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SCIENCR 



[Vol. XIX. No. 467 



of this kind must be extremely easy, so that it can be learned 

 without difficulty." Indeed, Esperanto's grammatic rules 

 are few in number, for they are all gathered upon four 

 pages only. A part of the Lord's Prayer sounds as follows: 

 "Panon nian chioutagan donu al nihodiail; kaj pardonu al 

 ni shuldantoj; ne konduku nin en teuton, sed liberigu nin 

 de la malvera char." An International-English and an 

 English-International vocabulary stands at the close of the 

 small volume. The real name of the author who has hidden 

 himself and his ingenious system under the pseudonym of 

 " The Hopeful " is Dr. Sameuhof. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



In has been long known that glass is attacked and dissolved 

 in small quantities by ordinary water. This dissolving process 

 Herr Pfeiffer, according to Nature, has recently sought to prove 

 and measure by change in the electric conductivity of the water 

 {Ann. der Physih). He measured the increase of conductivity 

 undergone by one cubic centimetre of pure water when it has 

 been in contact for one hour with one square centimetre of glass 

 surface, and concluded that the amount of glass dissolved at 20° 

 C was one to two millionths of a milligram. He found, too, that 

 with temperature rising arithmetically, the growth of solubility is 

 considerably more rapid than that of a geometrical series; that 

 the increase of conductivity of the water for a given kind of glass 

 under like conditions is a characteristic constant; and that later, 

 when a certain quantity of alkali is dissolved, further action in- 

 volves a dissolving also of silicic acid, and the salts then formed 

 may cause a decrease of conducting power. 



— R. W. Shufeldt, M.D. , delivers, during January, four lec- 

 tures on biology, at the Catholic University of America, Washing- 

 ton. The titles are: "Its History and Present Domain,' ''Its 

 Eelations to Geology," "Its Value as a Study," "Its Growth and 

 Future Influence." 



— Towards the end of last March the citizens of Sydney 

 were astonished, as we learn from Nature, by the sudden discol- 

 oration of the water in Port Jackson. In the harbor the water 

 presented in many places the appearance of blood. This remark- 

 alile phenomenon, which was soon found to be due to the pres 

 ecce of a minute organism, has been made the subject of a paper, 

 by Mr. Thomas Whiteiegge, in the Records of the Australian Mu- 

 seum (Vol. I. No. 9). On March 31, Mr. Whiteiegge went to 

 Dawe's Point and got a bottle of water, in which there was a good 

 supply of the organism in question. At first he thought it was a 

 species of tlie genus PeridiniidEe; but further research convinced 

 him that it was a new species of the closely allied genus, Gleno- 

 dinium. So far as Mr. Whiteiegge is able to judge, fully one half 

 of the shore fauna must have been destroyed by these small in- 

 vaders. The bivalves were almost exterminated in those localities 

 where the organism was abundant during the wliole of the visita- 

 tion. Mr. Whitlegge is of opinion that the great destruction of 

 life brought about by an organism apparently so insignificant is 

 of the highest interest from a biological point of view, showing, 

 as it does, how limited is our knowledge of tlie causes which in- 

 fluence marine food supplies. This, he points out, is particularly 

 the case in regard to the oyster, which has often mysteriously 

 disappeared from localities where it formerly abounded. 



— In a report by the British vice-consul at Alexandria, it is 

 stated that the plague of locusts which has been devastating Mo- 

 rocco has been extending itself to Egypt. Some little time ago, 

 clouds of locusts made their appearance and settled, for the most 

 part, on the banks of the Nile or on the edge of the desert, form- 

 ing large yellow patches, easily discernible at a distance. They 

 at once began to breed, and, although immediate steps were taken 

 to destroy them, large numbers of the eggs have ah-eady been 

 hatched. An examination of about thirty deposits of eggs 

 is said to have shown that the usual number laid by each female 

 is from ninety-seven to a hundred. The government at once 



issued the strictest orders to the mudirs to use every possible 

 means to destroy the locusts, and competent officials were sent 

 round the country to organize and direct the work of extermina- 

 tion. Millions of locusts and eggs have been destroyed, but there 

 are still large numbers in the country. When eggs ai-e discovered, 

 either the field is ploughed up or flooded, or the eggs are col- 

 lected and destroyed. The old locusts are easily destroyed while 

 breeding, but the young crickets, in the earliest stage, when they 

 are hopping about' in every direction, give more trouble. The 

 usual method followed in this case is to enclose the spot in which 

 the crickets are found by a number of men drawn up in the form 

 of a crescent. A ditch is then dug from one horn of the crescent 

 to the other, and the men close in, driving the young locusts, by 

 means of palm branches, into the ditch, where they are destroyed 

 and buried. When the young locusts are further developed, they 

 cease to hop, and march in densely packed armies. It is at this 

 stage that they are said to be most destructive, but they are more 

 easily exterminated, as they move slowly, and can be surrounded 

 with fuel and burned. From the energetic measures taken by the 

 government, it is hoped that this pest may be stamped out before 

 any serious harm has been occasioned, but as many eggs are still . 

 known to be deposited in the country, it is impossible to foretell 

 the extent of the calamity, and it is possible that many eggs are 

 being hatched in the desert. Up to the present time it is reported 

 that little damage has been done to the cotton crops, but it is dif- 

 ficult to obtain any reliable information on the subject. The sys- 

 tem employed in Cyprus for the destruction of locusts has been 

 adopted in Egypt when practicable. Another insect plague, in 

 the shape of a repulsive-looking scale insect, made its appearance 

 in Alexandria some time ago, and last year committed great rav- 

 ages in the gardens adjacent to the town, attacking trees, shrubs, 

 and the fruit of the date palm. Various measures have been tried, 

 but the only efficacious one appears to be that of cutting tlie 

 branches and carefully brushing the boughs. Unfortunately, 

 however, no general regulation has yet been put into force, and 

 consequently the efforts of some individuals are nullified by the 

 apathy of others, and the plague still continues and threatens to 

 spread throughout the country. The insect has been classified as 

 CroKsotoma ^gyptiacum, and was probably imported from 

 America It is popularly knovv-n as cotonina. from its resem- 

 blance to cotton. A decree has now been issued, prohibiting the 

 transport of trees and shrubs from Alexandria to other parts of 

 the country. 



— A large and influential meeting has been held in the Liver- 

 pool Town Hall, the Mayor in the chair, for the purpose of estab- 

 lishing a geographical society for tlie city. It was decided, on the 

 motion of Mr. Forwood. M P., to establish such a society. Mr. 

 Forwood said that statesmen had a knowledge of continents, but 

 they had no knowledge of the value of the trade in these conti- 

 nents. He felt sure that if, some years ago, those who were at 

 the head of public affairs in this country had been informed by a 

 practical society, such as he had no doubt would be formed in 

 Liverpool, that in Africa there were great resources, that there 

 was a great field for the expansion of this country's trade, the 

 condition of the map of Africa would be very different from what 

 it now was. He had before him a map prepared by the African 

 section of the Chamber of Commerce, which showed that the coast 

 lines of different countries interlaced, but that no arrangement 

 seemed to have been made by any one of them as to who was to 

 have the sphere of influence in the interior. Many railways had 

 been by British enterprise recently built in Mexico, Central Amer- 

 ica, and the Argentine, but there vvas really nothing known in 

 this country about the resources of these countries, and there was 

 no place where this information could be got. Such a centre of 

 information in Liverpool would he of inestimable value. Probably 



. their society would take a more practical and less scientific line 

 than the Royal Geographical Society, who were giving them their 

 cordial sympathy and support. 



— The Meteorological Office of Paris has recently published its 

 Annals for the year 1889, in three volumes, as in pi-evious years. 

 Vol. I., under the title of Memoirs, says Nature, contains a treatise 

 by M. Fron on the course of the thunder-storms during the year, 



