May II, iS88.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



439 



Q^emml 0&U0. 



Exploration of the Eastern Andes. — Professors 

 Kurtz and Bodenbender, of the university of Cordoba, La 

 Plata, have set out to explore the eastern side of the 

 great Cordillera. 



Mishap to Dr. Krause. — The enterprising traveller. 

 Dr. Krause, has arrived at Acra, on the Gold Goast, 

 without means, having been stripped of his baggage and 

 collections by the natives. 



Tides in the Mediterranean. — The common state- 

 ment that the Mediterranean is tideless m.ust be pro- 

 nounced incorrect. M. Herand has just found that in the 

 Gulf of Gabes, on the Tunis coast, the tide rises six and 

 a half feet, and all along the coast it is measurable. 



Charge against an Examiner. — A lecturer on 

 Anatomy, at one of the London Medical Schools, who is 

 also an Examiner on the " Conjoint Board," is, according 

 to the Medical Press, charged with having furnished the 

 students of his class with particulars of the questions 

 about to be asked. He has sent in his resignation. 



The Telephone in Berlin. — According to the Electrical 

 Review, the Berlin municipal authorities have at length 

 permitted the Post Office to lay down underground wires 

 through the thoroughfares, thus relieving the pressure 

 on the aerial system. 



Formation of Soils. — According to Professor Musch- 

 ketoff, marmots in some countries take no contemptible 

 part in the process of soil-making. Their heaps of earth 

 in the steppes of Siberia cover hundreds of square miles 

 and each one of them represents at least 2-6 cubic yard 

 of earth upturned, or about 39,000 cubic yards on each 

 1,094 yards square. 



A New Artesian Well. — After twenty-two years of 

 work, says La Science en Famillc, the artesian well in the 

 Place Hebert, Paris, has been completed. The subter- 

 ranean water was not struck until the depth of 719 metres 

 had been reached. The shaft is 1.60 metre in diameter, 

 the temperature of the water is 95*^ F., and the cost of 

 the operations has reached 2,500,000 francs. 



Rainfall in Different Parts of the World. — The 

 continent where the rainfall is greatest is South America 

 (1,670 millimetres in depth), then Africa (825 milli- 

 metres). North America (730), Europe (615), Asia (SS^), 

 and Australia (520). The heaviest rainfall is between 

 the equator and lat. 10 S., whilst that from 4o''-5o'', and 

 50--60'' S. is much greater than that between 2o'^-3o'' 

 and 30^-40° S. 



TheMountains of Siam. — Accordingto Mr. J. McCarthy, 

 a chain of mountains which runs in an unbroken range 

 down to Singapore has peaks of 7,000 feet between 

 Burmah and Siam, and in the Malay Peninsula one peak 

 reaches 8,000 feet. Another chain, which forms the 

 water-shed between the rivers flowing into the Chinese 

 Sea, and the tributaries of the Meinam Kong, rises to 

 9,000 feet. 



African Arrow-Poison. — M. Arnaud (Comptes Rendus) 

 has extracted the active principle from the root of the 

 Ouataic tree, belonging to the family Apocynaceas. The 

 Camalis, a tribe of Southern Abyssinia, use an extract of 

 the root for poisoning their arro'vvs. The crystalline 

 principle extracted by M. Arnaud is so poisonous that two 

 millogrammes suffice to kill a dog weighing upwards of 

 40 lbs. This poison is not an alkaloid, and contains no 

 nitrogen. 



Conversion of Nitrates in Soils into Nitrogenous 

 Organic Compounds. — M. Berthelot (^Comptes Rendus), 

 infers from a prolonged course of experiments that there 

 are two distinct, even conflicting, actions proceeding in 

 arable soils. On the one hand, the micro-organisms of 

 nitrification convert ammoniacal salts and nitrogenous 

 organic matter into nitrates, whilst on the other hand 

 certain other microbia, the antagonists of the former, are 

 working in the inverse direction. 



Tuberculized Poultry. — Dr. Stallard {Otago Witness) 

 has recently observed the bacilli of tubercular disease in 

 the liver, lungs, and other organs of chickens sold for 

 food. From his observations he concludes that at least 

 five per cent, of the poultry offered for sale are thus 

 affected. The mature bacillus of tubercule perishes at 

 150", so that they would be destroyed in cooking; but a 

 very much higher temperature is needed to kill the spores 

 of such bacilli, so that the use of tuberculised fowls as 

 food cannot be pronounced absolutely free from danger. 



Ignition of Platinum in Different Gases. — Dr. W: 

 R. Hodgkinson, in a letter to Nature, states that when 

 platinum wire was ignited in atmospheres of chlorine, 

 bromine, and iodine a deposit of the lower halogen salt 

 was formed on the sides of the containing vessel, and 

 crystals of platinum were deposited on the cooler parts 

 of the wire. When a similar experiment was made in 

 dry silicon fluoride, long semi-transparent crystals (pro- 

 bably of silicon) were deposited on the wire. 



Effects of Electricity on Wine. — According to 

 Costnos, Senior Mengarini has continued the researches of 

 Blaserna and Carpini on artificially ripening wines by 

 electric action. He passed a current of 3-99 amperes 

 through a sample of wine for variable lengths of time. 

 The platinum electrodes became covered with a consider- 

 able deposit of albuminoid matter blackened by oxidation. 

 The proportion of alcohol was slightly diminished, and 

 the bouquet of the wine was developed as if by age. The 

 current seems to sterilise the wine, and secures its pre- 

 servation. ^^^^ 



North Atlantic Ocean. — From the Pilot Chai't for 

 April, published by the American Hydrographic OfSice, we 

 learn that ice was met with in latitude 43° 40' N. during 

 March. Some of the logs of which the timber 

 raft was composed, have been met with in the vicinity of 

 the Azores. A cyclonic storm central about 150 

 miles south of Newfoundland on the 2nd, followed a very 

 irregular path across to these islands, which it reached 

 on the nth; the lowest barometer was off the Grand 

 Banks on the 3rd, when a reading of 28-40 was reported. 

 One noticeable feature of this gale was the apparent loss 



