434 

practice, we are assured, has already resulted in a very marked 
diminution of the schools of fish in that vicinity, and has been 
greatly resented by the people of the State, who are endeavouring 
to drive the operator from its waters. 
AN earthquake at Arequipa in Peru, on the 21st December, 
was strong, and is said to have lasted fifty or sixty seconds. It 
was attended with much subterranean noise. 
AN earthquake shock was felt at Bombay and as far north as 
Baroda on the night of January 31. It was distinctly noticed 
over a large area, but did little or no damage. 
RECENT telegraphic advices from Havana announce that 
Captain Selfridge, who is engaged in prosecuting the Darien 
ship-canal exploration, thinks he has discovered a practicable 
oute over a line where the elevation of the divide is not more 
than three hundred feet above the level of the sea. The despatch 
is dated Paya, on the Tuira River, a stream which empties into 
the Gulf of San Miguel, on the Pacific. 
THE well-known Pinang or Betel nuts, the seeds of Areca 
catechu, a handsome palm cultivated in all the warmer parts of 
Asia, and used by the natives to chew with lime for the purpose 
of producing a gentle kind of intoxication, form an important 
article in the interior trade of the Malayan Archipelago, being 
exported from Sumatra to other islands in large quantities. 
The exports from Padang alone in one year amounted to 5,057 
piculs, 
From the twenty-sixth Report of the Proceedings of the Cal- 
cutta School-Book Society, we learn that during the two years 
1868-1869, more than 179,300 rupees was spent in purchases of 
books for distribution among the natives, the object of the society 
being ‘to supply and distribute, at the lowest possible price, a 
healthy household literature in the vernacular tongues,” in which it 
is assisted by a small monthly grant from Government. The titles of 
some of the works circulated sound to us peculiar, as ‘* A Treatise 
on Spiritualism and its Manifestations,” “A Drama against Up- 
starts,” ‘‘ The Grief of Females on the Departure of their Hus- 
bands by Rail on Monday,” &c. ; while the modicum of science 
given is very small; and, judging from the titles, we should sup- 
pose that the instruction in natural and physical science, thought 
good enough for the natives of Hindostan, is about on a par with 
that which prevailed in this country in the time of Oliver Gold- 
smith, 
THE Berwickshire Naturalists’ Field Club, the oldest society 
of the kind in Britain, has issued its “ Proceedings” for 1870. 
Besides one or two archzeological papers, and an address from 
the President, the Rev. G. S. Thomson, we have the following 
coutributions to Natural History and Ethnology, chiefly con- 
nected with these branches as represented in the district :—‘‘ The 
History of the Wolf in Scotland,” ‘‘Turnip Insects during 
1870,” ‘‘ Botanical Notices,” and ‘‘ Contributions to the En- 
tomology of the Cheviots,” chiefly in coleoptera ; all these from 
Mr, James Hardy. The Secretary, Mr. George Tate, con- 
tributes a carefully worked-out paper on ‘‘The Stature, Bulk, 
and Colour of the Eyes and Hair of Native Northumbrians ;” and 
Mr. Ralph Carr treats of ‘‘The Northumbrians between Tyne 
and Tweed.” There are several other short papers of local 
interest, and a statement of the rainfall concludes the number. 
In a discussion at the Indian Conferences at the Society of 
Arts, as to a proposition of Col. Wragge to employ Neilghery 
peat on railways, it was mentioned that the two largest peat 
bogs near Ootacamund have been swept away in rains. This 
was alleged to be through cutting them at the wrong end. 
WE learn from Nicaragua that the river and port of San Juan 
del Norte are shoaling in many places. Where there was deep 
water in the latter ten years ago, there is now a bank above the 
surface. 
NATURE 


[March 30, 1871 

ON THE CONNECTION BETWEEN TERRES- 
TRIAL TEMPERATURE AND SUN-SPOT 
PHENOMENA 
R, STONE, the newly-appointed Astronomer Royal 
at the Cape of Good Hope, has recently communi- 
cated to the Royal Society an important paper and curve, 
in which the thermometric observations taken there since 
1841 are discussed. This curve he has compared with 
another constructed on Wolf’s observations of sun-spots, 
and with the following result, which we give in his own 
words :— 
“The agreement between the curves appears to me so 
close that I cannot but believe that the same cause which 
leads to an excess of mean annual temperature leads 
equally to a dissipation of solar spots. There is on the 
whole a curious appearance of logging of the inverse curve 
of solar spots over that of temperature. At the maximum 
about 1856, this, however, does not appear to be the case ; 
but when the uncertainties of the data, both of the solar 
spots near the minimum, and of the mean temperature 
also, are taken into account, such discrepancies might 
perhaps fairly be expected, even if there be a physical 
connection between the two phenomena as results of some 
common cause. Jf there be a sensible inequality in the 
mean temperature with a period of about ten years, then 
the mean temperature resulting from the observations in 
the temporary observatory, which were made near a maxi- 
mum, will be toc high. The corresponding ordinates, 
therefore, will be depressed too much relatively to those 
corresponding to observations made in the other two ob- 
servatories. In the curve 2 I have imperfectly corrected 
the mean of the results for the temporary observatory on 
the supposition of such an inequality existing. The only 
result of such a correction is to modify the curve at the 
points of junction of the observations made in different 
positions. The general form is unaltered. It should be 
mentioned that the point about which the curves appear 
to differ most is near or at the change of exposure from 
the original observatory to the temporary shed about 
1852. 
“I may mention that I had not the slightest expecta- 
tion, on first laying down the curves, of any sensible agree- 
ment resulting, but that I now consider the agreement too 
close to be a matter of chance. I should, however, rather 
lean to the opinion that the connection between the varia- 
tion of mean temperature and the appearance of solar 
spots is indirect rather than direct, that each results from 
some general change of solar energy. ... . The 
problems of meteorology appear to be presented here in a 
simpler form than in England, and probably systematic 
photographic self-registering observations extended over 
a few years might lead to important results.” 

EXPERIMENTS ON CERTAIN VIBRATORY 
PHENOMENA 
H apparatus made use of consists simply of a card- 
board disc furnished with radial slits, and which 
can be rotated with any desired velocity. To examine a 
coal-gas flame singing in a glass tube, the disc is placed 
in front of the flame, and the eye placed where the slits 
pass in a vertical position. When the dish rotates with 
such a velocity that the interval between two slits passing 
the eye is just equal to the period of a complete vibration 
of the flame, the flame appears to be motionless ; but if 
the velocity of the disc be slightly reduced, the flame is 
seen slowly to go through its changes of form, appearing 
to consist of a series of puffs, resembling those from the 
funnel of a luggage locomotive. When the interval 
between the passing of the slits is equal to, or is one-half, 
one-third, &c., of the period of vibration of the flame, a 
singular appearance of a phantom disc ,is seen, having as 
many or twice or three times the number of slits really in 
