February i6, 1911] 



NATURE 



521 



special difficulties met with, and the nature of the experi- 

 mental work in progress. Summaries of all these reports 

 are given here, and Dr. Dunstan discusses generally the 

 more important questions involved, and considers the 

 problems of cotton production as a whole. Copies of the 

 publication can be obtained from the Imperial Institute 

 at 15. each, or \s. \\d. post free. 



The Colonial Annual Report, No. 644, deals with survey 

 work accomplished in British Africa, Ceylon, Cyprus, 

 Fiji, Jamaica, Trinidad, and British Honduras during the 

 year ending March 31, 1910. It is essentially a progress 

 report, and the methods of work employed in the 

 different Crown colonies are therefore not described, and 

 no comparison of them is possible. In several areas 

 triangulation, topographical detailed surveying, and 

 cadastral surveying are in hand, and the last-named is 

 often urgently needed for the settlement of native owners 

 and the allotments of Government lands. The long list 

 of directors and inspectors of survey already engaged on 

 this important work, which is presented at the end of the 

 report, would seem to indicate that the study of advanced 

 surveying may be worth the attention of physical and 

 mathematical students. 



Meteorological material is rapidly accumulating in 

 Africa, and a valuable contribution is published in the 

 Mitteilungen der deutschen Schutzgebieten (Heft 5, Band 

 23). Tables of the rainfall recorded at fifty-one stations 

 in the Cameroons during 1909 are given detailing the total 

 and maximum in twenty-four hours for each month, as 

 well as the distribution of rainy days. On the whole, the 

 rainfall in the north and south of the colony was not 

 markedly greater than in the previous year, but at a group 

 of stations in the central portion, especially in the 

 Cameroon mountains, the rainfall of 1909 was consider- 

 ably greater. From the eastern coast of Africa we have 

 the whole of the meteorological observations taken at forty- 

 seven stations in 1907 and 1908 throughout German East 

 Africa from the coast so far inland as Lake Tanganyika. 



As interesting question of geological nomenclature is 

 raised by Prof. J. \V. Gregory, F.R.S., in an article in 

 the Geographical Journal for Februar\\ The terms 

 " denudation," " erosion," " corrosion," and " corrasion " 

 are dealt with, and after an examination and discussion 

 of the uses of these terms by various geological writers. 

 Prof. Gregorj- makes several suggestions. He thinks it 

 would be convenient, with a view particularly to secure 

 uniformity in Europe and America, to use the terms as 

 follows : — denudation for the wearing down of the land 

 by any agency ; erosion for the widespread lowering of the 

 land by wind, rain, and weather, and by rivers and 

 glaciers acting laterally ; corrosion for the excavation by 

 rivers and glacier? of their beds ; corrasion dismiss as a 

 synonym of corrosion ; abrasion for the attack of the sea 

 on the land, though when used in this restricted sense it 

 is well to refer to the process as marine abrasion ; solution 

 for the action of solvents. 



On February 13 Major P. H. Fawcett, R.A., lectured 

 before the Royal Geographical Society on the exploration 

 which had to be undertaken in Bolivia before the delimita- 

 tion of the new frontier between that country and Peru 

 could be carried out. Situated in the extreme north-west 

 of Bolivia, and watered by the Madre de Dios and its 

 tributaries, this plain at the foot of the eastern slopes of 

 the Andes is largely covered by dense forest, and the 

 natives have always been intensely hostile to all parties 

 who have attempted the exploration of this region. The 

 Heath river, previously hardly known, was ascended in 



NO. 2155, VOL. 85] 



canoes, and by gaining the friendship of the natives much 

 assistance was gained. These Guarayos use the milky 

 juice of the *' manuna " or " soliman " tree, which is 

 perhaps to be identified with Hura crepitans, to capture 

 fish in the lagoons of the forest; it is poured into the 

 water, and every fish coming in contact with it is rendered 

 incapable of movement, though still alive, and in no way 

 impaired as food. Exploration being the object of the 

 expedition, little time could be given to scientific observa- 

 tion, and the weather rendered all astronomical observa- 

 tions for the determination of position impossible. Gold 

 is stated to occur in many parts of the foothills, and 

 copper, antimony, galena, and silver to exist abundantly 

 in a region which is still largely inaccessible. 



Mr. N. a. Korostelef has collected meteorological 

 observations recorded by various expeditions to Novaia 

 Zemlia, among which those from Malyia Karmakuly ex- 

 tend over sixteen years (Bulletin of the Imperial 

 Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg, No. 11, 1910). 

 The climate is exceedingly cold and damp, the sky is 

 generally overcast, and exceedingly strong winds are 

 fiequent, accompanied by only slight precipitation. The 

 variableness of the weather and of the monthly means of 

 the meteorological readings is very marked. The tempera- 

 ture of March was 194° F. in 1907 and —18° F. in 1902. 

 .\gain, the mean for the winter half of the year 

 (November-.April) was i&° F. in 1906-7 and -4° in 1901-2. 

 Cyclones following one another, with occasionally more 

 permanent anticyclones, account for the variableness of 

 the climate. The highest temperatures during the whole 

 period of observation occurred in all the months of the 

 year, that is, a thaw is possible in any month. On the 

 other hand, there was no month without frost ; once the 

 thermometer fell in July to 14° F. ; 1898 was remarkable 

 for the range of pressure, when the barometer in the short 

 interval from February 8 to March 16 passed from the 

 absolute minimum of the whole period of observation, 

 2831 inches, to the absolute maximum, 31-22 inches. 

 There is great humidity in the air in all months, the 

 average being 84 per cent., or 5 per cent, higher than in 

 St. Petersburg. The cloudiness is, on an average, three- 

 fourths, declining to nought in winter and rising so much 

 the higher in summer. The number of days in the year 

 with precipitation was 181 ; in October the average number 

 was twenty, and in one year there was in March only 

 one day without precipitation. The prevailing winds are 

 south-east and east ; only in June do they blow chiefly 

 from the north and north-west. The winds are verj- high, 

 and the greatest velocity recorded was 131 feet a second. 

 Not infrequently, however, the anemometer was unable to 

 withstand the force of the wind. 



A RECENT contribution of Mr. .Alfred \V. G. Wilson to 

 Economic Geology (vol. v., No. 7) gives a descriptive 

 account of the organisation and work of the Department 

 of Mines of Canada. The department dates from 1907, 

 while the Geological Survey of Canada, the forerunner of 

 the present department, was first constituted in 1842. 

 The paper provides interesting particulars as to the 

 development and growth of the work of the department. 

 In past years the funds voted by Parliament for the service 

 of what is now the Department of Mines have usually 

 been little more than 20,oooi. It is only w^ithin the last 

 few years that there has been any notable increase ; for 

 1909-10 the total amount available was 101,000/., being 

 slightly more than one half of i per cent, of the annual 

 value of the industry for the same year. For the fiscal 

 year 1910-11 the total vote at the service of the depart- 

 ment for all purposes is about 124,000/., which includes 



