, 1880-02-28

all values, give letters of advice and counsel,
send photographs Of any desired picture; and
transact all the business for q consideration
which shall simply cover expenses,-such ex-
penSes always being expressed or covered by
the round price OF any picture in question"
SCIENCE.
TIE SWEDISH NoRTHEAsT-PAss-
AGE EXPEDITION.
Nature publishes the following notes,
taken from letter from Prof. NordenskjDld
to Mr.. Oscar Dickson, dated Ceylon, Dec Ii,
1879, printed first in the G0teboTgs Handcls
TidnfnJ:
'sDredging was carried on at number OF
places on the coast Of Japan, but with scanty
results, in consequence Of the poverty Of the
sea-bottom in animal life. The same was the
case with the dredgings which were carried
on between Hong Kong, Labran, and Singa-
pore, and in the Strait Of Ma1acca. lFhilo
the tawl-net in the Polar Sea almost always
brought up several hundred animals, the
zo5logist in these Southern seas obtained
1lSs,D draw, and and frequently: % ay I not one BY
far the most abundant animal
life has been found during the
Swedish Arctic expeditions, at favorable
these places the temperature Of thesea all the.
year round is between 0 and p deg. min e.
4 temperature at or under the freezing point
appears thus to be much more favorable for
the development OF an abundant animal lite
at the sea-bottom than one Of Is to IS deg
Ca very remarkable circumstance, which,
as far as Nordenskj5ld knows, has not re-
ceiyed the attention which 1t deserves. 1t Is
to be remarked. however, that the lnverte-
brate animals IN te south N are 4h.+ 5geE 9Es n1 ad
fauna, which is entirely absent in the sea Of
the high North, on account of the destructive
action of the driftice. is here richly de-
veloped.
Japan is so poor in land and fresh-water
crustacea that one often searches for hours
III the most favorably-situa places without
finding single specimen. Even IN the moSG
northerly part Of Scandinavia more land
cr,lstacea may in many places be collected IN
n few hours than in Japan in as many days
In the numerous dredgings carried on dur
ing the voyage from Japan to Ceylon, at
depths in which algse are met with IN abun-
dance on the coasts Of Scandinavia, not a
apparatus. Even in the shore-beit marine
plants are in:many places almost wholly
wanting. The lichen flora Of Japan was ex~
amined by Dr. Almquist.. In the more ele.
Fusijama, 1900 feet above the snow-lImit, at
q hight of G,O00 to 5000 feet above the sea, it
has certain resemblance to that of Scanut-
navIa, but in the low country 1t Is limited t9
a very few localities. In the purely tropical
countries, for instance at Labuan and Singa-
pore, the lichens appear to be confined
almost exclusively to the barkS Of trees. and
the whole of this division Of the vegetable
kingdom here consists mainly OF q slngls
tensive collections Of fossil plants from fos-
siliferous strata at N1og1, flshlng village on
the coast of Japan, and from the coalmine
Takasima, both in the neighborhood OF
uan. The fossils from A1ogi lie in fine
white clay-slate, and consist almost exclusive
" Of beautiful leaf-impressions:. At Takasi-
ma the fossils consist principally. or water
plants imbedded in the b1oTnish:bl2ek sla'e th
fossils lie imbedded in balls Of clay-ironstone
foundin the sandy beds between the coal
seams. They consist Of ferns, Cycadee, and
1arge-b1aded leaf-tIees.
DESTRUCTION HStas OF ASc1EST MoSo-
One of the most deplorable facts connected
with the East is the destruction Of ancient
monuments. Marble statues, columns, cap
itals of exQuisit workmanship, and various
other works Of art, such as exist in ruined
cities, are being collected by the natives and
burned into lime. IIr. Wood testitles to this
fact at Ephesus, and Mr.. F. ". Perclval
states that: 1.-The Temple Of CybeIe at Sardis
has never been excayated, and the soil has
accumulated above the pavement to depth
Of at least twenty-five feet; but even TINS Is
not sufficient to preserve 1t, for found when
was 18th eFy & ha aa HAT snieadd bocKs Of
marble were being broken up into SINAI!
pieces to burn in the neighboring 1inekilns."
OF the Temple Of Diana at Tekel ne says:
The walls Of the peIibolus are SfananG all @ 1oa
hight Of about, twenty feet, and they haVo
hitherto been tile most perfect OF their klnd ex-
isting; but fear that they will soon disappear
altogether, for saw number OF men enl-
ployetl in pulling them down and caTflng
My isno apparent @ s remedy INK Tor tIs, and in fact,
it is no new thing, for this matter OF hor1oW-
ing building materials has gone on for centu-
Fies- This system Of stealing, also the p1ac-
tice Of burning into lime, has been earned 10
a great extent in Palestine. .
:sSome old ruins have been drawn upon oy
neishboring and modern towns 70 sneh an
extent that almost nothing Is left OF tnenl.
The explorer may be certain he Is slanani5
but it is q matter of wonder to him what mas
become Of it. At the north end Of the plain
of Gennesaretl, there is an Important ouf1cd
town. 1t is near Kahn Alinleli, and, IN my
I've ourselves saw them exposed, were built
Of fint, blocks OF stone, and the whole strnct-
rre appeared to he of superior workman
ship: but these walls are rapidly oeins dug
Up by the natives and converted 1nto llne.
The Oriental journal.
4 CURIOUS SCIENTIFIC NSTRU-
NENT-
The New York Times mentions curious
instrument recently invented By young
Japanese engineer. It is familiar fact to
those acquainted with the problems OF sur
yeying and engineering, that the n1osttedions
calculations associated with professional
services Of that class arise from the method
of triangulation now in use, and from the
fatiguing and abstruse relations OF slnes and
cosines which enter into the work. The
necessity Of an instrument capable OF meas
urtng these relations with accuracy, and OF
experimentally solving the problems OF
trgonomet arising in the sGq5Ss rs of ss
Tie invention perfected by the young Japan-
csc ensineer-not patented, BY the Way-con-
sists primarily Of steel OF brass plate, NEAR
the bottom of which is 4 graduated bar
Which may represent the base Of any, given
triangle The bar is graduated it'to tel.
equal parts with extrems: accuracy. and these
sections are again graduated until Il linear
register Of the utmost conceivable haeness IS
,rCIrooJ A. ona an1 of the bar is t1Xrt g