Al2 
NATURE 
[ Feb. 17, 1870 
At the request of Sir Roderick Murchison, president of the 
Royal Geographical Society, London, the council sent a re- 
quest to the Governor-General of Turkestan, that he would 
welcome Mr. Hayward if he reached the Russian frontier. M. 
Ivaschintzew read a paper on the ‘‘ eastern coast of the Caspian 
Sea, with reference to the commercial routes to Central Asia.” 
The Volga, the only means of communication between the in- 
terior of Russia and the Caspian countries, presents great difficul- 
ties, there being only one channel available, the Western, which 
is navigable only by boats drawing four to five feet. The eastern 
coast of the Caspian is described as generally bare of any vege- 
tation. From the Emba tothe Atrek there are no springs ; wells 
of brackish water are found, apparently the sea-water infiltrated. 
The north-east coast is inaccessible : vessels cannot even approach 
within sight of the shore. Among the important points on the 
south-east shore are Sarytasch and Manghischlak coalfields, and 
the port Tubkaragan, the gulfs of Karabougaz and Balkan. The 
bay of Krassnovodsk—the occupation of which was recently an- 
nounced —does not freeze in the winter ; navigation, however, is 
reported by the Turcomans to be impeded for fifteen days by 
floating ice. ‘The writer gave an account of the various explora- 
tions of Central Asia, including the attempts of the English from 
the sixteenth century, the expedition of Prince Békovitch, the 
attempt of Voiniovitch to establish commercial relations at Astra- 
bad in 1781. The new routes to Central Asia from the centre of 
Russia are superior to the old, as avoiding the Kirghiz-steppe. 
The necessity was shown of interesting the Turcomans and the 
inhabitants of Khiva in commerce, and of making accurate sur- 
veys of the country between the Caspian and the Amu-Daria. 
THE Academy states that M. Leon de Rosny, Professor of 
Oriental languages at the Imperial College, has published a 
French translation of a Japanese treatise on the rearing of silk- 
worms. This work is published ‘‘ par orde de son Excellence le 
Ministre de l’Agriculture.” It is the first French translation of a 
Japanese work. 
THE Lancet in speaking of the arrangements of hospitals, 
instances, as much needing reform, the system of grouping together 
indiscriminately in medical wards, cases of various affections, in 
an atmosphere which may be destructive to some patients while 
it is suitable to others. Thus we may find lying side by side a 
case of bronchitis and one of fever ; a patient with phthisis and 
another with gangrene of the lung; next perhaps one of 
rheumatic fever closely adjacent to a paralytic with offensive bed 
sores. 
THE Royal Irish Academy has voted the sum of 25/. to 
Professor King, to enable him to carry out his researches ‘‘on 
the jointing. foliation and cleavage of rocks,” also the same 
amount to Professor Ball, to enable him to carry out his ex- 
periments ‘‘on the velocity of smoke rings in air.” 
A NEw instance of the earnestness and liberality with which 
the King of Prussia encourages the prosecution of geogra- 
phical discovery, has been communicated to us. The enterpris- 
ing traveller, Gerhard Rohlfs, receiving kindness from the ruler 
of Kuka, he promised that presents should be sent from the 
King of Prussia, and Herr Nightingale is now on his way as the 
bearer of the presents. Poor Miss Tinne’s death having proved the 
danger of the way beyond Mursuk, the Prussian Government 
has consented to send a guard of fifty soldiers (volunteers for the 
duty) to escort him in safety through the Touaregs to Kuka. 
THE Academy reports that Herr O. Liebreich has found chloral 
may be employed with good results as a counteractive to poison- 
ing by strychnine. On the other hand, the evil effects of an 
overdose of chloral may be remedied by the use of strychnine. 
M. GorseEtx states in a letter, communicated to the Academy 
of Sciences, by M. St. Claire Deville, that Santorin was still in 
active eruption on the 6th of last month. 
MAGNETIC AND SUN SPOT PHENOMENA 
FOR 1870 
PPEARANCES would indicate that we are now 
approaching the epoch of maximum, both as regards 
the disturbances of terrestrial magnetism and also as 
regards solar disturbances or sun spots; for these 
interesting phenomena are believed to march together. 
There is still a third phenomenon intimately connected 
with magnetic disturbances, and that is, the Aurora 
Borealis, a meteor which seems to sympathise with the 
terrestrial magnetic system to such an extent that when 
this is fluctuating and disturbed, displays of the Aurora 
are almost sure to follow. 
Finally, those of us who are of an intensely practical 
turn of mind will be delighted to know that this interest- 
ing chain of facts is bound by one of its links, if not by 
two, to the practicalities of everyday life. For, in the 
first place, displays of the Aurora are hardly ever un- 
accompanied by spontaneous currents making their ap- 
pearance in telegraphic wires, and causing not a little 
confusion in the transmission of messages; and, in the 
next place, some mineralogists are of opinion that these 
very currents are connected in some way with metalliferous 
deposits. 
Perhaps, after all, the relation between sun spots and 
California may be that of cause and effect ! 
The first great magnetic disturbance recorded at Kew 
Observatory, during the last month, began about 7 a.m. 
on January 3, by considerably and abruptly diminishing 
the declination and the horizontal force, without greatly 
affecting the vertical force. It lasted for about 16 or 17 
hours, and during its continuance an Aurora was visible. 
A smaller disturbance began on January 8, about 9p.m., 
its tendency being to diminish the declination and the 
vertical force, without much affecting the horizontal torce; 
it was likewise accompanied by an Aurora. 
The solar disc was photographed at Kew Observatory 
nine times during the month of January, with an average 
of five groups of spots on the sun’s surface, one of them 
being always large. Thus we have :— 
January 1 6 groups 2 of them rather large 
s 5 5A 2 rather large 
” 10 5 ” 2 large 
as II Gere: I large 
1 12 Sass I very large, another large 
” 13 Gi oss I large 
1 14 Aces I large 
>) 24 Se I very large, another large 
ms 29 Ay sp I large 
February promises 
to be a still more active month, 
but we must wait. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
Moniteur Scientifique, February 1.—In this number M. Emile 
Kopp gives an account of Weldon’s well-known process for the 
regeneration of ‘manganese.’ In a note on the Infinitesimal 
Calculus, M. Néhay maintains that neither the infinitely great 
nor the infinitely small can be considered as real quantities ; that 
the algebraical relations established in the calculus for such 
quantities depend solely on the conservation of certain ratios and 
not on any particular unit, and are hence true for magnitudes as 
great or as small as we please ; and that infinitesimals can always 
be exchanged for finite proportionals. Bolley finds on analysis 
that the artificial alizarine of Meister, Lucius, and Co. has very 
exactly the formula C,,H,O,. 
Revue des Cours Screntifiques, February 12.—This number con- 
tains a long list of subscribers to the Sars Fund; a report by M. 
Cazalis de Fondouce, of the proceedings of the Anthropological 
Congress at Copenhagen ; also a lecture delivered at the Faculté 
de Médecine at Paris, by M. Onimus, on the balanced forces ( orces 
en tension) and active forces (forces vives) in the animal organism. 
