Jan. 4. 1S77I 



NATURE 



207 



Points on the central line would fall in long. 10° 22' E., lat. 

 64° o' N., and in long. 14° 31' E., lat. 61° 41' N. Hansteen 

 gives for the position of Stiklastad 11° 35' E., and 63° 48' N., 

 which by the aV)0ve elements would be only 10' outside the 

 northern limit of totality. On making a direct calculation for 

 the longitude of Stiklastad, we find that the duration of totality 

 could not have exceeded twenty seconds on the central line. 



Meteors of December ii. — MM. Perrotin and Jean, at 

 the 01 servatory of Toulouse, observed a considerable number of 

 meteors on the night of December it ; hetwcn iih. and I3h. 

 106 were counted, the majority of which, according to M. Perro- 

 tin, radiated from a point in about R.A. 115°, N.P. D. 57°, near 

 Castor and Pollux, though closer to the former star than to the 

 latter. The trajectories were very short, fo that it was difficult 

 to refer them to a chart. The sky was overcast on the following 

 night. 



NOTES 

 With reference to the closing of the I-oan Collection, a circular 

 has been issued by the Lords of the Committee of Council on 

 Education, stating that, although in consequence of the funds at 

 their disposal for the Collection being exhausted, they have 

 found it necessary to close the Exhibition, arrangements are 

 being made for the safe custody of all objects which may 

 be left on loan to the Museum, pending the decision by 

 her Majesty's Government on the offer made by the Royal 

 Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, of a building for the 

 establishment of a permanent Science Museum. The Lords of 

 the Committee of Council on Education also inquire whether 

 exhibitors are wiUing to leave the objects contributed till this 

 question be settled. The closing of the Exhibition will not 

 interfere with the delivery of the Free Saturday Evening Lec- 

 tures. 



AccoRDiNGjtothewillof Dr. C. A. Bressa, dated September 4, 

 1845, the testator left all his property to the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences of Turin, the net interest to be given every two years 

 as a prize for the most important discovery made or work pub- 

 lished during the previous four years on natural and experimental 

 philosophy, natural history, mathematics, chemistry, physiology, 

 and pathology, as well as geology, history, geography, and sta- 

 tistics. This is to be given alternately to a person of any nation 

 and to an Italian. Signora C. A. Dupeche had a life interest in 

 the property, and it was not until July last that the legacy became 

 free from all claims, and the first prize will be given in 1879, 

 open to all, and of the value of 480/. In accordance with the 

 spirit of Dr. Bres>a's will, the Academy will choose the best 

 work or discovery, whether or not it be presented by the author. 



We are informed that the valuable collection of fossils from 

 the Red Crag made by the Rev. H. Cahnam, of Waldringfield, 

 including, among the most important, the remains of Halithe- 

 tium described by Prof. W. H, Flower, teeth of ./l/aj^^^«, &c., 

 has been purchased by Sir Richard Wallace, and most liberally 

 presented by him to the Ipswich Museum. 



The Dutch Society of Sciences at * 1 aarlem has offered a gold 

 medal for the best answer to the following question : — What 

 are the meteorological and magnetical periodic changes which 

 may be considered to be in a well-established relation with the 

 period of the solar spots ? The answers must have a motto and 

 be accompanied with a sealed letter containing the name of the 

 author. They should be sent before January i, 1878, to the 

 Secretary, Prof. von^Baumhauer, Haarlem. 



Russian newspapers announce that the Helsingfors professor, 

 Dr. Ahlquist, a well-known explorer among the tribes of North- 

 western Siberia, will start, next spring, for further ethnological 

 explorations among the Voguls and Ostyacks of the Obi and 



Irtysh. He will be accompanied by two assiftants, the Senate 

 of Finland having allowed a sum for the travelling expenses of 

 the explorers. 



At a recent meeting of the Manchester I>iterary and Philo- 

 sophical Society a letter was read from Mr. Joseph Sidebotham 

 in which he calls attention to the fact of the growing use of the 

 aniline colours for tinting photographs. He finds they are being 

 extensively used in paintings and water-colour drawings, and the 

 colours regularly sold for that purpose. Anyone who knows 

 the speedy alteration by light of nearly all of these colours will 

 protest against their use, and a statement of this with the 

 authority of some of our chemists would probably have the effect 

 of causing them to be discontinued by all artists who care to 

 think that their works should last more than a single year. 



On the night of the Arlesey railway accident there were six 

 Indian elephants on their way by train from Huddersfield to 

 London. Two were large and the others quite young. The 

 tarpaulin over the trucks in which they travelled was blown 

 away in the gale, and the animals were thus exposed to the snow 

 and sleet and cold wind of that night. They were also delayed 

 long on the road in consequence of the accident. One of our 

 contributors who saw them "unloaded" at King's Cross, and 

 noticed that they walked very stiffly at first, has inquired of 'Mr. 

 Harrington, their keeper, whether the cold journey has affected 

 them. He has written in reply that they seem perfectly well, 

 and he cannot see that the unusual exposure has had any effect 

 on them. None of the animals have been more than a few 

 years in England. As Mr. Harrington's letter is written nine 

 days after the journey, no effects of chill are likely now to show 

 themselves. The Indian (and perhaps the African) elephant 

 may be better able to withstand sudden climatical changes than 

 is generally supposed. 



Our Samoan Correspondent, the Rev. S. J. Whitmee, an- 

 nounces the publication of a new Dictionary of the Samoan 

 language by himself and the Rev. G. Pratt. Mr. Whitmee is 

 on his way to England, where he will probably arrive in spring. 

 Intending subscribers — and we hope there will be a considerable 

 number in this country— should address Mr. Whitmee at the 

 Mission House, Blomfield Street, Finsbury, E.C. The price, 

 it is hoped, will not exceed loj. 



We have received reprints of the letters which M. Poliakoff 

 has written during his recent journey for the zoological explora- 

 tion of the Obi and Irtysh . They contain many valuable observa- 

 tions on the physical characters of the country visited, on its 

 fauna, on the migrations of fishes up and down the Obi, and on 

 the fisheries, on the migrations of birds, together with a variety 

 of interesting occasional observations. We may hope therefore 

 that the report on this journey will be a valuable addition to the 

 zoo-geography of Western Siberia. 



M. Poliakoff gives the following particulars confirming the 

 law of Baer as to the deviation to the right of rivers running 

 north and south. The bed of the Irtysh being cut in loose 

 deposits, these deposits are constantly undermined by water 

 on the right bank. Each spring a strip of the bank from 30 

 to 50 feet broad is destroyed by the v/aters. Sometimes it 

 happens that a strip from 70 to 140 feet broad and about 

 150 yards long falls suddenly into the river. The course is 

 then barred for a short time, and a great wave propagated uj) 

 and down the stream, destroys the fishing-boats which happen 

 to be at work within a distance of about ten miles from the 

 spot. Large quantities of fishes are also found, after such a 

 catastrophe, on the shores, suffocated in the muddy waters. The 

 destruction of the right bank going on constantly, year after 

 year, the villages are also constantly advancing to the east ; 

 one of them, Demiansk, has thus travelled about a mile in the 

 course of 240 years. The left shore shows, therefore, a low tract 



