(of the Royal Italian Navy) to Negretti and Zambra. Several of these improved thermometers may now be fastened on one line, and serial temperatures at any required depth obtained with certainty.

The woodcuts exhibit the apparatus, Fig. 1, as prepared for lowering down into the Sea, and Fig. 2 after the hauling up has commenced-the thermometer having reversed and registered the temperature at the moment of turning over. Fig. 3 shows the peculiar construction of Negretti and Zambra's inverted thermometer used in their improved deep-sea apparatus. The apparatus will be understood by reference to figures (Nos. 1 and 2). A is a metal frame, in which B, the thermometer, is pivoted upon an axis, H, but not balanced upon it. c is a screw

fan attached to a spindle, one end of which works in a socket, D, and at the other end is a screw, E, about half an inch long, and just above it is a small pin, F. On the spindle G, is a sliding stop-piece, against which the pin, F, impinges when the thermometer is adjusted for use. The screw, E, works into the end of the case, B, the length of play to which it is adjusted. The number of turns of the screw entering the case is regulated by means of the pin, F, and stop-piece, G. The thermometer and its case is held in position by the screw, E, and descends into the sea in this position-as Fig. 1; the fan, C, not acting during the descent, because it is checked by the stop, F. When the ascent commences, the fan revolves, raises the screw, E, and releases the thermometer, which then turns over and registers the temperature at that spot. When the hauling-up has caused the thermometer to turn over, a spring at K forces the pin, L, into a slot in the case B, and clamps it (as seen in Fig. 2) until it is received on board, so that no change of position can occur during the ascent from any cause. The case, B, is cut open to expose the scale of the thermometer, and also perforated to allow free passage of the water.

SOME PRIMITIVE IDEAS ON METEOROLOGY IN N an article published in NATURE (vol. xxv. p. 82) on the opinions of the Chinese Emperor Khang-hi on certain natural phenomena, it will be remembered that the yang and yin, or the male and female principles of Chinese philosophy, played a conspicuous part. Japan, it is well known, adopted at a very early period in its history the law, polity, science, philosophy, and writing of the Chinese, and with them the yang and yin; and it may not be uninteresting to our readers to see how the doctrine of these dual forces, mutually repellent as well as attractive, has been employed to explain the facts of meteorology. A recent issue of the Japan Gazette newspaper of Yokohama contains the translation of a work written in 1821 by a certain Arai Yoshinari, called the "Ten-chi-jii; or, Ideas about Heaven and Earth." The heavens, the writer says, are very high, the earth is very thick; we cannot ascend to the one or go down into the other; consequently man was unable for many generations to comprehend the phenomena of either; but now the opinions of all philosophers on this subject are based on the action and reaction of the male and female, the active and passive principles of nature upon each other. The rain is a changed form of the male, and the vapour under the earth of the female principle. When the male principle sinks into the earth it pursues the female. The earth is the mother of all things and the heaven is the air or wind where the sun, the moon, and the stars hang shining. There are two kinds of air--the heaven-air and the earth-air. The motion of the heavens is contrary to that of running water. The heavens move from east to west, while water runs from west to east. In some districts, indeed, water in the earth runs towards the north, but meets the earth-air which obstructs its flow, causes much agitation, and finally its complete evaporation from the surface of the earth. The vapour thus formed ascends and becomes clouds, which are again turned into rain by the action of the wind. The water has periods of increase and decrease according to the male and female seasons; thus in summer, which is the male season, water increases, while in winter, or the female season, it diminishes. Again, the earth-air is changed into rain when it moves from east to west; and therefore, previous to rain, we see a white vapour in the morning ascending in the east. "This is a clear proof of the earth's growing hot." For the same reason mountains become somewhat darker just before rain.

Thunder is produced by the mingling of the male and female principles. Sounds are often heard in the earth in the neighbourhood of volcanoes. This is due to the

irritation of the earth-air, which sometimes sends out flames. It is said that a kind of beast accompanies the thunder, and it moves about in the air. This is nothing strange, because at a certain island called Ampon, which is about 3900 ri (1 ri = 24 miles) from Japan, there is a bird called the Kasubara, which is covered with fur instead of feathers, and which eats fire. Other birds live on wind. As this world is unlimitedly great and extensive there may have lived strange beasts and birds, like the thunder beast which the Japanese talk about. The volume of sound given out by thunder depends on the number of water-clouds in the air. When the latter is small, the sound of the thunder is not loud and appears far off. On the other hand when the clouds are piled up in the heavens, the sound is loud and is simultaneous with the lightning. The sound is caused by the passage of fire through the water. The ancients regarded thunder as the report of the battle between fire and water-the male and female elements. If this were the case there is no reason for the

interval between the flash and the sound. Earthquakes are subterranean thunder; the noise is caused by the rush of water which has long been kept confined by the earth-air. Snow is the vapour which rises from the earth; when it ascends high enough it becomes frozen and falls as snow. Fog is also this vapour. Haze is the vapour mixed with smoke from some volcano. The writer concludes by expressing his intention of making the actions of nature, such as rain, wind, &c.-difficult as they are to explain--quite clear on a future

occasion.

These ideas may be taken as representing those of most educated Japanese of half a century ago, with the exception perhaps of a few who had been taught by the Dutch. What the Japanese peasant thought, and still thinks of thunder, earthquakes, storms, and other striking natural phenomena will be found in a deeply interesting chapter of Mr. Griffis's "Mikado's Empire." One of the principal Japanese artists, Hokusai, some of whose works have recently been given to the English public, did not think it beneath his genius to endeavour to picture the extraordinary creatures that form the zoological mythology of Japan. There the astonished student of Japanese pictorial art can behold Futen, the wind demon, Raiden, the creator of thunder, the fish whose movements cause earthquakes, the kappa, or demon of the deep, and dragons of sufficient variety of form to satisfy the weirdest imagination.

NOTES

RARELY has so distinguished and representative an assembly been seen in Westminster Abbey as that which met to pay the last honours to Mr. Darwin, on Wednesday last week. The Abbey indeed was crowded. The character of the long line of distinguished men who followed the honoured remains to the grave, may be seen from the list of pall-bearers :-The Duke of Devonshire, the Duke of Argyll, the Earl of Derby, Mr. J. Russell Lowell, the American Minister, Dr. W. Spottiswoode, P.R.S., Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. A. R. Wallace, Prof. Huxley, Sir John Lubbock, and the Rev. Canon Farrar. Mr. Darwin has been buried close beside the grave of Sir John Herschel, and within two paces of that of Sir Isaac Newton. At the Royal Academy dinner on Saturday, Mr. Spottiswoode, in replying for science, could not but refer to the loss "of our greatest philosopher and noblest spirit." "I know not," he said, “whether, in the presence of statesmen and leaders of thought, of commanders both by sea and land, of artists, of preachers, of poets and men of letters of every kind, it is fitting that I should speak of greatness; but if patience and perseverance in good work, if a firm determination to turn neither to the right hand nor to the left, either for glory or for gain, if a continual overcoming of evil with good in any way constitute

elements of greatness, then the man of whom I speak-Charles Darwin-was truly great. He lived, indeed, to a good age; he lived to complete the great work of his life; he lived to witness a revolution in public opinion on matters with which he was concerned such as few had seen before—a revolution from opposition to concurrence, a revolution from antipathy to sympathy, or whatever else may better express a complete change of front. And so having at the beginning been somewhat rudely pushed aside as an intruder and disturber of accepted opinions, he was in the end not only borne on the shoulders of his comrades to his last resting-place, but was welcomed at the threshold by the custodians of an ancient fabric and of an ancient faith as a fitting companion of Newton and of Herschel, and of the other great men who from time to time have been gathered there."

M. JAMIN, president of the Academy of Sciences, having summoned M. Quatrefages to deliver an éloge on the late Mr. Charles Darwin on Monday last, the eminent zoologist read a long and eloquent oration, which was received with unanimous plaudits, and will be printed in the next Comptes Rendus.

WE take the following from the Times:-The Council of the Royal Society have selected the following fifteen from the fifty-two candidates for the Fellowship who have presented themselves during the present session. The election, which rests with the Fellows of the Society, will take place on The names are-Prof. V. Ball, Thursday, June 8, at 4 p.m. Dr. G. S. Brady, Dr. G. Buchanan, C. Baron Clarke, Francis Darwin, Prof. W. Dittmar, Dr. W. H. Gaskell, Mr. R. T. Glazebrook, Mr. F. Ducane Godman, Mr. J. Hutchinson, Prof. A. Liversidge, Prof. I. Malet, Mr. W. D. Niven, Mr. R. H. Inglis Palgrave, and Mr. W. Weldon.

THE fifty-second Annual Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science will commence in Southampton on Wednesday, Aug. 23. The President-Elect is C. W. Siemens, D.C.L., F.R.S. Vice-Presidents-Elect: The Right Hon. the Lord Mount-Temple, Capt. Sir F. J. Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S., Hydrographer to the Admiralty, F. A. Abel, C.B., F.R.S., Prof. de Chaumont, M.D., F.R S., Col. A. C. Cooke, R.E., C.B., Director-General of the Ordnance Survey, Wyndham S. Portal, Prof. Prestwich, M.A., F.R.S., Philip Lutley Sclater, F.R.S. General Treasurer: Prof. A. W. Williamson, F. R.S., University College, London, W.C. General Secretaries: Capt. Douglas Galton, C. B., D.C.L., F.R.S., Francis Maitland Balfour, F.R.S. Secretary, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. Local Secretaries C. W. A. Jellicoe, John E. Le Feuvre, Morris Miles. Local Treasurer, J. Blount Thomas. The Sections are the following: A-Mathematical and Physical Science-President, Right Hon. Prof. Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., Prof. G. C. Foster, F.R.S. Secretaries: W. M. Hicks, M.A,, Prof. O. J. Lodge, D. Sc., D. McAlister, M.A., B.Sc. (Recorder), Rev. G. Richardson. BChemical Science-President, Prof. G. D. Liveing, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: A. G. Vernon Harcourt, F. R.S., Prof. H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S. Secretaries: P. Phillips Bedson, D.Sc. (Recorder) H. B. Dixon, F.C.S., J. L. Notter. C-Geology -President, R. Etheridge, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S., Prof. J. Prestwich, F.R.S. taries: T. W. Shore, F.G.S., W. Topley, F.G.S. (Recorder), E. Westlake, F.G.S., W. Whitaker, F.G.S. D-BiologyPresident, Prof. A. Gamgee, M.D., F.R.S. Vice-Presidents : Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., G. E. Dobson, F. L.S., Prof. M. A. Lawson, F.L.S., Prof. J. D. Macdonald, F.R.S. Department of Anatomy and Physiology:-Prof. A. Gamgee, M.D., F.R.S. (President), will preside. Secretaries: W. Heape, A. Sedgwick, B. A. (Recorder). Department of Zoology and Botany :-Prof. M. A. Lawson, F.L.S. (Vice-President), will preside. Secretaries: W. A. Forbes, F.Z.S. (Re

Secre

accompanied Capt. Carter on his journey with the three Indian elephants in 1879, meant for the use of one of the Belgian expeditions. In his paper Mr. Rankin gives full details of the conduct of the elephants up to Mpwapwa, where their troubles began. Although they were severely attacked by the Tsetse, no permanent evil effect seems to have followed. At Mpwapwa, indeed, a report was sent to the King of the Belgians, in which it was stated that the elephant experiment was a complete success, on account of their immunity against Tsetse, their ability to live on the uncultivated food of the country, and to march over all kinds of ground. A few days after the report, however, the largest elephant suddenly died. Mr. Rankin attributed its death to insufficient food and over-work. In India it had been stall-fed; in Africa it never seems to have had enough to eat-the back-bones of all these stood six or seven inches from their flanks at Mpwapu. It is clear also that their loads were far beyond what they had been accustomed to. As is known, the other elephants subsequently died. This experiment cannot be considered a fair one, though the lessons it taught will be of service in any future attempt to utilise the animal as a beast of burden in Africa.

A HYDROMOTOR recently invented by Herr Fleischer of Kiel, for propulsion and steering of vessels, acts (we learn from Wiedemann's Beiblätter, 3) by pressure of steam on water, in a cylinder, forcing out the water as a jet below. A float on the water in the cylinder works, in a simple way, the opening and closure of the valves for admission and escape of the steam, and the vacuum produced by condensation of steam in a condenser opens valves for readmission of water. The hot water layer, which forms on the liquid surface, and the wooden lining of the cylinder, reduce the condensation during expulsion of the water to a minimum. A comparison of the working of the author's vessel with that of the Water-witch and Rival (also propelled by hydraulic reaction) showed that while the kinetic energy of the expelled water was in the Water-witch 31.5 per cent. of the indicated quantity of steam, and in the Rival 26.3 per cent. in the (so-called) "hydromotor" it was 89 per cent. Herr Flischer, in a recent brochure, investigates the physics of his motor.

IF those members of the Quekett Microscopical Club who intend to be present on the occasion of the opening of Epping Forest by Her Majesty on Saturday next, the 6th inst., will communicate with the Hon. Sec. of the Quekett Microscopical Club, 7, The Hill, Putney, S.W., he will do his best to find places for their accommodation.

WITH reference to our notice of "Through Siberia" (vol. xxv. p. 582), the Rev. H. Lansdell writes that in the List of Illustrations at the commencement of vol. i. he acknowledges the sources whence they are taken; and with reference to the photograph of a "Buriat girl" he states that he bought the photograph, in the Buriat country, of the man who took it, that the girl was known even by name to his local friends, and that he has every reason to believe she was a pure Buriat and not a metis.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Rhesus Monkey (Macacus erythraus 8) from India, presented by Mrs. Lamprey; a Chinese Tiger (Felis tigris &) from China, presented by Mr. G. Brown; two Bauer's Parrakeets (Platycercus zonarius) from Australia, presented respectively by Mr. J. Charlton Parr, F.Z.S., and Miss Eva Maitland; a Mississippi Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) from Florida, U.S.A., presented by Master Bennett; a Slow-worm (Anguis fragilis), British, presented by Mr. Poyer Poyer; two Axolotls (Siredon mexicanus) from Mexico, three European Pond Tortoises (Emys europea), five Carpathian Scorpions (Scorpio carpathicus) from Italy, presented by Mr. T. D. G.

Carmichael; a Black-backed Piping Crow (Gymnorhina tibicen) from Australia, deposited; two Common Squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris), British, two Green-horned Parrakeets (Nymphicus uvæensis) from the Island of Uvea, Loyalty group, purchased; a Black-backed Kaleege (Euplocamus melanotis) from Sikkim, received in exchange; a Hybrid Paradoxure (between Paradoxurus larvatus and Paradoxurus leucomystax), two Variegated Sheldrakes (Tadorna variegata), bred in the Gardens. The following insects have been exhibited in the Insect House during the past month :-Butterflies: Papilio podalirius, Anthocharis cardamines, Araschnia levana, Thais polyxena. Moths: Deilephila euphorbia, Charocampa elpenor, Sphinx pinastri, Saturnia pyri, S. carpini. Silk Moths: Attacus roylei, Actias selene, A. luna, Telea polyphemus. The insects have, with few exceptions, been very good specimens.

From the above elements it will be found that at the ascending node the comet makes a close approach to the earth's orbit, the distance being only o'0048, or, assuming 8"-848 for the solar parallax, 443,500 miles, roughly twice the distance of the moon. The ascending node is passed on July 11, but the earth will be far from that point of her orbit.

THE SO-CALLED Nova of 1848.-There does not appear to be any recent notice of the magnitude of this object, though the last published observations by Dr. Julius Schmidt in 1868 showed that it had not sensibly changed for some years. It was slightly over 13m. Its position for 1880 0 is in R.A. 16h. 52m. 46°5s, N.P.D. 102° 42′ 26". Webb in the last edition of his "Celestial P. 356, says: "colour very Objects for Common Telescopes," fine, 1875," but this note must surely refer to some other object, the Nova Ophiuchi of 1848, having been too faint for years past to show striking colour. Perhaps some reader of NATURE may be able to state what is its present degree of brightness. There are two stars having the following positions with reference to Nova which may assist its identification.

Distance 7′ 55′′ 8′ 51′′

It follows a 9m. Lalande-star 14'7s., and is 18′ 22′′ north of it. In 1874 it was below the twelfth magnitude.

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES

LIEUT. DANENHAUER and two of the crew of the ill-fated Jeannette have arrived at St. Petersburg, where they were met with a hearty reception. Lieut. Danenhauer has little hope that Capt. De Long and those with him can have survived, though Engineer Melville is searching for them. He speaks of the unsatisfactory nature of the charts of the Lena mouths and that part of the Siberian coast, and states that Baron Nordenskjöld has added little to our knowledge in this respect. But the Baron did not profess to do so, and indeed could not, seeing that his aim was to get over the ground as quickly as possible. The Lieutenant also is not sanguine as to the possibility of opening up trade by the mouth of the Siberian rivers, forgetting apparently that the time of his arrival at the Lena mouth was past the time most favourable for navigation, and the conditions of his arrival were certainly unfortunate.

WRITING on Chinese maps, the North China Herald says that the present dynasty has made greater efforts at map-making than any former one, and appears to have been the first to introduce into them lines of latitude and longitude. The old maps of China are very vague and inaccurate, and are not ancient in any sense. Ssu-ma-Chien when compiling his history did not judge it needful to illustrate it with maps, but his commentators have supplied this deficiency, and recent editions of his work contain maps poorly done of China at successive periods. The geographical works of the Han dynasty do not contain maps. The first maps that have been retained in modern editions of ancient books are those of the Sung dynasty, and they seem to be connected with the invention of printing, which dates from A.D. 932. It was the influence of foreign countries that caused the Chinese to enter rigorously into the work of map-making at this period. The Buddhists began to compile works with maps of India and the countries through which lay the routes to India. One of their larger works at this time contains a map of China, of Persia and Rome, according to the geography of the Han dynasty, and a map of India as known to the Buddhists. The Mahommedans followed the latter in teaching their notio is of map-making to the Chinese. But all through the Sung dynasty till the 13th century, when the Mongols established their Empire, Chinese scholars possessed but imperfect views of geography, and failed to obtain clear ideas either of foreign countries or of their own in regard to topography. During the Mongol domination many Europeans visited China and brought with them a certain portion of geographical knowledge. No steps, however, were taken by the Government to improve maps and common geographical books, which remained as bad as before. Chinese had junks in the Indian Ocean from the 5th century, yet in the 16th century we find in maps of that time that Cambodia and Siam are islands; that Java lies west of Siam, that the Greek empire (Fulin), Arabia, and Medina are three small i-lands a little to the west of Java, and that an immense southern continent fringes the map from a little south of Ceylon to a point not far south of Java, and again farther east. Good maps have only existed since the Jesuit missionaries came to China, and they belong only to the present dynasty. The Emperors Khang hi and Kien-lung encouraged the survey of their dominions and the construction of good maps. Danville's Atlas Chinois is the result in French of the surveys made under Khang-hi by Gerbillon and his companions. All European maps of China rest mainly on those surveys. Among the atlases of the empire, that made by a former governor of Honan province deserves special praise. It is on a large scale. Each square of 200 li represents a square degree. Two inches and a half represent 200 li affords ample space for names, which are freely inserted on the most frequented roads. As a specimen of engraving it is rough, and of course being on wood and done by provincial workmen it cannot equal the copperplate maps which were issued last century from the Government workshops in Peking. But it is in comparison with past times a great advantage to the people to have a map on a large scale for four or five dollars, on which both degrees and miles are marked by a system of chess board squares with quite sufficient accuracy for ordinary use. For this they are indebted to Khang-hi and the Jesuits.

The

This

MR. C. R. MARKHAM has presented to the Geographical Society a long and careful report on the instruction at present supplied to this country in practical astronomy, navigation, route-surveying, and mapping. Although much improvement bas taken place since nautical astronomy was placed in the South Kensington programme, still Mr. Markham shows that

much remains to be done ere practical instruction in these important subjects is on the footing on which it ought to be in a country whose interests are so dependent on good seamanship. The Council, on the basis of Mr. Markham's report, have made a series of recommendations to the Board of Trade and the Lord-President of the Council; the former are recommended to raise their standard, and the latter to place navigation and nautical astronomy among the science subjects in the New Code. The report and the recommendations deserve serious

consideration.

THE last two parts of the Deutsche geographische Blatter contains detailed accounts, by the Brothers Krause, of their researches in the Chukchi Peninsula, accompanied by maps and illustrations; this forms a valuable addition to the information obtained by the Vega Expedition. Nos. 2 and 3 of the Mittheilungen of the Vienna Geographical Society contains a paper by Herr Ferd. Blumentrit, on the Ancestor-Worship and Religious beliefs of the Malays of the Philippine Islands.

M. MASCART is delivering daily lectures to the naval officers who are to leave on June 1, on the Antarctic Expedition now fitting out at the expense of the French Government. These lectures are delivered at the Parc St. Maur, where instruments have been established. The lecture will be published by Gauthier Villars, after having been revised.

IN the April number of Petermann's Mittheilungen M. Ernest Marno gives an interesting account of the barriers of the Bahr-elGazal, and their removal from April to June, 1881. Dr. Fera Loiol of Prag contributes a long paper of great interest, with numerous illustrations, on the formation of terraces in the Alpine valleys. Dr. Oscar Drude writes on the botanical exploration of North Africa from Morocco to Barca.

"A VISIT to Madeira in the Winter 1880 81" is the title of two lectures by Dr. Denis Embleton, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, published by Me srs. Churchill. Dr. Embleton, besides giving his own experience, has brought together much information on the islands in all their aspects.

SOME OF THE DANGEROUS PROPERTIES OF DUSTS

THE lecturer pointed out that the dangerous properties of dust with which he proposed to deal were altogether distinct from the subtle, invidious dangers of microscopic dust-motes which pervade the air-dangers the existence and nature of which had been fully revealed by the classical researches of Pasteur, Tyndall, &c.

Compared to those, the dangers which he would discuss were as palpable as are the comparatively gross dust-particles which give rise to them, and yet, although their existence and, to a great extent at any rate, their causes have been known and demonstrated for many years, those who are most directly interested in them and should be most keenly alive to them appear either to have ignored their serious import or to have undervalued the teachings of practical experience and scientific research regarding their causes and effects.

Seven years ago Mr. Abel, in a lecture on Accidental Explosions, delivered at the Royal Institution, directed attention to the fact that solid combustible and especially inflammable subremaining for a time thickly suspended in air, may on application stances, if sufficiently light and finely divided to allow of their of sufficient flame to them while so suspended, produce explosive effects; behaving, in fact, similarly to mixtures of inflammable gases or vapours with air, with this difference, that the mobility of the molecules of these insures the ready production of complete mixtures of them with the air, so that con bustion, when once established, proceeds almost instantaneously throughout such mixtures, whereas, in the case of a mixture of solid dust particles and air, the rapidity with which combustion spreads Abstract of Lecture at the Royal Institution, April 28, 1882, by Prof F. A. Abel, C.B., F R.S.