Sept. 10, 1885 | 
NATURE 
463 
Near ty all the ironworks at Pittsburgh, besides some forty 
iron firms within a radius of thirty miles, are now using the 
natural gas of the district, as are also most of the glass factories, 
distilleries, breweries, &c. This is creating an entire revolution 
in the labour market there. The output of iron and steel at 
Pittsburgh is about 750,000 tons per annum, and as it takes 
some 50 bushels of coal to make one ton of iron, it follows that 
at least 38,250,000 bushels of coal will be dispensed with in the 
yearly consumption, throwing out of employment an enormous 
number of miners, firemen, ashmen, roadmen, and other 
employés of the collieries. The cause of this great change being 
entirely one of nature’s arrangement renders it an impossibility 
for trade unions and labour agitators to deal with the matter. 
WE have received the Refort and Proceedings of the Bristol 
Naturalists’ Society for the year ending April 30 last. The 
principal paper is a long one, with illustrations, by Prof. Lloyd 
Morgan, on sub-aérial denudation and the Avon gorge, in which 
he has worked out in detail the subject of the influence of geo- 
logical structure on the scenery of the Avon, more particularly 
of that section of the Avon basin lying between Bristol and the 
Channel. There are also papers on the mapping of the mill- 
stone grit at Long Ashton near Bristol by the same writer, on a 
common fin whale stranded in the Bristol Channel by Mr. 
Wilson, and on the newly-discovered phenomenon of apospory 
in ferns by Mr. Druery. There are also papers on the rainfall 
at Clifton in 1884, and meteorological observations with regard 
to temperature during the same year. Finally Mr. Bucknall 
prints the eighth part of his fungi of the Bristol district, and Mr. 
White additions to his fora of the Bristol coal-field. The 
report shows that only a portion of the papers read are printed. 
Perhaps it is right to add in conclusion that the society is in a 
flourishing financial condition, for it has not only a comfortable 
balance on the right side of its current accounts, but has actually 
a capital to the amount of 17/. Ios. invested in securities. 
A REPORT from the Government Astronomer in the Hong 
Kong Government Gazette upon the progressive motion of 
typhoons gives the following average velocities. The course of 
the typhoon is here followed from its commencement on the 
east coast of Luzon, the cradle of the typhoons of the China 
seas, into the Sea of Japan, beyond which they are dissipated 
and lost in the North Pacific :— 
Nautical miles 
an hour 
East of Luzon eee me te abu 7 
China Seas between 12° eal 18° N. ec wep LO 
China Seas between Hong oe Luzon, and 
Southern Formosa sae ay [ies 
About Hainan cise on 3 “ae em is] 
East of Formosa 603 ap 3 ane ces ENG) 
In Southern China: Kwangtung, Fokien, and 
Kiangsi ... 5 ¥s wks nd } 10 
In the Formosa Straits ras on oa aooy HZ 
About Shanghai... ae 20 “se co, 
In Northern China ... ac a5 00 ee 23 
About Japan... oe 55 ao = ons 1G) 
In the Sea of Japan ... ot fe 2c coo BS 
Dr. Nickerson, of New York, has published as a pamphlet 
the memorial address by him on Joseph Henry and the mag- 
netic telegraph, delivered at Princeton College. It is printed at 
the request of the President and members of the College, and is 
published by Charles Scribner and Sons, of New York. 
WE have to acknowledge Mr. G. J. Symons’s “ British Rain- 
fall” for 1884. The issue for 1860, in four pages, is reprinted 
and bound with the volume, and is interesting as the beginning 
of the elaborite work which Mr. Symons now publishes every 
year. The present volume differs from its predecessors, inas- 
much as it contains no articles from observers upon experimental 
or other branches of rainfall work; but their place has been 
supplied by notes by the editor scattered throughout the book. 
He has invited observers to report any facts within their know- 
ledge bearing on the effect produced upon the level of water in 
wells, &c., by the small rainfall of the year. Consequently 
observers’ accounts occupy a considerable space. Mr. Symons 
has added a full account of the drought. 
WE have received the report of the Verein fiir Naturkunde 
of Mannheim for-the fiftieth and fifty-first years of its existence. 
The report contains the jubilee address, and also a lecture de- 
livered by the late Dr. Schimper in the year 1834, on the 
classification and succession of organisms, together with a brief 
biography of the author and a bibliography of his writings. 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
past week include a Purple-faced Monkey (Semopithecus leuco- 
prymmnus) from Ceylon, presented by Mr. Ernest Greathead ; a 
Weeper Capuchin (Cebus capucinus 8) from South America, 
presented by Mrs. A. Sinclair ; a Ring-tailed Coati (asua rufa é ) 
from South America, presented by Master J. C. Robinson; a 
Yellow-footed Rock Kangaroo (Petrogale xanthopus?) from 
South Australia, presented by Mr. C. W. Holden; a Levaillant’s 
Cynictis (Cynictis penicellata?), a Suricate (Suricata tetra- 
dactyla 2? ) from South Africa, presented by Mr. John Constable ; 
four Black Water Voles (A7zvicola ba cee) from Scotland, 
presented by Mr. W. Arkwright, F.Z.S.; a White-backed 
Piping Crow (Gymnorhina leuconota) ho South Australia, 
presented by Miss A. Charsley; a Poé Honey-eater (Pyosthe- 
madera Nove-Zealandiz) from New Zealand, presented by Mr. 
Charles Clifton, F.Z.S. ; a Humboldt’s Lagothrix (Lagothrix 
Humboldti) from the Upper Amazons, a Glutton (Galo Zuscus) 
North European, deposited ; a Jaguar (Fe/is onca) from America, 
deposited ; two Long-fronted Gerbilles (Gerdil/us longifrons), 
two Snow Birds (Fzzco hyemalis), five Common Vipers ( Vifera 
berus), thirty Striped Snakes ( Zvopzdonotus sirtalis) bred in the 
Gardens). 
ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE 
WEER, 1885, SEPTEMBER 13-19 
(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 Sept. 13 
Sun rises, 5h. 34m. ; souths, Ith. ; aa 44°2s.; sets, 18h. 18m. ; 
decl. on meridian, 3° 38’ N Sidereal Time at Sunset 
17h. 50m. 
Moon (at First Quarter on Sept. 16) rises, toh. 52m. ; souths, 
15h. 50m, ; sets, 20h. 42m. ; decl. on meridian, 13° 54’ S. 
Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian 
h. m. h. m. h, m. ye bs = 
Mercury... 4 6 10 56 17 46 Dass uNe 
Venus 8 49 14-3 ROM) aes ON Soe 
Mars O 27 8 30 16-33) =... 20 sr Ne 
Jupiter Bea) gon, ZIG 18 18 5 56N. 
Satur. 215, $2253 steno Wee yan I5 9 22 22:Nr 
* Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding day. 
Occultations of Stars by the Moon 
Corresponding 
. angles from ver- 
Sept. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. mae fameieee fae 
inverted image 
: bi h. m. h. m. ° ° 
KQ):.. 13\Capricorni 7. (6) =. 20) 4)... 21°23 122 272 
MON... Ta Capriconmiee hme 20 23h... 220A T I5I 273 
The Occultations of Stars are such as are visible at Greenwich. 
Sept. h. i 
Sie -- Eko) Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun, 
18° west. 
