330 
NATURE 
[August 6, 1885 
Ss ES 
may jump 16 feet perpendicularly ; but such jumps are rare, and 
he can only state with certainty that it has taken place at the 
Hellefos, in the Drams River, at Haugsend, where two great 
masts have been placed across the river for the study of the 
habits of the salmon, so that exact measurements may be effected. 
The height of the water in the river of course varies, but it is as 
a rule, when the salmon is running up stream, 16 feet below 
these masts. The distance between the two is 34 feet, and the 
Professor states that he has seen salmon jump from the river 
below across doth masts. As another example of high jumping, 
he mentions some instances of Carratunk waterfall, in Reumbec, 
in North America, where jumps of 12 feet have been recorded. 
Prof. Landmark further states that when a salmon jumps a fall 
nearly perpendicular in shape it is sometimes able to remain in 
the fall, even if the jump isa foot or two short of the actual 
height. This, he maintains, has been proved by an over- 
whelming quantity of evidence. The fish may then be seen 
to stand for a minute or two a foot or so below the edge of 
the fall in the same spot, in a trembling motion, when with 
asmart twitch of the tail the rest of the fall is cleared. But 
only fish which strike the fall straight with the snout are able 
to remain in the falling mass of water ; if it is struck obliquely, 
the fish is carried back into the stream below. This Prof. 
Landmark believes to be the explanation of salmon passing 
falls with a clear descent of 16 feet. The professor believes that 
this is the extreme jump a salmon is capable of, and points out 
that, of course, not all are capable of performing this feat. 
IN the new part of the Zransactions of the Essex Field Club 
(vol. iv. part 1) the first and perhaps most interesting paper is 
Prof. Boulger’s presidential address on the ‘* Influence of Man 
upon the Flora of Essex.” 
ACCORDING to the Chinese Recorder, Dr. Wallace Taylor, a 
missionary doctor of Osaka, Japan, has made important dis- 
coveries regarding the origin of the disease Zakhé, or beriberi, as 
it is known in{Ceylon. He traces it to a microscopic spore, 
which is often found largely developed in rice, and which he has 
finally detected in the earth of certain alluvial and damp 
localities. 
WE have received from Denver the first volume of the Pro 
ceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society. Denver as a western 
mining camp, with an evil reputation, and Denver the capital of 
the State of Colorado, are places separated by ages of civilisa- 
tion; but mining is prominent in both. The members of the 
Scientific Society appear from the list to be mainly civil or 
mining engineers, metallurgists, geologists, assayers, &c., and 
the papers are largely on these subjects, ¢.g. the estimation of 
arsenic, and of copper; the ore deposits of the Summit districts 
of Rio Grande county, Colorado (the principal paper in the 
volume), lollingite, &c. There are, however, other papers : 
there is the report by a commission of the society on the Artesian 
wells of Denver, a paper on extinct glaciers of the San Juan 
mountains, while one of the members, Mr. van Diest, read 
several papers on subjects connected with the Malay Archi- 
pelago, such as the formation of hills by mineral springs in the 
Island of Java, the geology of the Sumatra, and the method of 
mining there 250 years ago, the methods of smelting employed 
by the Chinese at Banka, &c. There is certainly plenty of 
Vitality in the new society, and doubtless it will grow with the 
growth and strengthen with the strength of the magnificent State 
from which it takes its name. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Bonnet Monkey (A/acacus sinicus) from 
India, presented by Mr. J. S. Stevens; two Turtle Doves 
(Zurtur communis), European, presented by Mr. J. Hare ; four 
Martinican Doyes (Zenaida martinicana), a Moustache Ground 
Dove (Geotrygon mystacea), four Dominican Kestrels (Zinnun- 
culus domincensis), a Green Bittern (Busorides virescens) from 
the West Indies, presented by Dr. A. Boon, M.R.C.S.; 2 
Golden Eagle (Aguila chrysaetas) from Perthshire, presented : 
Mr. Chas. J. Wertheimer ; two Larger Hill Mynahs (Gracud. 
intermedia) from India, presented by Mr. Thomas Hudson ; an 
Indian Python (Python molurus) from India, presented by Mr, 
Harrington Laing ; four Proteus (Proteus anguinus), European, 
presented by Mr, Cook; a Red-headed Cardinal (Paroaria 
larvata), a Yellow Hangnest (Cassicus persicus) from South 
America, deposited ; a Vulpine Phalanger (Pia/angista vulpina), 
two Snow Birds (F¥unco hyemalis), a Northern Mocking-bird 
(Mimus polyglotius), bred in the Gardens. 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 
WEER, 1885, AUGUST 9-15 
(For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 
Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here 
employed.) 
At Greenwich on August 9 
Sun rises, 4h. 38m. ; souths, 12h. 5m. 13"6s. ; sets, 19h. 32m. ; 
decl. on meridian, 15° 45’ N.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 
16h. 46m. 
Moon (New on August 10) rises, 3h. 19m.; souths, 11h. Im. ; 
sets, 18h. 34m. ; decl. on meridian, 15° 37’ N. 
Planet Rises South Sets Decl. on meridian 
bre ih-eom. bits ov ee 
Mercury ... 7 20 13 45 20 10 4 13 N. 
Venus Ties) 13 47 20 31 755N. 
Mars © 52 9 12 17 32 23 48 N. 
Jupiter (WIG see te} SY. 20 23 8 48 N. 
Saturn OF ae Gs © 17 15 22 29 N. 
August 9, 10, and 11.—Principal nights for observation of the 
August (Perseus) meteors. 
August h. = 7 c J aes 
1200. a2 Jupiter in conjunction with and 2° 30’ north 
of the Moon. 
12) 4-5 © 50 Mercury in conjunction with and 1° 55’ south 
of the Moon. 
MES “gaye 02 Venus in conjunction with and 2° 13’ north 
of the Moon. 
DR. PERKIN ON THE COAL-TAR 
COLOURS * 
Anthraquinone Series 
HF MUST now draw your attention to the important class 
of colouring matter compounds obtained from anthracene or 
anthraquinone. 
Alizarin and the other colouring matters related to it form one 
of the most important branches of the coal-tar colouring in- 
dustry, and is one of special interest, because alizarin was the 
first instance of the production of a natural colouring matter 
artificially. It will be quite unnecessary for me here to say 
much about the madder root, which was the original source of 
alizarin, and was grown in such enormous quantities, but now is 
nearly a thing of the past; nor will I enter into the early 
chemical history of alizarin, and-all the laborious work 
which was bestowed upon it by Dr, Schunck and others. As 
you are probably all aware, the relationship of alizarin and 
its formation from the coal-tar hydrocarbon anthracene was 
the result of the labours of Graebe and Liebermann, the re- 
searches which culminated in this being of a purely scientific 
nature. The original process for obtaining it has, however, not 
been found of practical value, but a new one in which sulphuric 
acid could be used in place of bromine was afterwards discovered 
by Caro, Graebe, and Liebermann in Germany, and by myself 
in this country, apparently simultaneously. A second process 
was also discovered by me, which was worked nearly all the 
time I was engaged in this industry. In this dichloranthracene 
was used instead of anthraquinone, and the product thus ob- 
tained yielded colours of a_brilliancy which it has been found, 
even to the present time, difficult to match by the anthraquinone 
process. ‘ ee 
At the time of the discovery of artificial alizarin, anthracene 
t The President's Address at the annual meeting of the Society of Chemical 
Industry (not the Institute of Chemistry as stated last week). Continued from 
p. 307- 
