Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/547

 Jtnra 19, 138S.]

��The present part contains the Istejt niclboiU, and cites the literature very fully, and may be bought separately by those who wUb. Fart second will trent of the cell mid Ibe structure ol unlueliuisr aui- lunts; pan third, of the ectoderm and Ma derivatives in the metazoa; part fourth, of the entodermai and meBadermal orgaas, — the whole to make a rotume of Bonie six liuiidred and Bfty p»gei.

— According to the CofonfssnndZniZia, BironF, von Muller, K.C.U.Q, has issuwl, under the au'^plces of the Victorian goTemment, a sucoiid supplement to his sydtematlc census of Australian piiUits. It ap- peard from the iufurntation now published, that, whilst the Icnown pUiit* of Australiu and Tasmania are about 9,000, they occur in the tollowin; propor- tions in the respective colonies: viz., western Aua- lnilia,3,4W; Queensland, 3,457; New South Wal«i, 3,154; northern Australia, 1,8211; Victoria, 1.820; South Australia, 1,^10; and Td.iin«nia, 1,023. The progress of boiMilcal discovery in Australia within the last quarter of a ceuttuy bu beau very marked; and the colonies arc mainly indebted to Rsran Uiiller for this result. He, ivith the late Mr. Denthaiu, pre- pared and publlabett the seven volumes of the ' Flora Australlensis.'

— Dr, Fischer, who lived for seven years at a doc- tor In Zanzibar, has published a book on the colo- nization of tropical Africa, called ' More light on a daric quarter of the world;' also 3 report of his journey from Pnnganl to Lake Naewascha, under- taken for the Hamliurg geographical aucloty,

— According to Nature, the British consul at Leg- horn, in bin report for the past year, makes some in- teresting obserrallous on coral in the Utidilorranean. Soma ceuluries back the Mediterranean coral fish- eries were carried on eiclusively by the Spaniards, and the principal establishments engaged In tha luan- ufaclure o( coral ornaments were In the hands o[ Jews residing in Spain. Towards the close of the sixteenth century, to escape the persecutions to which they were exposed, a large number of these mer- chants removed to Leghorn, in order to enjoy the secure asylum afforded by the liberal enactments of Ferdinaudodi Medici. Crews were obtained from the Neapolitan coast, principally from Torre del Greco: hence this place, at an early period, became the chief seat of the coral flsliery; and mi>st ol the boats en- gaged in it are still lilted out at that port, although the manufacture of coral ornaments and beads is carried on principally at Leghorn and Genoa. These ornaments are met with in almost erery part of the world; and iu many countries, even in Europe, coral is believed to be possessed of a peculiar charm. In Asia and Africa it is regarded with a sort of religious veneration, while in India it is largely used (or the adornment of corpses when prepared for cremation. But the present situation of the coral trade is disas- trous. In 18%, a coral bank several kilometres in length was discovered near the Island of Sclacca. on the coast of Sicily, and consequently the yield of raw material has been far in excess of the demand, and the reef is still very (ar from being exhausted. A

��great deprecl.ttlon in value has ensued, ami, as a consequence, an extensive trade has sprung up in coral with Africa, where the natives now purchase coral ornaments in place of glass beads uf Venetian and German manufacture. Tbe raw coral comes from Naples, and is worked at Leghorn by women into beads, Uriiish India and Egypt being the chief customers for them.

— Mr. Shelford Bidwell has read a paper before th« Royal society, on the changes produced by magneti- zation in the length of rods of iron, steel, and nickel. He Qnds that the length of an Iron rod Is increasMl by magnetization up to a certain ci'itical value of the magnetizing force; and, if that is passed, Ihe elongv tioD is diminished in proportion as the magnetiz- ing force increases. The amount of the m.txlmum elongation appe:tra to vary inversely as the square rout of the diameter of the rod. In soft steel, mag- netization produces elongation; and, trlth hard steel, the critical value of the magnetizing force becomes very high, In snft steel a temporary elongation, once produced, may be maintained by a magnetizing force too small In itself to produce any elongation. Nickel continues to retract with ma^etizing forces far sx- ceedlnp those which produce the maximum elonga- tion of iron. The greatest ob-ierved retraction of nickel is more than three times the maximum observed elongation of Iron, and the limit bas not yet been reached.

— Prof. H. A. Hazen has prepared a slgaal-servlce note (no. xx.) on the thunder-storms of May, 1884, in which he gives a brief statement of the results ob- tained from the volunteer observations on liiese storms, gathered on special cards from persons In all parts of the country. It is illustrated by maps for May IS and 10, showing the advance of the tbundcr-storm area tor these days. Tbe conclusions presented are, i", bail- fails occur ordinarily with a pressure much below lbs normal, and in a position two or three hundred miles south-east of the centre of barometric dopresslon (cyclonic centre); 2°, thunder-storms advance from west to east and south-east, generally accimpanying a cyclonic depression in its south-east quadrant, four or five hundred miles from the centre; 3°, their ac- tion seems to die down at night, and begin again In the morning, and often spreads in a fan-shape to south-east and east; 4°, the velocity of the thunder- storm's advance is greater than that of the accompany- ing cyclonic depression. Description of the simple method of observation is added, and it is staled that more observers are still desired. Franked cards for mailing records will be supplied on application to the chief signal officer of the army, Washington.

— Mr. E. W. Maunder, assistant in charge of the spectroscopic work of the Itoyai observatory. Greea- wich, la giving, in the current numbers of the Obter- Butori/, a paper on the motions of start in the line of sight, as determined by spectroscopic methods. Ha remarks, that 1( the definition attributed to Besiel be a correct one, — that 'astronoraf is the study of tba movements of the heavenly bodies,' — spectroscopy had Qo claim to be regarded as a branchoC a£Uiv&.<js<^ ,

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