Feb. 26, 1880] 



NATURE 



397 



Tidal Phenomenon in Lake Constance 



For the second time within 1S5 years the great sheet of water 

 called the Lake of Constance, the Boden See, or the Suabian 

 Sea, whose superficial area exceeds two hundred square miles, 

 has been frozen over. 



In connection with it a very interesting phenomenon has been 

 noticed. At a time when the air was perfectly still and during 

 intense frost the ice broke away in the middle of the lake and 

 came crashing upon that nearer the shore, under which it forced 

 itself or piled itself up in great heaps. An experienced ski per 

 on the lake says there is no doubt that as nearly as possible every 

 twelve hours the great fields of ice move backwards and forwards 

 upon the lake. He adds that both in summer and winter he and 

 his comrades have noticed during an absolute calm a powerful 

 movement in the water, backwards and forwards, sometimes so 

 strong as to require double force to propel the ship. Can any 

 of your readers tell me if this is a true tidal movement? 



Another fact which came under my notice to-day may interest 

 your readers. In many places on the frozen surface of the lake 

 and especially near the shore, there are great white spots varying 

 from a foot to two or three yards in diameter. At these spots 

 marsh gas has accumulated under the ice, and upon piercing 

 them and applying a light, a fiame will mount up I am told 

 sometimes as high as six feet, though in those in which I experi- 

 mented to-day it did not rise more than two feet. 



Samuel James Capper 



Hotel Helvetia, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, February 17 



Meteors in New Caledonia 



During the last few nights we have seen numerous flights of 

 small meteors ; indeed, so frequent have they been, that they 

 have attracted the notice of the most casual observers. I first 

 observed them on the night of the 9th inst. No fixed direction 

 seems to be followed ; in fact, I saw one display such as I have 

 never seen before, which will illustrate my meaning. Two fair- 

 sized meteors proceeded severally from the neighbourhood of 

 Ca>tor and Pollux, and crossed mid-way between those two 

 stars. To me it was a very interesting sight. 



A neighbour (a lady) informed me she saw a very fine meteor 

 on the 10th, which left a long trail of light, and burst into 

 shining fragments very like, as she expressed it, "the head of a 

 rocket." The direction pointed out was rather low down in the 

 north-north-west. We have had an unusually long, cool sea-on, 

 which has been quite delightful. Now, for some days past, the 

 heat has set in ; the air is charged with electricity ; heavy 

 thunder-clouds cling round the mountains in the interi >r, anil 

 frequent lightning-flashes are seen, but no thunder heard. On 

 Saturday, the 13th, heavy rain came up against the wind and 

 drowned out a pretty children's /fie, the distribution of prizes at 

 the Government Schools ; serious colds are prevalent in conse- 

 quence, your humble servant and his family being in the full 

 tide of fashion, a distinction we could very happily have done 

 without E. L. Layard 



British Consulate, Noumea, December 13, 1879 



Intellect in Brutes 



Mr. Thomson's communication in Nature, vol. xxi. p. 324, 

 has reminded me of an incident which may be of interest to 

 your readers. I have a well-bred and gentle tortoiseshell cat, 

 a feline lady. It is her habit not to steal food from dishes which 

 the family is using ; in cold weather, if a dish is placed in the 

 fender to keep warm, its contents arc safe from pu-sy. She has 

 a kitten by no means so refined as herself, one, in fact, that takes 

 after the other parent, a half-wild cat of the gardens. One 

 morning recently the old cat was lying at our breakfast time 

 upon the hearthrug ; the kitten was piaying about. It was a 

 very cold morning, and a plate of herrings was put into the 

 fender to be kept warm until they were to be eaten. The kitten 

 smelling the fish, stepped gaily forward, with tail erecting itself, 

 towards the fender. An angry grow 1 from the old cat attracted the 

 notice of all in the room, and to my intense amusement and sur- 

 prise, I saw her strike the kitten a violent blow in the chest, strong 

 enough to overturn the little creature, which retired humiliated 

 to another part of the room. Alex. Macke.nnal 



Bowden, February 14 



A friend in a village in the south of Scotland has a she cat, 

 a great pet in the household. One night, when the lamp was being 



trimmed, some paraffin was spilled on puss's back, and a short 

 time after, going near the fire, a falling cinder set her in a blaje. 

 In an instant she male for the do >r (which happened to be 

 open) an! sped up the street about 100 yards, and with a tre- 

 mendous leap plunged headlong into the village watering trough, 

 then stepped out, gave herself a shake, and trotted quietly 

 home. The trough had eight or nine inches of water, and 

 puss was in the habit of seeing the fire put out with water every 

 night. W. Brown 



Greenock 



THE ARTISAN REPORTS ON THE PARIS 



EXHIBITION OF 1878 ' 



THE Society of Arts deserves the thanks of all who 

 are interested in the progress and elevation of our 

 national industries for the manner in which it has at- 

 tempted to bring home to British manufacturers and 

 artisans the lessons of the Paris Exhibition of 1878. As 

 in 1867, so in 187S, it took a prominent part in the move- 

 ment for sending over to Paris a number of selected 

 artisans, whose reports on the exhibits of the various 

 departments of industry they represented the Society has 

 now published. Thanks to the interest shown in this step 

 by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, and by Sir Philip Owen, 

 the artisans sent over by this agency, some two hundred 

 in number, were enabled to visit also a number of the 

 workshops and factories of the French capital, to jud^e 

 for themselves of the conditions under which the various 

 industries are carried on. The thirty-nine selected Re- 

 ports printed in the volume before us, form therefore, an 

 extremely interesting and valuable contribution to cur 

 knowledge of the relative conditions of the skilled indus- 

 tries in the two countries. The frequent comparisons 

 drawn from the workman's point of view not only upon 

 the quality of workmanship but also upon the conditions 

 and price of labour, the machinery, the tools, and the 

 character of the workmen, are striking and instructive in 

 the extreme. 



The Reports range over a wide area of subjects. 

 Porcelain, Earthenware and Glass, head the list with 

 seven separate Reports. Next come Ornamental Iron- 

 work, Wood-carving and Stone-carving. After these 

 are Reports on Machine-Tools, Mechanical Engineering, 

 Agricultural and Horticultural Implements, Bricklaying, 

 Stone-work, Plaster-work, Joinery, Cabinet Making, 

 Clock and Watchmaking, and Jewellery. Optical Instru- 

 ments have a Report to themselves, followed by others on 

 Machinery for Printing, Spinning and Weaving, on 

 Saddlery and Harness, Shoemaking, and Caoutchouc, 

 whilst the volume closes with a Report on Mining Ap- 

 pliances, and one on Iron and Steel Manufacture 



The topics incidentally touched upon by the artisan 

 reporters are not less wide in their range ; they extend 

 from an account of the style of dancing in vogue at the 

 Sunday evening balls in the cafes of Belleville, to a de- 

 scription of a harmony in gold and yellow by Mr. Whistler, 

 which we are told "looks as though the ground had been 

 prepared with a sticky substance, and a shower of gold 

 leaf had been thrown from above." It would be impos- 

 sible in the space of any mete Review to comment up n 

 all the points of scientific interest raised in these multi- 

 farious Reports. To obtain from a perusal of them 

 anything like a connected or accurate view of the relation 

 of science to skilled labour in the systems in vogue in 

 French workshops is almost equally hopeless, since the 

 very different styles of writing and modes of observation 

 of the various writers preclude strict comparisons be- 

 tween one department of industry and another. Never- 

 theless there arc a number of salient features which seem 

 to call for notice. 



The Report on Optical Instruments by Mr. M. Lambert, 



1 Published for the Society of Arts, by Sampson Low and Co., London 

 T879. 



