294 



NA TURE 



{Aug. 13, 1874 



necessary funds to a certain number of gentlemen with young and 

 healthy minds congenial to the work to enable them to devote 

 their time and energies to |ihysiology as a separate study." 



In many French daily newspapers predictions of the future 

 weather have been recently given, which were attributed to the 

 Paris Observatory. Although the Observatory, however, published 

 nothing on the subject, the statement was so widely believed that 

 M. Leverrier felt it necessary to protest against it in his Daily 

 Meteorological Bulletin. f'rench meteorology, as we recently 

 intimated, is undergoing a reorganisation in consequence of the 

 vote of the Council of the Observatory. No final decision has 

 been arrived at, although we learn on M. Leverrier's authority 

 that a decision may be speedily expected. We hope to be able 

 to give details when the arrangements have been finally made. 



There is some hope that an Arctic expedition of discovery 

 may be despatched in the spring of 1875. The Prime Minister 

 has undertaken to consider the subject carefully in all its 

 bearings, and on the 1st of this monlh the presidents of the 

 Royal Society and of the Royal Geographical Society, accom- 

 panied by a gallant admiral of long Arctic experience, had a 

 preliminary interview with Mr. Disraeli. 



The French Alpine Club has sent a party of ten young men 

 under the guidance of M. Albert Tissandier to travel on the Alps 

 and draw up a r. port of their excursion ; others will be sent next 

 year, this being the inauguration trip of the society. 



From a recent report 011 the trade of Bremen we learn that a 

 branch of industry, which is gradually increasing in importance, 

 has arisen of late in the barren moorlands of North-western 

 Geimany by the preparation of peat or turf. This material is 

 largely used in Germany as fuel both in private dwelling-houses 

 as well as in some large establishments, and, it is stated, also 

 on the Oldenburg Railway. Two companies have lately been 

 formed in Oldenburg for the purpose of maiiuracturing peat on a 

 large scale, and of supplying it to the inhabitants of Bremen, 

 Oldenburg, and other towns in the neighbourhood, at a far 

 cheaper rate than that now paid to the peasants, who have 

 hitherto almost had a monopoly of the trade in this article. The 

 peat is cut out of the soil of the marshy moors or bogs which 

 extend from Bremen to the Dutch frontier, by machinery ; by the 

 removal of the peat a network of canals is formed, which are 

 of use for conveying the peat itself to market, and which like- 

 wise form new permanent channels of communication available 

 for all other purposes. The peat-cutting machine consists of a 

 large flat-bottomed steam-vessel, which, when set to work, is 

 able to cut a canal 20 (German) ft. in breadth and 6 ft. in depth, 

 whilst proceeding at the rate of from 10 to 12 ft. per hour. The 

 soil thus cut out by this floating peat manufactory is lifted into 

 the vessel by steam power, and after being thoroughly ground 

 is deposited, by means of a long pipe running out of the side of 

 the vessel, alongside the .bank of the canal, where it is sub- 

 sequently cut into the shape of bricks and dried. It is stated 

 that by this method about 1,000 centners (55 tons English) of a 

 very good kind of peat may be manufactured per day. In view 

 of the present high price of coal, particularly in Britain, 

 and of the great importance v;hich attaches to the question of 

 obtaining a cheap kind of fuel at all times, it might perhaps be 

 well worth while to consider whether this system of peat manu- 

 facture could not be introduced in many other parts of Europe, 

 where the soil is doubtless as well suited fjr the purpose as v\ 

 Oldenburg. 



In the American jloiinial 0/ Science aihi Arts (ox \-aga%\., Prof. 

 A. W. Wright, of Yale College, describes his polariscopic 

 observations of Coggia's comet. On the evening of July 6 the 

 polariscope showed the bands, both bright and dark, quite defi- 

 nitely, and they were seen with comparative ease. Observations 



repeated a number of times agreed in showing that the light was 

 polarised in a plane passing through the axis of the tail, that is, 

 as nearly as could be estimated, in a plane passing through it 

 and the sun. Other observations made on the evening of July 

 14, when the sky was quite clear, gave the same result, though 

 less satisfactorily, as the twilight had begun to interfere with the 

 observations. After waiting until this had disappeared, it was 

 possible to see the bands, though with some difficulty, and the 

 degree of the polarisation appeared to be decidedly less than on 

 the previous occasion. Tlie circumstances were too unfavourable 

 to admit of any determination of the percentage of light 

 polarised, but it was certainly not large. The fact of polarisa- 

 tion shows that a considerable portion of the light of the coma 

 is derived from the sun by reflection. 



A COMI'ANY has been formed to work the sulphur deposits at 

 White Island, a marine volcano 140 miles from Auckland. It 

 is estimate! that 100,000 tons of sulphur in an almost pure state 

 are lying on the island ready for shipment. Cfiemical works are 

 likely to be established soon, and the island leased. 



Anew university will be opened at Agram, in Croatia, in 

 October next. It will have the name of the ''Francis-Joseph 

 University." 



H.M.S. S/ieamuiler \eh Capetown on July 14 for ilauritius, 

 with the members of the expedition who are to observe the 

 Transit of Venus from that island. 



Details appear in the Times and Daily Al-ws of the expe- 

 dition of H.M.S. Basilisk, which, as we have already (vol. .\. p. 

 215) intimated, has been exploring the north-eastern shores of 

 New Guinea. The ship had arrived at Singapore at the end of 

 June, the expedition and the survey of Goschen Strait and the 

 coast from East Cape to Cape Rigny, of the Astrolabe Gulf — 

 about 500 miles — having occupied four months. Lieu'. Dawson 

 was to return on July 15 by Torres Straits to Sydney, whence he 

 proceeds to Fiji to survey and report upon the harbours and. 

 passages. I'liche — the island of D'Entrecasteaux, who visited 

 these coasts in search of La Perouse in 1793 — was found not to 

 exist now. To the large D'Entrecasteaux group the names of 

 Normanby, Fergusson, and Goodenough were given by Capt. 

 Moresby. The coast was varied in feature, being at times bold 

 and steep, with lofty mountains, at others low and wooded, with 

 off-lying coral banks and dangers. The natives became less 

 friendly as the expedition went westward. Venomous snakes 

 were found, but no wild animals. About 300 miles westward 

 of East Cape the natives were stark-naked and more debased. 

 Collections of implements, articles of dress, and ornaments 

 were obtained in great quantities ; among the former, tor- 

 toise-shell axes and models of the war canoes. A few 

 botanical and natural history specimens were obtained by the 

 medical officers, as well as a rough vocabulary of the lan- 

 guage. At Amboyna (Dutch settlement) the Basilisk's officers 

 met Mr. Alexander Miclucho Macleay, the Russian traveller, 

 who had recently returned from the north-west coast, where the 

 natives had been hostile and had eventually ousted him. Full 

 of zeal in his work, he had overdone it, and was suffering at 

 Amboyna from scurvy, and afterwards erysipelas. The Dutch 

 medical authorities thought his condition serious when the 

 Basilisk left Amboyna. The surveys of the Basilisk have opened 

 up a new route to Sydney, whicli is 2S0 miles shorter than the 

 shortest previously known route. 



Mr. Henry Skky, of the Observatory, Dunedin, Otago, New 

 Zealand, writes in reference to the mention which is made in 

 Nature, vol. vii. p. 25, of Prof. Capocci's idea of constructing 

 a revolving mercurial speculum for a reflecting telescope, that he 

 would like to know if such an instrument has actually been con- 

 structed. The sime idea, Mr. Skey states, presente 1 itself to 



