Dec. 7, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



575 



General 0oU$* 



New Locality for " Boghead." — According to M. 

 Martin, a genuine specimen of the Boghead mineral has 

 been found in Eastern Siberia, in the Stanovoi moun- 

 tains. The quantity of the find is not mentioned, 



Leprosy in Russia. — According to the Medical Press, 

 leprosy is becoming more prevalent in Russia, as several 

 foci of infection have appeared in distinct parts of the 

 empire. 



Diamonds in Borneo. — It seems, according to Cosmos, 

 that diamonds of the first water are being mined in 

 Borneo. The locality is not stated, but it seems to be 

 in that portion of the island under Dutch sovereignty. 



The Polar Flattening of Neptune. — M. Tisserand, 

 in a memoir presented to the Academy of Sciences, shows 

 that the polar flattening of Nepture may be deduced 

 from the movements of his satellite. The disc of the 

 planet subtending only three seconds, a direct observation 

 has not hitherto been possible. 



A Probable Expression of Chemical Affinity as 

 Mechanical Attraction. — Professor J. W. Langley of 

 the Michigan University, suggests that chemical affinity 

 may produce a direct attraction acting in right lines for 

 greater distances than the radius of a molecule, and 

 having a selective character. 



The Height of Waves. — Cosmos mentions that waves 

 off Cape Horn have been estimated at from fifteen to 

 twenty yards in height, reckoning from the level of the 

 sea. The height from the bottom of the trough to the 

 crest of such a wave would, therefore, be from thirty to 

 forty yards. These estimates, of course, lack precision. 



Royal Institution. — The next course of Christmas 

 Lectures adapted to a juvenile auditory will be given by 

 Professor Dewar, F.R.S., the subject being "Clouds and 

 Cloudland." They will begin on December 27. During 

 the recess the staircases leading from the gallery of the 

 theatre have been considerably altered in order to facili- 

 tate more speedy egress. 



bations to a cause not residing in the interior of the 

 earth, but external, and to be sought for in the sun. 



. Geology of London. — Professor H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., 

 is about to deliver a course of lectures on the practical 

 study of the geology of the country round London. 

 This course is given at the request of students of the 

 London Geological Field Class, and information concern- 

 ing them may be obtained from Mr. William Dunn, 21, 

 King William Street, Strand, W.C. 



Purification of Minerals by Electricity. — Quartz, 

 china clays, and other minerals are often found unfit for 

 use in pottery, glass-making, and other chemical arts, on 

 account of the presence of oxide of iron. When such 

 minerals exist in or are reduced to the state of 

 powder, the iron can be removed by. bringing them in 

 contact with a series of powerful electro-magnets. 



Detection of Strychnine. — Mr. Lovett communicates 

 to the Journal of Physiology some observations on the 

 " topography " of the action of strychnine. By experi- 

 ments on that " martyr of science," the frog, he has found 

 the greater part of the poison taken is to be found in 

 the spinal cord, which contains more than the brain, 

 liver, and muscles put together. Hence in chemico-legal 

 investigations the spinal cord should be analysed in all 

 cases where strychnine is suspected. 



Magnetic Perturbations. — M. Andre (del et Terre) 

 remarks that from France to Tierra del Fuego magnetic 

 perturbations are a general phenomenon, absolutely 

 simultaneous over the whole earth, and taking place in 

 all parts at the same moment. He attaches these pertur • 



Human Diet in Prehistoric Ages. — M. Piette {Compks 

 Rendus) concludes, from his prolonged researches in the 

 bone-caverns of the Pyrenees, that the so-called " Mag- 

 dalean " age, which forms part of the Mesolithic epoch, 

 was much more prolonged than it has been generally 

 supposed. At its outset a great number of horses were 

 eaten as food, but towards the end this custom seems to 

 have disappeared, and to have been succeeded by the 

 consumption of reindeer and other Cervidce. 



The Pasteur Institute. — The subscriptions for found- 

 ing and endowing this institution reached the sum of 

 2,586,000 francs. There exist in the world twenty such 

 establishments — seven in Russia, five in Italy, one in 

 Austria, one in Spain, one at Bucharest, one at Rio de 

 Janeiro, one at Havana, one at Buenos Ayre?. Two 

 more are in course of organisation — one at Chicago, and 

 one in Malta. Such is the trouble man has to take to 

 defend himself against " his most faithful friend the 

 dog." 



The Crops in Belgium. — According to del et Terre, 

 the crops for the last season have been almost universally 

 deficient in Brabant. The yield of wheat and rye has 

 been bad ; barley is less universally defective, but the 

 yield is below an average both in grain and straw. Oats 

 have not been much injured, as it has also happened with 

 peas, beans, and buckwheat. Colza and flax are bad. 

 The yield of hay has been deficient, and it has been 

 gathered in bad weather. Potatoes are attacked by 

 disease, and the sugar-beet has produced more leaves 

 than roots. 



What is a Billion ? — When this term was first devised 

 by the Italian arithmeticians of the fourteenth century it 

 was intended to mean the square of a million, or a 

 million millions. In this sense the term is still used in 

 Italy, Germany, and Britain. But in France men of 

 business and schoolmasters have taken to give the name 

 " billion " to a thousand millions, though astronomers 

 and mathematicians retain the original notation. The 

 United States have followed suit, either, as Science puts 

 it, in order to be like the French or to be unlike the 

 English, and we have thus a pretty piece of confusion. 



Decomposition of Carbonic Acid Leaves under the 

 Influence of Light. — Th. W. Engelmann {Archives 

 Neerlandaises) has made a quantitative examination of the 

 absorbent power of leaves of different colours, whereby 

 it appears that chlorophyll consists of at least three dif- 

 ferent colouring matters. Yellow leaves of Sambucus 

 niger decompose carbonic acid, though less energetically 

 than green leaves. Another group of coloured leaves 

 contains not chromophyil but cellular juice of a red 



