48 



NATURE 



\_Nov. 13, 1 8 79 



will be delivered by Lord Alfred S. Churchill, chairman of the 

 Council. 



Dr. Hincks's " History of the British Marine Polyzoa," upon 

 which he has Ion? been engaged, is nearly ready for publica- 

 tion ; it will form two volumes, uniform with the same author's 

 "Hydroid Zoophytes," and will be fully illustrated by drawings 

 of all the known British species and more remarkable varieties 

 of this hitherto almost undescribed class. The work will be 

 published by Mr. Van Voorst. 



Messrs. Bunny and Davies, of Shrewsbury, have published 

 a " Guide to the Botany", Ornithology, and Geology of Shrews- 

 bury and its Vicinity," edited by Mr. W. Philips, F.L.S. 



The freedom of the Leathersellers' Company has been con- 

 ferred on Prof. Owen. 



On November 3, at 7.45 p.m., a magnificent meteor was ob- 

 served at Strassburg, in the vicinity of Jupiter, travelling south- 

 eastwards. The duration was four to five seconds. The meteor 

 was coloured green, and left behind a luminous track. 



In his just published report on the trade of Newchwang, in 

 Southern Manchuria, Mr. Consul Adkins mentions that he has 

 in his possession a specimen of lead ore found in the neighbour- 

 hood, which contains about 90 per cent, of metal, and also one 

 of copper from the same locality which is almost equally rich. 

 An attempt is being made to get authority to work these mines 

 with foreign appliances. There is an abundant supply of excel- 

 lent coal close to the veins of metal, and were the mining 

 industry once fairly started, the prosperity of Newchwang and 

 the whole province would, in Mr. Adkins's opinion, become 

 remarkable. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Rhesus Monkey (Mocacus crylhraus) from 

 India, presented by Mr. Thos. G. Anderson ; a Common Barn 

 Owl (Slrix fiammca), British, presented by Mr. F. Bagnall ; a 

 Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandii) from South Africa, a 

 Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus mono.) from West Africa, a Mal- 

 brouck Monkey (Cercopithecus cynosurus) from East Africa j 

 deposited; two Moustache Monkeys (Cercopithecus ccphus) from 

 West Africa, an Axis Deer (Cervus axis) from India, a Quebec 

 Marmot (Arctomys monax) from North America, a Common 

 Weasel (Mustela vulgaris), British, two Boatbills (Cancroma 

 cochlearia), two Variegated Bitterns (Ardctta involucris) from 

 South America, a Common Night Heron (Nycticorax griseus), 

 British, purchased. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES 



In the Meteorology of England for the quarter ending 

 June 30, Mr. Glaisher gives some interesting notes of the cold 

 weather up to that date. The mean temperatuie of London for the 

 quarter was 49''5, being the lowest which has occurred during 

 the corresponding period since 1837. The unusually protracted 

 cold weather set in on October 27, 1S78, and for I he eight 

 months ending June, 1S79, the mean temperature was only 4l"'6, 

 being lower than any which has occurred in the present century 

 since 1813-14, when the mean temperature of these eight months 

 was only 40°'4. It was during this cold period that the Thnines 

 was frozen over and a fair held between London and Blackfriars 

 Bridges. Mr. Glaisher appends a very valuable table showing 

 the mean temperature of the eight months ending June for each 

 year from 1771-72, from which it appears that five colder peri ids 

 than that of the present year occurred towards the end of last 

 century, viz., 40°9, in 1794 95, 4t° - 2 in 1788-89, and 4I°"3 in 

 17S3-84, 1784-S5, and again in 1796-97. The more frequent 

 occurrence of a higher temperature during the colder half oi the 

 year in recent years as compared with what prevailed in the end 

 of last century is pointed out. During the first six months of 

 1879 the rainfall about London has been exceptionally large, 

 amounting to 1 7 '30 inches, which is larger than has fallen in 

 these months any year since 1815. 



In the Transactions ami Proceedings of the Philosophical 

 Society of Adelaide, South Australia, for 1877-78, there is an 

 interesting paper by Mr. H. H. Hayter, Government Statist of 

 Victoria, on the infantile mortality of our Australian colonies, 

 based on the statistical returns from 1866 to 1877. During 

 the-e twelve years the rates per annum of the mortality of infants 

 under one year of age in proportion to 1,000 births were 155 > n 

 South Australia, 12S in Queensland, 125 in Victoria, 106 in 

 New South Wales, 101 in New Zealand, and 100 in Tasmania. 

 In each of the years South Australia stood at the top of the list, 

 except in 1877, when the rate of its infantile m irtality was 

 slighily exceeded by that of Queensland. From a detailed 

 statement of the causes of deaths of infants in Souih Australia 

 for the three years 1873-74-75, it appears that of the 3,641 

 deaths which occurred during these years from all causes, n > 

 fewer than 2,249 were occasioned by bowel-complaints and their 

 complications. The whole of this question, which is a vital one 

 as affects the future of such of our colonies as are characteri-ed 

 by high summer temperature, can only be satisfactorily investi- 

 gated by weekly or monthly statistics of deaths of infants from 

 all causes taken in connection with the mean temperature and 

 humidity of the air during the time. Thus the different summer 

 temperatures and humidities of these colonies explain by far the 

 larger proportion of the differences in the rates of their infantile 

 morlality. All the differences, however, are n >t to be thus 

 explained, and it is the investigation of these and the tracing 

 of them to their causes which would likely lead to the adoption 

 of improved sanitary and domestic arrangements. 



We have received from the Scottish Meteorological Society 

 a communication from Mr. Thorlacius, their observer in 

 the north-we t of Iceland, in which he states that the spring 

 there was stormy and c 'Id, but that, in direct contrast to what 

 has prevailed in the British Islands, the summer had been very 

 fine and warm up to the date of writing (September 23), and the 

 rainfall very small during June, July, and August. Pastures 

 had, in consequence, suffered much, and the hay crop turned 

 out to be generally a very poor one. This has, however, been 

 to some extent counterbalanced by the admirable state in which 

 the hay harvest has been secured, so that most can look forward 

 to the coming winter without uneasiness, even though it should 

 pr.ve severe. Since April they have heard nothing of the 

 Greenland ice, always a subject of no little anxiety in these parts, 

 the ice having fortunately kept away from the coast of Iceland. 

 The Danish man-of-war schooner Ingolf, Capt Mourier, cruise I 

 this summer close to the coats of Greenland, but could effect n:> 

 landing, ou ing to a belt of ice he could not force his way through, 

 which lay along the shore for a distance of from twelve to 

 sixteen miles. The Captain sailed along the coast, taking 

 several bearings by the way, from Stewart's Island to Cape 

 Dow, or from 69° to 65° 30' lat. N., thus sailing in a south- 

 westerly direction along the coast of Greenland, which lies 

 opposite the north-west of Iceland, at a distance of about 120 

 nautical miles. This shore has not been previously explored, no 

 one having probably ever had an opportunity of getting so close 

 inshore before. The strait between Iceland and Greenland was 

 this s Uill mer, which very rarely happens, quite open r or naviga- 

 tion, except the inc insiderable belt of ice immediately outside 

 the c last of Greenland. Capt. Mourier had speci d instructions 

 from the Danish government in regard to this exploration, ami 

 it is considered likely that ihe explorations on this little-known 

 coast will be resumed. These meteorological and geographical 

 fact- are important in relation to the more southerly c >urse than 

 usual recently taken by our European storms, and the easterly 

 and northerly winds resulting therefrom, to which we owe the 

 all but unexampled cold dull weather of the , ast twelve months. 

 The "Results of Observations in Meteorolo/y, Terrestrial 

 Magnetism, &c, made in Victoria during 1876," under the 

 superintendence of K. I.. J. Ellery, have been received. The 

 methods of making and reducing the observations are detailed at 

 length in the preface. The chief feature of the Report is its 

 purely statistical character, there heing no attempt to state the 

 outstanding points of interest in the meteorology of the year in 

 this part of Australia. To some extent, however, this want is 

 compensated for by there being given with each month's detailed 

 results the averages for that month of pre-sure, temperature, 

 humidity, and rainfall, calculate from all previous obervations 

 in the office — together with particularly full data of electrical 

 phenomena, hail," snow, frost, fogs, hot winds, storms of winds, 

 and heavy rainfalls of half an inch and upwards within the 

 twenty-four hours at the thirty-eight rain stations over the colony. 



