Sept. 5, 1872] 



NATURE 



379 



his gradual convalescence, and that he was already resuming the 

 zoological investigations which have rendered his name so well 

 known to naturalists. Mr. Swinlioe has now succeeded in 

 obtaining living specimens of the singular hornless deer which he 

 lately drescibed, and figured in the " Proceedings " of the 

 Zoological Society as IIyiti\ipotc5 incyinis, and will forward them 

 to that Society's gardens by the first opportunity. He has also 

 obtained specimens of several mammals and birds new to the 

 Chinese fauna. 



The Madras AlhciuTiim of July 19 records the death of Capt. 

 Mitchell, the Superintendent of the Central Museum, Madras, 

 welldcnown as an accomplished naturalist and a gentleman of 

 most engaging personal character. 



Dr. Schweinfurth, the renowned German explorer in 

 Central Africa, is about to return with the object of continuing 

 his explorations, cliiefly in the interests of botany, llis brother, 

 a merchant at Riga, has come forward with a handsome sum of 

 money, the interest of which will be given to aid Dr. Schwein- 

 furth in his undertaking, and will afterwards be handed to the 

 Polytechnic School of Riga, to found a prize to defray the tra- 

 velling expenses of future explorers who may have studied there 

 with success. 



We learn from the Madras Times of July 18 that the pioneer- 

 ing party which was sent to Curaoium some five or six months 

 ago to bore for coal have been very successful in their operations, 

 notwithstanding the difficulties and hardships they had to con- 

 tend against. Three distinct and promising seams of coal have 

 been struck, and the quality of the coal is spoken of as being 

 superior to that of Sasti. The parly will return to renew opera- 

 tions at the fall of the year. The attention of Government is also 

 being drawn to the discovery of copper in certain districts wliere 

 hitherto its presence was unknown. In the Nagur Kurnool 

 the existence of this ore has recently been discovered, and 

 samples of it are, with a piece of copper wire manufactured in 

 the district, transmitted to Government, who have forwarded 

 them to scientific men for examina'ion and report. It is also 

 said that copper ore has been discovered near Yedlabad, in the 

 Indoor district ; but doubts are entertained as to whether the 

 ore is indigenous to the locality wliere it was found, or whether 

 it has been washed down from the hills to the west of Yedlabad. 

 This doubt is to be cleared up as soon as opportunity offers. 

 The Government have also been recently directing their atten- 

 tion to the iron ore of the Cummum district. This is no late 

 discovery, but the Government were not before aware of the 

 abundance and excellence of the iron to be obtained in that part 

 of their territories. This, it will be remembered, is also a pro- 

 mising coal district. So here we have side by side those two 

 mighty engines of civilisation to which the "old country" is 

 greatly indebted. It is much to be regretted that the resources 

 of the territories are so imperfectly known. But the vigorous 

 and earnest measures the Minister is taking to develop them will 

 do much to bring them to light. 



We would recommend to those interested in scientific educa- 

 tion and the establishment of colleges of science in this country 

 the report of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 

 1S71-72. The subjects embraced in the course necessary to 

 qualify as a graduate of the Institute are varied, and the curricu- 

 lum in each department is comprehensive and thorough. For 

 example, the course in the department of Geology and Mining 

 Kngineering^extends over four years, and is so arranged as to 

 secure to the student a liberal mental development and general 

 culture as well as the more strictly technical education which is 

 his chief object. The space devoted to laboratories, and the 

 prominence given to laboratory work, in Physics, Chemistry, 

 Assiying, Blowpipe Analysi', Metallurgy, and Ore-dressing, is 



a marked feature of the scheme of instruction of the Institute. 

 The Institute seems to flourish as it deserves. 



We have received a reprint from the " Proceedings of the 

 Liverpool Geological Society " of the address of the President, 

 Dr. Ricketts, on valleys, deltas, bays, and estuaries. In a 

 thoroughly praiseworthy and fair spirit he considers tlie opinions 

 that have been held from time to time by different geologists on 

 the subject of denudation, and especially the formation of val- 

 leys. His own interpretation of the facts deserve consideration, 

 and the address as a whole is worthy of perusal. 



The Journal de Physiqiu for August contains the third part of 

 M. Comu's paper, " Sur les Mesures Electrostatiques," and a paper 

 on the Electric Chromoscope of MM. F. Lucas and A. Cazin. 



We take the following from the Chemical News : — ■ 

 There are no handbooks on chemistry in the Italian 

 language ; but a work has been in course of publication 

 since 1867 somewhat similar to the first edition of the celebrated 

 German " Handworterbuch der reinen und angewandten 

 Chemie," viz., " Enciclopedia Chemica," edited by F. Selmi, of 

 Bologna, with the co-operation of Amaudon, of Turin, for tech- 

 nical chemistry, and of .Sestini, Patemo, and others, for pure 

 chemistry. There are 2,000 subscribers to this work, which is 

 highly valued in Italy. The Italian Government has appointed 

 Dr. Cniizzaro, Professor of Chemistry at Rome; and 20,000/. 

 has been voted by the Italian Parliament for the establishment 

 of a chemical laboratory in Rome. The Florentine Institute 

 {Istiluto Supcriore) receives, in addition to its present subsidies, 

 an annual subsidy of 25,000/., and will be converted into a kind 

 of Polytechnic University. 



The following is from the British Medical Journal: — 

 M. Lindeman continues his investigation of the para- 

 sitic bodies (Gregarinidaa) found on the false tresses 

 and chignons commonly worn by ladies. They are to be 

 found at the extremity of the hairs, and form there little 

 nodosities, visible, on carelul examination, to the naked eye. 

 Each of these nodosities represents a colony of about fifty 

 psorosperms. Each psorosperm is spherical ; but, by the re- 

 ciprocal pressure of its neighbours, it is flattened, and becomes 

 discoid. Under the influence of heat and moisture, it swells; 

 its granular contents are transformed into little spheres, and then 

 into pseudo-navicellix: — little fusiform corpuscles, with a persis- 

 tent external membrane, and enclosing one or two nuclei. These 

 pseudo-navicelki; become free, float in the air, penetrate into the 

 interior of the human organism, reach the circulatory apparatus, 

 and produce, according to this author, various maladies — " car- 

 diac affections, especially valvular affections, Bright's disease, 

 pulmonary affections. " M. Lindeman calculates that, in a ball- 

 room containing fifty ladies, forty-five millions of navicellre are 

 set free ; and he concludes that it is necessary to abolish false 

 hair, which often proceeds from unclean persons. 



We have two small blue-books issued by the Government 

 Meteorological Committee. They are both translations, specially 

 intended for the use of seamen. The one, a paper issued by the 

 Royal Meteorological Institute of the Netherlands, is Lieutenant 

 Cornelissen's " Notes for the Navigation of the Indian Ocean 

 between Aden and the Straits of Sunda," which gives details 

 concerning the winds that affect that ocean, and contains four 

 charts, having the outward and homeward routes for the four 

 quarters of the year clearly indicated. The other is translated 

 from No. III. of the Mittheiluui^cn aus der iVorddeiilschen 

 SecwariCj being a paper on " The Winds, &c., of the North 

 Atlantic along the tracks of steamers to New York," and con- 

 tains some carefully-constructed tables, showing the distribution, 

 force, &c., of winds and storms in the North Atlantic through- 

 out the year. 



