May 20, 1880] 



NATURE 



65 



The Mitchell Library of Glasgow, which was opened in 1877, 

 tas already attained [considerable dimensions, and under the 

 careful organisation of the principal librarian, Mr. BaiTett, 

 promises to be of great service as a consulting library. It now 

 possesses 16,828 works, or 27,982 volumes, a large proportion 

 of which are scientific. Of the volumes issued in 1S79 igi per 

 cent, belonged to the division of "Arts, Sciences, and Natural 

 History "—rather a curious division, by the by. This percentage 

 was excelled only by History, Biography and Travel, and 

 "Miscellaneous." 



The eminent physicist. Dr. Rudolf Clausius, of Bonn, has 

 been elected a member of the Roman Academy "dei Lincei." 



The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of 

 San Domingo has issued a circular to the Ministers of England, 

 America, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, and Denmarl-, soliciting 

 their co-operation in the erection of a monument to Christopher 

 Columbus in the city of San Domingo. 



The Lisbon Academy has decided to ask the consent of the 

 Government to transfer the bones of Vasco da Gama from 

 Vidigueira Alemte-'o to the church of the Jeronimites, Belem. It is 

 proposed that a deputation of the Academy should accompany 

 the remains of Vasco da Gama, and a war ship convey them from 

 Bareira, on the banks of the Tagus, to the Lisbon Arsenal. 



Admiral Mouchez, the Director of the Paris Observatory, 

 has published a pamphlet on the work executed in this establish- 

 ment during the year 1S79. A new decree quoted by M. Mouchez 

 arranges that the several anployh of the Observatoiy, when not 

 too old, can be admitted to follow the course of lectm'es given 

 at the School of Astronomy recently created, and are fit to be 

 appointed astronomers if successful in their examinations. The 

 establishment is to be enlarged in the vicinity of Boulevard Arago, 

 the admission of the public to be more frequent, and the mag- 

 netical observations to be resumed. The meteorological observa- 

 tions have been continued, and are to be in some respects 

 enlarged, although no change is contemplated in the organisation 

 of the Bureau Centrale and the Service d'Avertissements, which 

 will continue for ever independent of the astronomical observa- 

 tories. 



1W.-B. Sydney Morning Herald x^cox&s the death of Mr. Edward 

 Smith Hill on March 17, sixty-one years of age. He was a 

 native of Sydney, and after retiring from business devoted his 

 time to scientific investigations for the last eighteen years. He 

 made a voyage to the South Sea Islands, and wrote some valu. 

 able papers and pamphlets on their flora. He wrote for the 

 New South Wales Government a report on the flora of Lord 

 Howe Island, and the condition of its European inhabitants. 

 Among his contributions to Sydney journals was a series of 

 articles describing the fishes found in the harbours and rivers of 

 New South Wales and along the coast. 



The work of examining the 5,000 employes of the Pennsyl- 

 vania Railroad Company as to their power of distinguishing 

 colours and forms was begun in Jersey City on April 1. Acute. 

 ness of vision was tested by means of printed cards placed at a 

 distance of twenty feet ; also by means of small openings in a 

 screen illuminated on the further side. Many who successfully 

 passed these ordeals failed signally in the colour tests. Three 

 skeins of woollen yarn were used, one being light green, the 

 second rose, and the third red. Each of these was placed on a 

 table in front of the person examined, at a distance of three feet, 

 and, with the vision of either eye obstructed by a spectacle frame, 

 the man was requested to name the colours, also to pick out a 

 similar shade to one or other of the three specified from different 

 skeins of woollen yarn numbered from I to 36. One young 

 man correctly designated the test skein as red, but on being told 

 to select a similar shade from the skeins before him, he picked 



three shades of blue, two of yellow, and one of red. He could 

 distinguish no difference ; and the same thing happened to half- 

 a-dozen others who followed him. The skeins in the row were 

 then divided into three sets with twelve numbers in each. Some 

 men proved able to distinguish all the shades of green, but failed 

 lamentably in picking out the different shades of red. The 

 officers of the road were greatly impressed, it is said, by the 

 results obtained. 



On April I a "Society for Zoology" was formed at Berlin, 

 with a view of furthering zoological science and zoological 

 research in all its branches. The president is Dr. Eduard Kaiser 

 (27, Friedrich Strasse), who will furnish all particulars to 

 intending members. 



At Paris a S ociety " contre Tabus du tabac "has been formed , 

 which intends to combat the excessive indulgence in smoking 

 which has of late become the fashion in almost the whole of 

 Europe. The Society offers various prizes for treatises on the 

 human health and the dangers it is subject to from excessive use 

 of tobacco . 



The Times Geneva correspondent writes, under date May 12, 

 that a few days before, during a violent thunderstorm, a tall 

 poplar on the Cour de Rive, a street in the upper part of 

 Geneva, was struck by lightning. Directly after the occurrence 

 Prof. Colladon made a minute examination of the tree. The 

 Professor states that it is not true, as has been commonly 

 supposed, that the gashes [plaies) found in the trunk of a tree 

 which has been struck by lightning are the parts with which 

 the lightning first came into contact. The parts first struck are 

 the highest branches, especially those most exposed to the rain. 

 Thence it runs down the smaller branches — affecting almost the 

 whole of them — to the larger ones, until it reaches the trunk. 

 These larger branches, and above all the trunk, being much 

 worse conductors than the small branches, the passage through 

 them of the electricity produces heat and "repulsive eftects," 

 whereby the bark and sometimes the wood are torn in pieces, 

 the bits being thrown a considerable distance, occasionally more 

 than 5° metres. It not infrequently happens that the upper 

 branches and their leaves are destroyed— this is generally the 

 case with oaks, which are often strack — but the leaves and young 

 shoots of poplars and many oUier trees are such excellent con- 

 ductors that they do not appear when struck to suffer any notable 

 injury. This finds full confirmation in the condition of the 

 poplar on the Cour de Rive. In this instance the principal and 

 highest branch of the tree on its south-western side was the 

 first with which the lightning came in contact. Its leaves and 

 twigs, neither withered nor tarnished, were torn into minute 

 fragments and scattered about on the ground. This was the 

 eflfect, not of the lightning, but of the concussion of air, exactly 

 as if there had been an explosion of dynamite or gunpowder ; 

 and the windows of two houses close by were broken in the same 

 manner and by the same cause. The presence of water neai- the 

 root of a tree is often the determining cause of its attraction for 

 the electric fluid ; and the Professor found, 5 metres from the 

 poplar, on its north side, a leaden water-pipe, and close to it a 

 drain filled with waste water from a laundry. The principal 

 fissure in the tree was also on the north side; and half-way 

 between it and the water-pipe a plank lying on the ground had 

 been pierced by a concentrated jet of the electricity as it flashed 

 towards the pipe by the shortest route. Large trees, especially 

 tall poplars, placed near a house, may serve as veiy efiicient 

 lightning conductors, but always on the mdispensable condition 

 that there is no well or running water on the opposite side 

 of the house, for in that case the lightning, if it struck the tree, 

 might pass through the building on its way to the water. In 

 erecting lightning conductors it is desirable that theu: lower 

 extremUies should terminate in a stream, a well, or a piece of 



