462 
NATURE 
[ Sept. 10, 1885 
Ireland. He also compiled an account of the measurement of 
the Loch Foyle base, which was made during the years 1827-29. 
The article on geodesy, which forms part of the mathematical 
text-book used at the Royal Military College, was written by 
Col. Yolland. In 1854 Col. Yolland was appointed one of the 
Inspectors of Railways under the Board of Trade. In 1856 he 
was selected as the engineer member of the Commission 
appointed by the Secretary of State for War to consider the best 
mode of reorganising the system of training officers of the 
scientific corps, with the special intention of abolishing patron- 
age and opening the commissions in those corps to competition. 
The Commissioners, the other two of whom were Col. W. j. 
Smith, R.A., and the Rev. W. C. Lake, visited France, 
Prussia, Austria, and Sardinia, and, after studying the methods 
of appointment in use in those countries, drew up a report, 
which was printed by order of the House of Commons. 
Dr. SCHOMBURGK’s Report on the Progress and Condition of 
the Botanic Garden and Government Plantations in South 
Australia for the year 1884, which is dated from the Botanic 
Garden, Adelaide, in March last, gives, as usual, a good deal of 
interesting matter on the cultivation of useful plants. The co- 
operation, which has of late years been so much extended 
between the botanic gardens in all our colonial and foreign pos- 
sessions, has been the means of inciting the several directors to 
increased energy in the development of new resources and the 
interchange of valuable plants, so that matter of a similar 
character, or treating of the same plants, often appears in reports 
from gardens widely separated geographically from each other. 
Thus we find in the report before us notes on the suitability or 
otherwise for Australian culture of many plants that have been 
similarly reported on from other parts of the world. Amongst 
those reported upon by Dr. Schomburgk may be mentioned 
mustard, rape, sesamum, ground nut, tobacco, hops, canary 
seed, chicory, capers, esparto, &c., &c. Speaking of esparto 
grass (MWacrachloa tenacissimz), which is a native of Spain, 
Portugal, and North Africa, and is, we are reminded, exported 
into England alone to the amount of 140,000 to 150,000 
tons a year, so that it is becoming scarcer every day, 
and consequently fetching higher prices, Dr. Schomburgk 
says: ‘Considering the similarity of our climate with that 
of Spain, I endeavoured to introduce this valuable grass 
into the Colony, which, after many difficulties, I succeeded 
in accomplishing, and I have not been disappointed in its 
aeclimatisation in South Australia. The grass which I have 
now cultivated for the last five years grows admirably with 
us, notwithstanding the most severe droughts we have to 
contend with. It is propagated by seed. The question will 
naturally be asked, ‘Suppose we succeed in growing the grass 
here, where shall we find a market for it?’ Our enterprising 
and go-ahead neighbours in Victoria have already established 
two paper mills, and I understand Sydney also POssesses one, 
so that, if we succeed, the market for the grass is close at hand, 
and I think it would even pay to export the grass to England, as 
by means of hydraulic pressure the bulk would be considerably 
reduced.” Another industry which seems to promise well in 
South Australia: is the production of sumac, which consists of 
the powdered leaves and twigs of Ris coriaria and Rhus cotinus, 
shrubs of the Mediterranean region, and grown largely in Southern 
Europe for the sake of the leaves. Dr. Schomburgk says both 
plants grow in the Adelaide Botanic Garden, and the climate 
seems to suit them ; he recommends, however, that trials should 
be made to ascertain whether they would thrive in poor or sandy 
soil. On this subject the British Consul at Palermo, in the 
neighbourhood: of which the best sumac is grown, says 
the soil best adapted for the plant is that of a sandy nature. It 
is propagated by cuttings. The bulk of the sumac is shipped 
from Palermo to various countries, but principally to the United 
States. A catalogue of plants added during 1884 to the col- 
lection under cultivation at the Botanic Garden is given in the 
form of an appendix. 
It was hardly to be expected that the season should pass with- 
out the appearance of the sea-serpent somewhere, and if we are 
to believe the information forwarded to us from a correspondent 
in Norway, it has just visited the coast of Nordland. Three 
Sundays ago some lads were returning to the Island of Rod 
from the church at Melo, in the middle of the day, when they 
saw far out in the fjord a streak in the sea, which they believed 
to be a flock of wild ducks swimming. On proceeding’ further, 
however, they heard the whizzing as of a rushing fountain, and 
in a few moments perceived a great sea-monster with great 
velocity making straight for the boat. It appeared to be ser- 
pentine in shape, with a flat, scaly head, and the lads counted 
seventeen coils on the surface of the water just as it passed the 
stern of the boat so closely that they could have thrown a boat- 
hook into it. By subsequent measurements on land the length 
of the animal was estimated at about 200 feet. It pursued its 
course on the surface of the sea until close behind the boat, 
when it went down with a tremendous noise, but reappeared a 
little after, shaping its course for the Meld, where it disappeared 
from view. Naturally the lads were greatly frightened. The 
weather at the time was hot, calm, and sunny. Our informer 
states that the lads are intelligent and truthful, and that there is 
no reason to discredit their unanimous statement, made, as it 
were, in a terribly frightened condition. Jt might be added that 
the waters in which the animal was seen are some of the deepest 
on the Norwegian coast, and that it is not the first time fisher- 
men have averred having seen the sea-serpent here. The 
existence of the sea-serpent is fully believed in along the coast 
of Norway. 
WE have received the Fowrnal and Proceedings (vol. xviii.) 
of the Royal Society of New South Wales for 1884. Besides 
the President’s address, it contains several papers, reports of the 
various meetings, an abstract of the meteorological observations 
at the Sydney Observatory, and a rainfall map. Amongst the 
papers we find one on the removal of bars from the mouths of 
rivers, by Mr. Shellsbear ; on some New South Wales minerals, 
by Prof. Liversidge ; on the oven-mounds of the aborigines of 
Victoria, by Mr. MacPherson ; on a new form of actinometer, by. 
Mr. Russell; on the water supply of the interior of New South 
Wales ; and shorter papers on gold, on the trochoided plane, on 
doryanthes, &c., Mr. Caldwell’s paper on the embryology of 
the marsupiala, monotremata, and ceratodus: 
WE have to acknowledge a copy of the English translation of 
the paper read by Messrs. Thorell and Lindstr6m to the Royal 
Swedish Academy of Sciences, on the Silurian scorpion found 
in Gothland (NATURE, vol. xxxi. p. 295). It is published by 
Norstedt and Sons, Stockholm. 
THE ceremony of the Chevreul centennial has been postponed 
until January 1, 1886. To give more solemnity to the celebra- 
tion all the Paris students will be present at the /ée; now most 
of them are in the provinces or abroad. The health of M. 
Chevreul continues excellent, and the delay is not likely to prove 
an obstacle to the ceremony. 
PROF. Doo.iTrLe, of the Lehigh University, Pennsylvania, — 
has published a treatise on practical astronomy, as applied to 
geodesy and navigation (New York : Wiley ; London: Triibner). 
It is intended as a text-book for universities and technical 
schools, and as a manual for the field astronomer, The object 
has been to present in a systematic form the most approved 
methods in use at the present time, and these are illustrated. by 
complete numerical examples. In the introduction the method 
of least squares is developed with special reference to the 
requirements of this particular class of work. 
