Feb. 12, 1880] 



NATURE 



557 



to attempt to arrest the progress of the plague. Prof. Rayual 

 of Poitiers proposes, as a last remedy, the radical destruction of 

 all vineyards situated at the boundary of the infected districts, 

 and the establishment of a "neutral" zone. 



The Chair of Chemistry in the newly established Agricultural 

 College of Berlin, is to be filled by Prof. H. Landolt, of Aix-la- 

 Chapelle, well known by his exhaustive studies on the relations 

 between the optical properties of bodies and their chemical 

 constitution. lli> wide experience in saccharimetry has likewise 

 led to bis simultaneous appointment as director of the Chemical 

 Laboratory established at Berlin by the German Veran fur 

 Riibmssucker-Industrie, Prof. Landolt is succeeded in the 

 Polytechnic of Aix-la-Chapelle by Prof. A. Classen, who has 

 recently published two favourably-received laboratory manuals 

 on Qualitative and Quantitative Chemistry. 



It will be a surprise to many to learn, the Gardener* Chronicle 

 tells us, that General Munro, C.B., -whose decease occurred on 

 the 29th ult., had claims on the respect of his countrymen as a 

 'earned botanist as well as a distinguished soldier. lie contrived 

 to combine with his military duties such a knowledge of general 

 botany and horticulture, and so close a study, so searching an in- 

 vestigation of the characters, affinities, nomenclature, and classifi- 

 cation of grasses, as to have been for many years the most trust- 

 worthy referee in that difficult order. With the exception of a 

 monograph on the Bamboos in the Transactions of the Linnean 

 Society, Gemral Munro found time to publish but little. That 

 monograph, however, affords sufficient evidence of his ability, 

 industry, and profound knowledge of his subject. It was 

 elaborated, we believe, in one of the intervals of active service. 

 When, two or three years since, he retired from the army and 

 established himself near Taunton, he at once commenced a 

 general monograph of the whole order. This was intended to 

 form one of the monographs in the series of such works now 

 being issued in continuation of the Prodromus by MM. Alphonse 

 and Casimir de Candolle. To the abiding loss of botany this 

 monograph remains incomplete. It is to be feared that a long 

 time must elapse ere any competent monographer will take upon 

 himself the irksome labour of elaborating such a w r ork. 



M. Berrot, the director of the Ecole Normale Superieure 

 died at Paris on Februaiy 3, at the age of fifty-six. 



The Photographic News informs us that Prince Leopold is a 

 good chemist and has a practical knowledge of photography. 



The fragments of the 3S-ton gun destroyed for experimental 

 purposes in the bursting-cell in the proof-grounds, Government 

 Marshes, adjoining tire Koyal Arsenal, Woolwich, on Tuesday 

 last, have all been recovered, and are found to number about 120 

 pieces. They have all been marked, and are being washed and 

 arranged for inspection. The two projectiles were taken from 

 the sand-butt in front of the gun, both broken in pieces, and it is 

 evident from the appearance of the bore that they broke up 

 before leaving the gun, the marks of the rifling bein^' in parts 

 quite effaced. The muzzle end of the steel tube, about 3 feet in 

 length, is intact, with parts of the wrought iron super-coil 

 remaining attached, and a singular appearance is presented by 

 the rearmost end of this fragment, the steel having been violently 

 rent and incurved as though a shot or lighter fragment, moving 

 faster than itself, had overtaken it and struck it with considerable 

 force. The crusher gauges fixed on both projectiles have been 

 recovered, but give no positive data respecting the pressure 

 produced by the explosion. A very great pressure had been 

 expected, and the copper crushers had consequently been 

 subjected to a pressure of thirty-five tons to the square inch 

 before being inserted in the plugs. This pressure was not 

 exceeded in the explosion, and the only apparent deduction 

 arrived at of importance is that a strain which would not be 



alarming in the powder chamber has sufficed to burst the gun a 

 the spot where its thickness and strength suddenly diminished. 



THE publication is announced of a magnificently illustrated 

 " Iconographical History of the Orchid," by M. E. de Puydt, 

 Secretary of the Royal Society of Agriculturists at Mons. 



The New York Herald publishes a despatch from Ilavannah, 

 of date January 2S, staling that the recent earthquake was felt 

 in San Diego, Santiago oe las Vegas, Pinar del Rio, Cienfuegos, 

 Mariel, and other places. The small town of San Cristobal was 

 almost destroyed. On January 24, at 7.45 P.M., an earthquake 

 was felt at Karlsruhe, Rastadt, and Spier. It appears to have 

 consisted of three different shocks, the direction being from west to 

 east, and the duration about ten seconds. The shock was also felt 

 in Durlach, Miihlburg, Daxlanden, Eggenstein, Sollinger, Lenken" 

 heim, Weingarten, Hittenheim, Philippsburg. The commotion 

 was very great, principally, in Pletteersdorf, close to Rastadt, 

 where the inhabitants were so frightened that they left their 

 houses. It appears that in the vicinity of Spier a second shock 

 was felt on the 28th, from 3 to 4 a.m. A severe shock of earth- 

 quake occurred in th; Kurrum Valley, Afghanistan, on the Sth 

 inst. Smart shocks of earthquake were felt at Sion, in the 

 Valais, on Saturday week. 



At a recent meeting of the Boston Society of Natural History, 

 Mr. F. W. Putnam remarked on the character of the shell-heaps 

 of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America, and stated 

 that there had been received at the Peabody Museum a small 

 collection of articles taken from rude dolmens (or chambered 

 barrows, as they would be called in England), recently opened 

 by Mr. E. Curtiss, who is now engaged, under his direction, 

 in exploration for the Peabody Museum. These chambered 

 mounds are situated in the eastern part of Clay Co., Missouri, 

 and form a large group on both sides of the Missouri River. 

 The chambers are, in the three opened by Mr. Curtiss, about 

 8 feet square, and from 4* to 5 feet high, each chamber having 

 a passage-way several feet in length, and two in width, leading 

 from the southern side, and opening on the edge of the mound 

 formed by covering the chamber and passage-uay with earth. 

 The walls of the chambered passages were about 2 feet ihick, 

 vertical, and well made of stones which were evenly laid with- 

 out clay or mortar of any kind. The top of one of the chambers 

 had a covering of large flat rocks, but the others seem to have 

 been closed over with wood. The chambers were filled with 

 clay which had been burnt, and appeared as if it had fallen in 

 from above. The inside walls of the chambers also showed 

 signs of fire. Under the burnt clay, in each chamber, w^ere 

 found the remains of several human skeletons, all of which had 

 been burnt to such an extent as to leave but small fragments of 

 the bones, which were mixed with the ashes and charcoal. Mr. 

 Curtiss thought that in one chamber he found the remains of 

 five skeletons, and in another thirteen. With these skeletons 

 there were a few flint implements and minute fragments of vessels 

 of clay. A large mound near the chambered mounds was also 

 opened, but in this no chambers were found. Neither had the 

 bodies been burnt. This mound proved remarkably rich in 

 large flint implements, and also contained well-made pottery 

 and a peculiar "gorget" of red stone. The connection of the 

 people who placed the ashes of their dead in the stone chambers 

 with those who buried their dead in the earth-mounds is, of 

 course, yet to be determined. 



Her Majesty's Consul at Hakodate, Japan, states in hi s 

 just published report that a botanical garden has been started a^ 

 that place. The matter originated with private individuals a s 

 the suggestion of a foreign lady, but the Kaitakushi, orColonisa. 

 tion Department, has taken the matter in hand, and has started 

 a public garden. In order to give it the character of a public 



