tCO 



NATURE 



{Sept. 3, 1874 



soundings commenced getting less, and the next was found to 

 be 1,975 fathoms (temperature 36 degrees). Two days after this 

 I, lOO fathoms was recorded, tlie temperature rising to 36 degrees. 

 These indications of shallow water were not without cause, 

 for on the second day they came unexpectedly into 400, 350, and 

 at last only 275 fathoms. This was about 200 miles from land. 

 The future movements of the Challen^er'ha.ve now been arranged, 

 and are thus stated : — At Wellington we remain till July 6, then 

 proceed along the east coast, probably calling at Auckland for a 

 few days, after which a course will be shaped to Tongataboo 

 (Friendly Islands), and from thence to Kandsvan (Fiji Islands), 

 where a supply of coal will be taken on board prior to leaving for 

 New Guinea. Here a complete series of explorations and 

 soundings will be made, and it is expected that the dredge and 

 trawl will bring even greater wonders of marine life to the 

 surface than have yet been secured, while the question 01 coral 

 reefs and their history will have special attention. After cruising 

 about Polynesia generally for some time, we expect to reach 

 Hong Kong early in November, where probably a month will be 

 spent in coaling, provisioning, refitting, &c. 



The last number of Petermann's Mitthcilimgoi contains a 

 summary of the recent work done by the Challenger Expedition, 

 which is accompanied by an excellent and ingeniously constructed 

 series of coloured diagrams, showing the distribution of tempera- 

 ture in the North and South Atlantic, as well as the configuration 

 of the bottom over which tlie Challenger has sailed. The 

 number also contains the continuation of Prof. Hans Hofer's 

 paper on the structure of Novaya Zemlya. 



The growth of tea and sugar in F.uropean soil are perhaps 

 branches of cu'ture wliich we can scarcely expect to be remune- 

 rative in a commercial point of view. l!e this as it may, the 

 sugar-cane is now grown and sugar manufactured to some extent 

 in the neighbourhood of Malaga, Spain. Tea has also been 

 introduced into the southern districts of Sicily, and though the 

 first attempt made last year to raise tlie plants on a large scale 

 was not successful, owing, it is said, to the injury caused 

 to the plants and seeds by immersion in sea-water on their 

 transit from Japan, it is confidently hoped and believed by the 

 promoters that another attempt with healthy seeds and plants 

 will prove quite successful. Meanwhile tea is being grown 

 at the Cinchona plantations in Jamaica, and a sample has recently 

 been received at the Kew Museum which was grown and manu- 

 factured as above from Assam tea plants received through Kew 

 in 1S68. So far as the appearance of the sample is concerned, 

 it is roughly manipulated, not being sufficiently twisted or curled, 

 and apparently not sufficiently roasted. Nevertheless, its manu- 

 facture is little inferior to that of the earliest samples of Assam 

 tea that appeared in the English market. Its quality, however, 

 is another thing, for it produces a very watery infusion of a very 

 herby flavour, and devoid of the aroma for which tea is noted. 

 Care, however, in the cultivation of the plant, as well as in the 

 selection and manipulation of the leaves, may in time produce 

 a more marketable article. 



The Ochro {AbelinoicJius esaihnlns), a Malvaceous plant, is 

 well known in all tropical countries, being cultivated for the 

 sake of its fruits, which are gathered in a green state, and either 

 boiled and eaten as a vegetable, pickled in vinegar like capers, 

 or used for thickening soups on account of the mucilage ihey 

 contain — a common property of the Malvacea-. In India the 

 seeds are sometimes boiled for making a mucilaginous drink. 

 But we now learn that a line oil has recently been discovered in 

 them of a quality equal to olive oil, and that it is intended to 

 introduce this oil to commerce. SupiJOsing the oil to be all that 

 is said about it, the question arises as to the supply of seeds. 

 Though the plant is easily cultivated, can it compete with other 

 oleaginous plants ? 



We some time since noticed the formation, in connection widi 

 the French Geographical Society, of a Commission of Commercial 

 Geography. Under the patronage of this Commission a joint 

 stock company has been formed for the publication of a weekly 

 journal to assist in carrying out the objects aimed at by the 

 Commission. The title of the journal will be V Exploraleur, 

 Journal Geographique el Commercial. 



Experimental verifications are becoming daily more nu- 

 merous in favour of the view that the phenomena attending the 

 electrical stimulation of the brain are, in reality, dependent on 

 the indirect excitation of the cerebral basal ganglionic centres by 

 the currents employed. Besides the observations of Dr. San- 

 derson on this point, already published in this journal (Nature, 

 vol. X. p. 245), Dr. J. J. Putnam has recorded the results at- 

 tending electrical stimulation of the so-called surface-centres after 

 their almost complete separation from the rest of the hemisphere 

 in the form of flaps. lie finds that under these circumstances no 

 movements follow the excitation ; but that if the ll.ap is raised 

 and the surface below it irritated, a current slightly more pow- 

 erful than the minimal required in the uninjured condition pro- 

 duces exactly similar results. The details of these experiments, 

 taken from the Boston Medical and Surgical journal, will be 

 found in the London Medical Record for last week. 



There has been issued from the Standards Department, by 1 



Mr. H. W. Chisholm, an account of the comparisons at that ] 



department between two Russian pendulums and Repsold's scale 

 of 21 old French inches, and between Repsold's scale and the 

 standard subdivided imperial yard. 



The French Geological Society has decided upon lioJding its 

 next meeting at Mons, in Belgium, a most interesting place for 

 excursions. It is very seldom that French Scientific Societies 

 meet in a foreign land. 



O.N Frilay evening M. Flammarion, the French astronomer, 

 started from Ea Villette gas-works, Paris, in a balloon called 

 Lumen, at half-past seven, with a brisk breeze from the north-west. 

 The balloon was under the guidance of M. Jules Godard, 

 and M. Flammarion, who was married in the beginning of 

 August, was on board with his young wife ; he wishes to spend Itis 

 lune tie miel'm Italy. Such atrip was proposed in the beginning , , 



of the century to the celebrated Mdme. de Stael by the great 1 1 



philosopher, Saint-Simon; but the lady declined. The moon I 



was full and bright. 



The use of carrier pigeons for press purposes is on the increase, 

 and the breed is rapidly improving. By careful " selection " and 

 allowing only the " survival of the fittest," powers have been 

 developed which a few years ago would have been thought 

 impossible. They can be specially trained to fly over 500 miles, 

 and it is no uncommon thing for despatches to be brought to 

 London from Paris, Lisbon, or Brussels. Ziind and IValer 

 records a case of interest. An ocean homing bird, of great 

 docility, intelligence, and spirit, has been found in Iceland which 

 flies at the meteor-like speed of 150 miles an hour. A pair of 

 these birds whose present home is in Kent, witliin ten miles of 

 London, recently carried despatches from Paris to their home it: 

 one hour and a quarter. Press pigeons carried on the despatches 

 to London, and the whole journey of the despatches from Paris 

 to London occupied only one hour and a half. The press 

 pigeons now commonly used arc not the ordinary carrier pigeon^ 

 but are bred by Messrs. Hartley, of Woolwich, from pri;e 

 birds selected from the best lofts of Antwerp, Brussels, .aid 

 Liege, . 



.■ An alarming shock of earthquake was felt in the islanc of 

 Porto Rico on the morning of Aug. 26, at 6.15 A.M. Tlie 



