428 



NATURE 



[April 2, 1874 



gas, carrying with it 3S0 ballast, of which no more than 40 were 

 left for descending from 7,400 metres. The altitude is higher than 

 any French aeronaut has reached up to the present time, but Mr. 

 Glaisher, without the help of any oxygenised air, navigated 

 the atmosphere on several occasions to that distance from the sta- 

 level — as on August 28, 1S62, April 18, 1863, June 26, 1S63, 

 &c. He had no feeling of suffocation except when he reached 

 10,000 metres on September 5, 1862. It is to be supposed that 

 with proper care and with persons properly trained and selected, 

 the metho'!, although efficacious, is not required except at 

 higher level or for the purpose of increasing the comforts of aerial 

 travellers. It is very probable that it is useless to keep several 

 mixtures and that pure oxygen is better as being more efficacious 

 and less bulky. 



This year's International Exhibition at South Kensington 

 opens next Monday. 



At the annual general meeting of the Royal College of 

 Physicians of London, held on March 30, Sir George Burrows, 

 F.R.S., was re-elected President of the College. 



Astronomers will be interested to learn that among the 

 numerous able men whom the President of the republic of 

 Ecuador has gathered to that city in order to develop the 

 University of Quito, there has appeared one, Father Menten, 

 whose interest in astronomy has been such as promises to settle 

 the long-mooted question as to an observatory in that city. 

 Menten has now returned to Quito laden with a portion of the 

 instrumental outfit that he was ordered to secure at Munich. 

 Among the apparatus is a six- inch meridian circle. Father 

 Menten was for some time a pupil of the eminent Arge- 

 lander. 



The Royal Academy of Belgium has announced the following 

 subject for its prize essay for 1875 '■ — The relation of heat to 

 the development of phanerogamic vegetation, especially with 

 respect to periodic phenomena, and the value of the dynamic 

 influence of solar heat on the evolution of plants. 



It has been proposed to hold a fungus show in Scotland ; a 

 preliminary meeting is to be held in Marischal College, Aber- 

 deen, on April 14. 



Mr. J. C. Mellis, late Commissioner of Crown Property at 

 St. Helena, announces as in the press a work on the geology, 

 fauna, flora, and meteorology of St. Helena. Separated so far 

 as the island is from any mainland, and showing no trace of any 

 former connection with a continent, there are many questions of 

 interest as to the origin of its flora and fauna. This work is 

 stated to be based on Mr. Mellis's own observations, and 

 promises to be of great value. 



Mr. Watson has brought to England a series of paintings 

 by a Japanese artist illustrating some of the customs of the 

 Ainos, who inhabit the island of Yezo, or Sesso as it is some- 

 times spelt, north of Niphon. Not much is known of the Ainos, 

 but they are regardedas the aborigines of Yezo, who have been 

 driven inland by the fringe of Japanese settlements all round the 

 coast. Tlie first of the scries is said to repiesent the traditional 

 origin of the race. A woman is in a cave weeping, and a dog is 

 carrying to her a red flower, apparently a rose. It does not 

 however, appear to be known what this symbolises. A coloured 

 drawing of a male Aino executed with great care and regard to 

 detail, shows bows and arrows of native make and a sword of 

 Japanese manufacture. A cord is worn round tlie liead to help 

 to form a support for a weight, as they never carry burdens on 

 their backs. The portrait of a female shows the broad tattooing 

 round the upper and lower lip and on the arms, as the sign of 

 marriage. Both the male and female wear earrings, which is a 

 contrast to the Japanese, wlio never wear personal ornaments. 



The woman is playing on a kind of guitar with five strings. In 

 the views of the interior of the dwellings all cooking utensils 

 have their Japanese names written against them by the artist, so 

 that their use may be known though their shape is not familiar. 

 Some of the series illustrate whale harpooning, which is done 

 with a two-pronged harpoon, and many are devoted to tlie fes- 

 tival of the bear. After killing a bear they appear to sit round 

 it in state solemnity, as if worshipping it and offering it food and 

 drink. Dresses of many colours are worn, and the bear is deco- 

 rated. Their commerce is represented as the collecting of sea- 

 weed, drying it, packing it in bundles and selling these by weight 

 to Japanese. The drawings of the articles used for food, lami- 

 naria, crabs, holothuria, cuttle-fish, &c., are drawn with great 

 detail and delicacy of colouring. 



The first volume of " Repeitorium annuum Literaturre Bota- 

 nical Periodica-," has appeared, published at Harlem under the 

 editorship of Van Bemmalen. It professes to give an account, 

 for the year, of all botanical papers read in full or in abstract 

 before Societies, and also to notice memoirs and communications 

 to Societies. 



Dr. L. Just, Professor'of Agricultural Chemistry in the Poly- 

 technic School at Carlsruhe, has just published, with the co-ope- 

 ration of several distinguished men of science, an Annual of 

 Botany, intended to form a complete record of all botanical 

 works published during the year. 



The Bureau des Longitudes is no longer connected with the 

 National Observatory of Paris. It is to have its own budget, 

 library, and a public building will be arranged for its private 

 use. The most influential member and president is M. Faye, 

 who is making a public appeal to French astronomers asking 

 them to devote themselves to the spectroscopic observations of the 

 sun. 



Mr. W. S. Clark, president of the Massachusetts Agricul- 

 tural College, publishes a lecture On the Circulation of Sap in 

 Plants, containing a great amount of information as to our know- 

 ledge of the subject, and a number of tables and diagrams to 

 illustrate the maximum and minimum pressures of the sap in 

 different trees. Mr. Clark maintains, in opposition to some 

 recent statements, that there is a flow of crude sap upwards in the 

 wood, and a flow of organisable material essential to the life of 

 the plant proceeding from the leaf to the root through the bark 

 and cambium layer, from which the growth of the season is 

 formed. 



The annual niiiinm of the Societes Savantes des Departe- 

 ments of France, will take place at the Sorbonne from April 8 



to II. 



Once every year French astronomers hold a general 

 meeting at the office of the Minister for Public Instruction. It 

 will take place this year in the beginning of April. 



French officers belonging to the general staff are regularly 

 attending the observatory to be trained in astronomy. A 

 special building has been constructed for llieir use by M. 

 Leverrier. 



Dr. Hyrtl, the eminent Professor of Anatomy in the 

 University of Vienna, delivered his final lecture on March 16, 

 and took leave of his class. In the afternoon he met an assem- 

 blage of more than three thousand pupils and friends, who pre- 

 sented him with addresses and other expressions of esteem, which 

 were feelingly acknowledged by him. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include two Laughing Kingfishers (Dacelo gigaiitm) 

 from Australia, presented by Mr. J. Hayward ; a White-necked 

 Crow (Coi-jus scapidatus) from the Gold Coast, West Africa, 

 presented by Capt. E. Whitehead, 42nd Highlanders ; an Eland 

 {Oreas canna], born in the Gardens ; two Yellow-headed Conures 

 (Coiiiinis jeiiiiayn) from south-east Brazil, purchased. 



