NA TURE 



{^Nov. 4, 1886 



from llie lavages of these horrid maggots are proof of a thriving 

 condition ! A correspondent writes me : " Since reading recent 

 issues on the ox-hot or warble-fly, I liave visited several cattle 

 markets and slaughter-houses to see for myself if the ravages of 

 the maggots are so serious as the statements led one to believe. 

 I muNt frankly state that what I have seen convinces me that the 

 statements are much under the mark rather than over it. The 

 first beast I handled showed 42 warbles, some only 3 to 6, 

 whilst many others showed 30 to 70 ; and on examining hides 

 at slaughter-houses this state of things was again confirmed (the 

 warbles are more readily seen upon the ^Wiv-side of the skin, 

 and many are small ones that would not show as a lump. I am 

 certain a farmer has only once to make such a visit to be not 

 only convinced of the great loss, but also, if he has any neigh- 

 bourly feeling about him, to make him call the attention of his 

 brother-farmers to the subject." 



I am anxious to indorse this recommendation, for the farmers 

 should now satisfy themselves as to the actual state of the 

 matter, as in a few weeks from now the warble lumps will 

 have vanished, and I fear the farmers will hardly take protective 

 measures during the summer, when the warbles are not visible, 

 unless they are convinced ; whilst seeing would be believing. I 

 may remark that the following simple remedies are all effica- 

 cious to destroy the maggots : mercurial ointment and carbolised 

 oil, to be applied with caution by a careful man ; or, better 

 still, quoting from the Keport of the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 "As a general application, safe in all hands, McDougall's pre- 

 paration has proved excellently useful," and I have convinced 

 myself it is the best and safest remedy that can be applied, not 

 only for destroying the maggots, but, later on, as a wash to 

 prevent the attacks of the flies. 1 would not have occupied so 

 much of your space, but I am convinced this is a subject of 

 national importance. John Walker 



Southport 



P.S. — Farmers wishing for further information should read 

 "Observations on OxWarble or Bot-Fly," 1884, and a second 

 Report on " O.x- Warble or Bot-Fly," 18S5, by Eleanor A. 

 Ormerod, F. R.Met. Soc, &c. (London: Simpkin, Marshall, and 

 Co.), and a new pamphlet called " The Bot-Fly," just issued by 

 J. C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh. This work 

 fully defines every minute detail of the history, life, prevention, 

 and losses sustained by the dreaded pest. 



Aurora 



The remarkable aurora borealis observed by Prof. Piazzi 

 Smyth at Edinbur.;h on July 27 (Nature, vol. xxxiv. p. 312) 

 S(.ems to have been visible over a very great area. In my 

 meteorological journal it is remarked on July 27 that the bright 

 silver-clouds appeared beautiful between 9.30 and 11 p.m. 

 "The colour of the northern sky above the silver-clouds was 

 misty and brownish, though not cloudy." I had never seen such 

 a tint in the sky. I have no hesitation in saying that the unusual 

 darkness was the same as observed at Edinburgh. The fair 

 white arc I did not see ; clouds came up at midnight. It may 

 be interesting to state that I also saw, on July 26 at 9.30 p.m., 

 an aurora like white cloud in the north-west. This cloud 

 was very different from the well-known silver-clouds so often 

 described in 1885 and 1886. On the 28th and 29th nothing 

 extraordinary is mentioned in my journal, but on the 30th faint 

 traces of the silver-clouds and again "a very strange yellow- 

 brownish colour of the north and north-west sky" are remarked. 

 The great aurora on March 30 we also observed very well at 

 Ivonigsberg. F. Hahm, 



Professor of Geography at the Konigsberg University 



Konigsberg, Prussia, October 25 



Earthquakes 



It is always interesting to look for coincidences in the earth- 

 quakes in different parts of the world. In Nature, vol. xxxiv. 

 p. 627, you announce that a violent earthquake was felt at 

 Charleston and many other places in the United States of North 

 America, on the 22iid inst. at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, i.e. 

 2oh. 20m. Greenwich time. On the same day a very slight 

 shock is recorded as having occurred at Neuchatel, Switzerland, 

 at 9h. 20m. evening, Berne time, i.e. 2oh. 50m. Greenwich 

 time. It is not impossible, but I must confess scarcely probable, 



that the faint shock at Neuchatel was the re-percussion of the 

 severe earthquake of North America. F. A. Forel 



Morges, Switzerland, October 31 



In connection with Prof. O'Reilly's letters in Nature of 

 October 14 and 28 (pp. 570, 61S), and your notice of October 

 21 (p. 599)> I supply a few data, which at first I thought of too 

 little interest for your columns. At 6.12 p.m. local time 

 (i7h. 41m. universal time), on October 16, two shocks occurred 

 with a short interval, the direction being approximately that of 

 the meridian. The intensity was such as might be produced by 

 very hea\'y carts pa-sing. II. DU Bois 



Strasburg, October 31 



Meteor 



This evening, at about 8.25, I saw a magnificent meteor, of 

 a blue colour, falling a little to the left of the Pleiades. 



Belfast, October 31 Joseph John Murphy 



FREDERICK GUTHRIE 

 pREDERICK GUTHRIE was born in Bayswater on 

 -•• October 15, 1833. and was the youngest of six 

 children. His father, Alexander Guthrie, was a tailor, 

 carrying on business in New Bond Street, and is said 

 to have been a man of literary taste and ability ; that he 

 was a man of cultivation is shown by the education he 

 provided for his children, one of whom, Francis, early 

 distinguished himself at University College, London, and 

 at the London LIniversity, as a mathematician, and is 

 now Principal of the South African College, Cape Town. 

 As a boy, Frederick Guthrie was taught privately until 

 his twelfth year by the late Henry Watts, F.R.S. ; after- 

 wards he was sent to University College School, then 

 under the head-mastership of Prof. Key, whence he 

 passed into University College, London. There he re- 

 mained three years, the last two of which were devoted 

 mainly to the study of chemistry, under Profs. Graham 

 and Williamson, and of mathematics under De Morgan, 

 a teacher with whom it was impossible for a young man 

 of Guthrie's power to come into contact without receiving 

 a life-long impress. There also he again came into 

 contact with Watts, who was then principal assistant in 

 Prof. Williamson's laboratory, and an intimate friendship 

 was cemented with his old tutor that reinained unbroken 

 till the death of the latter. In the spring of 1854 Guthrie 

 went to Germany to continue his chemical studies, and 

 worked first at Heidelberg, under Bunsen, and then at 

 Marburg, under Kolbe, where he took the degree of 

 Doctor of Philosophy {" siimina cum iai/de") in 1855, 

 having previously graduated as Bachelor of Arts of the 

 L'niversity of London. After returning to England he 

 was appointed, in 1856, assistant to Dr. Frankland, then 

 Professor of Chemistry in Owens College, Manchester. 

 In 1S59 he went to Edinburgh as assistant to the late 

 Vice-President of the Council, who had just succeeded 

 Dr. William Gregory as Professor of Chemistry in the 

 Edinburgh University. 



Two years later Guthrie accepted the Professorship of 

 Chemistry and Physics in the Royal College, Mauritius. 

 He arrived in the island in May iS6[, and for six years 

 he devoted himself to endeavouring to introduce and 

 establish on a durable basis scientific instruction in the 

 colony. Here one of his colleagues was Mr. Walter 

 Besant, the eminent novelist, with whom he formed a 

 friendship that remained intimate and uninterrupted 

 through life. He returned to London on leave in 1867, 

 and in 1S69 he was elected Lecturer on Physics in the 

 Royal School of Mines, a post which, with extended 

 duties and modified title, he retained till his death. 



In the spring and early summer of this year miny of 

 Guthrie's friends remarked upon his looking ill and 

 seeming to be in low spirits. After a while he complained 

 of a difficulty in swallowing, which presently became so 



