292 



NATURE 



{Aug. 8, 1872 



track, only ei<;ht or ten rails hive broken. This would seem to 

 indicate that Uessemer rails are suitable for cold climates. 



CaI'Tain Majendie, in his report of the Stowmirket ex- 

 plosion, sajs that he resisted as long as possible the suggestion 

 that the catastrophe was due to foul play on the part of some one 

 who wilfully added acid to properly purified and manufactuied 

 gun-cotton. Ste]) by step, however, his examination established 

 the theory of foul play as the correct one ; and in face of the 

 evidence no other verdict than that given by the jury was pos- 

 sible, lie thinks the balance of probability leads to tlie belief 

 that whoever added the acid was unaware of the terrible conse- 

 quences it would produce. 



The pupils of the Trade School at Keighley, in Yorkshire, 

 established by the Schools Inquiry Commissioners for the higher 

 education of the children of the artisan classes of that town, have 

 distinguished themselves in the recent examinations. The re- 

 sults are as follows: — Acoustics, Light and Heat : Nine fir^t- 

 class, thirteen second-class. — Theoretical Mechanics: Three 

 first-class, thirteen second-class. — Physical Geography : Twelve 

 first-class, twenty-two second-class. — Steam and the Steam 

 Engine : Three first-class, twenty-five second-class. — Applied 

 Mechanics : Four first-class, twenty-five second-class. — Building 

 Construction : Two first-class, eight second-class. — Anim.il 

 Physiology : — Two first-class, thirty-one second-class. — Machine 

 Drawing : Nine first-class, twenty-three second-class. — Inorganic 

 Chemistry : Eight first-class, fifteen second-class. (Six second- 

 class by students from CuUingworth. ) — Laboratory Practif-e : 

 Six first-class, four second-class. — Mathematics: Three first- 

 class, twelve second-class. In all, sixty-one first-class passes, 

 and one hundred and ninety-one second-class passes. The 

 Keighley School of Art is attended by about one hundred 

 young men of the town. The examiners at South Kensington 

 have passed the drawings of eighteen of them in the elementary 

 section, and of five in the advanced section, while the works of 

 three — Annie Preston, Thomas Ramsden, and J. Midgley — have 

 been laid out for national competition. 



The fruit crop of 1872 (says the GunL-in-rs' Al'a^aziii.-) 

 s probably the smallest that the most experienced and 

 observant cultivator' can call to remembrance. It is cer- 

 tainly but little better than no crop at all, and in many 

 fruit-growing districts will not pay for gathering, and, therefore, 

 perhaps, will be lost entirely. The imports of fruit fro-n the 

 Continent have been very much below the average hitherto tliis 

 year ; and the fact suggests itself that our neighbours across the 

 Channel are in much the same plight as ourselves as respects 

 this season's product of fruit. Usually in seasons notable for 

 short supplies of fruit, some kinds are sufficiently plentiful to 

 compensate in part for the general deficiency, but the present is 

 an exceptional season in that respect, for the failure is complete. 

 There can be no mystery about the cause of this general barren- 

 ness. The trees made a good growth last year, and the wood 

 was sufficiently ripened. Hence there was a good show of 

 bloom when vegetation was roused into activity by the genial 

 weather which occurred in the month of February. The crop 

 was ruined by the second winter that distinguished the month of 

 March and greater part of the month of Apri 1. 



It is estimated that the whole available stock of the famous 

 " Torbane Hill mineral" does not now exceed 50,000 tons, for 

 the extraction of which a pit is about to be sunk. A trust- 

 worthy authority states the quantity already worked at about 

 1,800,000 tons. 



In a communication from Natal, Mr. G. K. P.lanche states 

 that Mr. B. Bouwcr had seen, in a stone cave in Namaqua-land, 

 about twelve days from Lake Ngami, pictures of all sorts of 

 animals, drawn by Bushmen, in which the unicorn was distinctly 



delineated. Mr. Bouwer added that an old Bushman at Ghanze 

 told him that he had many years ago seen the animal, that it 

 was very fierce, but that it had now gone away. He had heard, 

 besides, other Bushmen speak in similar terms, of the reputed 

 fabulous beast. Mr. Blanche concludes : — " My opinion is, that 

 the unicorn existed recently in Africa, and that it is not proved 

 to be extinct now, but that the probability of its being in exist- 

 ence now is not very great." He rests this conclusion on the 

 general accuracy of such rude sketches by savages in other parts 

 of the world besides Africa, asking, if the unicorn never did 

 exist, why should drawings of it be made in Namaqua-land, 

 Natal, the Transvaal Republic and Cape Colony, possessing the 

 same general and one particular characteristic. 



Frank Clowes, Esq., B.Sc, London, F.C.S., has been ap- 

 pointed Science Master at Queenwood College, Hants. 



The American Naturalist for July contains a pretty exhaustive 

 account of the Wyandotte Cave and its fauna, by Prof E. D. 

 Cope. The animals catalogued arc fifteen in number, but as this 

 collection was the result of only two days' exploration. Prof, 

 Cope considers that the Wyandotte is richer in life than the 

 better known Mammoth Cave, which has yielded only seventeen 

 species after frequent examination. He describes a curious 

 parasite — a Lerna:an — on the blind fish of the cave. The repre- 

 sentatives in the Wyandotte of two of the blind genera in the 

 Mammoth Cave are furnished with eyes. 



In his paper on the Wyandotte Cave, in the July number of 

 the American Naturalist, Prof. Cope incidentally remarks : — " I 

 believe that wild animals betake themselves to caves to die, and 

 that this habit accounts in large part for the great collections of 

 skeletons found in the cave deposits of the world. After much 

 experience in woodcraft, I may say that I never found the bones 

 of a wild animal which had not died by the hand of man lying 

 exposed in the forest." 



The small white butterfly (Pieris ra/!,c) which has quite re- 

 cently become naturalised in North America, is likely to spread 

 over the more temperate parts of that continent, to the serious 

 detriment of farmers and gardeners. In a paper on the subject 

 in the Canadian Entomologist, Mr. G. J. Bowles, of Montreal, 

 states that the insect has already spread over the province of 

 Quebec and the New England States, and is estimated to have 

 destroyed 500,000 dols. worth of cabbages last year in the vicinity 

 of New York alone. Mr. Bowles communicates some interesting 

 facts in the life history of the immigrant butterfly. " The 

 species," he says, " in its new habitat, has to pass through ex- 

 tremes of temperature to which it has not been accustomed in 

 England, from which country it was most probably introduced ; 

 and while the increased summer heat of Canada appears to have 

 made it more prolific, by augmenting the number of broods, the 

 greater cold of winter has balanced the account by killing ofl^, 

 while in the chrysalis state, the surplus which otherwise would 

 have rendered the insect an intolerable pest. The ' compensa- 

 ting' principle in the laws of nature," he adds, " is thus in useful 

 operation with regard to P. rape ; and as the power of cold de- 

 creases in effectiveness through the butterfly becoming acclima- 

 tised (which will probably happen in course of time), no doubt 

 other agencies will arise, in the shape of new parasitic enemies, 

 to keep the species within due bounds." 



Mr. H. Haupt, C.E., in an article in Fan Nostrami's Engi- 

 neering Magazine (N.Y.), proposes a system of narrow gauge 

 wooden railways in rural districts and sparsely-settled localities 

 in America, which he describes at some length, and asserts can 

 be constructed more cheaply than ordinary country roads, and 

 upon which transportation can be conducted at less expense than 

 on ordinary railroads. The system, he adds, has been tested to 

 a limited extent, and found to answer admirably. 



