48 
NATURE | 
te ae 
* ae aa eae 2 
y/ = pe ..r . 

4 
7 
[Wov. 17, 1870 


used the telegraph for this purpose in New Zealand, where 
indeed it forms an important element in the admirable system 
he has inaugurated for recording shocks throughout the islands. 
In his last letter he writes as follows:—‘‘ Not long ago, 
one operator asked another 200 miles distant ‘Did you 
feel that?’ and got the answer, ‘No. What? Yes; there it 
is,’ all in a breath, so to speak !” 
Dr. Hector, writing in August last, goes on to say, ‘I have 
called attention to the coincidence of the aurora in both hemi- 
spheres on April 5, and can’t help thinking that when our observa- 
tions are sufficiently extended, we shall find many phenomena 
that are looked upon as local to be general. Could not NATURE 
give us a column recording such phenomena as auroras, earth- 
quakes, tornados, &c., experienced in all parts of the world, some- 
what in the form of an almanac? At the present one has to rum- 
mage over all sorts of periodicals, and after all find the matter 
most imperfectly recorded. _We shall soon have a capital earth- 
quake register here, since I induced the Government to cause 
the observers to report every shock they felt inthe colony. Their 
number and coincidenée is very remarkable, and I shall publish 
the results as soon as I have collected a sufficient number. I feel 
a great want of a good table eusmometer which should be cheap 
enough to distribute to all telegraph stations.” Perhaps some 
of your readers can inform Dr. Hector where he can procure this 
great desideratum. Jos. D, Hooker 

Ocean Currents 
Amon the ‘‘ Notes” in last week’s number it is mentioned, 
on the authority of the Zzverness Courier, that a number of glass 
globes had lately been washed ashore on the western coast of 
the Isle of Lewis. The question is asked, ‘‘ Have these been 
used for some experiments made for the purpose of ascertaining 
the course of some ocean current ?” I have seen precisely similar 
globes which had been cast ashore after rough weather on the 
western coast of Shetland; and I ascertained that they were 
floats used by Norwegian fishermen for buoying their long lines. 
North-easterly winds had drifted them to that part of the coast 
where they were found; and the same cause may be assigned 
for the occurrence of the glass globes or floats in the outer He- 
brides. J. Gwyn JEFFREYS 
Nov. 12 

IN reference to the statement (NATURE, Novy. 10) that glass 
globes have been washed ashore on the west side of the Isle of 
Lewis, may not these be floats which are used by the fisher- 
men of Newfoundland? These are, I believe, occasionally 
found as far to the north-east as Nova Zembla, and this fact is, 
I think, not indicative of ‘‘some ocean current,” but of the 
aerial current from the south-west, which is so prevalent in the 
north temperate region, and which may be called the return 
current of the north-east trade wind of the north tropical region. 
This south-west wind from the sea modifies the summer heat 
2n1 the winter cold of west coasts in the north hemisphere, and 
produces their so-called “‘ insular climate.” 
GEORGE GREENWOOD, Col. 
Brookwood Park, Alresford, Nov. 12 

The Milky Way 
THERE appears to be in Wales a remnant of a tradition con- 
nected with the Milky Way. During a short stay in Caer- 
marthenshire, an old man, well read in local history, and who is 
apparently the oracle of the neighbourhood of Llangadock, 
directed my attention one evening to the Milky Way, remarking 
at the time ‘‘ we shall have fair weather to-morrow, as you see it 
is in the south,” meaning that the wind will blow from that 
quarter. My friend supported this extraordinary statement by 
appealing to the Welsh word “Heol y Gwynt,” the road or 
way of thewind. Can any of your readers inform me whether 
this belt of stars is the subject of a fable in Britain, or how it 
came to be connected with foretelling the weather? The Scandi- 
navians call it the ‘‘ Road of Winter ;” possibly ‘* Heol y Gwynt” 
may be traced to northern influence, but, in the absence cf facts, 
I will not commit myself to this explanation. 
JOHN JEREMIAH 
43, Red Lion Street, Clerkenwell, Nov. 12 
P.S.—‘* Heol y Gwynt” is the only proper Welsh name 
for the Milky Way, and is not a mere local one, 

The Colour of Butterflies’ Wings 
In making some experiments a short time ago, I came across a 
fact of which I was hitherto ignorant. I wished to test the 
effect of acid on the colours of the wings of a butterfly or moth, 
and with this view applied muriatic acid to a dried and set speci- 
men of the Six-spotted Burnet (Zygena filipendula). The red 
parts immediately became yellow, while the dark parts were un- 
altered. In subsequent experiments the red was the only colour 
in any moth which underwent any change. When there was no 
red there was no change, and the only change was from red to 
yellow. Next I applied the acid to the red parts of the Red 
Admiral Butterfly (Vanessa atalunta), when, to my surprise, no 
change took place. Comparative examination under the micro- 
scope in no way cleared up the matter. [ now seek for an 
explanation of this phenomenon, which appears to point out a 
clear difference in the nature of the moth and butterfly’s wing. 
A remarkable fact, perhaps connected with this, is that a yellow 
variety is known of almost every moth containing red in the 
wings. Perhaps some of your scientific readers may be able to 
throw some light upon this subject. E. VW, Hg 
Winchester, Oct. 18 
A New Mode of Evolving Light 
A SINGULAR phenomenon of the evolution of light has been 
recently observed by me. By tearing sharply a piece of twilled 
calico into strips in a room well guarded from light, a perceptible 
luminosity was clearly distinguishable, which appeared at its 
maximum at the final parting of the fabric. This phenomenon 
is exceedingly well marked in dry, new calico, and appears to 
me due to the dressing, as after being washed no light is eyolved. 
Whether attributable to electricity, phosphorescence, or fluo- 
rescence, I leave for further investigation. The light appears 
similar to that proauced on breaking a lump of sugar in the 
dark. So far as I can ascertain, the phenomenon of light being 
evolved on tearing a fabric is new, hence I hope worthy of notice 
in your valuable journal. ANDREW PRITCHARD 
Canonbury, N. 

Philology and Darwinism 
In NaturE, No. 30, I attempted to show that the analogy be- 
tween Mr. Darwin’s teachings as regards plants and animals, and 
the conclusions of comparative philologists, broke down, when we 
compared man’s conscious influence on plants, &c., to his more 
and more enlightened control of language. Man’s influence on 
organic forms tends to produce variety, while, with increase of ‘ 
knowledge, language is becoming more uniform. Mr. Ransom 
(No. 32) replied that the difference I insisted on seemed imaginary ; 
and if man’s object was to produce uniformity in plants or animals, 2 
that then the domesticated species would be likely to become | 
less varied than the wild species of the family. Now it seems to : 
me that if man had any such intention, no care on his part could 
produce permanent types yielding so little divergence in the in- 
dividuals during enormous time as those produced by nature; a 
permanence so marked that geology only throws light on the law | 
of evolution, in anything like a direct way, through the study of 
the mammalia (see Prof. Huxley’s recent address on the pro- 4 
gress of Paleontology), and even with regard to the mammalia 
naturalists of high standing refuse to see anything but permanent 
and all but uniform types, necessitating the hypothesis of special 
creation. How man could obtain by any possible efforts (and =~ 
with some breeds his aim is uniformity) to maintain species as 
invariable as nature has done, is what is hard to conceive. 
On the other hand, as man’s mental faculties become blunter, 
his consciousness less vivid, and his material conditions harder, 
his language is more and more in a state of flux, branching forth 
continually into dialects which mark one group of men from 
another. Thus in some Polynesian islands we have a number of 
languages as distinct as those of great part of Europe ; and mis- 
sionaries complain that the Bible requires to be translatedanew 
to the same tribe more than once ina century ; in some cases 
the very numerals in a few generations becoming changed, partly 
from whimsical customs, and partly from want of frequent inter- 
course, and of any literature being at the disposal of the tribe. 
In the progress of time, we may look forward to a period when 
the language of Shakespeare, Milton, and Addison, which is 
considered as good English as that of our daily papers—may be ~ 
the language of the world, but we can scarcely expect that the 
planet will ever hold only one species of animal or plant. S. J- 
rip 
