382 



NATURE 



[Feb. 19, 1880 



The American Naturalist states that the report of the Curator 

 of the Harvard University Museum of Zoology, where geology 

 is also taught, shows that facilities are extended to those desirous 

 of studying lithology. The instruction given by Mr. M. E. 

 Wadsworth during the past year consisted of lectures on the 

 macroscopic and microscopic characters of the rocks and their 

 constituent minerals, and also of field and laboratory wcrk. 

 Besides the study of the laboratory collection?, each student had 

 assigned to him a separate district, which he was to map, study- 

 ing the characters and relations of the rocks, and collecting the 

 necessary specimens. Of the rocks thus collected the student 

 was required to make thin sections and to examine them micro- 

 scopically, writing a thesis upon the whole work. It was 

 intended that the course should be sufficiently thorough to fit the 

 student for practical field and laboratory research. 



The prospectus is issued of a proposed Botanisches Cen- 

 tralblatt, to be published weekly by Fischer, of Casse), 

 under the editorship of Dr. O. Uhlworrn, of Leipzig. The 

 object of the publication is to supply brief abstracts (without 

 criticism) weekly of every important new independent publication 

 or paper in a scientific journal, in all the various branches of 

 botanical science ; a complete index to titles of recent botanical 

 literature in all countries ; short original communications ; 

 reports of museums, gardens, botanical explorations, &c. ; 

 personal news, &c, &c. The editor has secured the co-operation 

 for this purpose of correspondents in the various towns of 

 Germany and France, England, Switzerland, Sweden, Servia, 

 Denmark, Greece, Russia, Belgium, Holland, &c, &c. All 

 communications should be addressed to Dr. O. Uhlworrn, 

 Siidstrasse, 82, Leipzig, who invites the assistance of botanists in 

 all countries to render the publication as complete and useful as 

 possible. 



A few alterations have been made in this year's curriculum 

 of the Ecole d' Anthropologic at Paris, which is now divided 

 into a whiter and summer session. Dr. Paul Broca is delivering 

 a course of comparative anatomy, while Dr. Paul Topinard is 

 conducting the biological section of the class for anthropology, 

 and M. Gabriel de Mortillet that of human paleontology. The 

 summer session will begin in April, with lectures on ethnology 

 by Dr. Dally, on language in relation to anthropology by Dr. 

 Hovelacque, and on demography by Dr. Bertillon. 



Herr LissAuer, in exploring the so-called " Reihengr'aber " 

 near Culm, on the Weser, has found about seventy graves, not 

 previously opened. In these the bodies were found lying in 

 rows on the bare ground, and besides bronze and iron knives, 

 amber, agate, and other beads, rings of an oval form, varying in 

 diameter from 30 to 80 millim., were discovered on either side 

 of each skull. These singular objects, to which the name of 

 " Hackenringe " has been given from their hooked form, hive 

 never before been found at any but a purely Slave-station. In 

 Poland there is evidence that their use was continued till the 

 middle of the eleventh century, but hitherto no light has been 

 thrown on the purpose for which they were intended. The 

 crania found in these graves differed from the brachiocephalic 

 type of the Slaves, and approached more closely to that of the 

 mesaticephalic ancient inhabitants of We- tern Prussia. 



A SMALL crater is stated to have appeared near Paterno, on 

 the west side of Etna, and the other craters are again issuing a 

 saltish oily fluid, which has formed a small lake and is injuring 

 the neighbouring fields. Numerous slight shocks of earthquake 

 have also been felt to the north-north-east and south-south-we-t 

 of Etna ; jets of steam have issued from the new craters, and 

 steam, mixed with ashes, from the central one. 



The principles of sanitary science appear to have received but 

 small attention in the Riviera, for, according to the sanitary 



commissioner of the Morning rost, who has just concluded a 

 series of articles on the result of his examination of the condition 

 of the part between Cannes and San Remo, they are everywhere 

 disregarded. The more important facts he gives are these : As there 

 are nowhere any sewers, the cesspool system is all but universal, 

 and cesspools are often under the houses~and have faulty venti- 

 lating pipes. There are but few public water supplies, and even 

 where these are available they are not always used, wells, even 

 in suspicious positions being used instead. There are two 

 distinct sets of dangers which must be regarded quite apart. 

 There are the dangers to villas and hotels, wherever situated, 

 from defective cesspools, internal arrangements, and wells, and 

 there are especial dangers in towns from the /gouts. The dangers 

 of villas and hotels are not under inspection, and people 

 occupying them have no other assurance of safety than having 

 them examined for themselves. The examination should be 

 extended to the overflows from buildings on higher ground, which 

 it appears the law does not prohibit. Many even of the best 

 hotels are in a very unsatisfactory state. The ventilating pipes 

 of cesspools frequently end by bed room windows; wells are 

 situated in places liable to pollution, while internal arrangements 

 are dangerou>ly faulty. The greatest dangers of all, however, 

 are the /gouts in towns. Originally intended only as drains for 

 rain-water and waste house-water, they in reality receive the 

 overflows of cesspools, and as they are never flushed and have 

 but a very slight gradient, the matter hangs about in them and 

 ferments, thus becoming a source of grave danger, as the air 

 from the /gouts rises into the streets through untrapped openings. 

 The commissioner states that he has arrived at the real facts 

 regarding the /gouts, in spite of much official misinformation, 

 and that he was three times laid up from working out the facts 

 for himself. Ahhough told at official bureaux that overflows did 

 not exi t because they were forbidden by law, he had some 

 cesspool covers opened, saw the overflows, and then, from 

 extended inquiries, found that the law was habitually disregarded, 

 as the fine for an overflow was never enforced. English visitors 

 thus know for the first time that /gouts are not mere drains as 

 officially stated, but are worse than sewers. The beaches and 

 promenades near the sea are especially dangerous, as the sands 

 are becoming sodden with sewage matter, and the almost tideless 

 bays are getting choked up with it. There are numberless 

 private /gouts, while the larger public /gouts open on to the 

 shores without any flaps or doors to them, so that the fouled air 

 is wafted back to the public gardens and the favourite shore 

 promenades. The one piece of advice offered to visitors is that 

 they should select hotels or villas aw\ay from the shore and away 

 from /gouts. 



An International Meteorological Conference has been held in 

 Sydney, at which it has been arranged to establish a uniform 

 system of weather telegraphy for the different Australian 

 colonies. 



Prof. Milne, of Tokio, Japan, has devised an ingenious 

 method of detecting the least seismic trembling. In an article in 

 the Japan Gazette for December 13, 1879, he thus de cribes his 

 method : — "Besides endeavouring to obtain the true motion of 

 any earth particle, I have, for special reasons, been endeavouring 

 to obtain records of the smaller shakings. By the use of a special 

 form of microphone when it is properly placed it is not difficult 

 to delect any movement, however slight, of the earth's crust. 

 My microphones are buried in pits round about the house. 

 Precautions have been taken to keep out insects, otherwise the 

 tramping of a beetle w ould register as an earthquake. The pits 

 must also be dug at a distance from a roadway or path, otherwise 

 every step of persons passing, even if six yards distant, will be 

 indicated to the recorder. Excluding beetles, thieves, and unex- 

 pected visitors, it would seem that for some time before the 

 occurrence of a ' shock ' the telephone gives signs that the earth 



