364 



NATURE 



[Mar. 12, 1874 



larfter of tlicse is the gigantic Inditm Rhinoceros i,K. 

 utn'corKii^. many specimens of which have Ih-ou biought 

 to this country, and a very tine male c\.\n\ple of which is 

 hviiig in the Regent's Park Ganiens. In it the skin, 

 whicn is immensely thick, is thrown into massive folds 

 or shields, making the anim,il appear as if clad in armour- 

 plating. Kach shield is thickly studded with nearlv 

 circuliu slightlv-raised tubercles, which look very much 

 like the heads of innumerable bolts intended to strengthen 

 and retain the shield in position. The folds that surround 

 the neck, where it joins the head, an^ very ample, pro- 

 ducing the appear.mce of the now so fashionable rutV. 

 somewhat moditiixl. According to the observations of the 

 late Mr. ICdwanl Blyth, the Indian Rhinoceros is found 

 only at the foot ot the Himalayan hills, and in the province 

 of .-Vssani, along the valley of the Ijr.ihmapootra. 



The second species of one-homed Rhinoceros is gene- 

 n\lly calleil the J.ivan Rhmoceros (_A\ .i(v.'./.t;V;/.v\ It is 

 found in lava, and in the country stretching from Ma- 

 lacca up through lUirnxah to .-Vssam. It is considei-ably 

 smaller than the Indian species ; the shields are not so 

 strongly marked, and are not arranged in an exactly 

 similar m,\nner, the gluteal shield not being completely 

 divided into two by a transverse fold situated half-way 

 down it ; and the middle neck fold, instead of running 

 backwards on each side before it reaches the spine, 

 crosses the middle line, and so divides olT a saddle- 

 shaped shield, which is niedian, and as deep from 

 before backwards as fron\ side to side. The fold which 

 surrounds the neck is also ntuch less signiticant. and 

 the head is narrower and less formidable in aspect. The 

 tuberculation of the shields is more slightly marked, and 

 each tubercle is proportionately smaller in diameter. 



It is a specimen of this Javan Rhinoceros (A\ 

 si'tM\u\us"', a nearly full-grown male from Java itselt, 

 which the Zoological Society has succeeded in purchasing, 

 and which is now exhibited in the same house as the 

 Indian species, so that evcr\- opportunity is at last aflorded 

 for a more minute study of the ditierences which will most 

 probably be found to distinguish the two species. 



The other species of Asiatic Rhinoceroses, namelv, the 

 Sumatran Rhinoceros (A". .ftt/«.j/»-.i«».v\ and the Hairv- 

 earcd Rhinoceros ^K. /<i,f/.>//>\ are both two-homed, and 

 have been divided off as a separate genus, that of Cc>\i- 

 /orAintts. by Dr. J. E. Gray. The skin is not divided 

 into shields, .and is thinner ttian in the one-homed species. 

 The type specimen of the Hairy-e;ired Rhinoceros, the 

 only ex.unple known, is now living in the /Zoological Gar- 

 dens. About a ye;vr ago the Sumatnin animalw.is also 

 represented, and rumour says that the gap caused by its 

 loss will not be long untilled. 



X£/L A/tA'Orr, M.D., F.R.S. 



AA 'E have this week to record the death of this well-known 

 ' ' m.rn of science, which took place at his residence 

 in Cumberland Terrace, Regent's Park, on the ;nd inst. 

 He was born at Arbroath in May irSS, .-ind had conse- 

 quently reached his eighty-sixth year. 



While Neil was yet young his f,itlier died, and 

 the family removed to Aberdeen. Xeil went to 

 the Aberdeen Granimar School, being there with 

 Lord Byron, and succeeded so well in the one thing 

 then taught. Latin, that he gained a bursary bv a compe- 

 tition in .Marischal College, which he enteretl in iSoi. In 

 his third year he came under Patrick Copeland, Piofessor 

 of Natural Philosophy, renowned for his admirable course 

 of lectures, and especially for his power of experimental 

 illustration. Arnott was one of Copel.and's best pupils, 

 and a(terw;ux1s turned to lull account the carehil notes 

 that he h.id made of the lectures. 



He began the study of medicine in Aberdeen, and 

 in 1S06 he went to London to prosecute the study. 



Young Arnott, while his medical education was still 

 incomplete, went aboard an Indiaman, as assistaiU- 

 surgeon, making the tisual voyage of a trading E.ast 

 Indi.iman in those d.iys. He was the intellect and soul 

 of the ship, associ.ating with everyone that could learn or 

 teach anything ; he was the resource in all serious emer- 

 gencies, of whatever kind. 



(.in his return to I'ngland, in iSn. he settled as a medi- 

 cal practitioner in London. He was the chief mcdic;il 

 adviser to a colony of French refugees who settled in 

 Camden Town, and also became physician to the French 

 and Spanish F.mbassies, his fluencv in l.mguages serving 

 him in good stead. It was about 1SJ3 that he tirst turned 

 to account his studies in natural philosophy, by giving in 

 his own house a course of lectures both on the general 

 subject and on its applications to medicine. These lec- 

 tures formed the basis of the " Physics," the tirst volume 

 of which appeared in tSj7, and gained for the author an 

 instantaneous and vvide-sprc.id reputation. The tirst edi- 

 tion was sold in a week after being reviewed by the 7'imt's. 

 In a few years live editions were exhausted, anil the work 

 was translated into all the l.uiguages of Europe. The 

 freshness and popular character of his style recommended 

 the book to the general public, and did not prevent its 

 favourable reception by the highest scicutitic authorities ; 

 Herschel and Whewell both gave emphatic testimonies to 

 its accuracy and originality. The author was thenceforth 

 recognised as a man of science and an inventor of no 

 mean order. His practice as a physici.in was extended, 

 and he becatne a I'ellow of the Roy;il Society. On the 

 foundation ol the I'niversity of London in 1836116 was 

 nominated a member of the Senate, and in 1837 he was 

 n.iined Physician Extraordinarj- to the Queen. 



In 1S3S he published a treatise on warming and venti- 

 lating, and in this he described the stove since called by 

 his name. He introduced the water-beds, .and m.ide 

 many other usetul applications of physics to medical and 

 surgical practice. For matiy years he had withdrawn 

 from medical practice. He had a large circle ot Iriends 

 in and out of the profession. His conversational powers, 

 his laige range of scientific knowledge, and his geniality 

 of manner, will be long remembered by those who now 

 regret his loss. 



OZOXE* 



U. 



COME of the prviperiies of oione have tilready been referre\l 

 ""-^ to. At the common temperature of the .itmosphere, it may 

 be preserved, if drj-, for a \eiy long time in scaUd tubes, but by 

 slow degrees it becomes cliange.t again into orJinar) oxygen. 

 This conversion goes on more rvpidly as the temperature is 

 raised, and at 237' C. it is almost instantaneous {•' Phil. Tr.ms." 

 for 1S56, p. 12). The alterauon of volume which occurs at llie 

 sjime time has been already sutliciently descril>ed. A similar 

 ellect to that of heat is prxxluced l>y several oxides, such as the 

 oxide of silver or the peroxide of miuiganese, which by contact, 

 or, as it is termed, catalytically, instantly change oioue into 

 orvlinary oxygen. Oioue is also destroyevl by agitation with 

 water, provided the ojone is in a highly ililuteii state. But the 

 most interesting (act of this kind is one which I hax-e recently 

 observed, and which I liope to l>e able to exhibit to the Society. 

 Prj- ojone, even if present in sucli quantities as Ireely to redden 

 iodide of p^itassium paper, is readdy destroyeil by agitating it 

 strongly with glass in tine fragraenls, although, .ts we ha\-e seen, 

 it may be preserved for an almost indefinite period in sealed glass 

 tulies. This experimtn;, as it appears to me, foims a new and 

 closer link than any hitherto ol»scrvei.l between a purely mecha- 

 nical action and a chemical change. 



Oione is a [xiwerful oxidising ;»gent. It attacks metallic mer- 

 cury and silver with great energy, and converts them into oxides. 

 The experiment with mercury is verj- striking, aud is a delicate 

 test for oione, either in the dry or moist state. A lew bubbles 



• .\n .\d^'aess deli«retl betore the Ro\-:»l Society of Edinburgh on 

 Decembers. 1S7J. by Dr. Aodre»^ LI.. I). F.R.S., Honorar>- Fellow of 

 the Kc)-^ Soaety of Cdinbuigii. (Continued Irom p. ;49.) 



