Sept. 21, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



3n 



General &oU$. 



The Centenary of the University of Montpellier. 

 — This will be celebrated in 1889-1890 with all due 

 solemnity. 



Culture of the Vine in Australia. — Cosmos looks 

 with alarm on the increase of vineyards in Australia, the 

 profits of which are considerable enough to occasion dis- 

 quiet to the French vine-growers. 



Mechanical Theory of Lightning. — M. Charles 

 Moussette (Comptes Rendus) is of opinion that lightning is 

 a projectile, the luminous track described being merely 

 the trajectory of a globular " thunderbolt." 



A Physiological Laboratory for Bombay. — Accord- 

 ing to the Medical Press, the University of Bombay is 

 still sadly in need of a physiological laboratory, an essen- 

 tial element in imparting a thorough medical education. 



The Meteorite of Bahia. — This enormous meteorite, 

 described by Mornay and Wollaston in 1816, and esti- 

 mated to weigh between six and nine tons, has lately 

 been conveyed to Rio, and safely lodged in the National 

 Museum. 



The Electric Treatment of Disease. — Among 

 electricians in America it is currently asserted that work- 

 men engaged among the machines for the production and 

 the distribution of the electric light are found singularly 

 free from rheumatism and neuralgia. 



Supposed Submarine Earthquake in the Baltic. — 

 In the morning of August 17th, the inhabitants of 

 Riigen saw two enormous waves approaching from the 

 north-west which broke on the shore, doing considerable 

 damage to the vessels at anchor. The sea was other- 

 wise calm, and there was no wind. 



A Canal across Jutland. — According to Cosmos, the 

 Danish Government has just granted a concession for a 

 canal which will intersect the north part of Jutland. It 

 will leave the North Sea in the Jammer Bay. The new 

 canal will save ships from having to double the north 

 point of Jutland, Cape Skagen — a true cape of tempests. 



The Climate of Assab. — According to a medical 

 contemporary, Assab, at the southern extremity of the 

 Red Sea, has the honour of being the hottest place in the 

 world, its mean temperature exceeding that of Aden by 

 3 . For four successive months the thermometer at 9 a.m. 

 stood above 90 F. in the shade, and rarely fell below 

 88° F. 



The Rainfall of the Season. — Contrary to the 

 popular impression, the rainfall for the year 1888 is, so 

 far, not in excess of the average, and, in certain parts of 

 Britain, falls even below it. The unsatisfactory character 

 of the summer is due, not to the weight of rain, but to 

 the deficiency of sunshine, the low temperature, and the 

 excess of wind. 



A Low Death-Rate. — The mortality in the townships 

 of Barton and Monton, a few miles to the west of Man- 

 chester, has been only a little above five in the thousand, 



whilst in Manchester it has exceeded twenty-six. As 

 there is no perceptible difference in the climate, the 

 high death-rate of Manchester must be due to human 

 neglect or error, and must be capable of reduction. 



Centenarianism. — La Nature records the death, at 

 Muro, in Corsica, of a man aged 113 years three months. 

 Antonio Giovani Marchetti was born at Zilia, on May 

 1st, 1775. He became a soldier in 1793, and served 

 under the first Napoleon from the siege of Toulon to 

 Marengo, where he was very severely wounded. He 

 settled afterwards at Muro, and was married four times. 



Production of Milk in the United States. — Ac- 

 cording to the Journal de I' Agriculture, there are in the 

 United States 21 millions of milking cows, and their total 

 yearly yield of milk is 294 million hectolitres. Two- 

 thirds of the produce is converted into butter and cheese. 

 The value of this production exceeds that of the wheat 

 grown in the United States, and nearly equals that of the 



Botanical Statistics. — According to Mr. J. G. Baker, 

 F.R.S. (Midland Naturalist), before the war of seces- 

 sion in the United States, the Southern States had 

 almost a monopoly of the trade in raw cotton. 

 Last year the value of the raw cotton exported 

 from India was between fourteen and fifteen million 

 pounds sterling. In 1840 China had a monopoly of the 

 tea trade. In 1883-4 the value of the tea imported 

 from India was over four million pounds sterling. 



A Variable Star (?) — Professor H. Fol reports 

 having seen from the balcony of the Grand Hotel at 

 Toulon, on August 24th last, a little before 9 p.m., a star 

 more brilliant than those of the first magnitude and 

 having a very red lustre. It was in the upper part of 

 the constellation Virgo and at the same height above the 

 horizon as Antares. It had no apparent movement, and 

 seemingly no diameter. The observer after watching for 

 some minutes went in to fetch a map of the stars, but on 

 his return it had disappeared. 



Photographing the Heavens. — After fifteen months' 

 delay, the Treasury have at last sanctioned the provision 

 of two telescopes to enable Greenwich and the Cape of 

 Good Hope observatories to take their share in the 

 international scheme for charting the heavens by photo- 

 graphy. There will now be five British and colonial 

 observatories taking part in the work, as instruments 

 were ordered some months back for Oxford University, 

 Sydney, and Melbourne observatories ; but their con- 

 struction has been delayed by the tardiness of our 

 Government in arriving at a decision. 



Ruins of an Ancient City in Russia. — It is an- 

 nounced that on the right bank of the Volga there 

 exist the ruins of a large city extending over a 

 space of nearly two miles in length, by rather more 

 than half a mile in width. A deputation from the Com- 

 mission of Archives has recently visited the localities, 

 when there were found a great quantity of Arabian, 

 Persian, and Tartar coins and medals, among a crowd of 

 objects of various kinds indicating a very advanced 

 civilisation as prevalent among the ancient inhabitants. 

 Numerous blocks of marble and ruins of waterworks 



