568 



NATURE 



{Oct. 14, 1880 



tUesqumt ;noij, nnrl with Uus itorc of energy it was proposed 

 to nan to and from Dartford, about 16 miles. IJie ciiicr r»»i.,ro 

 of Col. Beaumont's method is the introduction of an almost im- 

 perceptible supply of steam, by which the air, as it is admitted 

 to the cylinder from the reservoir, is largely heated, and thereby 

 greatly increased in force. The engine is driven by six cylinders 

 and a double set of machinery at one end, and, having no smoke- 

 stack, resembles in appearance a locomotive tender rather than a 

 locomotive. It runs on four wheels, and in size is less than tliat 

 of an ordinary omnibus. It left the Royal Arsenal at Plumstead 

 Station at 12.22 p.m., with a full charge of 1,000 lb. to the inch, 

 passed Abbey Wood Station at 12.27 with 940 lb. on the 

 guage ; Belvedere at 12.33, with 8.60 lb. ; and Erith at 

 12.36, with 760 lb., arriving at Dartford at 12.50, with a 

 remaining energy of 540 lb. on the square inch. Shunting about 

 at the station reduced this pressure somewhat, and at i"3S the 

 return journey commenced with a store of 510 feet. Although 

 the minimum for effective working is considered to be a pressure 

 of 200 feet, Plumstead station was reached again at 2.10, but the 

 engine was nearly pumped out, having a pressure of barely 

 80 lb. remaining. It was stated that another engine was being 

 constructed, much more powerful ; capable, in fact, of travelling 

 double the distance with a single charge. The operation of 

 pumping in the compressed air occupies about fifteen minutes, 

 and it is calculated that an air engine on this principle as large 

 as the usual steam locomotive of 50 tons weight would be 

 considerably more powerful than any locomotive yet made. 

 The objection to steam, that it frightens horses, caimot apply to 

 this system, as there is no escape of steam visible or audible, 

 and the only noise to be distinguished is a rumbling sound like 

 the rattle of the street traffic. 



One of the most satisfactory reports on the progress of 

 cinchona cultivation and the harvesting of bark in the Govern- 

 ment plantations in Bengal, has just been issued by Dr. King. 

 A summary of the work of the year 1S79S0 shows that the 

 plantation was extended by about tliree-quarters of a million of 

 young trees, a crop of 361,590 lbs. of dry bark was harvested, 

 a new kind of cinchona, namely, that which yields the Carthageua 

 bark of commerce, was brought into cultivation, and the nursery 

 stock was maintained at a sufficiently high level for the supply of 

 young plants for the present year. In the details of the year's 

 planting it is shown that as in former years the species most 

 largely planted was C. succinibra, and of this as many a, 

 644,222 were put out. Of the valuable C, calisaya and hybrid 

 plants a comparatively large number h.is been planted ; of the 

 hybrid species as many as 39,400 at Mungpoo, and 36,680 at 

 Sittong, and of C. calisaya 12,782 at Sittong. The yield of 

 bark during the year amounted to 361,590 lbs. of dry bark. Dr. 

 King further reports that ia accordance with the orders of 

 Government arrangements were made towards the end of the 

 year for sending a quantity of the Calisaya bark, which had accu- 

 mulated in the factory store-room, to London for sale, and since 

 the expiry of the year, part of this bark has actually been 

 despatched : further it is slated that the amount of febrifuge used 

 in substitution of quinine in Government hospitals and dis- 

 pensaries during the past year was 5>40° 'bs. Taking the 

 average price in Calcutta of quinine for the year at Rs. 90 per lb. 

 (a low estimate), tlie saving effected by this substitution has been 

 ery nearly four lakhs of rupees. The saviijg iu. former years 

 from the substitution of the febrifuge having amounted to seven 

 and three quarter lakhs of rupees, the total saving up to the end 

 of last year tlierefore reaches eleven and tihree quarter lakhs, 

 which is quite a lakh and a half more than the plantations (in- 

 cluding compound interest at 4 per cent.) have cost since their 

 commencement. This is a most satisfactory statement, added to 

 which the introduction through Kew of the valuable species of 

 cinchona, yielding Carthagena or Columbian bark, and the 



prospect of its successful propagation, makes Dr. King's present 

 report one of very great interest and satisfaction. 



We have received several uuiuij^.„ c i. .. / , , 



i .1 r, ., • 7 ^ -r, , „ ■"" '-nrrent year (vol. V.) 



of the Botanical Gazette, a Paper of Botanical Notes puun;,..^! 



at Crawfordsville, Indiana. The Gazette appears to have a 

 large circulation in Western America, which, as far as we can 

 judge from the specimens before us, it well deserves. We 

 quote the following interesting and sensible remarks from the 

 editorial notes : — " A new school of botanists is rapidly gaining 

 ground in this country, and we are glad to see it. While the 

 country was new and its flora but little known, it was very 

 natural for systematic botany to be in the ascendency. It is a 

 very attractive thing to most men to discover new species ; but 

 when the chance for such discovery becomes much lessened, 

 there is a turning to the inexliaustible field of physiological 

 botany. Systematists are necessary, but a great number of them 

 is not an essential thing, and it is even better to have but a few 

 entitled to rank as authorities in systematic work. But in study- 

 ing the life-histories of plants or their anatomical structure, we 

 cannot have too many careful observers. This, at the present 

 day, seems to be the most promising field, and one botanist 

 after another is coming to appreciate it. As microscopes are 

 becoming cheaper, and hence commoner, the workers in the 

 histology cf plants are becoming more numerous, and it is to 

 such that the Gazette, would now address itself." We noticed 

 especially some remarkable observations by a correspondent of 

 the Gazette on the carnivorous habits of the honey-bee of South 

 America. These would appear, however, to require confirma- 

 tion before they can be accepted without hesitation. 



The Valley Naturalist is the title of a small monthly journal 

 published in St. Louis, U.S. It contains contributions in various 

 departments of natural science ; it would be of more value, we 

 think, if it confined itself more strictly to contributions on local 

 natural history, and had fewer miscellaneous items from foreign 

 journals. 



We noticed a few months ago that an international metro- 

 logical office had been established at Breteuil (near St. Cloud) at 

 the expense of all the civilised nations except England. A part 

 of the duties of this oflice is to deliver to the associated nations 

 approved standard metres and kilograms for the ulterior con- 

 struction of other standards, and practical verification of the usual 

 metres and kilograms. The standards intended for France 

 being ready, the Minister of Public Instruction appointed the 

 French national committee, which is composed of MM. Dumas, 

 St.-Claire Deville, Ilerve-Mangon, Mascart, and a few others. 

 It may be noted that M. Tresca, who designed the pattern of 

 the international metre adopted by the International Commission, 

 is not one of the new committee. 



The Nineteenth Century Building Society has done a com- 

 mendable thing in resolving, that as, in their opinion a course of 

 lectures at the Parkes Museum of Hygiene on House Sanitation 

 would be most valuable to the members of building societies 

 (who to a very large extent own the house they live in), the 

 secretary of the society be requested to ask the Committee of 

 the Museum whether such a course of lectures could not be given 

 gratuitously during the ensuing winter. 



The Municipal Council of St. Petersburg is at present deUbe- 

 rating on a proposition made by the Electrotechnik, a Russian 

 society recently established, for illuminating with Siemens lamps 

 the Newsky Prospect, whose length is 7,000 metres. 



The Algerian Akhbar says, in one of its last numbers, that the 

 corpses of two European travellers, who according to all pro- 

 bability have died from want of water, have been discovered 

 lying in the desert fifty miles southward of Wargla, the most 

 remote oasis occupied by the French in the Algerian Sahara, 



