July 1 6, 1874I 



NA TURE 



215 



pieces of meat, or other substance, to attract the flies, upon 

 which the frogs feed ; they will also eat the maggots of decayed 

 meat, and even the meat itself. It appears that the demand for 

 rogs in America is increasing, and in that case a frog-farm 

 might be made a good investment. 



Of the 120,000 salmon eggs which were sent from England to 

 New Zealand in the winter of 1872, only about 60 are now alive. 

 Although the ship Oberoii by which they were sent was only 

 93 days on the passage, she was delayed on her arrival at 

 Dunedin in consequence of a quantity of gunpowder being on 

 board, which was obliged to be discharged before she could get 

 into port. Probably tlie eggs were not properly fertilised ; 

 though several boxes of ova which were kept packed in ice in 

 England for loS days under exactly similar conditions, produced 

 a good percent.age of fish. The Government of New Zealand 

 intend to repeat the experiment this year, when Glasgow will be 

 the port of despatch. 



On July I severe thunderstorms were felt in several parts 

 of southern France, principally in and around Montpellier, 

 which seems to have been a centre of electric manifestations. 

 i But the harm done was principally owing to the hailstones, which 

 have been numerous and of considerable size, many of them 

 reaching the bulk of a marble. Many crops were damaged, and 

 ' even in some instances completely destroyed. These hail clouds 

 : travelled at a rapid rate from the eastern Pyrenees, near 

 s the Rhone, in a north-eastern direction for more than a hundred 

 • miles with a brcadthof not more than eight or nine miles. A map 

 \ will be published in the Atlas Mcliorologiqitc of France, which 

 1 was founded by M. Leverrier in 1864, and was published in 

 ( 1S64-68. The volume for 1S69 will be issued shortly, and will 

 contain the most not.able facts for 1870-71. The publication, 

 ' which has been stopped since M. Leverrier left the Obsei-vatory, 

 ^( will be resumed yearly henceforth, the Versailles National 

 I Assembly having granted the necessary funds. It has been re- 

 i marked already by M. Charles Martin and the two Becquerels 

 ' that hailstorms are always connected with thunderstorms, and 

 .' follow mostly a strongly zigzag line, almost always recurring 

 ■ in a number of chosen spots, for which they seem to feel an ir- 

 I resistible attraction. Woods are very seldomJtouched by them, 

 I a fact which has induced MM. Becquerel to advise farmers 

 I to grow trees in cider to be protected against hailstones, 

 j M. Arago encouraged some years ago a scheme for erecting cap- 

 ,j live balloons with an iron rod, connected with the earth by an 

 i iron chain, in order to provoke electrical discharges and suppress 

 ( the cause of h.ail-production. The proposal seems to be rather 

 daring, but the above statements render it desirable that it should 

 j at least be tried. Aiming at certain spots in preference to others. 

 ! the efficiency of protection is sure to be easily tried. 

 I M. CoUadon, a Genevan physicist, has published many ex- 

 i periments on the fall of lightning on trees. He supposes that 

 J poplars are really very attractive, and that they may effectually 

 render the same sei-vice as true lightning conductors, if plates 

 I of iron are connected with the trunk and earth. These 

 I suggestions are very likely to be tried on a grand scale. 

 I 



I Icebergs seem to be unusually plentiful this season; a 

 I despatch from New York states that several ships have en- 

 , countered them in uncommonly large numbers and of very 

 y unusual size. 



. Messrs. Tkuhner & Co. have in the piess "Tea, Coffee, 

 i and Cocoa," a practical treatise on the]examination of tea, coffee, 

 j and cocoa, by Mr. J. A. Wanklyn, M.R.CS. 



I Another supplement. No. 37, to Petermann's MiltJitiUiiigen 



{ has just been issued, containing a long account of Carl Mauch's 



travels in the interior of South Africa in the years 1865-72. The 



accompanying map illustrates a journey made by Mauch in 

 1871-72, from Simbabye in 20° 10' S., and 31° 40' E. in a north 

 and east direction, to Senna on the Zambesi, in 17" 20' S., 

 35° 8' E. 



If anyone wants to see how lamentalile is the absence of prac- 

 tical work in the examination system of the University of London, 

 let him get "Questions in Chemistry and Natural Philosophy 

 given at the Matriculation ICxamination of the University of 

 London from the year 1S64 to June 1873, classified according 

 to the syllabus of subjects," Ijy C. J. Woodward, B.Sc. (Simp- 

 kin, Marshall, & Co.) We say nothing against the book itself, 

 which is a creditable compilation of its kind, but the system 

 capable of giving birth to such a text.book must bean unmiti- 

 gated encouragement to " Cram." 



A TELEGR.\M dated Singapore, July 2, states that II. M.S. 

 Basilisk had arrived there, having successfully completed a 

 survey of the previously unknown north-eastern shores of New 

 Guinea. Capt. Moresby reports that the existence of a new 

 and shorter route between Australia and China is an established 

 fact. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Branded Ichneumon (Ilc-rpalcs fascialiis) 

 from West Africa, presented by Lady Sheftield ; a Rose-ringed 

 Parrakeet {Pahcornis docilis) from the Zambesi River, presented 

 by Mrs. Loveday ; a Chimpanzee ( Troglodyks niger) from West 

 Africa ; a Spectacled Bear ( Ursus ornalus) from the Upper 

 Amazon ; an Eyra Cat (Felis eyi-a)) from South America ; a 

 Nisnas Monkey (Cercopitlicciis nisnas), an Eleonora Falcon 

 (Falco clcoiwrcc) deposited ; two Pumas (Fdis concolor), and nine 

 Rosy-billed Ducks (Metofiana pcposaca) bom in the gardens. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Journal of the Chemical Society for June contains the fol- 

 lowing papers communicated to the Society ; — On the cobalt 

 bromides and iodides, by Walter Noel Hartley. The bromide 

 is prepared, by allowing metallic cobalt to stand in a dish with 

 bromine and water for a week or so, when a purple solution is 

 obtained which becomes blue after dilution and filtration. When 

 evaporated over sulphuric acid, purple-red prismatic ci7stals 

 separate, having the formula CoBr.^ . 6H.O. When heated to 

 100° the salt loses 4 molecules of water. The iodide obtained 

 in the same manner forms a mass of highly deliquescent green 

 crystals. Heated to 100° in the air a basic salt is produced ; on 

 adding water and fdtering a red oxyiodide is obtained, having 

 possibly the formula C02I3O. The green crystals have the for- 

 mula Colo . 2PI2O ; an iodide, C0I3 . 6H3O, of a dusky red colour 

 also exists, and likewise the anhydrous salt Colj, which is de- 

 scribed as a black amorphous substance. — Note on the solubility 

 of plumbic chloride in glycerin, by Charles H. Piesse. The 

 author has made quantitative determinations of the amount of 

 PbCL dissolved by pure glycerin and by mixtures of glycerin 

 and water. The mean of two experiments gives I "995 as the 

 amount of PbCL dissolved by 100 parts of glycerin. The solu 

 bility is not perceptibly increased by the temperature. Experi- 

 ments were also made with mixtures containing respectively 50, 

 75, and 87 '5 per cent, of water, and the amount of PbClj 

 dissolved agrees very closely in each case with the number 

 obtained by adding the amount of the salt dissolved 

 in the water to the amount dissolved by the glycerin, 

 the solubility in water being taken at 0733 per cent. — On 

 the products of the decomposition of castor oil. No. 2. The 

 distillation of sodium ricinoleate, by E. Nelson. The author's 

 experiments confirm the statements of Bonis, that the sodium salt 

 named yields methyl-hexyl ketone on destructive distillation. 

 The results obtained by Stiidclcr, who got by this reaction only 

 heptylic aldehyde, are explained by a difference in ithe nature of 

 the soap used. — Note on a reaction of gallic acid, by Henry R. 

 Procter. When a solution of potassic or sodic arsenate is added 

 to one containing gallic acid and the mixture exposed to the air, 

 oxygen is absorbed, and an intense green colour produced. 

 Dilute acids change the colour to purplish red — strong H«SOj 



