Jan. 6, 1876] 



NATURE 



197 



Prof. C. Holtex has sent us "Tables Meteorologiques de 

 Copenhagne pour Tannee 1874," prepared by him, and pub- 

 lished under the auspices of the Royal Danish Academy of 

 Sciences and Letters. A special feature of this publication is 

 the long averages which appear with the monthly sheets of obser- 

 vations. As regards rain, the averages are for fifty-five years, 

 and as regards temperature for ninety-two years. The tempera- 

 ture averages are particularly valuable, seeing that they are given 

 for this long series of years for each day, each five-days period, 

 and each month of the year. 



The contents of the Southport Aquarium have been studied 

 with marked interest by a laire number of persons during the 

 Christmas holidays. Amongst recent 'additions is a very fine 

 specimen of Alligator lucius, from New Orleans, more than 

 84 feet in length, a Very large number of young alligators, some 

 only a few inches, a school of herrings of all sizes, two masses 

 of living sponge containing large colonies of brittle star-fish, 

 young skate hatched in the aquarium, in the octagonal table 

 tanks, which also contain a magnificent collection of sea ane- 

 mones, echini, living bivalve shells, zoophytes, annelids, and 

 seaweeds. Amongst recent improvements noticeable in this 

 aquarium is the placing of sheets of india-rubber between the 

 plate-glass fronts of the wall tanks and the iron mullions, which 

 has had the effect of entirely preventing the cracking of the glass 

 from sudden changes of temperature. The quantity of water 

 circulating in the tanks has been increased, fresh supplies being 

 only received to compensate for evaporation. The company 

 have a large number of iron tanks placed at the end of the pier 

 to receive at once rare fith brought in by the deep-sea trawlers. 



We regret to hear of the death of Mr. James Hinton, well 

 Itnown as a writer in practical physiology and in philosophy. 



' . Gekmer Baillx£re, the enterprising editor of the Rr^'tu 

 ^...titifiqiie and Rciue LUtet aire, has started two new periodicals, 

 an " Historical Review," quarterly, and a " Philosophical 

 Reviev^," monthly. 



A TRIBUTE of respect was paid by the late French National 

 Assembly to the learned Minister of Public Instruction, M. 

 Wallon, who was elected a life-member of the Senate, represen- 



es cf every political party having voted for him, although he 



-eclined to stand as a candidate. 



:iE Catholic University of Paris opened its course of scientific 

 res on Dec. 27. The lecturer in higher mathematics is 

 Serret (not the well-known member of the Institute). 

 Jecturer in physics is M. Brauly, who was the preparateur, 



eneral assistant of M. Desains, the Sorbonne lecturer. No 

 rer has yet been found for botany. 



;iE establishment of a School cf Mines at Lille is in con- 

 lation. 



Ax Imperial ordinance, published on Jan. i, directs that the 

 •hanks of the Russian Government be conveyed to Prof. 

 : lenskjold, for his exploration of the Polar Sea up to the 

 isei River. 



The Government has ordered that the aimual cost of the 

 Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom shall be reduced. 

 During the past and present week a large number of ci\-il assis- 

 tants at the head-quarters at Southampton have received their 

 discharge. 



Experiments will be tried in France within a very few days 

 with a new system of taking up and depositing letter-bags from 

 a railway-train running at a great velocity. The apparatus, 

 1 which was invented by a chief telegraphist, is entirely self- 

 wwking, and great expectations are raised by the French 

 ^'^ministration. A waggon of the Lyons railway has been 



entirely fitted up on the rew principle, and a special post for 

 collecting and delivering has been erected in the Varecne St 

 Maur Section. 



A SPECIAL meteorological monthly paper has been published 

 by M. H. SL Clair- Deville, who has just organised the Al- 

 gerian Meteorological Service. The first number was issued 

 a few days ago. 



Most interesting experiments are now being conducted at the 

 Northern Railway Station, Paris, in the use of light generated 

 by gramme magneto-electric machines. Success has been only 

 partial, owing to the want of motive-power, but hopes are enter- 

 tained of a speedy and successful result. 



We are glad to see from No. 2 oi\\\& Iffwa Weather Reviesv, 



that the scheme of meteorological observations for the State of 

 Iowa has thus far proved a success. For the first decade of No- 

 vember, Dr. Hinrichs received eighty station reports from all 

 parts of the State. A report of the results is at once prepared 

 and forwarded to the newspapers for publication. The rest of 

 the Rc'jiro) is taken up with minute directions as to the method 

 of observing for the purpose of securing accuracy, uniformity, 

 and fulness in the results of the observations embraced by the 

 scheme. 



Mr. Murr.\y has issued cheap editions of the narratives of 

 Livingstone's first and second African expeditions. In the case 

 of the former the cheap edition seems to be a reprint of that 

 published during the author's lifetime, while the second is some- 

 what abridged. Both are neatly got up, contain most, if not all 

 of the original illustrations, and will be welcomed by many who 

 desire to possess the original lurratives of the work which has 

 made Livingstone immortaL 



A REMARKABLY Valuable discussion by M. Eelgrand, of the 

 inundations of the Garonne, viewed specially in connection with 

 the heavy rains which fell over France from the 2i5t to the 24th 

 of June last, has been appearing at intervals for the past fort- 

 night in the Bulletin Intirnational of the Paris Observatory. It 

 is pointed out, firom the dates of their occurrence, that the 

 inundations of the southern portion of the basin of the Garonne 

 which slants from the Pyrenees, have nearly always occurred i:i 

 spring or early summer, and at the same dates either no floods 

 at all, or comparatively unimportant floods, were experienced in 

 the northern portion of the basin which slopes down from the 

 Cevennes and central plateaux of France. It is to be noted that 

 it is just at this season that the rainfall of the southern portion of 

 France attairs its annual maximum, and the nearer to the 

 Pyrenees the more decidedly is the May-June maximum marked, 

 and that the melting of the snows which have accumulated on 

 the Pyrenees during the winter months proceeds most rapidly. 

 On the other hand, it is shown that the great inundations of the 

 northern portion of the basin occur generally during the cold 

 months of the year, and that at the time of their occurrence there 

 have been no corresponding great floods at Toulouse, in the 

 southern portion of the basin. It is during the cold season 

 that the rainfall reaches its aimual maximum on leaving the slopes 

 of the Pyrenees and advancing northwards over the basins of the 

 Tarn, Lot, and Dordogne. The disastrous inundation of June, 

 1875, "^^^^ i° accordance with the experience of previous floods 

 in the south of France. As a great flood it was limited to the 

 river courses sloping down from the Pyrenees ; and the near- 

 est approach to a great flood elsewhere was in the basin 

 of the Ai^out, the most southern tributary of the Tarn, 

 and it was the flood of this tributary which occasioned 

 almost the whole of the flood of the Tarn. At such places 

 as Auch, situated in a narrow valley, and where, conse- 

 quently, the drainage area is small, the inundation was much 

 less disastrous than at Toolotise and places similarly situated 



