March 31, 1887] 



NATURE 



5'9 



Last week the American Government forwarded another 

 consignment of whitefish ova to the National Fish-Culture 

 Association. These have been taken from late spawners, and 

 appear more healthy than the batch sent in January. The ova 

 are well "eyed," and in some cases are on the point of incuba- 

 tion. A consignment of the Californian trout ova, viz. the 

 Rainbow {S. iriJeus), has likewise been received by the As ocia- 

 tion from the American Government. This variety is likely to 

 become highly popular in England on account of its unique 

 colour and form and its capacity of gaining flesh rapidly. 



WhEiN the South Kensington .\quarium was closed, the sea- 

 trout which had been maintained there were transferred to 

 ponds in the Delaford Park Fishery ; and in February last 

 many ova were taken from them and crossed with the 3'. fario, 

 as in previous years. There are now a larj^e number of 

 hybridised examples of S. trulta in the ponds produced frpm ova 

 shed in the South Kensington Aquarium and crossed in a similar 

 manner. The two-year-old specimens are now about 7 inches 

 long, their size being much smaller than that of other trout of 

 the same age. None of the fish have spawned. 



The meaning of the word "scientist" seems to be rather 

 vague in the country in which it originated. In his annual 

 address as President of the Philosophical Society of Washing- 

 Ion, lately published, Mr. John S. Billings says the word was a 

 coinage of the newspaper reporter, and, " as ordinarily used, is 

 very comprehensive." Webster defines a scientist as "one 

 learned in science, a savant." Mr. Billings, however, thinks 

 that the suggestion conveyed by the word "is rather that of one 

 whom the public suppose to be a wise man, whether he is so or 

 not ; of one who claims to be scientific." In his address, the 

 subject of which is " Scientific Men and their Duties," he him- 

 self uses the term " in the broadest sense, as including scientific 

 men, whether they claim to be such or not, and those who claim 

 to be scientific men, whether they are so or not." 



Prof. Sargent, Director of the Arnold Arboretum of 

 I larvard College, estimates that five foreign trees are planted in 

 New England to one native. Vet, of all foreign trees introduced 

 into America, the willow alone, he thinks, has qualities not pos- 

 sessed in a greater degree by some native. The European oak 

 is perhaps the most unsatisfactory deciduous tree that has been 

 experimented upon : it grows rapidly when young, but fails, 

 when about twenty years old, from the cracking of the main 

 stem, and then, after dragging out a wretched existence a few 

 years longer, it miserably perishes. The Scotch pine dies long 

 before reaching maturity, and the .Austrian .and the Corsican 

 pine seem to be no better. The Norway spruce, which has been 

 for many years the most widely cultivated foreign tree in Massa- 

 chusetts, becomes decrepit and unsightly just at that period of 

 life when trees should become really handsouc in full develop- 

 ment. 



The Sonnblick Observatory, in the province of Salzburg, 

 Austria, is the highest in Europe, being 10,177 feet above the 

 level of the sea. It was established chiefly throu;jh the exer- 

 tions of M. Rojacher, proprietor of the mines in that district, 

 in conjunction with the German and .Austrian .Mpine Club, and 

 the Austrian Meteorological Society. Telephonic communica- 

 tion was established with Rauris, a distance of 15,^ miles, and 

 observations were commenced In September 1886. Observa- 

 tions at such elevated stations ofier much that is of interest to 

 science generally, and more especially as regards those problems 

 of meteorology which relate to the variations of pressure, tem- 

 perature, and humidity in the upper regions of the atmosphere. 

 In the Meteorologischc Zeitschrift for February last, Dr. Ilann 

 gives an interesting account of the first three months' observa- 

 tions. The mean temper.ature in October was 25° 9 F. ; in 

 November 1 5' 3, and in December 8 'i. In October, the de- 



crease of temperature with height during the barometrical 

 minima was, generally, rapid. But during the barometrical 

 maxima it was very slow in the lower strata, up to about 5900 

 feet ; then an increase of temperature with height frequently 

 occurred. The periods of high pressure were generally warm 

 intervals on the Sonnblick, and the periods of low pressure 

 were cald intervals. It is noteworthy, however, that the change 

 of temperature with height, in the strata between about 5900 

 feet and the summit, was almost independent of the conditions 

 of weather, being nearly constant during the whole month, and 

 amounting to about i°'3 F. per 328 feet (too metres) ; while 

 in the lower regions, from about 1300 feet to 5900 feet, it varied 

 between 0° and I°'I. And, generally speaking, the same rates 

 of decrease of temperature obtained in November and December. 

 During the period of high pressure, on October i to 5, which 

 was the warmest part of the month, the march of relative 

 humidity showed a great contrast at the high stations and at 

 the valley stations, humidity being greatest at noon at the high 

 stations, and lowest in the valleys. As regards wind, it may be 

 remarked that early in November the anemometer became a 

 shapeless mass of hoar frost. It remains to be shown what use 

 can be made of the observation-; on such elevated stations for 

 the practical work of weather-forecasting. The observers of the 

 Pic du Midi claim to have foretold, from the conditions at that 

 Observatory, the disastrous floods that occurred in the South of 

 France at '.he end of June 1875, and thereby to have rendered 

 important services by their timely warning. 



The Norwegian Government has taken another step towards 

 discovering the origin and nature of the terrible disease leprosy, 

 which is so common on the west coast of Norway, by despatch- 

 ing Dr. GL A. Hansen, Director of the Leprosy Hospital at 

 Bergen, to North America, for the purpose of inquiring into the 

 heredity of the disease among Scandinavian emigrants to the 

 United States. 



Some interesting statistics concerning the libraries of the 

 United States have been printed in .America from advance sheets 

 of the forthcoming Report of the Bureau of Education. There 

 are in the United States 5338 libraries, each with 300 volumes 

 or over. Of these, 2981 have each 1000 volumes or over. 

 Forty-seven have each over 50,000 volumes ; and among the 

 forty-seven are the public libiaries of Boston, Chicago, and 

 Cincinnati, and the libraries of Harvard, Columbia, Yale, 

 Cornell, and Brown Universities. These forty-seven libraries 

 aggregate 5,026,472 volumes ; and the whole list of 5338 

 libraries aggregates 20,622,076 volumes, or one volume to every 

 three persons in the country. In round numbers the United 

 States has one library to every 10,000 of population, though in 

 many States the proportion is far greater. New Hampshire, for 

 example, has a library to every 2700 persons. Massachusetts 

 and Connecticut furnish a library to every 3134 and 3479 persons 

 respectively. California, Colorado, Wyoming, and Michigan, 

 are well up on the list. Arkansas, which stands lowe-t, has one 

 library to every 50,158 of population. 



Some time ago we reviewed a little book entitled "A Year 

 with the Birds," by an Oxford Tutor. A second edition has 

 now been issued. The author has added a chapter on the 

 Alpine birds, and has also made a considerable number of 

 additions and corrections in the original chapters. 



The annu.al general meeting of the Linnean Society of New 

 South Wales took place on January 26. The usual address 

 was delivered by the President, Prof. W. J. Stephens, who pre- 

 sented a general summary of all the scientific work included in 

 the year's Transactions. He also drew attention to the labours 

 of other scientific Societies of Australasia during the preceding 

 year, and concluded with some observations on scientific 

 teaching in general schools. 



