 
‘to know all that is known on the “ Hydro-carbon colours, and 
_.-their application to Art industry,” or direct me to any sources 
~ where the information can be obtained ? 
Plymouth, December 18 
T. W. FRECKELTON 
NOTES 
THE Fournal of Botany will pass into “new management with 
the commencement of the year. The leading English botanists 
have promised their co-operation towards making it a complete 
record of the progress of botany at home and abroad during the 
month. It will in future be edited by Mr. W. H. Trimen, M.B., 
of the British Museum, author of ‘‘ A Flora of Middlesex.” 
THE persistent decrease in the yield of our sea-fisheries has 
assumed a serious aspect, and urgently calls for systematic in- 
vestigation at the hands of the Government. The usual machinery 
for such investigations, namely, a Royal Commission, could, 
however, hardly obtain the exact kind of information necessary for 
a determination of the probable cause of the mischief. Nothing 
short of the appointment of Inspectors of Sea Fisheries, with 
analogous functions to those discharged (with such beneficial 
results) by the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries, can afford the 
‘opportunity for a thorough examination of the subject, and 
prepare the way for useful legislation. This course is ably 
advocated in the Iast number of Zand and Water, and we feel it 
incumbent upon us strongly to second the recommendations of 
our contemporary on this point, 
Tue Ethnographical Section of the Geographical Society of 
Berlin, which has existed in a more or less definite form’ for 
about three years, has just separated itself from the parent 
organism, and entered upon an indepéndent career as the Sdciety 
for Anthropology and Ethnology. The first ordinary meeting of 
the new society took place on the roth instant, when a paper was 
read by Professor Virchow on the North-German Pile-works. “As 
compared with the great majority of such remains in Switzerland 
and South Germany, the pile-works of the North are not of yery 
high antiquity. There is only one colony, that of Wismar, which 
belongs to the Stone period ; even the older forms of bronze are 
rarely met with. The mode of construction of the pile-works 
likewise indicates an advance on that employed in Switzerland. 
Professor Virchow is of opinion that some, at least, of the earth- 
works found in certain districts are contemporary with the lake 
habitations : eyidence on this interesting point is promised at 
some future time. That the pile-works, although of compara- 
tively recent date, are really pre-historic, is indicated by the dis- 
covery of the remains of beaver and elk. The latter animal is 
not mentioned by the old chroniclers of Brandenburg and Pome- 
rania ; neither do we find mention of any lake-dwelling people 
in the ancient Scandinavian or Polish historians, 
WE understand that steps are being taken to found an anthro- 
pological society in Hamburg, but no particulars have as yet 
reached us. : 
WE extract the following from the last Weekly Bulletin (26th 
inst.) of the Scientific Association of France:—‘“‘ The vine occupies 
in France almost 2, 500,000 hectares (6,175,000 acres). This con- 
stitutes the one-and-twentieth part of the French territory, and 
the sixteenth part of its soil capable of cultivation. The gross pro- 
duce amounts to more than 1,500,000,000 francs. This industry 
occupies six million men, women, and children, and nearly two 
million merchants, agents, traders, &c. Sixty-nine departments 
cultivate the vine, from the Gironde, which reckons more than 
150,000 hectares (370,500 acres), to the department of Ille-et- 
Vilaine, which only possesses 104 hectares (256 acres).”” 
THE commission appointed by the Imperial Academy of 
Medicine in Paris to investigate the subject of vaccination has 
just concluded its labours by the presentation of its Report, 
which has been adopted. 
Mr. J. Mrers, so.well known for his researches in the Botany 
of South America, is about to publish the second and third 
volumes of his ‘‘Contributions to Botany,” which will include a 
complete monograph of the Aenzsfermacee, and of the South 
American species of L£f/edra, showing that this genus does 
not belong to the Gymnosperms or naked-seeded plants, as_ 
generally believed. 
In a letter of the 17th ultimo, addressed to the Astronomische 
Nachrichten, Dr. Oppolzer discusses the observations of a faint © 
comet discovered by Pons in February 1808, and arrives at the 
conclusion that it is exceedingly probable that the comet referred 
to is identical with that named after Winnecke. Dr. Oppolzer 
is at present engaged in working out the observations of the latter 
comet, more especially in reference to its supposed identity with 
Comet IIL. of 1766. 
WE regret to learn from the recent report of the Miners’ 
Association for Cornwall and Devonshire, that that useful body 
is in danger of being dissolved in consequence of the inadequate 
support it receives from the mining interest. The importance of 
combining scientific knowledge with practical experience, if we 
intend to maintain our present position in mining and metallurgy 
as against the highly-trained miners of other countries, is acknow- 
ledged by every competent person. Surely, then, when owners 
of mines and shareholders in mining companies learn that the 
Miners’ Association not only discusses and publishes important 
scientific papers of a practical character, but is at the present 
