April 7, 1898] 



NA TURE 



543 



A LETTER received a few days ago by Prof. Milne from Mr. 

 IL Hamilton, Montserrat, West Indies, contains somewhat 

 startling information. It appears that since the flood of 

 November 29, 1896, which caused great injury to life and 

 property in Montserrat, innumerable earthquake shocks have 

 been experienced. There are several craters and sulphur springs 

 in the island, and it is thought that the mouth of one of the 

 numerous craters was filled up by a landslip caused by the flood 

 referred to, for several shocks of earthquake — the first ex- 

 perienced for a great number of years — were felt on the night 

 of the flood. It is suggested that the filling up of this crater 

 has been the cause of all the earthquakes which have lately 

 occurred in the island. But whatever may be the cause, there 

 is no doubt that since November 1896, the island has been in a 

 very disturbed seismological condition. Scarcely a day passes 

 without a few shocks being felt, and as many as thirty distinct 

 disturbances have often been experienced in one day. On 

 February 15, 18 and 20 of this year, alarming shocks were 

 felt ; and it is affirmed that the worst shock on February 1 5 

 (11. 16 a.m.) was just as severe as the great earthquake of 1843, 

 but being of shorter duration it did not do so much damage. 

 Several buildings have, however, been very badly damaged by 

 the constantly-occurring disturbances, and innumerable cracks 

 have appeared in nearly every stone building in the island. 

 These earthquakes, says Mr. Hamilton, which have been con- 

 tinually felt since November 1896, are causing great anxiety 

 among the inhabitants, and it is feared that the shocks will 

 culminate in a volcanic eruption, or that the numerous stone 

 buildings, weakened as they already are by the continual shocks, 

 must in course of time be thrown to the ground unless the dis- 

 turbances cease. The whole subject demands scientific inquiry, 

 and it is to be hoped, both in the interests of science and of the 

 people of Montserrat, that the Colonial Office, which has 

 probably received official reports of the earthquakes, will send 

 some one to the island to investigate them. 



The numerous cases of enteric fever which have been traced 

 to the consumption of contaminated oysters, clearly points to the 

 need of a change in the present condition of the law relating to 

 the culture of oysters and other shell-fish. For the purpose of 

 submitting a memorial in favour of an alteration of this law, a 

 deputation from the corporations of twenty-five provincial towns, 

 and the London County Council, waited upon the President of 

 the Local Government Board a few days ago. As the law now 

 stands, local authorities have no means of preventing the sale of 

 shell-fish within their districts, even though they possess the 

 clearest evidence that the consumption of the shell-fish has pro- 

 duced typhoid fever, and that the shell-fish is derived from a 

 source known to be contaminated with sewage. In reply to the 

 deputation, Mr. Chaplin said that he considered that the time 

 had arrived for legislative action, and he had been engaged for 

 some time on the measures necessary and appropriate to deal 

 with the matter. As to the dangers which might arise from the 

 sale of infected shell-fish other than oysters, he had not sufficient 

 information to act upon, but with regard to oysters he hoped it 

 would be possible for him soon to take action which would be 

 satisfactory to the deputation. 



A HOLIDAY course of science lectures and demonstrations will 

 be held in Berlin from Wednesday, April 13, to Saturday, 

 April 23. Lectures on most branches of science have been 

 arranged, and visits will be made to museums and other places 

 of scientific interest. 



A MEETING of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers will 

 be held on Wednesday and Friday. April 27 and 29, The 

 chair will be taken by the President, Mr. Samuel W. Johnson, 

 who will deliver his inaugural address at the opening meeting. 

 The following papers will be read and discussed, as far as time 1 



NO. 1484, VOL. 57] 



permits:— " First Report to the Gas-Engine Research Com- 

 mittee : description of apparatus and methods, and preliminary 

 results," by Prof. F. W. Burstall ; "Steam Laundry 

 Machinery," by Mr. Sidney Tebbutt. 



Attention has already been drawn in Nature to the 

 publication by the Geological Survey of a colour-printed map 

 of the London area and great part of the Weald. This was 

 Sheet 12 of the General Map on the scale of an inch to four 

 miles. We are now able to state that all the fifteen sheets of 

 this map have similarly been issued in the colour-printed form, 

 at a uniform price of 2s. 6d., with the exception of the title- 

 sheet, the price of which is 2s. The total cost of the map, 

 which if mounted would measure about 8 by 6 feet, is i/. 17^-. 



A CORRESPONDENT from Bangor writes : — " An instance of 

 a locally acquired habit in birds, on which it would be interest- 

 ing to collect information from different districts, is afforded 

 by the behaviour of sparrows towards the flowers of garden 

 crocuses. Here in Bangor we have had crocuses blossoming 

 two years in succession without a single flower being eaten off"; 

 in gardens at Cambridge, and other places, every flower is pulled 

 to pieces almost before it has fully opened. It would seem 

 that the flowers contain some agreeable flavouring matter which 

 the Bangor birds have (fortunately) not yet learnt to appreciate." 



Mr. G. Marshall Woodrow, Professor of Botany at the 

 Royal College of Science, Poona, went to Jeur at the time of 

 the recent total solar eclipse, and made some botanical observ- 

 ations which he communicates to the Gardener's Chronicle 

 (March 19). This station was not very suitable for luxurious 

 vegetation, as the daily range of temperature during January 

 was too great, the thermometer ranging from 45° F. to 145" F. 

 and in the shade from 50° F. to 90° F. He, however, collected 

 130 species, including 26Gramine3e, 27 Leguminosae, 14 Compo- 

 sitis, 9 Acanthacese, 5 Asclepiadacese, 5 Euphorbiacese, 5 

 Malvaceae, 5 Cucurbitaceoe, 5 Convolvulaceas, 2 Solanacese, 4 

 Labiatse, 2 Urticaceae, and 2 Capparidaceae. Of the Gramineae 

 he mentions that the most frequent one, Aristida setacea, was 

 in ripe seed, and it was interesting to observe its manner of 

 distributing them. Its three-branched awns " twist together in 

 such a manner that a perfect sphere is formed by their extended 

 points, and the balls roll hither and thither in every breeze." 

 Another grass of interest is the species Isachne, which has the 

 habit of setting loose its entire inflorescence, a large open 

 panicle of most elegant form, which is rolled about by the 

 wind till it is caught in some bush. This species has an in- 

 florescence larger than any other known ; and since it was found 

 while preparing to observe the eclipse, the name Isachne 

 obscurans is proposed for it. Prof. Woodrow mentions that as 

 the sunlight began to fade away, owing to the passage of the 

 dark moon, Leguminosae began to fold up their leaves, as is their 

 manner at evening time. 



Mr. H. C. Russell, Government Astronomer of New South 

 Wales, has communicated a .second paper to the Royal Society 

 of that Colony, on the subject of icebergs in the Southern Ocean, 

 from reports collected from masters of vessels trading to Sydney 

 and from other sources. The first paper dealt with the icebergs 

 in the South Atlantic which had been reported up to July 1895, 

 and the present paper continues the discussion down to 

 September 1897, during which time the great mass of the bergs 

 has drifted from the South Atlantic to between longitude 40" 

 and 80° in the South Indian Ocean, and have been subsequently 

 reported south-eastward of New Zealand. It is somewhat 

 remarkable that for months at a time very few icebergs were met 

 with by vessels trading to Australia, and their motion into and 

 out of the tracks of vessels made it seem probable that it was 

 affected by the prevalent winds. A reference to the weather 



