466 



NATURE 



{_Scpt. 16, 1880 



JIONSIGNOR Eligio Cosi, Bishop in fartibus infiddium at 

 Chang-Tong in China, is said to have invented a new alphabet, 

 composed of thirty-three letters, with which all sounds of the 

 Chinese tongue can be clearly expressed ; until now 30,000 were 

 requisite. The Emperor of Austria, to whom Monsignor Cosi 

 communicated his invention, presented him w'ith a complete 

 typographical apparatus for a printing establishment. 



The boring of the Arlberg Tunnel is in active progress on the 

 Austrian side of the mountain, and ground will shortly be broken 

 on the Swiss side. The St. Gothard line in its entire length is 

 expected to be in running order in April next. 



A RATHER smart earthquake shock was felt at Zermatt on the 

 3rd inst., and other two on Friday last. 



On Wednesday, September 8, lightning fell on the Sorbonne 

 at about half-past two o'clock. A globe of fire was observed by 

 persons present on the spot. Some of them say it was seen coming 

 from the point of the north-western conductor, which was struck, 

 as w-ell as the south-western, with a great noise. The Sorbonne 

 had, until recently, no lightning conductor, and never, as far as 

 is kuown, has any thunderbolt struck the venerable abode of the 

 French University. But within the last few months six stems 

 have been erected and connected by an iron bar, making a 

 circuit which goes all over the roof of the immense building. 

 Unfortunately the pit where the earth conductor has been placed 

 is situated at a great distance |.from the main building, in a 

 courtyard adjoining the laboratory of M. Jamin, and the con- 

 ductor which connects the roof with this is a square iron box of 

 less than 15 mm. on each side, so that there is not sufiicient 

 conductibility in it to establish an efficient connection with the 

 earth. This accident proves the sagacity of M. Karsten, the 

 Schleswig liolstein physicist, who published a table giving a 

 formula for regulating the dimensions of the connecting-rods with 

 their lengths, as is taught by Ohm's law s. It shows also how 

 little the knowledge of lightning-conductors is spread in France, 

 in spite of the several official commissious which have been 

 established by the Government. 



During the severe thunderstorm which passed over North 

 London on Monday, a peculiar phenomenon was witnessed in 

 the grounds of the Welsh Harp, Hendon, by some gentlemen 

 boating on the lake. A vivid flash of lightning was succeeded 

 by a tremendous peal of thunder, a great ball of fire at the same 

 time descending from the heavens into the water. When the 

 storm had abated over ico fish of various kinds, including two 

 fine carp, weighing together 23 lb., were found floating dead on 

 the lake. 



The elevation of temperature which has been so remarkable 

 in Paris during the end of August aud the beginning of Septem- 

 ber has been accompanied by the production of a putrid odour 

 spread all over the city, and which has been obnoxious to the 

 public health. A report has just been published by the Prefect 

 of Police, explaining that it must be attributed to the want of 

 water for flushing the sewers, and also to the existence of a 

 number of establishments where sulphate of ammonia is pro- 

 duced, and matters extracted by night-men are dried to be turned 

 into manure. The Prefect of Police says that measures will be 

 taken for producing an enlarged supply of water, and that 

 gradually all Ihe seviage will be conducted to Clichy by the 

 sewers. The completion of this scheme involves the purchase 

 by the city of a large tract of land for utilising these matters, 

 which could not be thrown into the Seine without poisoning the 

 stream. 



The Daily Ncius Naples correspondent writes tliat since the 

 4th instant Vesuvius has again become more active, and has 

 launched his projectiles in greater number and to a greater 

 height. The seismograph at the observatory is also more 

 animated, and new .lava has issued from tlae side of the cone, 

 flowing, fortunately for the railway, to the north-east. I 



The new number of the Canadian Naturalist (which, we 

 believe, is kept up with difficulty) contains a paper by Mr. 

 G. M. Dawson on the Distribution of the more Important Trees 

 of British Columbia, which has also been printed separately, and 

 another by Principal Dawson, on; the Geological Relations and 

 Fossil Remains of the Silurian Ores of Pictou, Nova Scotia. 

 Mr. G. F. Matthew has a paper on Tidal Erosion in the Bay 

 of Fundy. Are such specimens of etymological jugglery as the 

 Rev. J. Campbell's paper on the " Hittites in America" sup- 

 posed in Canada to have any connection with science ? Un- 

 fortunately some of our own scientific societies are guilty of 

 encouraging similar elaborate trifling. 



Further excavations, the Times Geneva correspondent 

 states, made in the ancient glacier bed near Solothurn have 

 produced some very interesting results, and the spot is being 

 daily visited by geologists and sightseers. The debris removed 

 consisted of 4J metres of drift mixed up with boulders and 

 crystalline erratic blocks. The rock bared measures 20 metres 

 long by 7 wide. It is highly polished by the action of the ice, 

 and traversed by channels, through which the glacier-water 

 found its way into the so-called "giants' pots," or "kettles." 

 These, so far as has yet been ascertained, are three in number. 

 The largest measures 8 metres from west to east, 3*7 from north 

 to south, and is 3.J metres deep. .The second is 5J metres 

 across, and still contains the great boulder or mill-stone by 

 which it was hollowed out. The third is smaller and oval-shaped, 

 and there is reason to suppose that, if the excavations were 

 continued, several more would be brought to light. This inter- 

 esting relic of the great ice-age, or rather of the last glacial 

 epoch, is at present private property, but a project is on foot for 

 i's acquisition by the canton, and preservation as a glacier 

 garden in the manner of that of Lucerne. 



We have on our table the following publications : — " Familiar 

 Wild Flowers," by F. E. Hulme (Cassell) ; " On the Educa- 

 tional Treatment of Incurably Deaf Children," by W. B. Dalby 

 (Churchill) ; " Brain and Nerve Exhaustion, " by Mr. Stretch Dowse 

 (Baillic-re) ; " Lectures on the Science and Art of Education,"^ 

 by Joseph Payne (Longmans) ; " The Morals of Evolution," by 

 M. J. Savage (Triibner) ; " Animal Magnetism," by R. Heiden- 

 hain (Kegan Paul); " Stonehenge Plans, Descriptions, and 

 Theories," by W. M. F. Petrie(E. Stanford); "Ambulance Lec- 

 tures," by Lionel A. Wealherly, M. P. (Griffith and Farren); 

 "Astronomy, Text-Books of Science," by R. S. Ball (Long- 

 mans) ; "The Land and Freshwater Shells of the British Isles,'' 

 by R. Rimmer (Bogue) ; "British Wild Flowers- by Natural 

 Analysis," by J. Messer (Bogue) ; " Glimpses of England," by 

 J. R. Blakiston (Griffith and Farran) ; "Radical Mechanics of 

 Animal Locomotion," by Mr. Wainwright (Van Nostrand). 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Common Cuckoo (Cuciilus canoriis), 

 European, presented by Mr. G. Chandle ; a Stock Dove 

 (Coluinba anas), European, presented by Mr. A. Basil Brooke;, 

 a Common Raven (Corvus corax), European, presented Ijy Mr. 

 W. A. Mitchison ; a Rufescent Snake (Lcptodira nifescfns) from 

 South Africa, presented by the Rev. G. H. R. Fiske, C.M.Z.S. ; 

 a Horned Lizard {Phrynosoma cornutum) from Texas, presented 

 by Mrs. Budgett ; a Vervet Monkey (Ctriv/it/urns lalandii\ 

 from South Africa, two Bull Frogs (Jiana jnngiens) from Nova 

 Scotia, deposited. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



Faye's Comet. — The following places of this comet are 

 adapted, like those previously given in this column, to Berlin, 

 midnight or to about iih. Greenwich time: — 



