3i6 



NA TURE 



\_yuly 1 8, 1878 



waste and the nature of the resultant forms of surface. 

 The wind plays a not unimportant part in modifying the 

 scenery partly by transporting vast clouds of sand away 

 from the mountains and forming sand-hills in the 

 plains, partly by felling large quantities of timber which 

 obstruct the flow of surface-water, dam up streams, and 

 render the country for wide distances all but impenetrable. 

 The action of vegetation in preserving the surface of 

 loose soil from disintegration, and in giving rise to mould, 

 turf, and other accumulations is illustrated by examples 

 met with on the journey. The author enters with con- 

 siderable minuteness into the dynamics of the Yellow- 

 stone geyser region. He carefully describes eighteen 

 groups of thermal springs, and distinguishes these some- 

 what arbitrarily, as he admits, from the geysers or erup- 

 tive springs, of which he enumerates twenty-five. In two 

 concluding chapters he gives some account of the archaeo- 

 logy of the region and of the manners and customs of the 

 Eastern Shoshone Indians, from jottings made by him in 

 intervals of leisure during the march. The Report is 

 illustrated by forty-nine small sketch-maps of each 

 day's march, two large general maps of the region 

 traversed (one coloured geologically), and numerous 

 sketches and sections. As a record of three months of 

 daily toil in a wild little-known region the volume is 

 creditable to its authors, and as a source of information 

 regarding one of the most interesting regions of North 

 America it will be useful to geological and general 

 readers. Arch. Geikie 



NOTES 



The programme of the fifty-first meeting of the German 

 Naturalists and Physicians (the German equivalent of the 

 British Association) uill be held this year at Cassel, from 

 September 18 to 24. This, probably the most thoroughly 

 scientific end efficient of all the Associations, consists of twenty- 

 five sections, ranging from Mathematics and Astronomy to 

 Veterinary Surgery. This year a number of addresses on 

 leading topics by eminent men of science are promised. Among 

 these are the following : — " On the Relation of Darwinism to 

 Social Democracy," by Prof. Oscar Schmidt, of Strassburg; 

 " On Symbiosis, Parasitism, and Allied Phenomena of Life," by 

 Prof, De Bary, of Strassburg; "On the Education of the 

 Physician," by Prof. Fick, of Wurzburg; " On the Physician in 

 his Relation to Research and Natural Science," by Prof. Hiiter, 

 of Greifswald ; " On Harvey's Life and Work," by Dr. Baas, 

 of Worms; "On the Colour-sense and Colour-blindness," by 

 Dr. J. Stilling, of Cassel. Many other attracdons are pro- 

 mised, including excursions, social gatherings, and the inevitable 

 winding-up "Abschieds-Commers," The various German 

 railways will affiard great privileges to those attending the 

 meeting. 



We have received a circular issued by the local committee 

 of the American Association, which meets at St. Louis on 

 August 21, giving detailed directions as to how to reach the 

 place of meeting from different points. From this circular we 

 learn that the railway companies, proprietors of Pullman 

 and other luxurious cars, various express companies, and 

 the local hotel-keepers, afford unusual facilities to members at 

 greatly reduced rates. The concluding excursion of the meeting 

 is to be to the Rocky Mountain region of Colorado, the details 

 of which have not yet, however, been arranged. 



The thirty-fifth annual congress of the British Archoeological 

 Association will be held at Wisbeach, from August 19 to 27, 

 under the presidency of Lord Hardwicke. 



We are sure that all our readers wdl be pleased to hear 

 that a Civil List Pension of 200/, per annum has been, granted 

 to Dr. Prescott Joule. 



The Royal Society of Sciences at Upsala have shown their 

 appreciation of Mr. Alex. Buchan's work as a meteorologist 

 by electing him a foreign member of their body. 



Mr, P, S, Abraham, M,A., B,Sc., of St, Bartholomew's 

 Hospital, who recently catalogued the Nudibranchiate Mollusca 

 at the British Museum, has been engaged to arrange scientifically, 

 and to write a descriptive catalogue of the natural history collec- 

 tions at the Winchester Town Museum. 



Last week we spoke of the generosity of the United States 

 Government in the distribution of the publication of their 

 admirable surveys. We regret to see, from a speech in the 

 House of Representatives by the Hon. O. R. Singleton, that 

 the usefulness of Dr. Hayden's surveys threatens to be seriously 

 crippled from want of funds. The appropriation for this 

 survey in 1867 was only 5,000 dollars, which in 1873 h^*^ ^^^"O. 

 raised to 95,000 dollars. In 1876, however, this was reduced 

 by 30,000 dollars, and again, in 1877, by 20,000, leaving the 

 appropriation at only 45,oco dollars. The largest sum is what 

 is actually needed that the survey may be carried on with 

 efficiency, and to reduce it is quite unworthy of a nation so 

 advanced and liberal as the United States, and is really the 

 worst possible economy. The additions which have been made 

 to science by Dr. Hayden's survey have been immense and of 

 the highest importance, and its economic value to the coimtry 

 can be no less great. The mere list of the many admirable pub- 

 lications of the survey is sufficient to prove that the money 

 has been well spent ; and we trust the United States Govern- 

 ment and Congress will be able to rise above all party feeling, 

 and prove to the world that they have the best interests of the 

 country and the interests of scientific knowledge at heart by 

 restoring the appropriation to at least its old amount, Mr. 

 Singleton truly says not a small item in favour of these surveys, 

 is the check they place on mining and land swindles. 



We have received the first number of the American Journal 

 of Mathemalics, to which we have already referred on more than 

 one occasion. It is a large quarto of 104 pages, the chief editor 

 being Prof. Sylvester. Its contents will bear comparison with 

 those of any similar publication on this side of the water. We 

 can only give a list of the papers in this number : " Note on a 

 Class of Transformations which Surfaces may undergo in Space 

 of more than Three Dimensions," by Prof. Simon Newcomb; 

 "Researches in the Lunar Theory," by G. W. Hill; "The 

 Theorem of Three Moments," by Dr. H. T. Eddy ; " Solution 

 of the Irreducible Case," by Guido Weichold, of Zittau, 

 Saxony; "Desiderata and Suggestions," by Prof. Cayley— 

 "No. I. The Theory of Groups;" "Note on the Theory of 

 Electric Absorption," by H. A. Rowland ; a review, by Mr. 

 C. S. Peirce, of Lieut.-Col. Ferrero's " Espozione del Metodo 

 dei Minimi Quadrad ; " "On an Applicadon of the New 

 Atomic Theory to the Graphical Representation of the Invariants 

 and, Covariants of Binary Quandcs," by Prof. Sylvester, The 

 first announcement of Prof. Sylvester's remarkable application 

 of the chemical theory was made in Nature (vol. xvii. p. 284). 

 The London pubhshers of the journal are Triibner and Co. 



On the 21st will be opened the new magnetic observatory at 

 Pavlovsk in connection with the Central Physical Observatory of 

 St. Petersburg. The new observatory covers about eight hec- 

 tares of surface, and the situation is in all respects favourable. 

 The establishment comprises three principal scientific buildings, 

 the main building of stone and surmounted by a tower for 

 meteorological observations ; a double -arched structure in stone 

 covered with earth for observations in magnetic variation ; and 

 a wooden pavilion, without a particle of iron, for absolute 

 magnetic measurements and for determinations of time, ^«sides 

 these three buildings devoted to the purely scientific work of the 



