576 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS, 



[Dec. 7, i? 



colour. An influence of this colouration upon vitality- 

 could not be traced. The chlorophyll of such leaves is 

 of the ordinary kind. The rays absorbable by chloro- 

 phyll pass nearly unaffected through the red cellular sap. 



The Earthquake in Liguria — M. Issel has communi- 

 cated to the Academy of Sciences a full account of the 

 damage occasioned in Liguria by the earthquake of 1887. 

 The area shaken on February 23rd differs little from 

 that agitated on February 23rd, 1818, September 9th, 

 182S, and May 26th, 1831. The number of persons 

 killed in the province of Porto Maurizio was 597, and in 

 that of Genoa 38. The wounded in the former were 474, 

 and in the latter 81. The damage done to houses, etc., 

 in the districts of Porto Maurizio and San Remo is esti- 

 mated at more than thirteen million francs, and in the 

 province of Genoa 2,281,000 francs. 



The Ancient Greek Alchemists. — Professor Berthelot 

 has just laid before the Academy of Sciences the comple- 

 tion of the publication of these treatises, accompanied by 

 translation. The fifth part of the work is the most 

 interesting, containing not mystical reveries and imagin- 

 ings, but positive processes and definite results. It 

 comprises a series of memoirs on tempering and colouring 

 metals, especially bronze and iron, the moulding of 

 bronze, the gilding of iron, the colouration of imitation 

 precious stones, the treatment of pearls, the manufacture 

 of potash from wood-ashes, that of beer and soap. Most 

 of these tracts seem to be drawn from a great Byzantine 

 manual of industrial chemistry, compiled in the 8th or 

 9th century. But some of the portions date back to an 

 earlier epoch. 



A New Proof of the Earth's Rotundity. — It is now 

 some years since M. Ch. Dufour pointed out, from 

 theoretical considerations, that, since the surface of water 

 in large bulk is really spherical, with a curvature corres- 

 ponding to that of the earth, the image of the sun 

 reflected from it must really have an elliptical form. In 

 1886, Signor Ricco commenced some still uncompleted 

 observations on the solar reflection from the marine 

 horizon, as seen from the Palermo observatory ; he has 

 found the obliquity of the sun's image very marked in 

 clear and calm weather. M. C. Wolf has applied the 

 same principle to the distortion of star images ; this, 

 with the results just announced by M. F. A. Torel for 

 the eccentricity of the solar image after reflection from 

 the Lake of Geneva, shows that it is no longer simply 

 theory, but a new direct experimental proof, that the 

 earth is round. 



Electric Storms. — Professor Miiller, of the Russian 

 Lyceum of Tashkend, describes {La Nature) a storm 

 which took place in and near that town on July 29th, and 

 lasted for three hours. Amidst dense clouds, which quite 

 obscured the daylight, the lightnings crossed each other 

 without interruption, and the thunder roared, but there 

 fell all the time not a drop of rain. The air, however, 

 was sensibly cooled and purified. On the next day a 

 friend of Professor Miiller was walking along the flanks 

 of the wooded mountains near Vladikavkas, at about six 

 p.m., when he heard a dull sound which gradually 

 increased. He stopped, and saw below him a group of 

 fire-balls which were moving slowly in the direction of 

 the valley. He distinguished clearly three such balls ; 



that in the centre, apparently of two feet in diameter, wa s 

 yellow with golden reflections. At its sides there were 

 two others ofa splendid purple colour. The phenomenon 

 lasted for three minutes. 



Interesting Discovery. — Lieutenant D. Bruun, of the 

 Danish army, having had a moss dug out in Finderup, 

 in Jutland, has made some interesting discoveries. In 

 the moss were found trunks of oak, beech, and fir trees, 

 from 6 to 30 inches in diameter. The branches had in 

 some cases been cut off, but the bark remained. By the 

 side of one of the oak trunks two earthen vessels were 

 discovered, and near another a third shaped like an urn. 

 In the latter lay a sandal cut from a piece of leather, 

 with flaps, and leather straps for tying to the ankle, the 

 length of the sandal being 7 inches. It seemed as if the 

 trunks of trees had been placed in a certain position for 

 some purpose or another. About 20 feet farther to the 

 south, and at the same depth, viz., 6 feet, a yoke of oak 

 was found, 5! feet long and 3 inches thick, being fairly 

 cylindrically cut out in the centre. At each end were 

 holes, in one of which remained a strap of leather. 

 Other implements of oak were also found, evidently 

 used for carrying. Some of them seemed part of a 

 wheel. Close to the yoke another earthen urn was 

 discovered, which, like the three referred to, was sur- 

 rounded with sprigs of heather and bramble. Formerly 

 some horns of bullocks and the skeleton of a man in a 

 fur coating were found in the moss. The various objects 

 are now in the Copenhagen Museum, and are said to 

 date from the early iron age. 



The Public Health. — The Registrar-General's return 

 for the week ending November 24th shows that the 

 deaths registered during that period in 28 great towns 

 of England and Wales corresponded to an annual rate of 

 i8'2 per 1,000 of their aggregate population, which is 

 estimated at 9,398,273 persons in the middle of this 

 year. The six healthiest places were Derby, Hull, 

 Leicester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Sheffield. 

 In London 2,722 births and 1,409 deaths were registered. 

 Allowance made for increase of population, the births 

 exceeded by 12, while the deaths were 370 below, the 

 average numbers in the corresponding weeks of the last 

 ten years. The annual death-rate per 1,000 from all 

 causes, which had been 197, 18-5, and 19.7 in the pre- 

 ceding three weeks, fell last week to 17-2. During the 

 first eight weeks of the current quarter the death-rate 

 averaged 18-9 per 1,000, and was i'o below the mean rate 

 in the corresponding periods of the ten years 1878-87. 

 The 1,409 deaths included 133 from measles, 20 from 

 scarlet fever, 41 from diphtheria, 19 from whooping- 

 cough, one from typhus, 15 from enteric fever, 1 from 

 an ill-defined form of continued fever, 18 from diarrhoea 

 and dysentery, and not one from small-pox or cholera ; 

 thus, 248 deaths were referred to these diseases, being 

 27 above the corrected average weekly number. In 

 Greater London 3,536 births and 1,756 deaths were 

 registered, corresponding to annual rates of 33-3 and 

 io'6 per 1,000 of the estimated population. In the 

 Outer Ring 29 deaths from measles, 6 from diphtheria, 

 4 from whooping-cough, 3 from " fever," and 3 from 

 scarlet fever were registered. Fifteen fatal cases of 

 measles occurred in West Ham, 4 in Tottenham, and 2 

 in Sunbury sub-districts ; 2 deaths from diphtheria were 

 recorded in Godstone, and 2 from whooping-cough in 

 1 Tottenham sub-districts. 



