60 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. YI., No. 128. 



very far from Calcutta. The idea that government 

 always inaugurated every good work with human 

 sacrifice was long current among the lower orders of 

 the Indian people; but it might be supposed that it 

 had died out long ago. It appears, however, to be as 

 strong as ever. The boatmen on the Ganges near 

 Rajmehal somehow came to believe that the govern- 

 ment required a hundred thousand human heads as 

 the foundation for a great bridge, and that govern- 

 ment officers were going about the river in search of 

 heads. A hunting-party, consisting of four Europe- 

 ans, happening to pass in a boat, were set upon by 

 the hundred and twenty boatmen with the cry, ' Gul- 

 la katta,' or cut-throats, and only escaped with their 

 lives after the greatest difficulty. The men were 

 arrested, and thirty-one of them sentenced to terms 

 of from one to three months' imprisonment. 



— The demolition of the oldest Jewish quarter in 

 Europe, dating, it is said, from before Caesar's time, 

 is proceeding rapidly. The archeological commis- 

 sion, which is charged with the exploration and pro- 

 tection of ancient monuments, has applied to the 

 Italian government that measures shall be taken for 

 clearing the temple of Jupiter and the portico of 

 Octavia from the buildings which have grown up 

 around them, and also for putting them in such a 

 state of repair as is necessary for their preservation. 

 The commission also requests that the new streets 

 which are to be laid down over the cleared area shall 

 be so planned that their points of intersection shall 

 coincide with the following ancient buildings, which 

 are now within the Ghetto: the theatre of Marcel- 

 lus, the crypt of the Emperor Balbus, and the por- 

 ticos of the Flavian emperors and of the Emperor 

 Philip. There is a supplementary request that these 

 buildings shall be placed on the list of ancient monu- 

 ments, for the preservation of which a small contri- 

 bution is annually made by the state. 



— The African expedition which will leave Eng- 

 land in August next, fitted out at the expense of the 

 Royal geographical society, and commanded by Mr. 

 J. T. Last (who, as a lay agent of tlie Church mis- 

 sionary society, has done admirable work in the 

 Zanzibar interior), after making up its caravan at 

 Zanzibar, will proceed south to Lindi, to the north of 

 the mouth of the Rovuma River. Thence Mr. Last 

 will proceed to the confluence of the Rovuma and 

 Lugende livers, and fix the longitude of the junction, 

 — an important geographical point not yet settled. 

 He will then go on in a generally south-westerly direc- 

 tion, and, before reaching the north end of Lake 

 Sherwa, turn southwards, and make for the ISTamulli 

 Hills, which, with other new features in this region, 

 were discovered by Consul O'Neill in the end of 1883. 

 Here Mr. Last will establish liimself, and make a 

 detailed study of the whole region in all its aspects. 

 He will make a complete survey of the surround- 

 ing country, its topography, people, botany, eco- 

 nomic products, climate, and languages. When this 

 is completed, Mr. Last will enter the valley of the 

 Likugu River, which rises in the neighborhood of 

 these hills, and follow it down to the coast at Qui- 

 zungu, whence he will travel south to Quilimane, or 



north to Angoche, and thence to Mozambique. Mr. 

 Last will make a special point of collecting all possi- 

 ble information concerning the country he passes 

 through, its changes, its people, their customs, lan- 

 guages, etc., the climate, its sanitary conditions, and 

 its suitability for the introduction of European and 

 other economic plants. The Lukugu valley is said 

 to be very thickly populated, and must therefore be 

 unusually fertile, and so of interest both to the colo- 

 nist and the trader. 



— The fact that sheet-lead in storage-batteries de- 

 cays very soon, is a serious drawback to its use; and 

 Dr. Kalischer recently described a secondary battery 

 before the Physical society of Berlin, in which iron 

 was used as the anode, and a concentrated solution 

 of nitrate of lead as the electrolyte. The iron, on 

 being immersed in the lead solution, becomes passive, 

 and resists corrosion in the liquid. When a current 

 is sent through the cell, peroxide of lead is deposited 

 on the anode in a firm mass all over it. When nearly 

 all the nitrate of lead is decomposed, there is a greater 

 liberation of gas at the anode. The development of 

 gas is to be avoided at the beginning of the charge: 

 otherwise the peroxide of lead, or, strictly speaking, 

 the hydrated peroxide of lead, becomes covered with 

 bubbles of the gas. A cathode of sheet-lead is em- 

 ployed; but, to prevent it short-circuiting the cell by 

 sending out lead shreds in charging. Dr. Kalischer 

 amalgamates it, — a precaution which also saves the 

 lead from corrosion by the nitric acid left in the cell 

 after separation of the lead. The electromotive force 

 of this cell is about 2 volts to begin witli, but after 

 six hours' discharge it falls off to about 1.7 volts. On 

 leaving the cell at rest for twenty-four hours, it is 

 found to recover some of the electromotive force lost. 

 An attempt to substitute sulphate of manganese for 

 nitrate of lead in the battery did not answer the pur- 

 pose. 



— The German New Guinea company, at the head 

 of which stands Ilerr Adolf von Hausemann, has 

 received an imperial charter dated May 17. The 

 charter covers the following limits: 1. That part of 

 the mainland of New Guinea under neither English 

 nor Dutch supremacy. This district, called by per- 

 mission Emperor William's Land, stretches from 

 141° east longitude (Greenwich) to the point near 

 Mitre Rock cut by the 8° south, stretching thence 

 south and west to where this parallel is cut by the 

 147° east longitude, then in a straight line north-west 

 to where tlie 6° south latitude crosses 144° east longi- 

 tude, and farther in a north-westerly direction to 

 where the 5° south latitude crosses the 141° east 

 longitude, then in a straight line north to the sea 

 again. 2. The islands of this part of the coast of 

 New Guinea, also the archipelago hitherto called 

 New Britain, now to be called the Bismarck Archi- 

 pelago, and all other islands north-east of New 

 Guinea between the equator and the 8° south lati- 

 tude, and between 141° and 154° east longitude. The 

 company is made responsible, under imperial super- 

 vision, ifor keeping order within these limits, with 

 right of possession, subject to previous agreements, 

 and treaties with the natives. 



