Fune 18, 1885] 
NATURE 
161 
3 and 6 p.m., and the minimum between 3 and 6 a.m. Availing 
himself of the synoptical maps of Hofmeyer for 1874 to 1876, the 
author compares, day after day, the thunderstorms with the 
cyclones which reach Russia, and he arrives at the important 
conclusion that thunderstorms in Russia—without exception— 
accompany cyclones, their appearance being influenced at the 
same time by the local state of temperature and humidity. 
Marié-Davy, Mohn, and others subdivided thunderstorms into 
cyclonic and local ones, and the continental ones were reckoned 
to the second category ; but M. Klossowski shows that even in 
so continental a climate as that of Russia, thunderstorms depend 
also directly on cyclones. They appear on the borders of the 
cyclones and mostly in their south-eastern quarters. By further 
researches, the author arrived at the conclusion that thunder- 
storms in Russia are secondary or tertiary cyclones appearing on 
the borders of a cyclone, and thus explains the oscillations of the 
barometer during thunderstorms, already noticed by Messrs. 
Scott, Mascart, and others. Hail is obviously closely connected 
with thunderstorms. It also accompanies cyclones and is always 
concentrated in its south-eastern quarter, in the zone of 750 to 
760 millimetres’ pressure. On the whole, the work of M. 
Klossowski is a valuable contribution to the study of electrical 
energy in the atmosphere. 
In a lecture delivered in the Institute of the Khedive at 
Cairo, Dr. G. Schweinfurth has given some account of the 
seats of manufacture of prehistoric stone implements in the 
desert of Eastern Egypt discovered by him in 1876 and 1877, 
and again visited and examined by him in his last journey. The 
two spots referred to are in the Wadi Sanur and Wadi Warag. 
The former lies due east of Beni Suef at a distance of thirty 
miles from that town; the latter is in the upper poriion of the 
Wadi at the place where this water-course begins to be 
discernible as a longitudinal depression on the heights of the 
western part of northern Galala. Dr. Schweinfurth’s belief that 
the two sites in question are really those of ancient manufactories 
of stone implements is grounded partly on the presence of 
accumulations of cores in the beds of the streams, partly on the 
fact that the raw material is found abundantly in the neighbour- 
hood. The source of the raw material is a bed of flints belong- 
ing to the upper nummulitic limestone corresponding to that 
which exists behind Cairo. Implements and utensils indicating 
a stone period have now, Dr. Schweinfurth remarks, been found 
even in the very heart of Africa, aud these show a surprising 
resemblance in form to those discovered in Europe. Those 
recently obtained by himself from Sanur and Warag, however, 
are of a special type, and Dr. Schweinfurth regards them as 
clearly distinguished from the forms already familiar by the fact 
that the fecets are usually only upon one side and are very seldom 
seen surrounding the entire core. 
IN connection with the trial of Pel for poisoning, which has 
just resulted in Paris in the condemnation of the accused, some 
interesting experiments were conducted at the Morgue with a 
view to testing whether it was possible, as alleged by the prose- 
cution, that the murderer could have got rid of the body of one 
of his victims by burning it piece by piece in a common stove. 
The professional witnesses stated that they procured a body 
weighing sixty kilogrammes. They removed from it forty kilo- 
grammes of crganic matter, and lighted a fire of wooden logs. 
They thus ascertained that in an hur the complete reduction to 
ashes of one kilogramme of organic matter could be effected, 
and in forty hours the complete combustion of a body weighing 
sixty kilogrammes could be completed. The accompanying 
smell was not disagreeable. The bearing of this on the question 
of cremation is obvious. It is possible to consume the human 
body by fire at a comparatively small expense, as these experi- 
ments show. In Japan, where cremation has been practised for 
ages, the quantity of wood consumed in the cheapest cremation 
is so small that European doctors doubted the evidence of eye- 
witnesses. Cremation of the lowest class costs only two shill- 
ings, on account of the small quantity of wood used, and the 
operation generally lasts from six to nine hours. The smell for 
a considerable distance around the crematorium is, however, of 
a very offensive kind, and the accessories are, as a rule, far 
from agreeable. There is, however, no doubt that the body 
can be consumed at a far less expenditure of fuel than is gener- 
ally considered possible. 
Tuk following appears in the Z%zes :—Last autumn, a book- 
seller named Meyer, of Ronneburg, tied a water-proof label 
under the wing of a swallow which had occupied a nest at his 
house, and had become comparatively familiar. On it he wrote a 
query in German to the effect that he wished to know where the 
swallow would pass the winter. The bird returned to its former 
nest bearing an exchange label similarly fastened, saying, in 
German also, ‘‘in Florence, at Castellari’s house, and I bear 
many salutations.” 
Tue Austrian Government has refused to authorise the 
establishment of private cremation societies, on the ground that 
they might encourage crime. The decree states that murders 
are often detected by the exhumation of bodies, and that, even if 
bodies were to be examined before cremation, there woulda be no 
time to apply in every case those delicate chemical tests which 
are used where poisoning is suspected. 
A TELEGRAM from Tiflis states that a severe earthquake has 
occurred in the Eastern Caucasus. The town of Sikuch is said 
to have been completely swallowed up. The loss of property is 
estimated at several million roubles. 
THE latest telegrams from India state that the Cashmere 
earthquakes continue to occur with increased severity. It is 
reported that 2280 persons have perished in the district of 
Muzufusabad. 
INFORMATION: has been received at the Hague from Java 
that the state of Krakato. was causing some anxiety. To- 
wards the end of April subterranean sounds were heard in 
the neighbourhood day after day, and flames arose from the 
crater. The rocks which emerged from the sea during the last 
eruption suddenly disappeared. 
From a report of Mr. H. Walker, Commissioner of Lands of 
British North Borneo, it appears that gold exists in consider- 
able quantities in that territory. Some natives had brought 
a little to Sandakan, and Mr. Walker set out to verify its 
existence in the Sagama district. He searched thirty or 
forty different places and found gold at almost every place, 
generally in small distinct specks, large enough to be gathered 
with the fingers, sometimes larger, and always in conjunction 
with a black metallic dust and iron or copper pyrites. The 
rocks met with were granite, gneiss, quartz, limestone, 
jasper, porphyries, red sandstone. Steps will probably be 
taken to have the whole region thoroughly examined by a 
competent geologist. The minerals already ascertained to exist 
in North Borneo are gold, silver, copper, chromium, tin, 
plumbago, lead, and coal. Antimony and cinnabar are reported. 
On the west coast chromium, copper, and arsenic have been 
found ; in the neighbourhood of Kinabalu silver ore and pyrites ; 
asample of native copper has been sent to London; a rich 
sample of galena and silver, yielding on assay I15 ounces of 
silver to the ton, has been found. Hitherto the officials 
of the Company and the other Europeans on the coast have 
been dependent for local information respecting these and 
other minerals on the rough statements of natives. It appears. 
certain, however, that, besides its great forest and agricultural 
wealth, British North Borneo is also rich in minerals—how rich 
