IN case no other account should reach you of a meteoric shower witnessed by the officers and military passengers of II. M. troopship Tamar on the night of Wednesday, November 27, 1872, I send notes collected from several accounts.
ON page 484 of Figuier's work, “The Human Race,” the author speaks of the Mohawk Indians of the Rio Colorado, and on the opposite page reproduces M. Mollhausen's drawing of two Mojave Indians, as described in vol. iii. of Pacific R. R. Reports, by Messrs. Whipple, Ewbank, and Turner. As the Mohawk Indians of New York and the North-west are so totally distinct from the Colorado...
IF you will kindly permit me, I wish to make an addition to your notice of my paper on “Welwitschia,” read at the Linnean Society on the 19th ult. That paper was completed and put in Dr. Hooker's hands about three months ago; and the reading of it was delayed until I had seen Strasburger's recently published memoir on Coniferæ and Gnetaceæ. After perusing that valuable work, I...
IN reply to the Rev. W. S. Symonds's questions (NATURE, Vol. vii. p. 162) regarding the occurrence of certain salmonoids in Welsh and non-glacial lakes, I beg to draw his attention to the sixth volume of the “Catalogue of Fishes,” published by the trustees of the British Museum, which, I believe, contains the information for which he asks. I would with pleasure extract this...
MR. HART'S note in NATURE, vol. vii. p. 161, is interesting to those who have paid attention to the subject of fertilisation by insect agency, and would be still more so if he could furnish the names of the species of both plants and Syrphidæ that have come under his observation.
I AM not sure that the following extract from my note-book may not have been printed by the British Association; but even in that case it may be thought suitable for reproduction at the present juncture.
IN the interesting article by Mr. Rand Capron in the last number of NATURE—after collating the various results of the spectroscopic examinations of the aurora and zodiacal light Which have appeared at different times in your pages, together with those which have been collected by Dr. Schellen—he terminates his analysis of the general results by remarking that he is “not aware...
IN connection with my letter in last number of NATURE, I have in a diagram approximately placed the aurora lines side by side with the spectrum of hydrogen and of some of the principal air lines (as given in Dr. Watt's index) and with the following results:—
PROF. GEIKIE, in his introductory lecture of the Murchison Chair of Geology at Edinburgh, which appeared in NATURE, vol. vii. p. 184, mentions that he never had the good fortune to encounter one of these legendary sprites. It may not be uninteresting to some of your readers to know that they are still extant. On October 5 last I was walking to the “Lizard” with a friend, and near...
THE general procedure in determining numerical values in a scientific investigation is as follows. From a few observations we first compute the approximate values of certain constants, using for this purpose a theory which is purely a mathematical fiction; and then, secondly, by comparison with extended series of observations we form equations of conditions, and determine the...
EVERY one who observes the stars at all must have noticed that they twinkle much more on some nights than on others, and this irrespective of any sensible difference in the clearness of sky or air. On rare occasions the twinkling becomes a really striking phenomenon, and at such times it is interesting to note the series of changes which together make up a “twinkle,” For this...
MAY not the white, telescopic appearance of the moon's surface, resembling snow in many parts, be explained by the fact that the extinct volcanoes of our satellite are covered with crystals of salt?
IN corroboration of Capt. Herschel's statements regarding the mistaken idea of high dispersive power being essential to success in observations of solar prominences, I beg to give a few results obtained by a direct-vision spectroscope of dispersive power insufficient to separate D.
IT is, I believe, commonly supposed by geologists that the movements of the surface of the earth are caused by the refrigeration and contraction of the interior. But since the glacial epoch the surface of the earth has become warmer; consequently since that time a heat wave must have been passing from the surface towards the centre; and consequently since that time no...
THE only reliable observations of active phosphorescence in fishes during life, known to the writer, are the following, to which, perhaps, may be added, the somewhat obscure observations on Hemiramphus lucens, communicated to G. Cuvier by Reinwardt:—
I AM sorry that I am unable to give Mr. Bennett all the information that he desires, as I have never studied the classification of the Diptera, and do not know the species of the flies in question; nor do I like to trust my memory as to those of the flowers. The common dandelion is, however, I think, an especial favourite; and it is evident that in this and other Composure the...
IN reply to the question of Mr. W. M. Williams in the postscript to his letter (NATURE, vol. vii. p. 202) I beg leave to make a few observations. I presume that the author of the above terms thought that the idea of the permeability of a medium by radiant heat could be better expressed by derivatives of the verb θɛρμαívω (I heat) than by those of the more elementary words θέρμos...
MR. CAPRON'S notice of my observations with regard to the auroral spectra compels me to say a few words with regard to them which I should rather have deferred till I could confirm my suspicions by fresh experiments. The spectrum which appears to coincide with the aurora, is not the ordinary spectrum of oxygen obtained by the disruptive discharge, but is, I have little doabt...
WHILE some natives of these islands were preparing my boat for a journey during the night of October 27–28, they were considerably alarmed by the appearance of a very large meteor. As far as I could ascertain from them it became visible near to ζ Ceti, and rushed towards the south-east, leaving a bright train in its wake. One of the natives described it as being as large as a man...
STATEMENT BY PROF. BUNSEN “A letter addressed to me by Dr. Sprengel, under date of November I, 1872, in which he says: ‘Perhaps it will not have escaped your observation, that the invention of the water-air-pump, which you have constructed after the principle of my mercury air-pump, according to your paper published in 1868 on the washing of precipitates, is almost everywhere...
MR. RAY LANKESTER'S letter has reminded me of a little experiment of my own which converted me to Bastianism. I had some turnip and cheese flasks which Dr.Bastin had been kind enough to prepare in my presence, I took them home and in due time examined the contents in a good microscope, using what I thought adequate power. I saw nothing, and went triumphant to Dr.Bastian to report...
MY attention has been directed by a friend to an address by Prof. W. K. Clifford, in Macmillan's Magazine for this month, containing a curious misrepresentation of Kant's teaching, and therein an instructive instance of ultracrepidism. The professor remarks: “The opinion that at the basis of the natural order there is something which we can know to be unreasonable to elude the...
THE following observation may possess some interest in connection with the subject of recurring meteorological cycles It is found at the conclusion of Mr. Consul Wallis's report on the trade and commerce of Costa Rica for 1867, dated June 1, 1868 (Parliamentary Papers for 1868–69, vol. lix. p. 520):—“In the state of the public health there is a marked and satisfactory improvement...
THE phenomenon observed and described by G. F. Burder in NATURE of Jan. 23, p. 222, does not, as I understand it, account in any way for the twinkling of stars, seeing that, by means of any two lights (gas lamps for instance) at the distance of a few hundreds of yards, the same effect may be observed, and this quite irrespective of the angle at which they are placed with...
IT gave me great pleasure to find that Captain Ericsson has taken the same views as myself with regard to the Source of the Solar Energy; but there is a certain part of his article in NATURE, vol. vi. p. 539, which I do not quite understand.