my arrival in Yokohama, and their services were zealously and most effectively rendered. In addition to his work as executive officer, I placed Lieut. Southerland in charge of the 9-foot coronagraph, sent out by the Pickerings from the Harvard College Observatory. The objective of this instrument was the 74-inch Clark glass of the equatorial of my own Observatory at Amherst, while the dry plates, with the instructions for their manipulation, were identical with those furnished by the Pickerings to Prof. Young, who carried to his Russian station a 63-inch Merz glass, also lent from the larger transitinstrument of Amherst College Observatory. I have not yet been able to learn whether Prof. Young was favoured with a clear sky during totality; but, if he was, it is the more regrettable that clouds covered the sun at Shirakawa, as the first serious attempt to obtain trustworthy evidence of rapid changes in the corona has thereby come to nought. It will be many a year before another eclipse occurs with two stations geographically so well placed for this special research as were Russia and Japan. Prof. Pickering desired me, if practicable, to place all or a portion of the corona-apparatus provided by this Observatory on the summit of one of the mountain-peaks of which there are several adjacent to the centre of the shadow-path, notably Nantaisan, 8500 feet high. Dr. Holland made the ascent of this mountain about the middle of July ; but his report of its difficulties, together with the highly probable cloudy condition of the summit during the eclipse, led me to abandon farther consideration of this mountain; while the other peaks were too far removed from Shirakawa to permit of occupation with the time and assistance at my disposal. The remainder of Prof. Pickering's apparatus was therefore mounted alongside the photoheliograph at the central station; the double coronagraph, two 5-inch lenses of about 3 feet focus, being operated by Dr. Ames, U.S. Navy, while Dr. D. B. McCartee attended to the exposures with the 4-inch short-focus camera, and Mr. C. R. Greathouse to the exposures of plate-holders for determining the actinic effect of the coronal light.

The valued service of Mr. Pemberton is worthy of special mention here in rendering the photoheliograph less unwieldy for rapid work than I had found it formerly. By means of an ingeniously-devised system of cords and pulleys, led from the heliostat into the photographic house, the reflecting mirror was placed under the immediate and constant control of the chief astronomer making the exposures: it was thus possible to dispense with the customary assistant at the heliostat pier for adjusting the mirror in right ascension and declination. A very simple device made it possible to see the bright reflected image of the sun while at my post in the dark room, and adjust it accurately on the plate without opening the exposing-slide.

The importance of Newcomb's and Langley's observations of the outer corona in 1878, and attempted by Lockyer in 1836, had not escaped me, and I had an Occulting-disk mounted on a rod attached firmly to the gable of the photographic house, so that its shadow as cast by the eclipsed sun would fall about 50 feet away, in the area inclosed by the upper castle wall. Here I stationed Mrs. Todd, provided with all the paraphernalia for seeing and sketching in their correct relations the faint outlying streamers of the corona.

Of two 3-inch telescopes lent by Admiral Yanagi, Hydrographer of the Imperial Japanese Navy, one was reserved for the optical observation of first and fourth contacts, and the search for intra- Mercurial planets; while the other was committed to Dr. Holland, a skilled artist, with instructions to sketch as far as possible all the details of the corona adjacent to the solar poles.

Mr. Nakagawa, the Director of the Naval Observatory, with his assistant, made a thorough series of meteorological observations throughout the eclipse period, following the system elaborated by Von Bezold and recommended

by the German Meteorological Conference for the observers in Russia. On the north-west corner of the castle wall I stationed Mr. K. Açino, a student of astronomy in the University, to make detailed and precise observations of the diffraction bands, and to observe if possible the sweep of the lunar shadow across the extensive rice-fields below.

The purely eclipse results of the work at Shirakawa were disheartening in the extreme. The forenoon gave us a perfect sky, with no indication whatever of approaching cloud: all were confident of entire success. But about an hour before the time of first contact, a slender finger of cloud began to rise from the west, coming at first directly above the summit of Nasutake, a volcano about 25 miles away, and which had sprung into unwonted activity during the past night, belching forth for hours enormous volumes of smoke and steam. The sun was entirely invisible during the first half-hour of the eclipse, when a brief interval of partly clear sky gave time for adjusting the heliostat and making ten or twelve exposures. The sun being very faint, only five of these photographs are available for measurement; and these were the only pictures that could be taken with the photoheliograph. The dense clouds, leaving a large clear area most of the time about the zenith, lay over the sun until the eclipse was past, save only a moment shortly after totality, when there was a partial clearing, but too brief, and the sun too faint, to allow of the necessary adjustment of the reflecting mirror.

As totality drew near, it suddenly occurred to me that a good observation of second contact might be possible by watching for the approach of the moon's shadow among the clouds; but my attempt to do this failed, the light appearing to me too much diffused to permit of anything better than a rough approximation to the time of contact. I found subsequently among Mrs. Todd's notes of the eclipse that totality appeared to her to come on, not evenly, but as if by jerks-a phenomenon which may, I think, have been due to the extinction of the sun's light from one cloud after another, as the lunar shadow advanced over the north-western sky. The weather-map for August 19, which came to our station from Tokio the day after the eclipse, gave us some idea of the odds we had been labouring against: the sheet for 2 p.m. showed clouds at all stations of the Meteorological Service except one, and that far removed from the belt of totality. In general, the whole of the main island was obscured on the eventful afternoon, and a view of the eclipse was permitted only to those so fortunate as to be located in the line of the small apertures, here and there, through the general cloud area. These were numerous enough to enable voluntary observers, scattered over the central portion of the belt of totality, and for whom I had prepared instructions, to obtain a goodly number of drawings of the corona. These instructions had been translated into Japanese, and printed and distributed through the co-operation of the Department of Education and the Bureau of Geography of the Department of the Interior. Altogether there are something like a hundred such drawings; but their value is uncertain until they are properly collated. Much the best drawing which I saw was made by Mr. Shuji Isawa, Chief of the Bureau of Compilation of the Department of Education, who was fortunate enough to be located in a spot in Western Japan, where totality was seen in a nearly cloudless sky. He has kindly furnished me with photographs of his drawing, one of which is inclosed.

Other Expeditions in Japan fared ill also-some of them worse than my own. That sent out from the University in charge of Prof. Terao, and located a few miles south of Shirakawa, at Kuroiso, experienced not only heavy clouds, but much rain during the eclipse, and no observations could be made. At Sanjo, on the central line and southeast of Niigata, Prof. Arai, Director of the Meteorological

Observatory, was able to make successful exposures for the corona with a small telescope. It was reported clear during the whole eclipse at Choshi, a point on the eastern coast near the southern limit of total obscuration, but there were no observers or instruments there for scientific work. It was reported cloudy throughout the whole eclipse at Niigata; while a party of observers who had ambitiously climbed to the top of Nantaisan brought down a record of nothing but clouds and fog. On the whole, Japan appears to have been an uncanny spot to lead an eclipse-track across. DAVID P. TODD.

s.s. Port Victor, September 20.

THE MÄRJALEN SEE. LAKELETS, in which the ice-crags of a glacier are mirrored, in which miniature bergs may be seen to float, are of occasional, though of rare, occurrence in the Alps-as for example the Lac de Ste. Marguerite, at the foot of the Ruitor glacier; but the Märjalen See, so far as I know, is unique of its kind. It is not formed at the foot of a glacier, either by partial occupation of a shallow basin worn by the ice-stream in its days of greater strength, or by the pounding back of the glacier torrent by an old terminal moraine; but it is on one side of a glacier, which makes a dam across an upland glen. This barrier at times yields to the pressure of the accumulated water sufficiently to allow of its escape beneath the great ice-stream, and it is a recent incident of the kind, noticed in the Times of September 30, which has suggested the present article.

The Great Aletsch glacier, as is well known, is the largest ice-stream not only in the Oberland group, but also in the Alpine chain. Its upper basin is fed by the snows of an almost complete ring of grand peaks, the most conspicuous of which, enumerated from west to east, are the Aletschhorn, the Jungfrau, the Mönch, and the Viescherhörner. All these are considerably above 13,000 feet, and there are several others, less familiar to the ordinary tourist, which either rise slightly above that elevation, or are only a very few hundred feet below it. The great eismeer thus formed passes out as a single stream through a "gate in the hills," between the crags of the Faulberg on the east and the base of the Dreieckhorn on the west. This gap is rather more than a mile across, and the glacier for several miles is not less, and is generally rather more, than its breadth at this place. It flows at first slightly to the east of south, then runs almost due south, and finally sweeps gradually round to the south-west. This deflexion is caused by the Eggischhorn, which rises like a great pyramid full in face of the upper course of the glacier to a height of 9649 feet above the sea, or nearly 2000 feet above the surface of the ice. At this spot the Märjalen See is situated, at a height of 7710 feet above the sea, rather less than five miles below the "gate," and rather more than that distance above the end of the Aletsch glacier. This sweeps on along the west flank of the Eggischhorn, until it terminates in the grand gorge of the Massa, at no great distance from the Bel Alp Hotel, a worthy rival in beauty of situation to that on the Eggischhorn.

The Märjalen See is thus formed: the range of the Eggischhorn is continuous with that which makes the left bank of the Aletsch glacier, and divides its comparatively unbroken surface from the narrower and more shattered mass of the Viesch glacier. But this range to the north of the Eggischhorn is deeply notched, so that it is possible to quit the Aletsch glacier and without ascending to reach a depression, barely so high as the surface of the ice, from which one looks down a steep slope on to the surface of the Viesch glacier. From this depression a shallow valley descends towards the west, and is barred as mentioned above, by the great glacier of the Aletsch

Thus a lake is formed, fed by various streamlets from the slopes on either side and by the melting of the glacier ice. Though now the shrunken stream of the Aletsch glacier does not diverge towards the lake, it was no doubt formerly divided by the opposing mass of the Eggischhorn; then one of its arms occupied the bed of the lake, and after passing over the depression joined itself to the Viesch glacier. Some geologists regard the basin of the Märjalen See as wholly due to the excavatory action of this offshoot of the Aletsch. To myself it appears to be the upper part of a valley, produced in the ordinary way, but subsequently modified in its outlines by the rasping action of the glacier.

At somewhat irregular intervals, but according to popular belief once in seven years, the ice-dam yields sufficiently to allow the pent-up waters to escape beneath

the glacier, when the contents of the lake are discharged rapidly down the gorge of the Massa, and, after devastating the fields below, are poured into the Rhone, near Brieg.

In the summer of 1858 I had the good fortune to see the Märjalen See both full and empty. On my first visit I found a lake full 300 yards across at the lower end, and

about three times as long. From the rocky margin on either side the ice arched up in a low flattened curve until its edge at the highest point was about 60 feet above the level of the water. From this it rose in a vertical cliff of almost unbroken ice, of purest white, which was mirrored in the still blue water below. Here and there miniature icebergs were floating, in colour if possible yet purer than the parent glacier, and above the water at the foot of the cliff was a band of turquoise blue. This was produced by the fresh surface of the ice, for the cliff is under-cut by the action of the water of the lake, and to this undercutting the bergs are no doubt partly due.

was changed: the lake had almost wholly disappeared; Next evening I revisited the spot. To my surprise all the glacier cliff which the day before had been doubled by reflexion, was now doubled in reality. Below the upper zone of white ice was now a zone of more than

1 Probably the height at the present time is not so great. Since 1858 there

has been a considerable shrinking in the glaciers of the Alps. When I appear to me to exceed 30 feet. In 1858 Prof. Ramsay found by measurement that the greatest height of the cliff above water was 60 feet, and the greatest depth of the lake at its foot 97 feet ("Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers," Ist series, p. 461).

visited the Märjalen See in 1881, the greatest height of the cliff did not

equal thickness of the most exquisite blue; on the dry bed of the lake were stranded the bergs which the day before had floated in its waters, and we could now appreciate their true size. One whose shape we had greatly admired now appeared even more beautiful with its fantastic pinnacles and blue recesses. It was, I estimated, from 30 to 40 feet high, nearly as wide, and considerably longer. Two cubical masses on the opposite shore were in colour the most lovely turquoise blue that I have ever seen. These, no doubt, on the previous day had appeared as mere slabs on the surface. The bed of the lake was covered with a fine mud, on which were numerous tracks or castings, which I attributed to a worm. I did not see any shells, so that probably no mollusks live in the chilly waters of the Märjalen See.1

The ice in this part of the Aletsch glacier is comparatively little crevassed. This permits the glacier to act as a dam; the drainage of the lake is no doubt due to some accidental rupture which opens a communication, quickly enlarged by the running water, with the sub-glacial drainage of the glacier.

A traveller in August 1872 was so fortunate as to see the actual escape of the water at the lower part of the glacier. He describes it as follows:-"It was 4.50 p.m. when we arrived (at the Bel Alp Hotel). The domestics drew our attention to a sound like the roar of a cataract, which seemed to descend the Aletsch. For a time the sound was sub-glacial, but a yellow torrent at length appeared on the opposite side of the glacier, smoking and roaring as it tumbled down the declivities of ice. The front of the torrent soon appeared opposite to the Bel Alp, carrying every movable thing along with it. Wishing to get near the torrent, I descended rapidly to the glacier, crossed it, and succeeded in getting quite close to the rushing water. Everywhere impetuous, it was divided into spaces of tolerably uniform slope, separated from each other by steep and broken declivities, down which the water plunged with tremendous fury. At the base of one of these falls it was met by a kind of reflecting surface, by which the rhythmic character of the motion was finely revealed. The water here was tossed upwards in a series of vast parallel fans, carrying with them iceblocks and stones, and breaking above into a spray as fine as smoke. A bend of the glacier came in for the lateral portion of this spray, and over it the rounded blocks of ice and the stones were showered like projectiles. The sound of the torrent had not abated at bed-time, but this morning all is quiet, and no water is to be seen in the temporary channel."

This sudden discharge of so great a body of water, in addition to damaging the fields immediately below, very considerably raises the level of the Rhone. On the last occasion, September 4, the writer quoted at the beginning of this article states that "the level of the Rhone rose at Brieg 5 feet, from about 3 feet to 9 feet, and at Sitten 4 feet, from 6 feet to 10 feet. The greatest rise observed since the regulation of the Rhone from the same cause took place on July 19, 1878, and although it was then at Brieg only 5 feet, and at Sitten only 3 feet, it was considered a very fortunate circumstance that the event took place at a very low level of the Rhone for the season." 3 He adds that to avoid such a danger in future it is proposed to enlarge greatly a channel which many years since was cut through the moraine stuff overlying the rock east of the lake, and so provide an outlet towards the Viesch glacier. By this "the volume of its waters will be reduced to about half what it is at present (10,000,000 I Ramsay found the temperature of the water near the ice-cliff to be 3° C. 2 J. T. quoted from the Times in Alpine Journal, vol. vi. p. 100.

It

3 An account of this is given by F. V. Salis (Jahrb. Schweiz. Alpencl. 1878-79, P. 549. The discharge on this occasion was at first slow. began at 8 a.m. July 18; by 4 p.m. the lake had sunk 1 metre; during the darkness it sank 4 metres, and by 3 p.m. most of the contents were gone. It was estimated that only 700,coo cubic metres of water out of 10,000,000 remained.

cubic metres)." So that future travellers will not see the Märjalen See in its full beauty. The lake formed by the advance of the Gétroz glacier, in the upper part of the Dranse valley, the bursting of which in 1818 wrought such fearful devastation, may be regarded as to some extent a parallel case with the Märjalen See, of a more temporary nature, but on a grander scale.

In Sir Charles Lyell's "Principles of Geology" (chapter xvi.), and again in his "Antiquity of Man" (chapter xiv.), are notices of the Märjalen See, and of some beach terraces formed by its waters. He regards it as illustrative of the celebrated parallel roads of Glenroy, but, though this explanation has found very general favour with geologists, I must confess myself unable to accept it. But into this thistle-bed of controversy I must not permit myself to wander. T. G. BONNEY.

THE BACILLUS OF MALARIA.

A PAPER of unusual interest in relation to the question of the agency of microphytes in the production of disease will shortly appear in Prof. Cohn's botanical Beiträge (vol. v. part 2). For many years the efforts of pathologists have been directed in this relation to the subject of malaria. The local conditions which determine the "endemic" prevalence of ague have been studied with considerable exactitude. They are such as to indicate very clearly that the material cause of intermittent fever, although it is generated in the soil, acts through the air. The fact that its influence is restricted within very narrow limits of distance from its source indicates that it is not diffusible like a gas or vapour, but consists of particles which, on various grounds, are surmised to be living organisms of extreme minuteness. Can this be established on evidence which will bear criticism?

All will remember that in 1879 Tommasi Crudeli published (in conjunction with Prof. Klebs) observations which tended to show that in malarious districts a Bacillus inhabits the soil which can be cultivated so as to yield a product capable, when inoculated, of producing in animals a fever of intermittent type, accompanied by the anatomical characteristics of malarious infection. Subsequently it was found by several observers that, during the cold stage of ague, spore-containing Bacilli, conjectured to be identical with those of Crudeli, are to be found in the blood.

These results have been received by pathologists with much misgiving, partly because the experimental proofs appeared inadequate, partly because other observers failed in their endeavours to verify them. Dr. Schiavuzzi, a medical practitioner at Pola, on the Adriatic, appears to have been more fortunate. Following the methods of Dr. Koch, he has sought for organisms in the air of the malarious district near the town in which he resides, and with such success that he is able, in repeated observations, to obtain without fail pure cultivations of a Bacillus which is not only indistinguishable as regards its structure from that of Crudeli, but also produces in animals the characteristic symptoms and pathological changes which belong to ague. The first communication of Dr. Schiavuzzi's results was made to the Accademia dei Lincei more than a year ago (see Rendiconti, vol. ii. 1886, April 4), but excited very little attention. It so happened that in the course of the past summer Prof. Cohn visited Pola, and so became acquainted with Dr. Schiavuzzi, who, during the present year, has been pursuing his investigations. In consequence, Prof. Cohn has been able to repeat the Pola experiments in his own laboratory at Breslau, and, so far as possible, to confirm the discovery. The writer had the opportunity, a short while ago, when Prof. Cohn was in England, of reading the proofs of Schiavuzzi's paper, and of seeing the very perfect photographs of the Bacillus which have been made of it at Breslau.

Although it may be admitted that evidence of a more conclusive kind than any which has been offered by Dr. Schiavuzzi is required to establish the truth of his inference, yet there seems to be good reason for thinking that he has approached much nearer to a solution of the question than any of his predecessors. J. B. S.

NOTES.

AT the meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Paris, on the 17th inst., Admiral Mouchez spoke of the preparations which are being made for executing the photographic charts of the heavens. Ten of the photographic telescopes, seven by MM. Henry and Gautier, of Paris, and three by Sir H, Grubb, of Dublin, are expected to be finished by the end of 1888 and forwarded to various observatories in France, Spain, South America, and Australia. With the promised co-operation of England, the United States, and Russia, it is hoped that a good beginning will be made in 1889, and that the vast undertaking will be completed within the time anticipated by the International Congress of last April.

PROFS. CAYLEY, F. R.S., AND M. J. M. HILL retire from the Council of the London Mathematical Society. The new names selected by the Council for submission to the Society at its annual meeting (November 10), are those of Mr. A. Buchheim and Dr. J. Larmor. The De Morgan Medal, which we have already announced as awarded to Prof. Sylvester, F.R.S., will be presented to him at the aforesaid meeting.

ON December 8 next, Herr Friedrich Traugott Kützing will be eighty years of age, and a good many men of science in Germany are anxious to give emphatic expression on the occasion to their respect for his character and their appreciation of his labours. Herr Kützing was one of the first to recognize that the best material for the study of cells and their life is provided by the simplest plants; and the results of his researches are well known to all biologists. It is propo ed that a gift of some kind shall be presented to him on his eightieth birthday, and an influential Committee has been appointed to make the necessary arrangements. If any English students of biology would like to associate themselves with their German colleagues in this matter, they should communicate with the secretary of the Committee, Herr Otto Müller, 44 Köthenerstrasse, Berlin, W.

M. NOLAN, student at the Geological Laboratory of the Sorbonne, has been intrusted by the French Ministry of Public Instruction with a mission to study the geology of the Balearic Islands.

A NOTIFICATION in the Calcutta Gazette states that the Maharanee of Cossimbazar has given twenty thousand rupees for the promotion of technical education in the Moorshedabad district. The donor of this munificent sum proposes that five thousand rupees shall be spent in purchasing the necessary apparatus and instruments. The interest on the remainder is to be devoted to endowing a class in the Berhampore Collegiate School, and establishing classes in connexion with the college

class in some of the neighbouring elementary schools. The Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal accepts the gift, and approves of the scheme proposed by the Maharanee.

AN interesting address on English and foreign technical education was delivered last Saturday by Prof. Silvanus Thompson, at the Aldingham Institute, a school of technical education in Goldington Crescent, St. Pancras. In the course of his address Prof. Thompson drew attention to the fact that in Berlin there is a great State-aided institution in which every known industry is taught. This institution he described as a large building-as big as Buckingham Palace, if not quite so beautiful-standing

on a site of about 12 acres. It had something like 500 rooms for technical teaching, and, in fact, was a perfect college, with a good library. He believed that the entire cost of that estab lishment had been about £960,000. It was a building which had cost about the same amount as one of our ironclads. The entire maintenance of the institution was about £38,000 per annum; but that expenditure and the original outlay were recouped by the well to-do character of those who had passed through its teaching, and thus had become useful members of society instead of drags upon the country. For such a country as England a site not of 12 acres but of 40 acres would be required. It might cost £4,000,000 to build and £100,000 a year to maintain, and from the results which would follow it would be cheap at the price, for it would enable us to obtain every possible requirement of life from our own handicraftsmen, instead of having to go to foreign countries for what we need. It would do more, for the superiority of English workmanship would cause fresh demands to be made from us, not only throughout our own colonies, but from foreign countries also. THE Geodynamical Committee of the Italian Meteorological Society held meetings at Aquila from September 6 to 8. A preliminary meeting had been held at Florence in May last to prepare the work of the present one. The object was to formulate practical and uniform directions for the seismological researches undertaken by the Society, and to deduce from our actual knowledge rules to be followed in the construction of houses, so as to diminish the risk of damage in earthquakes and undulatory motions. M. Bertelli, of Florence, explained the theory of his new bifilar instrument for determining the least tremors of the earth, and he was invited to prepare directions for its construction, erection, and use, to be added to the report of the discussion. He also described his apparatus for the protection of telephones from lightning. The choice of a type of seismograph was the subject of a long discussion, and a Committee was nominated for the study of this very important question. The consideration of the best mode of collecting, discussing, and publishing the seismic and micro-seismic observations now being made in Italy was referred to the same Committee. On the consideration of the rules to be followed in the construction of buildings, M. de Rossi, of Rome, indicated the further observations which ought to be made. MM. Denza, De Giorgi, Roberto, Bertelli, and Galli also took part in the discussion. The resolutions adopted will be printed, and distributed to the various municipalities for the instruction of the persons concerned. This meeting of students of seismology is the first that has been held in Italy. The Secretary of this enterprising Society is Dr. O. L. Bianco.

THE other day the Committee of the Chester Society of Natural Science passed a resolution, which was entered in their minutes, expressing their deep sense of the loss the Society had sustained through the death of Mr. John Price, which took place on Friday, the 14th inst. He had reached the ripe age of eightyfour. Upwards of forty years ago, when residing at Birkenhead, Mr. Price occupied himself with the fauna of the Birkenhead

shore, and the value of his researches was recognized by

various scientific investigators of acknowledged eminence. The last of his observations on the shore were embodied in a paper on the pluteus of the starfish, read before Section D of the British Association meeting at Liverpool in 1852. To the Proceedings of Section D of the British Association he contributed papers from time to time at subsequent meetings. Having settled at Chester in 1858, Mr. Price was soon the means of establishing in the city a Society for the study of natural history. Ten years later, after the appointment of the late Charles Kingsley to a canonry in the Chester Cathedral, this Association was merged in the present Society, founded by Mr. Kingsley, who was one of Mr. Price's intimate friends. Mr. Price accepted,

and retained until his death, the position of Chairman of the Botanical Section of the Society. The resolution to which we have referred concludes as follows: "We shall miss from our meetings and excursions his venerable form, his familiar voice, and his wise counsels, but the name of 'Old Price' is one which will ever live in the Society as that of one of our revered fathers, and one of Nature's truest disciples and humblest and most loyal children."

THE last number of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (N.S. vol. xix.) contains a short paper by Prof. de Lacouperie on the Miryeks, or stone men of Corea. These are huge halflength human figures, carved in stone, and looked upon as relics of a religion of former times. Those described by Mr. Carles in his paper on Corea, read before the Royal Geogaphical Society last year, are about 25 feet high, cut out of some large boulders in the middle of a fir wood in a hill-side. The largest hitherto known is at Unjin, and is shown in a plate prefixed to the paper. It stands about 62 feet high; and the body and head resemble those of the idols in Buddhist temples. A column about 10 feet high runs up from the head, giving support to an oblong slab about the same length; on this stands a smaller column supporting another slab, and from the corners of the two bells are pendent by chains. Prof. de Lacouperie points out some peculiarities about the word Miryek, and suggests that perhaps it is not Corean at all; it may have existed in Corea in its special adaptation to the huge stone statues, without having preserved its original meaning previous to the adoption of Chinese characters. If this be correct, it implies that the religion which produced the erection of the statues was then forgotten or in the shade. They might, he suggests, be due to an early spread of Buddhism in Corea. But it is evident that we must know more of that country before the origin of these curious survivals is clearly explained.

ANOTHER Contribution to our knowledge of the group of beautiful dye colouring matters known as safranines has just been published in the current number of the Comptes rendus by MM. Barbier and Vignon. It has been known for some time that the nitroso-derivatives of the tertiary aromatic monamines in acting upon the primary monamines give rise to colouring matters, but their nature has hitherto remained undetermined. MM.

Barbier and Vignon, however, in the light of their previous work, set out to explore this interesting side group of substituted safranines, with the following successful result. Starting with para-nitroso-dimethyl aniline, C,H,NON(CH3)2, they studied the action of one equivalent of its hydrochloride upon one equivalent of aniline in alcoholic solution, and found that a reaction occurred sufficiently violent to boil the alcohol. Eventually the product dissolved, forming a solution at first yellow, afterwards gradually changing to brown, and finally to bright violet-red, which on cooling deposited a solid. After filtration, washing, and repeated recrystallization this solid was obtained pure in brilliant brown crystalline spangles. Analysis showed that its composition was C16H20 N4, and from its reactions there can be little doubt that it is tetra-methyl diamido-azo-benzene. It is not very soluble in water, but, as is characteristic of all the safranines, is soluble in concentrated acids, forming deep-red or violet solutions. This, however, is not the only substance formed during the above reaction, for sodium chloride precipitated from the violet mother liquor a second crystalline colouring matter, which turned out to be identical with the well-known dimethyl phenylene safranine, C20H18N4. The formation of this latter body helps to explain the course of the reaction, which probably runs as follows: 3[C&H NON(CH3)2HCl] + 2C&H NII C16H20N4 C20H18N4HCl + 3H2O + 2HCl. The work of MM. Barbier and Vignon, and of all other workers in this direction, is the more interesting inasmuch as it combines industrial utility with

+

the advancement of pure chemistry, on the one side handing over new materials to the manufacturer, and on the other new facts to the already inmense number which stand to the credit of the last few years.

THE Times reprints, from a document issued by the Berlin Bureau of Statistics, some interesting information about what is called "the motive force of the world." It appears that fourfifths of the engines now working in the world have been conFrance owns 49,590 structed during the last twenty-five years.

stationary or locomotive boilers, 7000 locomotives, and 1850 boats' boilers; Germany has 59,000 boilers, 10,000 locomotives, and 1700 ships' boilers; Austria 12,000 boilers, and 2800 locomotives. The force equivalent to the working steam-engines represents-in the United States, 7,500,000 horse-power; in England, 7,000,000; in Germany, 4,500,000; in France, 3,000,000; and in Austria, 1,500,000. In these figures the motive power of the locomotives is not included, whose number in all the world amounts to 105,000, representing a total of 3,000,000 horse-power. Adding this amount to the other powers we obtain the total of 46,000,000 horse power. A steam horse-power is equal to three actual horses' power; and a living horse is equal to seven men. The steam-engines of the world represent, therefore, approximately the work of 1,000,000,000 men, or more than double the working population of the earth, whose total population is supposed to amount to about 1,455,923,000 inhabitants. Steam has accordingly trebled man's working power.

IN the report presented at the eighteenth meeting of the Sunday Lecture Society it is stated that the attendance at the lectures during the last session was less than in the previous year. The Committee also announce that the accounts show an increased balance against the Society. On the other hand, they note with pleasure that good progress is being made by kindred associations in various parts of the country.

A SERIES of elaborate "geological studies," relating to the Dutch West Indies, by Prof. K. Martin, of the University of Leyden, is being issued by E. J. Brill, of Leyden. These “studies” embody the results of researches which Prof. Martin himself has carried on. In the first instalment, which has just been issued, he deals with the geology of Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire. This instalment consists of 140 handsome, well-printed pages, and is illustrated by three coloured geological maps, two plates, and thirty-six woodcuts.

A VALUABLE "Statistical Atlas of India," prepared for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886, and printed at Calcutta, may now be obtained at Mr. Edward Stanford's, Charing Cross. The object of the work is to give a general idea of the character of the country, its inhabitants and agriculture, with the addition of such statistics as may serve to illustrate commercial and educational progress. The maps have been prepared and printed in the office of the Surveyor-General of India at Calcutta, under the special supervision of Colonel Waterhouse and Major Strahan; and the chapters are by writers specially conversant with the subjects with which they deal.

MESSES. CASSELL AND CO. have ready a new and enlarged edition of "Colour," a scientific and technical manual treating of the optical principles, artistic laws, and technical details governing the use of colours in various arts, by Prof. A. H. Church; and cheap editions of "The Fresh-water Fishes of Europe," by Prof. H. G. Seeley, F. R. S., and "Short Studies from Nature," a series of familiar papers, by eminent authors, on interesting natural phenomena, with full-page illustrations and diagrams.

NEW catalogues of scientific books have just been issued by Messrs. Macmillan and Bowes, Cambridge, Messrs. Dulau and Co., London, and Mr. W. P. Collins, London.