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��periments having been roarte with Ihe electric light between Suez and lamaiUa. But U bappeued, utitur* lunatetj, that a bright moon wm Bbining on the night when tbew ezpprimeiits were made, the re- mit being that the effect of the electric light was lesaeoed.
— Capt. W, H. nil] reports, that while on board the schooner Eiiiabeth, Imund frotn New York to Neirbern, N.C., he met with a heavy gale off Hat- teras, wind norlh-eaat, heavy sea. lie could not clear the Diamond, and bad to scud throngh Hstteras Slough. The sea boarded the vessel, and took the bulwarks away. Fearing tor the veuel's safely, oil was poured over the atern, a little at a time, from an ordinary stone jug. This at once smoothed Ihe sea's surface, making it partake of llie nature of a ground-Bwell ; and the Eiixabeth went in without sliippiag an; more seas. A brig, sei-ing the smooth water astern of this vessel, steered for her wake, and ran through under close-reefed topsails, keeping In the smooth water.
— A summary of observalion? on earthquake phe- nomena made in Tasmania, during ISS:) and 18&4, by Coramander Shortt of Uobart, records a great num- ber of moderate shocks during these years, although they had been very rare before. Nearly one hundred disturbances were felt at St. Slary's In Februai'y, 18S4 ; and over one thousand have been noted at Gould's Country since April 12, 1883, when Iha Srat ■bock was felt there. These small earthquakes are s.eldoin felt outalde of the north-eastern part of Tas- mania; and their origin seems to be a hundred or more miles out to sea, near the bonier of the deep waters which separate Australia from New Zealand.
— The Linnean society of New South Wales ogata offers a prize o( one hundred pounds for the best essay un the life-history of the bacillus of typhoid- fever. The essay must be based entirely ou original research, the deti^ls of which, and of the methods employed, are to be fully explained; to be delivered before Dec. 31, 183:^.
— Mr. C, R. Orcutt of San Diego, Cal., proposes to publish from that place a small quarterly journal de- voted to the study of shells, Crustacea, and radiates, in the Interest of students aud collectors of ibe same,
— The Board of trustees of Indiana nniveraity selected Prof. John M. Coulter of Wabash college, and editor of the Uotanical guietU, to fill the chair of botany in that Initilution; but it is understood he has declined the position.
— In speaking of the erosion of big guns, Capt Noble recently explained to a representative of the Pall-maU tmdufl that the latest era In gun-making dated back to 1877. The great advance then made resulted directly from experiments with powder. We stepped at once from velocities of fifteen hundred feet to the present velocities of from two thousand feet to twenty-three hundred feet per second. The very high charges now employed (eight hundred and thirty pounds of powder have been fired in a single charge from a hundred-ton gun, and three hundred
��NUE. [Vol.. v.. No. 118.
pounds from a gun not quite Iwenly-Bve tons in weight), and the relatively very long time during which the high pressure and the temperature of the explosion are continued, have aggravated to a very seiious extent the evils due to crusiun, and the con- sequent rapid wear of the bores of guns. At the moment of explosion the surfaces of the guns in the vicinity of the charge are in a slate of fusion. The healed gases passing over these fused surfaces at a high velocity and pressure, absolutely remove that surface, and give rise to that erosion which is so serious au evil in guns where large charges are em- ployed. All guns are now mode with a lining, which is taken out when it has been eroded : the operation may occupy from two to three months. The hun- dred-and-ten gun could not be fired, wllh a full bat- tering charge (nine hundred pouuds of powder), more than a hundred aud fifty rounds; but It will fire an almost indefinite number of smaller charges (t.ay, two-thirds of the full charge), without very serious injury resulting.
— Messrs. J. de Brettes and P. Lacabanne-Cour- rfege left Duenos Ayres in January with the Intention of traversing the Urand Chaco at its greatest breadth from Corrieutes to Candelaria. Persuaded that the misfortunes of previous explorers were due to the presence with them of a force so large as to excite the suspicions of the Indians, thus bringing on active hoslUilies, these travellers propose to make the jour- ney, accompanied only by two Indian servants.
— Victor Glraud, having reached Paris on his re- I turn from central Africa, was received with Sclal by a deputation from the Socl^l^ de g^raphle; and It is announced, that. In recognition of the energy, per- severance, and courage with which be pursued his explorations, the Ministry of marine have proposed him for the cross of the Legion of honor.
— We have received three pamphlets by Dr. Rollln R. Gregg of Buffalo, entitled ■ Diphtheria and bacte- ria,' 'Professor Pasteur's experiments, bacteria iu various diseases,' and ' The revelations of ffbrin,' They embody Die results of the writer's so-called scientific experiments upon fibrine. Of which material he fi[ids all forms of bacteria to be composed. Inas- much as he gives no reason to suppose that any proper methods of sierlllzaiion were employed, and displays his ignorance of the fact that distilled water may be full of micro-organisms, it does not seem possible llial these papers will command much atten- tion. Indeed, no such work is wortliy of criticism; for the day has passed when the pathogenic proper- ties of l>acterja, as such, can he disputed, except u the result of ilie most careful labor by experts IJi all the methods of mauipulalion. .
— In the article on 'Itoods from ludia to central I Asia,' in our last Issue, In the third line of the third paragraph, second column of p. 3<I1, 'northern' should read 'southern;' and in the first line of the fourth paragraph, In the same column, 'to the south' should read ' to the north.' In the next to the last line in the Hrst column of the following page, ' li should be ' ISSl.'
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