Xll NOTES BY THE EDITOK 



afford equal advantages if applied, as it no doubt will be ultimately, to 

 the scale of weights and measures. " The adoption of such a system, 

 however simple it may appear in the abstract, would nevertheless 

 entail little less than an entire revolution in all the transactions of 

 commerce, and, like all other innovations upon established usage, 

 would have its opponents and its victims, as well as its interested 

 advocates, and should, therefore, be approached with great caution. 



The second Annual Report of the Geological Survey of New Jersey, 

 by Prof. Kitchell, the first and second Annual Report of the Geological 

 Survey of Missouri, by Prof. Swallow, and a Geological Reconnoissance 

 of Tennessee, by Prof. Safford, have all been published during the past 

 season. 



The Board of Trustees of the University of Mississippi have author- 

 ized the erection of a first class Astronomical Observatory at Oxford, 

 Mississippi, and have contracted for a transit circle similar to that 

 introduced by Prof. Airy at Greenwich. If the enlightened policy, 

 thus inaugurated by the Board of Trustees, be fully carried out, Missis- 

 sippi, through her University, will soon place herself in a very honor- 

 able relation to the progress of intellectual improvement in the world. 



The sum of fifteen thousand pounds has been voted by the British 

 Parliament for the exploration of Northern Australia, under the direc- 

 tion of the Royal Geographical Society, and an expedition, under the 

 charge of Mr. Gregory, left New South "Wales for the interior during 

 the past year. The objects of the expedition are, briefly to trace the 

 Victoria river to its source, and to determine the character of the 

 north-western interior, and afterwards to endeavor to find out a more 

 direct tract than the circuitous route traversed by Leichardt, from the 

 head of the Gulf of Carpentaria to the settlements on the eastern 

 coast, comprised under the general name of Moreton Bay. The time 

 required to do this is estimated at not less than three years. 



M. Petermann, in a recent publication on the Explorations of Central 

 Africa, says, the country lying south of five degrees is one wide, flat 

 plain, over which isolated mountains or groups of mountains are scat- 

 tered, but that, north of that latitude, a chain of mountains, about 

 seventy-five geographical miles in length, runs from east to west. 

 Tracts of mountains, many rising into the regions of eternal snow, 

 extend from these across the equator. 



The mystery of the Nile is about to be attacked on every side. 

 Capt. Burton is preparing a new expedition ; the East India Company 

 having granted him two years' leave with full pay, and the English 

 Government having allowed 1,000 towards the expenses. The 

 Pasha of Egypt has also ordered a new expedition to be organized to 

 ascend the Nile, under M. de Lauture, an experienced African traveller. 

 The expedition will be accompanied by twelve Europeans. This expe- 



