436 



NATURE 



yMarch ro, 1881 



coloured under-wings. Of these fifteen all have some more or less 

 transparent spaces or colourings. In some cases portions of the 

 under-wings are brightly coloured, though not transparent, but 

 both in this case and when there are transparent places they appear 

 chiefly on parts that are apparently invisible when the wings are 

 closed. If these observations are correct, the insects are care- 

 fully protected when at rest or when they are laying their eggs. 

 Whether they pair on the ground or with shut \\'ings I do njt 

 actually know, for after carefully watching every butterfly I have 

 come across for two summers, I have not succeeded in seeing 

 any of the protectively coloured sorts pairing. It seems likely 

 enough therefore that their protective colours come into j-lay 

 then. My opportunities for observation are however extremely 

 limited, and it is to draw the attention of those more favourably 

 situated to the subject of the colours of our common butterflies 

 that I write this. In the fifteen protectively-coloured butterflies 

 mentioned above I did not include the "fritillaries," because of 

 the strange metiflic lustre on their under-wings. Still they seeiu 

 suddenly to disappear when they settle, and the metaUic spots 

 may take the place of the transparent or coloured ones in other 

 sorts by throwing off the light, and thus enable the insects 

 to recognise each other. Eight kinds more or less transparent 

 but not seemingly protectively coloured, and two common 

 " Blues," make up the thirty kinds I have been able to handle. 

 The under-wings of the "Blues" are certainly protectively 

 coloured, but there seems to be no transparency or bright 

 markings in them. J. Innes Rogers 



Putney, February 24 



Dust, Fogs, and Smoke 



The present endeavours to alleviate the smoke nuisance in 

 London give some interest to the description of the effects of 

 coal smoke on Loudon life in former ages. 



I do not mean to speak of the well-l;nown petition presented 

 to Edward the First by the nobility and gentry against the use of 

 sea- coal in London and the consequent proclamation of that 

 monarch interdicting its use. But 1 allude to the following lines 

 written and publislied by Evelyn in 1661 in his "Fumifugium," 

 but which I borrow from the " History of Loudon," by 

 Noortlrouck, London, 1773. 



" The immoderate use of, and indulgence to sea-coale alone 

 in the city of London, exposes it to one of the fowle^t incon- 

 veniences and reproaches that can possibly befall so noble, and 

 otherwise incomparable city: and that, not from the culinary 

 fires, H hich for being weak and lesse often fed below, is with 

 such ease dispelled and scattered above, as it is hardly at all 

 discernible, but from some few ]>articular tunnells and issues, 

 belonging only to brewers, diers, lime-burners, salt, and sope- 

 boylers, and some other private trades one of whose spiracles 

 alme, does manifestly infect the aer, more than all the chimnies 

 of London put together be.Udes. And that this is not the least 

 hyperbolic, let tlie best of judges decide it, which I take to be 

 our senses : whilst these are belching it forth their sooty jaws, 

 the city of London resembles the face rather of Mount ^tua, the 

 court of Vulcan, Stromboli, or the suburbs of hell, than au 

 assembly of rational creatures, and the imperial seat of our 

 incomparable monarch. For when in all other places the aer is 

 most serene and pure, it is here ecclipsed with such a cloud of 

 sulphure, as the sun itself, which gives day to all the world 

 besides, is hirdly able to penetrate and impart it here ; and the 

 weary traveller, at many miles distance, sooner smells, than sees 

 the city to which he repairs. This is that pernicious smoake 

 which suUyes all her glory, superinducing a sooty crust, or furr 

 upon all that it lights, spoyling the moveables, tarnishing the 

 plate, gildings, and furniture, and corrodding the very iron bars 

 and hardest stones with thjse piercing and acrimonious spirits 

 which accompany its sulphure; and executing more in one year 

 than exposed to the pure aer of the country it could effect in 

 some hundreds. It is this hon'id smoake which obscures our 

 churches and makes our palaces look old, which fouls our 

 clothes, and corrupts the m aters, >o as the very rain and refresh- 

 ing dews which fall in the several seasons precipitate this impure 

 vapour, which wirh its black and tenacious quality, spots and 

 contaminates whatever is exposed to it. It is this which scatters 

 and strews about those black and smutty atomes upon all things 

 where it comes, insinuating itself into our very secret cabinets, 

 and most precious repositories : finally, it is this which diffuses 

 and spreads a yellounesse upon our choysest pictures and 

 hai.gmgs ; which does this mi-Chief at home, is Avernus to 



fowl, and kills our bees and flowers abroad, suffering nothing in 

 our gardens to bud, display themselves or ripen \ so as our 

 anemonies and many other choycest flowers will by no industry 

 be made to blow [ijr] in London, or the precincts of it, unlesse 

 they be raised on a hot-btd and governed with extraordinary 

 artifice to accellerate their springing; imparting a bitter and 

 ungrateful tast to those few wretched fruits, which never arriv- 

 ing to their desired maturity seem, like the apples of Sodome, 

 to fall even to dust when they are but touched. Not therefore 

 to be forgotten is that which was by many observed, that in the 

 year 1644 when Newcastle was besieged and blocked up in our 

 late wars, so as through the great dearth and scarcity of coales, 

 those fumous works many of them were either left off, or spent 

 but few coales in comparison to what they now use ; divers 

 gardens and orchards, planted even in the very heart of London 

 (as in particular my lord Marquesse of Hertford's in the Strand, 

 my lord Bridgewater's and some others about Barbican), were 

 observed to bear such plentiful and infinite quantities of fruits, 

 as they never produced the lil;e either before or since to their 

 great astonishment : but it was by the owners rightly imputed 

 to the penury of coales and the little smoake, which they took 

 notice to infest them that year ; for there is a virtue in the aer 

 to penetrate, alter, nourish, yea and to multiply plants and fruits, 

 without which no vegetable could possibly thrive." 



The improvement mentioned by Evelyn, when the use of coal 

 was for a time less extensive in London, is particularly worthy 

 of notice, and ought, I think, to be considered as an encourage- 

 ment to persi t in the attempt of rendering London as smokeless 

 as po-sible. Chatel 



Jersey, February 25 



THE GERMAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 



ON November 11, 1S67, a meeting of about eighty 

 chemists was held in Berlin to take steps for 

 inaugurating a new Chemical Society-. On January 13 of 

 the succeeding year (186S) the first meeting of the Society 

 was held, when Prof. 'A. W. Hofmann was elected 

 president, and the roll call of the Society contained lo; 

 names. During the first year of its .existence 97 papers 

 were read before the Society ; at the close of the year the 

 meinbership had increased to 275, and the Society found 

 that a voluiue of 282 pages was needed to contain the 

 papers communicated to it. 



Since 1868 the German Chemical Society has steadily 

 increased in size and in usefulness ; the Bcrichle for 1880 

 consists of two large volumes numbering, between them, 

 2473 pages, and containing the 563 papers communicated 

 to the Society during the year, besides numerous abstracts 

 of papers published elsewhere. The income of the 

 Society for 1S80 amounted in round numbers to the sum 

 of 2000/., and of this about 1400/. was set against the cost 

 of publishing the Bciiclitc. 



During the thirteen years of its existence the German 

 Chemical Society has published in its Bcrichte most of 

 the important discoveries in pure chemistry made in that 

 period. It has been the aim of the .Society to publish 

 papers communicated to it with as little delay as possible. 

 Meetings are held twice monthly during the session, and 

 the papers read at one meeting are published in the 

 Berichtc, which appears on the day on which the next 

 meeting takes place. Papers appearing within so short a 

 time after they are communicated are necessarily brief 

 and concise ; but this rapid publication confers a great 

 benefit on all chemists, as they are thus put in possession 

 of at least the leading facts concerning all recent work 

 almost as soon as these facts have been established by 

 the workers. If papers in the Bericlite are sometimes 

 wanting in completeness and symmetry, many of them 

 are full of life and stir, telling as they do of work actually 

 proceeding in the laboratory ; appearing sometimes in 

 short abrupt snatches, they convey something of the 

 enthusiasm of the worker as he compels nature, bit by 

 bit, to yield her treasured secrets. 



The system of printing abstracts of papers published in 

 the various chemical journals has recently been adopted 



