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SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



[June I, iSS8. 



brated its centenary on May 24th, the birthday of the 

 eminent naturalist whose name it bears. For a long 

 time it remained the sole focus of biological science in 

 this country, and though its scope has been narrowed by 

 the formation of the Zoological Society in 1826, and of 

 the Entomological Society in 1833, it still maintains an 

 unsurpassed reputation. It will ever be held in honour- 

 able remembrance as the place where the original 

 papers of Charles Darwin and Mr. A. R. Wallace on 

 " Organic Evolution " were first made public. 



M. Pasteur's System and the Cattle Plague. — The 

 recent experimental inoculations against the Siberian 

 Cattle Plague which have been carried out on a hundred 

 Merino sheep by Dr. Gamalea, of the Bacteriological 

 station at Odessa, have given the most hopeful results. 

 Some time will, of course, be required to prove the absolute 

 efficacy of the system. The importance of the success of 

 this means of eradicating this disease in Russia will, 

 perhaps, be more readily understood when it is stated 

 that during last year, in the single province of Kherson 

 alone, the loss to proprietors by the ravages of this 

 disease amounted to more than three millions of roubles. 

 If this method succeeds in combating the disease it will 

 prove a great boon, as in the whole of Southern Russia, 

 the Siberian plague and the ordinary cattle plague have 

 hitherto had a permanent habitat, and their yearly recur- 

 rence has poverished thousands of peasant proprietors 

 and owners of sheep runs and cattle ranches. 



Fixation of Nitrogen by the Soil and by Plants. — 

 MM. Arm. Gautier and R. Drouin (Comptes Rendus) 

 conclude that the bare soil derives from the atmosphere 

 noteworthy quantities of nitrogen if only it contains 

 organic matter such as humus, which is the necessary 

 medium of such derivation. Oxides of iron accelerate 

 the process, but they are not absolutely necessary. 

 Whatever may be its initial state the nitrogen thus taken 

 from the atmosphere is transformed into organic nitrogen. 

 The soil is the seat of a continual loss of the ammoniacal 

 nitrogen, which is brought by the wind and the rain, or 

 which is liberated by the bacterian fermentations taking 

 place in its midst. But in arable soils the intervention 

 of the nitric ferment checks this action by annulling the 

 ammoniacal tension. The total quantity of nitrogen 

 assimilated in about three months by bare soils, in 

 presence of organic matter, is for the same surface and 

 the same period ten times greater than the quantity of 

 ammoniacal nitrogen fixed by acidulated water exposed 

 to the air of the fields. 



Photographs of the Eye, by the Flash of Mag- 

 nesium Powder. — The effects of complete darkness upon 

 the normal pupil have hitherto been ascertained only by 

 the sudden light of an electric discharge, which does 

 not admit of any measurement. HH. Miethe and 

 Gaedicke {Cosmos and La Nature), by the well-known 

 magnesium powder, have furnished science with a 

 much simpler method. A photograph of the eye may be 

 taken in a totally dark chamber, thus obtaining the 

 image of the pupil when fully dilated, for there is not 

 time for it to contract before the end of the operation. Dr. 

 Miethe, of the Observatory of Potsdam, suggested to 

 Professor Du Bois-Reymond the idea of taking a photo- 

 graph of the normal eye in its natural size after remain- 



ing for fifteen minutes in absolute darkness. The pupil 

 in the proof thus obtained measures 10 millimetres hori- 

 zontally, the width of the corner being 13 millimetres. 

 In the corner can be seen the reflection of the flash of the 

 magnesium. Photographs of this kind will be very valu- 

 able to ophthalmologists. 



The Direct Production of Pure Hot Air from 

 Coal. — Under this misleading title the Times has 

 favoured its readers with a very ecstatic, and at the same 

 time very extraordinary, description of an apparatus for 

 heating air, recently made by Mr. W. A. Gibbs, of 

 Chingford. The writer calmly asserts that "The 

 discovery is that perfectly pure air can be produced from 

 the combustion of coal," and he naively adds that " this 

 discovery is mainly due to the circumstance that the pro- 

 duction of air under such conditions was a desideratum." 

 The Times has lately advocated the spread of technical 

 instruction, but it is self-denying indeed to publish the 

 fact that even its own writers on technical subjects are 

 in such dire need of elementary teaching in science. Air 

 is a mixture of oxygen and nitrogen in well known pro- 

 portions, and to talk of a carbonaceous substance such as 

 coal being converted into oxygen or nitrogen is simply 

 absurd. It is absolutely impossible, and if air is the 

 agent by means of which the fuel is oxidised, the pro- 

 ducts of combustion must necessarily consist chiefly of 

 the oxides of carbon and water vapour. The writer of 

 the article, however, not only states that this " pure air " 

 can be inhaled without injury or inconvenience, but that 

 he actually faced a strong blast of it at a temperature of 

 500 degs. Fahrenheit, without being in any way the 

 worse. The writer is really too modest, it is he — not 

 Mr. Gibbs — who has made the greatest discovery, and 

 we sincerely trust that he will meet with his deserts, not 

 only in Printing House Square, but at Burlington House. 



A French Explorer in South America. — At the last 

 meeting of the French Geographical Society, in Paris, M. 

 Marcel Monnier gave a very interesting account of his 

 travels across South America from the Pacific coast to 

 the Para. M. Monnier stated that he encountered very 

 great difficulties in Peru, and that he was a long time in 

 getting through the upper valley of the Rio Maranon to 

 the eastern chain of the Andes. Owing to a revolt in 

 this region he was compelled to branch off about 150 

 miles to the south, towards the province of Pataz, one of 

 the most rocky and savage districts of the Peruvian Andes, 

 and reached the village of Tayabamba, which is one of the 

 most extreme inhabited points in the whole chain. From 

 there, accompanied by only five Indians, he crossed on 

 foot the Eastern Cordillera as far as the upper course ol 

 the Rio Huallaga, the march being a very difficult one, as 

 for the greater part of the way he and his companions 

 had to cut their way with axes through dense jungles, 

 with nothing but the compass to guide them. They took 

 three weeks to travel 90 miles, being on foot about nine 

 hours each day. Upon reaching the banks of the 

 Huallaga M. Monnier descended the stream for a distance 

 of about 350 miles, as far as its junction with the 

 Maranon, upon a small raft, or balsa, navigated by four 

 Indians. It so happened that, after eight months' travel- 

 ling under these difficult circumstances, M. Monnier was 

 shipwrecked when in sight of the French coast on his way 

 home, and unfortunately lost the greater part of the inte- 

 resting collection. He was able, however, to save his 

 diary and some of his sketches. 



