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SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



LJuly 27, 1888. 



guide to the insects. The editor of the Journal of 

 Microscopy adds, in comment, that from many years 

 residence in Essex he is well acquainted with the fact 

 that no farmer's wife (of the old school) will pickle hams 

 in a waning moon. The days between new and full moon 

 are chosen by the farmer to kill swine for home con- 

 sumption, because, they say, the meat will swell with the 

 moon, but in a waning moon it will decrease. 



Detection of Cotton-seed Oil in Olive Oil. — 

 Ernest Milliau has, says the New York Jewellers' Weekly, 

 recently discovered a new, simple, and effective means of 

 testing the purity of olive oil, which by many watch- 

 makers is considered the best lubricant. This oil is 

 frequently adulterated by the addition of cotton-seed oil, 

 and M. Milliau has ascertained that nitrate of silver 

 causes the two oils to separate. In order to test the 

 oil it must be mixed with three times its volume of 

 methylated spirits. The nitrate of silver is then diluted 

 in water and poured into the mixture. If there be any 

 cotton-seed oil it will rise to the surface in the form of a 

 black paste. By this means the presence of even so 

 small a quantity of cotton-seed oil as 1 per cent, can be 

 discovered. 



Miklucho Maclay. — We regret having to put on 

 record the death of Dr. Miklucho Maclay, at the early 

 age of forty-two. Having studied medicine and the 

 natural sciences at Petersburg and Leyden, he visited 

 Madeira in 1866, in company with Prof. Haeckel, of 

 Jena, and afterwards Morocco and the Canaries. In 

 1871 and 1872 he explored the north-western and south- 

 western coasts of New Guinea, and visited Farther 

 India, Malacca, and the Malay Islands. In 1876-78 he 

 explored the northern coast of New Guinea. He re- 

 visited this island in 1879, an< 3 finally returned to 

 Russia in 1882. He had resided for some time at 

 Sydney, where he founded a marine biological station. 

 The greater honour belongs to Dr. Miklucho Maclay 

 because, unlike another eminent Russian traveller, he 

 could not be suspected of being a political or military spy. 



Deposits of Lignite in Italy. — The rapid rise of 

 Italy as a nation has naturally increased her desire to be 

 self-supplying in coal for her war-ships, as well as for 

 commercial purposes. Many attempts have been made 

 to find this all-important mineral, but hitherto without 

 suacess. Lignite, however, exists in large beds, and has 

 been successfully used in the great iron and steel works 

 at Terni. A new and apparently very extensive deposit 

 of lignite has been found on the estate of Monteguidi, 

 midway between Siena and Volterra, and in the vicinity 

 of the boracic acid works, formerly worked by Count 

 Larderello. The estate having been recently pur- 

 chased by an Englishman, some specimens of the 

 lignite have been brought to England for examination, 

 and it seems that its heating power is 80 per cent, of 

 Newcastle Hartley coal. This would therefore seem to 

 be the nearest approach to a coal-find in Italy. 



Application of Carnot's Principle to Endothermic 

 Reactions. — M. Pellat, in a communication to the 

 Academy of Sciences, shows the impossibility of effecting 

 endothermic reactions in opaque vessels at low tempera- 

 tures. But this impossibility no longer exists if we 

 allow a source of intense heat to act by radiation, a fact 

 which is commonly expressed by saying that light effects 



the reaction. Thus the carbonic acid of the air is de- 

 composed at ordinary temperatures by the green parts 

 of plants, and the carbon combines with the elements of 

 water. This is a decidely endothermic reaction, and it is 

 therefore possible only by the radiation of an intensely 

 heated body, the sun. The chlorophyll reaction can take 

 place only under the influence of a radiant body of a 

 higher temperature than that at which vegetable products 

 become ignited. The higher the temperature of a radiant 

 body the more its spectrum extends towards the ultra- 

 violet. This explains the efficacy of the most refrangible 

 radiations in setting up chemical reactions. 



Ascent of Mount Kenia. — According to the Times a 

 despatch just received from Zanzibar states that the 

 Hungarian Count Teleki, who has been travelling for 

 some time in the interior, was, in December last, on Lake 

 Barengo. The Count had had numerous fights with the 

 natives, but had always been victorious and had his 

 caravan well in hand. He had ascended Mount Kenia, 

 the lofty peak which lies far to the north of Kilima-Njaro. 

 This mountain had never been ascended before, and 

 Count Teleki states that it is higher than Kilima-Njaro, 

 which is 18,700 ft. high; but, unfortunately, the Count 

 does not give any figures. He proposed to go to the 

 Samburu country, and visit the lakes Basso Ebor and 

 Basso Erok, as he calls them. His companion (a lieu- 

 tenant in the Austrian Army) and himself were both in 

 good health, and he proposed to return to the coast in 

 November next. In this connexion we may state that 

 Dr. Hans Meyer now admits that his original estimate of 

 the height of Kilima-Njaro was incorrect ; and that the 

 old estimate of 18,700 ft. is more likely to be right. Dr. 

 Meyer has just published in book form at Leipsic a narra- 

 tive of his ascent of the mountain under the title of " Zum 

 Schneedomdes Kilimaudscharo." 



Image of the Moon. — The following account of a 

 curious meteorological phenomenon is given by Herr 

 Kammermann in the Archives des Sciences Physiques et 

 Naturclles, and is reproduced in Cosmos. At the moment 

 of observation (5.30 p.m., October 29th, 1887) the sky 

 was almost entirely covered with cirro-cumulus, save in 

 the east, where there was a broad band of black clouds 

 rising about 15 above the horizon. These two kinds of 

 clouds were separated by others partaking at once of 

 the cirro-cumulus and the cirro-stratus, in which took 

 place the phenomenon recorded. The moon seemed to be 

 in this intermediate layer, and was surrounded by a 

 well-defined halo of about 5 in diameter. The interior 

 of the circle was of an orange yellow, and this colour 

 gradually faded away outwards into a whitish shade. 

 The distinctness of the halo struck the observer, who was 

 astonished to see that the luminous disc which he had 

 taken for the moon was not our satellite at all, for the 

 moon just showed itself in a gap in the lower black 

 clouds which had entirely concealed her hitherto. In 

 about two minutes the mock moon disappeared, only the 

 coloured circle still existed, and was evidently excentric 

 to the moon, which was then at the edge of the lower 

 belt of cumulus. In a few moments afterwards it dis- 

 appeared behind the cirro-cumulus. The diameter of 

 the mock moon was about the half or two-thirds of the 

 lunar diameter. The distance between the false and the 

 true moon was about 5 , the latter being then 13 above 

 the horizon. Such a meteorological phenomenon does, 

 not seem to have been previously observed. 



