August 7, 1885.] 



SCIENCE, 



119 



and disappear. Sometimes several may be seen at 

 the same time, each having a separate origin. The 

 natives call them shaitans, or devils. Another very 

 peculiar phenomenon in the same region is the sand- 

 storm, which often occurs after several calm days, 

 when the air is very warm and oppressive. The 

 wind blows violently, sweeping the sand across the 

 desert. Lightning and thunder and rain form a part 

 of the storm, which often lasts several hours, then 

 stops, leaving the air pure and clear. During the 

 warm months the very hot and destructive wind 

 called the simoom sweeps across the desert, destroying 

 all vegetable life, and often killing men by its scorch- 

 ing breath. This wind is comparable with the sirocco 

 of the Mediterranean, though much more destructive. 



— An interesting account of Erythroxylon coca, 

 and its history in Peru and in Europe, will be found 

 in a small pamphlet by Dr. Sigm. Freud (' Ueber coca,' 

 Wien, 1885, 26 p., 8°), together with an account of 

 its action on animals and on a healthy man, and its 

 therapeutic uses. He makes the noteworthy remark, 

 that, while in North America preparations of coca 

 are already much used, in Europe they are scarcely 

 known to the majority of physicians, even by name. 

 The greatest use of coca will probably always be that 

 which the Peruvians have made of it for hundreds 

 of years ; viz., to enable them to bear arduous physi- 

 cal exertion for a short time without food or rest, as 

 in war, in travelling, in the ascent of mountains, etc. 

 For these purposes it seems to be preferable to al- 

 cohol. It has also been tried in digestive troubles, 

 as an antidote for morphine habit, and as a substi- 

 tute for alcohol, as well as for other purposes. 



— The Botanical gazette for July devotes a large 

 part of its space to the subject of bacteriology, in- 

 cluding notes, comments, and book-reviews. It is a 

 step in the right direction ; for only by the publication 

 of matter of this kind, and the increase of interest 

 that will follow, can the study of bacteria be brought 

 to its proper level in this country. This branch of 

 investigation is constantly and rapidly growing in im- 

 portance, and any attempt to diffuse a knowledge of 

 what is going on among its students deserves the 

 heartiest commendation. 



— In a lecture delivered in the Khedival institute 

 at Cairo, Dr. G. Schweinfurth has given some ac- 

 count of the seats of manufacture of prehistoric stone 

 implements in the desert of eastern Egypt, discovered 

 by him in 1876, 1877, and again visited and exam- 

 ined by him in his last journey. The two spots 

 referred to are in the Wadi Sanur and Wadi Warag. 

 The former lies due east of Beni Suef, at a distance 

 of thirty miles from that town. The latter is in the 

 upper portion of the Wadi, at the place where the 

 water-course begins to be discernible as a longitudi- 

 nal depression on the heights of the western part of 

 northern Galala. Dr. Schweinfurth's belief that the 

 two sites in question are really those of ancient man- 

 ufactories of stone implements is grounded partly 

 on the presence of accumulations of cores in the 

 beds of the streams, partly on the fact that the raw 

 material is fomid abundantly in the neighborhood. 



The source of the raw material is a bed of flints 

 belonging to the upper nummulitic limestone cor- 

 responding to that which exists behind Cairo. Im- 

 plements and utensils indicating a stone period have 

 now. Dr. Schweinfurth remarks, been found, even in 

 the very heart of Africa; and these show a surprising 

 resemblance in form to those discovered in Europe. 

 Those recently obtained by himself from Sanur and 

 Warag, however, are of a special type; and Dr. 

 Schweinfurth regards them as clearly distinguished 

 from the forms already familiar, by the fact that the 

 facets are usually only upon one side, and are very 

 seldom seen surrounding the entire core. 



— From a report of Mr. H. Walker, commissioner 

 of lands of British North Borneo, it appears that 

 gold exists in considerable quantities in that terri- 

 tory. Some natives had brought a little to Sanda- 

 kan, and Mr. Walker set out to verify its existence 

 in the Sagama district. He searched thirty or forty 

 different places, and found gold at almost every place, 

 generally in small specks, large enough to be gathered 

 with the fingers, sometimes larger, and always in 

 conjunction with a black metallic dust and iron or 

 copper pyrites. The rocks met with were granite, 

 gneiss, quartz, limestone, jasper, porphyries, and red 

 sandstone. Steps will probably be taken to have the 

 whole region thoroughly examined by a competent 

 geologist. The minerals already ascertained to exist 

 in North Borneo are gold, silver, copper, chromium, 

 tin, plumbago, lead, and coal. Antimony and cinna- 

 bar are reported. On the west coast, chromium, 

 copper, and arsenic have been found; in the neigh- 

 borhood of Kinabala, silver ore and pyrites. A sam- 

 ple of native copper has been sent to London. A rich 

 sample of galena and silver, yielding on assay a hun- 

 dred and fifteen ounces of silver to the ton, has been 

 found. A good deal of information still rests on the 

 rough statements of natives, but British North Bor- 

 neo is undoubtedly rich in mineral as well as agri- 

 cultural wealth. 



— Professor Karl Gottsche of the University of 

 Kiel, has just returned from his travels in eastern 

 Asia. After having lectured on mineralogy and 

 geology for several years at Tokio, he undertook a 

 scientific exploring expedition in Korea, at the re- 

 quest of the Korean government, which lasted until 

 December, 1884. His route extended over three 

 thousand kilometres. Dr. Gottsche intends shortly 

 to publish his geological, mineralogical, and ethno- 

 graphical investigations of Korea. 



— Professor Huxley is, it is understood, going to 

 retire from the various posts he holds under the Eng- 

 lish government, on a pension of twelve hundred 

 pounds a year. 



— The Berlin society for the advancement of man- 

 ufacture has offered a prize of fifteen hundred marks 

 for the best essay on the progress, present position, 

 and capability of application, of the photo-mechanic 

 process for the reproduction of drawings, woodcuts, 

 copperplates, oil-paintings, and photographic repre- 

 sentations of nature, with a comparative review of 

 its results. 



