366 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IV., No. 88. 



be annual. The journal is published by H. Georg 

 at Geneva. The price of the first volume has been 

 fixed at twenty-five francs, but will be raised to forty 

 francs as soon as completed. Three parts of the first 

 volume have already appeared, and show by the char- 

 acter of their contents that the Eecueil ranks from 

 the start with the best of the zoological journals. 

 Part third contains papers by Schiff on lymphatic 

 hearts, Fol on a human embryo of 5.6 millimetres, 

 Keller on Medusae, Sabatier on the cells of the follicle 

 of tunicates, Flesch on a parasite of the horse, and 

 Bedot on the central organ of Vellela. The plates 

 and the typography are both excellent. 



— Dr. C. C. Parry is now in England, examining 

 the methods used in the care of European herbaria, 

 and studying his favorite genera of plants as repre- 

 sented in the botanical storehouse at Kew. 



— The hitherto rare shells, Helix facta and Binneia 

 notabilis, have recently been found abundant on the 

 volcanic island of Guadaloupe, off the Lower Cali- 

 fornian coast, by G. W. Dunn. The curious Binneia, 

 with a body much larger than its shell, envelops 

 itself in aestivating in a case of material similar to 

 the hibernacula of other land shells. The fauna 

 and flora of this isolated island are largely southern 

 Californian, rather than Mexican. Its beautiful cy- 

 press has been found near San Diego, its pine is 

 Californian, while its palm is of a peculiar Lower 

 Californian genus that extends to near the United- 

 States boundary. 



— The piece of the Calais-Dover cable shown by 

 Mr. Crampton at the meeting of section D of the 

 American association (see p. 324) was part of the 

 cable laid thirty years ago, but was cut from the cable 

 in 1859. 



— Botanical collectors are active this season in 

 developing the flora of unexplored portions of the 

 south-west; paying especial attention to the rich 

 fields of Arizona, New Mexico, and Sonora in old 

 Mexico. The dry, desert fields of 1883 have been 

 blossoming like the rose, and offering them unex- 

 celled facilities. 



— Baron Nordenskiold has prepared for publica- 

 tion a volume containing all the results of his arctic 

 work up to the present time ; and an English transla- 

 tion of it will probably be published in the course of 

 the present year. The rumor has been revived in 

 the English papers, that his next important enter- 

 prise will be an expedition to the south pole; and it 

 is certain that the question of the feasibility of such 

 an exploit has been brought under his notice. Dr. 

 Oscar Dickson has, however, informed his scientific 

 friends in London, that he will have nothing to do 

 with an antarctic expedition; but they are of opin- 

 ion that he may reconsider his determination. 



— A work on Lapland and the Lapps, similar in 

 character to Mr. du Chaillu's 'Land of the midnight 

 sun,' has been prepared by Dr. Trombolt, a Swedish 

 savant, who some time ago visited that region to 

 watch the aurora borealis. Dr. Trombolt lived in the 

 closest intimacy with the Lapps; and the results of 

 his observations, scientific and social, are about to be 



given both to the Swedish and to the English public, 

 a translation of the work having been prepared by 

 a Swedish gentleman resident in England, who is 

 familiar with English. 



— The French northern railway company has be- 

 gun experiments on motive-power generated by elec- 

 tricity, at the Chapelle station. The company has 

 established an electric lift with two Siemens electro- 

 magnetic machines ; one for elevating the weight, and 

 the other for moving the machinery alongside the 

 railway. 



— Mr. G. F. Harrington, J. P., of Ryde, Isle of 

 Wight, has tried a method of sewer-ventilation, by 

 means of shafts placed at intervals of about five hun- 

 dred feet, which are connected with the sewers, and 

 carried up the sides of the adjoining houses. While 

 one shaft conducts air into the sewer, the other car- 

 ries it away. The in-draught shaft is surmounted by 

 a cowl, which is so designed as to have its face 

 constantly presented to the wind, and through this a 

 stream of air is said to be always passing into the ■ 

 sewer; the return-shaft being open at a good height. 



— Unfavorable reports have been received of the 

 expedition of the Italian traveller Biancbi. He in- 

 tended to work a direct way from Abyssinia to the 

 Red Sea; but on reaching Mehalle at the end of March 

 he was deserted by his escort, and obliged to return. 

 After re-organizing his caravan he reached Danakil- 

 land on April 30, and has since been reported as 

 stopped between Lale and Zula by want of water; but 

 the Italian government has received contradictions of 

 this report from Aden and Assab. 



—Dr. Richardson's experiments for the painless, 

 extinction of animal life have been brought to a suc- 

 cessful termination. The electric shock did not prove 

 sufficiently safe, so Dr. Richardson sought for an 

 anaesthetic agent which would make death rapid as 

 well as painless. He successively experimented with 

 nitrous and carbonic oxides, ether, chloroform, coal- 

 gas combined with chloroform, all of which more or 

 less fulfilled their end. The results have been very 

 satisfactory, as carried out at the London home for 

 lost dogs, where a^chamber was charged with carbonic 

 oxide, the gas having been previously passed over a. 

 porous surface, from which it took up vapor con- 

 taining chloroform. Into this chamber was intro- 

 duced a cage containing the dogs, which in a very 

 short time passed from life to death in a profound 

 sleep, without evincing the slightest pain or con- 

 sciousness. Dr. Richardson has also administered 

 the same narcotizing agent to sheep, so as to allow of 

 their being killed in a perfectly painless manner; and 

 he hopes that before long there will not be an abat- 

 toir in England without facilities for employing the 

 system. 



— The Society of the red cross has instituted some- 

 experiments with the electric light as an aid in the 

 search for wounded on the field. An exhibition of 

 the experiment was made during the recent meeting 

 of the society at Geneva, but proved a disappoint- 

 ment to the spectators on account of the full moon, 

 which was shining at the time. 



