= 
Fuly 9, 1885] 
the fishing has in consequence been very bad. Agriculture and 
cattle-grazing are also very backward in consequence of cold 
winds and night-frost. In many places cattle have died from 
starvation, and if things do not soon mend there will probably 
be famine in the island next winter. In some valleys the snow 
was 30 feet in depth in the middle of June. 
We haye received the report of the Liverpool Naturalists’ 
Field Club for the year 1884-85. Steady, quiet prosperity 
appears to be the order of the day in this and similar associations 
in this country and in America. An elaborate system of prizes 
has been carefully organised, and the society appears exceptional 
in this respect. The report of the committee draws attention to 
the fact that in botany alone has much work been done ; in the 
wide fields of zoology, geology, and microscopy little has been 
done. The presidential address is very interesting ; it is called 
**Ornithopolis ; bird-life under the shrubs, and what may be 
seen from my study chair.” For the rest, there are the usual 
reports of excursions and of the evening meetings, and a list of 
books and scientific apparatus useful in the pursuit of natural 
history. 
A sHARP shock of earthquake, accompanied by a loud 
rumbling noise, was felt at Kopreinitz in Styria on the night of 
June 28, which was followed by two others the following morn- 
ing. Seyeral houses were thrown down, and other damage 
done. 
A NEW theory as to the origin and cause of earthquakes has 
been propounded by the Viceroy of the Chinese provinces of 
Shensi and Kansu. In a recent memorial to the throne, pub- 
lished in the Peking Gazette, this high official describes an 
earthquake which occurred on January 15 in various parts of 
Kansu, and summarises briefly the various reports which he has 
received on the subject relating to the motion, the damage done 
(which in some places was extensive), and the measures taken 
for the relief of the sufferers. He then proceeds to say that for 
years past earthquake shocks have been so frequent in these 
regions that people have grown quite accustomed to them; 
indeed, one officer informs him that in certain villages there 
were indications of a movement of the earth every night during 
the fourth watch, but these always ceased after a heavy fall of 
snow. The memorialist concludes by attributing the earthquake 
to the mildness of the winter, which caused an excess of the 
yang, or male element of Nature ; ‘‘ but it was due in a measure 
also to the perfunctory performance of their public duties by 
the local officials, who thereby failed to call down the harmonising 
influence of Heaven, and the memorialist can only endeavour to 
remedy this fault by encouraging his subordinates to cultivate 
habits of introspection and examination of their own short- 
comings, himself setting the example.” 
On the morning of June 15 a lovely mirage was seen at sea 
from Oxeldsund, in Sweden, representing two islands, covered 
with trees, on one of which there was a building. Two monitors 
were seen steaming off the islands. It may be of interest to add 
that two Swedish monitors are at present cruising in the Baltic, 
and were about that time several degrees further north. 
THE second annual issue of the ‘‘ Year-Book of the Scientific 
and Learned Societies of Great Britain and Ireland” (Griffith 
and Co.) has appeared. We must still express surprise at finding 
the Royal Institution placed alongside of the Royal Society as a 
scientific society, while the London Institution is omitted 
entirely. A list of the papers read at the various societies is 
given this year ; but it is difficult to see what purpose the publi- 
cation serves in its present form. 
HERR J. MENGEs describes, in a ‘recent number of G/odus, 
the language of signs employed in trade in Arabia and Eastern 
NATURE 
231 
Africa. This appears to have been invented to enable sellers 
and buyers to arrange their business undisturbed by the host of 
loafers who interfere in transactions carried on in open markets 
in Eastern towns, and it enables people to conclude their busi- 
ness without the bystanders knowing the prices wanted or 
offered. It is especially in use in the Red Sea, and its charac- 
teristic is that beneath a cloth, or more generally part of the un- 
folded turban, the hands of the parties meet, and by an arrange- 
ment of the fingers the price is understood. If one seizes the 
outstretched forefinger of the other it means I, 10, or 100; the 
two first fingers together mean 2, 20, or 200; the three first, 3» 
30, or 300; the four, 4, 40, or 400; the whole hand, 5, 50, or 
500 ; the little finger alone, 6, 60, 600; the third finger alone, 
7, 70, 700; the middle finger alone, 8, 80, 800; the first finger 
alone and bent, 9, 90, 900, while the thumb signifies 1000. If 
the forefinger of one of the parties be touched in the middle 
joint with the thumb of the other, it signifies 4, and if the same 
finger is rubbed with the thumb from the joint to the knuckle it 
is} more, but if the movement of the thumb be upward to the 
top instead of downward to the knuckle it means 7 less. An 
eighth more is marked by catching the whole nail of the fore- 
finger with the thumb and finger, while the symbol for an eighth 
less is catching the flesh above the nail—i.e. the extreme tip of 
the finger in the same way. It will thus be seen that, by com- 
binations of the fingers of the seller and buyer, a large range of 
figures can be represented. It is, of course, understood that 
average market value of the article is roughly known and that 
there can be no confusion between, for example, I, 10, 100, and 
tooo. This language of symbols is in universal use amongst 
European, Indian, Arab, and Persian traders on the Red Sea 
coasts, as well as among tribes coming from the interior, such as 
Abyssinians, Gallas, Somalis, Bedouins, &c. It is acquired very 
rapidly, and is more speedy than verbal bargaining ; but its 
main advantages are secrecy and that it protects the parties from 
the interruption of meddlesome bystanders, who in the Hast are 
always ready to give their advice. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Collared Peccary (Dicotyles tajacu 6 ) from 
South America, presented by Mr. R. Forrester Daly ; a Common 
Peafowl (Lavo cristatus ) from India, presented by Mrs. 
Courage ; two Black-bellied Sand-Grouse (Pterocles arenarius 
2%), two Bonham’s Partridges (Ammoperdix bonhami & $) 
from Asia, presented by Mr. W. E. R. Dickson; a Siamese 
Blue Pie (Uyvocissa magnirostris) from Siam, a Hunting Crow 
(Cissa venatoria) from India, presented by Mr. C. Clifton, 
F.Z.S.; two Rooks (Corvus frugilegus), British, presented by 
Mr. C. A. Marriott ; a Lion (Fedis feo ?) from Africa, a Great 
Kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) from Australia, a Grand Eclectus 
(Zclectus roratus) from Moluccas, a Red and Yellow Macaw 
(Ara chloroptera) from South America, deposited ; a Striated 
Coly (Colius striatus) from South Africa, purchased ; a Mule 
Deer (Cartacus macrotis §), a Mesopotamian Fallow Deer 
(Dama mesopotamica), born in the Gardens. 
OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
THe CoMET oF 1472.—M. Celoria of Milan has discussed the 
elements of the last comet observed by Toscanelli, which is the 
celebrated one of 1472, also observed by Regiomontanus, whose 
description of its path in the heavens enabled Halley to make a 
rough approximation to its orbit, as he states in his ‘* Synopsis of 
Cometary Astronomy.” The Chinese account of the Comet’s 
track contained in the supplement to the great collection of Ma 
Twan Lin, of which Edouard Biot published a translation in the 
appendix to the ‘* Connaissance des Temps” for 1846, enabled 
Langier to make a further calculation of the orbit, though the 
somewhat full description of the comet’s course amongst the stars 
is unfortunately very deficient in dates. 
