SCIENCE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3056, 12 April 1881, Page 2

SCIENCE.

The notes on the Zodiacal Light read by Mr Henry C. Lewis before the American Association for the Advancement of Science at the Boston meeting, have been printed in Silliman's Journal. The author advances no theory in regard to the phenomena discussed, but simply gives an account of his own observations. Portions of the zodiacal light are very faint, and they cannot be mapped without keen eyesight. To increase the acufceness of his vision for this purpose, Mr Lewis has been accustomed to detect as many stars as possible of the sixth magnitude and less, with the unassisted eye, and he mentions having frequently made out twelve stars in the Pleiades in this way, "It has been found," he says, "that such, practice is not only a good preparation for accurate observing, but that an idea of the comparative transparency of the atmosphere is thus obtained." The author has searched without success for the pulsations in the zodiacal cone described by some observers, and has been unable to recognize any direct connection between the zodiacal light and the moon or the aurora. As auroral displays are now increasing in frequency, since the minimum sun-spot period has passed, Mr Lewis will have a good opportunity for future observations on the latter point.

Several different theories are propounded in Europe in reference to the recent destructive earthquake at A gram in the Austrian Empire. According to one view, there was nothing volcanic about it at al 1 , but the disturbance was due to slow geological movements which have been going On in that region for a long period, and which acted with exceptional force upon the town by reason of its peculiar situation with regard to the neighboring mountains and the adjacent strata. According to the other view, most favoiably received, lunar attraction exerted upon subterranean lava was the real cause of the earthquake.

Mr S. Tromholt, of Christiania, Norway, is endeavoring to arrange for a systematic study of the aurora borealis throughout Scandinavia, and has published a request for co-operation on the part of other observers interested in the subject. It seems to us that our Signal Service in this country might well observe and register auroral phenomena. Mr Tromholt believes that there is conclusive evidence to establish the assertion so often made (but very generally doubted by physicists) that sound is an accompaniment of the aurora. In an interesting paper lately read before the Anthropological Institute of London, Mr J. F. Rowbotham has traced the development of the art of music in pre-historic times through three stages, represented by three types of musical instruments : the drum type, the pipe type, and the lyre type. Numerous as are the varieties of musical instruments, he thinks all may be classified in these three divisions. The drum is the first instrument used by man, then comes pipes, and lastly stringed instruments, and always in this order. A classification of wools from various countries according to the number of diffeient species of beetles found in each has been made for the Societe d' Acelimatation of Paris by Mons. Levoiturier, of Elbeuf, in Normandy. The number of species of insects in the wools from the respective localities to which his examination extended was as follows: Russia, six j Spain, sixteen; Buenos Ayres, thirty; Australia, forty-seven; and the Cape of Good Hope, fifty-two. We are indebted to the English Mechanic for these figures.

We learn from the Athenaeum that Mons. Janssen, the French astronomer, has placed at the disposal of Mr A. Graham Bell all the instruments in the observatory at Mcudon, in order that he may thereby ascertain, if possible, whether the sounds which are supposed to occur on the surface of the sun can be mado audible by means of the photophone. The first experiments in this direction are described by Mons. Janssen as hopeful.

It appears from a test recently made in Paris that good illuminating gas can bo distilled from cork waste. Old bottle corks and fragments of the bark of the cork oak were used in the experiments, for which a special form of retort was required. We should think few countries would afford sufficient raw material in the shape of old corks for the successful prosecution of this new gas industry, but it might be carried on where there are forests of,cork oak.

A white spot has appeared on Jupiter in addition to the red spot on the same planet, which has attracted so much attention from astronomers. It was first seen by Mr W. Denning, of Bristol, on the 18tb of

September last, and has since reappeared at each rotation of Jupiter. Mr Denning says it ought to be visible through telescopes of small aperture.

A so-called glacier garden, consisting of gigantic kettles hollowed out of the rock by the action of water or ice, was met with recently in excavating for the St. Gothard railway. All that portion which was not actually required for the line has been enclosed, and will be preserved in its natural condition. This comprises half the garden. The largo collection of human skulls of natives of New Guinea, brought home from that island by Mons. L. M. D'Albertis, the Italian explorer, has been submitted to Professor William H. Flower, tho wellknown English anatomist, for study and classification. One of these crania is the bead of a savage killed in a combat with the exploring party. It seems probable that Madagascar may yield some interesting additions to European and American flower gardens. Two new genera of flowering plants and thirty new species from the great African island were described in a paper recently read before the Linnean Society of London.

Some instructive observations in regard to the distribution of disease in France have lately been published in Les Mondes by Dr. Chervin. He finds that in going from north to south there is a diminution in the prevalence of all maladies.

_ A fossil bivalve, which is compared to a gigantic oyster eight inches wide and ten inches long, has been discovered in Sicily.