0o4 



NA TURE 



{April 2&„ 1884 



Mr. Sydney Hodges, of Ealing, sends us a letter he has 

 received from Mr. C. St. Barbe, of Wellington, New Zealand, 

 dated February 17, on the green moon. "The phenomenon of a 

 green moon," Mr. St. Barbe writes, "has been distinctly visiblehere 

 during the last week or two. The colour was sufficiently decided 

 to attract the attention of many people, and the local journals 

 took notice of it. The moon at the time was east of north 

 (though very little), while the crimson after-glow was in the 

 southwest, and consequently at the back of an observer looking 

 at the strange colouring of the moon. I am not aware whether 

 these positions would have anything to do with the question of 

 complementary colours, as I know nothing about such matters, 

 and I am unfortunately unaVjle to say whether the green tint ap- 

 peared on the moon before the crimson after-glow appeared, as the 

 latter has become such a commonplace occurrence here as hardly 

 to be noticed." Mr. Hodges has also received a letter from his 

 son, who reached New Zealand from Calcutta on February 13. 

 In it he says : "I don't know whether you heard of the volcanic 

 trjptions in Java last September. To show what a quantity of 

 stuff was thrown up, we were sailing for twelve days through a 

 sea of pumice-stone. You could see nothing else as far as the 

 horizon on every side, and this four months after the eruption." 



Dr. L. Waldo, Science states, has just completed the erection 

 of a normal clock at the Yale College Observatory, to be used 

 as a mean-time standard in the horological work of th.at institu- 

 tion. The movement and pendulum are parts of the gravity 

 escapement clock built by Richard Bond (No. 367), and which 

 had a phenomenal record under Mr. Hartnup at Liverpool, and 

 later under Prof. W. A. Rogers of Cambridge. The case, from 

 Dr. Waldo's designs, is built of cast-iron, with planed back and 

 front, to which are clamped the plate-glass doors. The entire 

 case rests upon two brick piers, which rise to the height of the 

 movement, and insure stability to the pendulum suspension. 

 Thermometers, a barometer, and a cup of calcic chloride are 

 placed within the case, which can be exhausted to any barometric 

 pressure desired by an air-pump attached to its side. The 

 escapement and arc of vibration can be observed and adjusted 

 with the greatest accuracy. The clock is erected in the clock- 

 room of the Observatory, which was specially built to secure 

 uniformity of temperature. 



Captain Blakiston, who has been resident in Japan for 

 more than twenty years, has recently issued an amended list of 

 the birds of that country, with the ornithology of which he cer- 

 tainly possesses a better practical acquaintance than any living 

 man. The list is founded on a previous catalogue, published in 

 1882 by Capt. Blakiston and Mr. H. Pryer, but the species are 

 now arranged geographically, so as to show the distribution of 

 birds through the different islands of Japan. The author draws 

 attention to the natural division in the fauna of Japan, which is 

 marked by the Strait of Tsungaru, to the southward of which the 

 true Japanese avifauna is emphasised, while north of this strait 

 the avifauna is Siberian in character. 



The following meetings of the Society of Arts have been 

 arranged : — Ordinary meetings (on Wednesday evenings) — 

 April 30, "The New Legislation as to Freshwater Fisheries, " by 

 J. W. Willis-Bund. May 7, " Bicycles and Tricycles," by C. 

 V. Boys. May 14, "Telpherage," by Prof. Fleeming Jenkin, 

 F.R.S. May 21, " Telegraph Tariffs," by Lieut.-Col. Webber, 

 R.E. May 28, " Primary Batteries for Electric Lighting," by 

 I. Probert. In the Foreign and Colonial Section the following 

 jiaper will be read on April 29, " The Transvaal Gold Fields ; 

 their Past, Present, and Future," by W. Henry Penning. In 

 the Applied Chemistry and Physics Section on May 8 a paper 

 will be read on "Cupro-Ammonium .Solution and its Use in 

 Watei-proofing Paper and Vegetable Tissues," by C. R. .-Mder 



Wright, F. R.S., D.Sc. ; and on subsequent evenings in the 

 Indian Section the following papers will be read: — "Eco- 

 nomic Applications of Seaweed," by Edward C. Stanford, 

 F.C.S. May 9, "Indigenous Education in India," by Dr. 

 Leitner. May 30, " Street Architecture in India," by C. Purdon 

 Clarke, CLE. This paper will be illustrated by means of the 

 oxy-hydrogen light. 



During the next few weeks the following Penny Lectures will 

 be delivered on Tuesday evenings at the Royal Victoria Coffee 

 Hall, Waterloo Road: — April 22, "Camping out on the 

 Thames," by the Rev. P. H. Wicksteed. April 29, "A Visit 

 in the Sunbeam to the West Indies," by Sir Thomas Brassey, 

 M.P. May 6, "Ice, and its Work in Earth-shaping," by Dr. 

 W. B. Carpenter. May 13, "Fire, Electricity, and other Forms 

 of Power," by Mr. Vernon Boys. May 20, "A Working Man's 

 Dinner," by Prof. H. G. Seeley. May 27, " The Recent 

 Eruption of KrakatSj," by Mr. J. Norman Lockyer. 



We have received two pamphlets on the vivisection question, 

 viz. " Vivisection in its Scientific, Religious, and Moral Aspects," 

 by E. P. Girdlestone (Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., pp. 68, price 

 one shilling), and "The Utility and Morality of Vivisection," 

 by G. Gore, LL.D., F.R.S. (F. W. Kolkmann, 2, Langham 

 Place, W., pp. 32, price sixpence). These pamphlets are alike 

 in that their authors argue the question on general grounds of 

 common sense. The essay by Mr. Gore is issued by the Asso- 

 ciation for the .\dvancement of Medicine by Research, and is 

 an admirable contribution to the subject of which it treats. Not 

 being himself a physiologist, Mr. Gore's pleading is of all the 

 more force from its non-professional character ; while the fact 

 of his being so busy a worker in other departments of science, 

 as well as a man who has made a special study of the method- 

 ology of research, or "the art of discovery," enables him to 

 speak not only with authority, but with unusual lucidity. The 

 calmly forcible style in which he writes contrasts favourably with 

 the hysterical vituperation which he quotes from the other side. 

 This pamphlet ought to be read by every one who desires to 

 obtain a rational as well as a truly moral view of the subject. 



The fourth edition of Henfrey's " Elementary Course of 

 Botany " will be published by Van Voorst early in May. The 

 morphology of flowering plants has been revised and added to 

 by Dr. Maxwell Masters, who has also made great additions to 

 the physiological portions, while Mr. A. W. Bennett has re- 

 written the sections relating to Cryptogamia. This new edition 

 will be still further enriched by numerous additional illustrations. 



Hartleben of Vienna has'issued the first part of a work on 

 the oceans and their life, entitled " Von Ocean zu Ocean, eine 

 ■Schilderung des Weltmeeres und .Seines Lebens," by A. von 

 .Schweiger-Leichenfeld. 



At a recent meeting of the Asiatic Society of Japan (reported 

 ill Ihe/a/i-rn IVcikfy Mail), Mr. O. Korschell read a paper on 

 " Tlie Chemistry of Japanese Lacquer." The paper opened 

 with a brief account of the source and preparation of the lacquer, 

 and of the conditions under which it hardens to the best advan- 

 tage. The interest of the paper lay, however, in the very com- 

 plete discussion of the chemical constituents of the substance, 

 and the synthetic determination of which of these were most 

 essential. The summary of results was given in these terms : — 

 I. The raw lacquer juice is an emulsion which contains — (a) a 

 peculiar acid called urushic acid (iirus/ti, the native name for 

 lacquer), {l>) a gmn, {c) a nitrogenous body, (d) water, and (e) a 

 volatile acid in traces. 2. The hardening of the lacquer juice, 

 which takes place when the latter is exposed in a thin layer of 

 moist air of 20° to 27° C, is due to the oxidation of urushic acid 

 into oxyurushic acid. 3. This oxidation is caused by the nitro- 

 genous body, which is an albuminoid and acts as a ferment. 



