134 



NATURE 



[Dec. 1 6, 1875 



not cause any uneasiness or extra expense on this account. 

 For the rest the explorations are highly satisfactory, and 

 the extension southwards of the gault is no disadvantage. 



Besides the outcrop of the " craie glauconieuse," which 

 almost corresponds to the outcrop of the gault, the 

 engineers profess to have determined the line between 

 the " craie de Rouen," or lower chalk, and a nodular bed 

 which lies above it. One cannot help feeling doubts as 

 to the possibility of this being done, with any degree of 

 certainty, by the means at their disposal. It is, however, im- 

 portant to fix if possible the breadth of outcrop of one of the 

 beds ; because, the thickness being known, we can thus 

 estimate the dip. The soundings, as interpreted by the 

 Commission, show that the dip is greatest near the French 

 coast, and that it gets gradually less towards the English 

 coast. Borings at and near Calais show that the dip 

 there lessens towards the north, and by analogy it may 

 be inferred that towards the proposed tunnel the beds 

 under the sea will also lessen in dip. 



It is proposed to continue the soundings further north, 

 with the view of fixing exactly the outcrops of the higher 

 beds of chalk. As the report states, if these attempts 

 are successful we shall know exactly, and not by hypo- 

 thesis, the geological structure of the strait. We shall 

 know too the geological structure of the bed of the sea 

 better than we now know that of much of the dry land ; for 

 no geologist has attempted to trace out all the chalk divi- 

 sions on either coast ; they have been measured in the 

 cliffs, but not mapped in detail inland. 



The Commission recommends that a new and larger 

 borehole be put down at Sangatte with the view of testing 

 the water-bearing quahties of the chalk at different levels, 

 and of proving the exact thickness of the chalk. It is 

 proposed to carry the hole through the gault and into the 

 Palaeozoic rocks, with the view of testing whether these 

 rocks are absorbent, and capable of carrying off water 

 from the tunnel. tSxq possibility that they may serve this 

 purpose has been suggested by the present writer.* The 

 Commission proposes to test the point, but observes that 

 it is unlikely to be the case. The Palaeozoic rocks yield 

 water near Lille, though they have not done so at Calais 

 and Harwich ; this may be because the old rocks are 

 only slightly permeable, and if so they will be only slightly 

 absorbent. It was on this gronnd that Prof. Prestwich 

 proposed to tunnel through the Palaeozoic rocks. 



The Commission has examined in great detail the chalk 

 of the French cliffs, and the results of their observations 

 are drawn in a section in this Report. W. Phillips in 18 19 

 published a description of the cliffs on each side of the 

 Channel. So far as his observations go they are exact, 

 and need no correction ; later observers having only 

 worked out the beds in greater detail. The Report refers 

 in terms of well-merited praise to this early work of 

 Phillips, but it is shghtly in error in stating that English 

 geologists have done nothing since his time. The Geolo- 

 gical Survey has been over the ground ; the maps are 

 published, and descriptions have been given by Mr. 

 Whitaker. Mr. Dowker has also studied the higher chalk 

 of Kent. 



The Report contains a large chart showing the posi- 

 tions of all the soundings, and is further illustrated by 

 sections and diagrams in the text. It is one of the most 

 valuable publications which has yet appeared on this im- 

 portant subject, and is well worthy of the reputation of its 

 distinguished authors. \V. Topley 



NOTES 



It is with great regret that we hear of the death of Mr. R. C. 

 Carrington, F.R.S., whose name is so intimately associated 

 with solar observation, which indeed he was the first to start 

 in this country. His failing health of late years, was no doubt 

 due to his unceasing assiduity. For seven and a quarter 

 * Quart. Joiim. Science, April 1872, 



years scarcely a single day passed that Mr. Carrington did not 

 make an observation on sun-spots. The book which contains 

 these observations, published by Williams and Norgate, partly 

 at the expense of the Royal Society, is one of the astronomical 

 works of which England has good cause to be proud. Up to his 

 death Mr. Carrington was engaged in designing and planning 

 instruments of more than curious construction, which he intended 

 eventually to fit up in his observatory. Before he took up sun- 

 spot observations he constructed charts and a catalogue of the 

 circumpalar stars, into which he introduced the most minute 

 accuracy. The ' * Redhill Catalogue " will long be consulted by 

 the practical astronomer. 



At the meeting of the Royal Society on Thursday la^t, the 

 following Fellows were appointed Vice-Presidents of the Society 

 for the ensuing year : — Mr. "William Spottiswoode, M. A. ; 

 Prof. J. Couch Adams, LL.D. ,- Captain F. J. O. Evans, 

 R.N. ; Dr. A. C. Gunther, M.A., and Dr. William Pole, C.E. 



Count Salvadori, of the Royal Museum of Turin, has re- 

 cently described in the "Annals of the Civic Museum of Natural 

 History of Genoa," a large new rapacious bird, discovered by 

 the naturalist D'Albertis in New Guinea, which he proposes to 

 call Harpyopsis nova Guinea:. The existence of this bird pro- 

 bably gave rise to the exaggerated report of the enormous ' ' eagles " 

 which were seen during the voyage jup an unexplored river in 

 New Guinea, recently published in ih.e Daily Nrojs (Nature, 

 vol. xiii., p, 76.) 



At Monday's meeting of the Royal Geographical Society the 

 paper read was by Mr. Octavius Stone, on the discovery of the 

 Mai-Kassa or Baxter River, New Guinea. Mr. Stone sailed up 

 the river in the missionary vessel Ellangowan, and the account 

 given is essentially the same as that which has already appeared 

 in our journal, though Mr. Stone seems to make no mention of 

 the monstrous bird referred to by Mr. Smithurst (vol. xiii., 

 p. 76.) At the furthest point reached (about 100 miles from 

 the mouth) the Mai-Kassa was ten yards wide, although the 

 depth was still two fathoms. Even so far in the interior it is 

 influenced by four half-tides daily, as when the first waters meet 

 the sea a rebound is 'caused, so that the second half-tide is of 

 slightly longer duration than the first. The rise of tide at the 

 furthest point is from 3 feet to 4 feet, but its waters are entirely 

 fresh. It is on account of^the sluggish motion and continued 

 depth of this river that Mr. Stone believes it may run for another 

 100 miles into the interior. A boa-constrictor was shot, 15 ft. 

 3 in. long, having|a protuberance in his body '14^ inches in 

 diameter, which, when cut open, proved to be the body of a 

 whole kangaroo only partially digested. 



Last Saturday's meeting at Bristol, under the presidency of 

 the Mayor, in connection with the proposed University College of 

 that city, was quite a successful one. A constitution, sufficiently 

 comprehensive, was adopted, on the basis of which the general 

 committee were empowered to incorporate the college, and to 

 prepare the necessary legal documents. Thus the college may 

 now be regarded as fairly set afloat, and judging from the enthu- 

 siasm of the meeting we should think it likely that it will soon 

 be at work. Out of 40,000/. which were wanted, 22,000/. have 

 been collected mainly in Bristol and neighbourhood ; besides 

 which, it is stated, some colleges at Oxford are willing to give 

 1,000/. a year towards University teaching at Bristol. Among 

 those who spoke were Prof. Jowett and the Rev. Mr. Robinson, 

 of New College, Oxford. 



We are authoritatively informed that the delay which has this 

 year taken place in the zoological publications of the Linnean 

 Society vrill not occur again, and has depended on causes over 

 which the zoological secretary has no control, and for which he 

 is not responsible. 



