Feb. I, 1877] 



NATURE 



305 



in North Russia, Dr. Wettstein declaring it impossible to connect 

 it with known Phoenician characters. 



In the January session of the Swedish Anthropological Society 

 H. Torell gave the results of an interesting comparative study of 

 the Esquimaux and Japanese. The anatomical and ethnogra- 

 phical resemblances are so striking that they give additional 

 strength to the theory of the settlement of America from Asia 

 by the way of Behring's Straits. 



H. V. Schlagintweit-Sakunlunsky publishes, in connec- 

 tion with his report on the botany of the Himalayas, presented 

 before the Berlin Academy of Sciences, an interesting comparison 

 between the snow limits of the great Asiatic mountain chain and 

 those of the Swiss Alps. The Himalaya range shows a snow 

 limit at the height of 16,600 feet on the northern side, and 

 16,200 feet on the southern side. That of the Kuenlun range 

 varies from 15,100 feet on the northern side, to 15,800 on the 

 southern. The snow limit of the Alps shows an average height 

 of 9,000 feet, 8,900 feet on the northern side, and 9,200 feet on 

 the southern. 



In the last session of the Austrian Meteorological Society, 

 Prof. A. von Obermayer read a paper on the nature of fogs, 

 strongly advocating the theory regarding them as minute drops 

 of water, the specific gravity of which is overcome by the friction 

 between the particles of air, according to Stokes's hypothesis. 



In a communication in the Daily News of January 25, in 

 reference to the Cairo Geographical Society, by the Alexandria 

 Correspondent of that paper, some interesting details are given 

 of papers read on the Eastern Sudan and on Darfur. 



The use of rock crystal for normal scientific apparatus has 

 recently been advocated by S. Stein, of Bonn, in a communica- 

 tion to the German Chemical Society. For scale-beams and 

 scale-pans it is especially adapted, as it is entirely unaffected at 

 ordinary temperatures by acids, bases, or the gases and moisture 

 present in the atmosphere, while possessing nearly the same 

 specific gravity as aluminium — 2*65 — and being comparatively 

 unelastic. It is equally practicable for standards of measure, 

 longitudinal as well as circular. Discs to be used for telescopes, 

 theodolites, quadrants, &c., if cut at right angles to the chief 

 axis, show an almost absolute unchangeability of form. The 

 smallness of the coefficient of expansion renders it also eminently 

 well fitted for normal thermometers, where accuracy and not 

 cost is the chief requisite. 



Commander Cameron having been invited by the Geogra- 

 phical Society df Paris to deliver a lecture on his journey across 

 Africa did so at an extraordinary meeting held by the Society in 

 the large hall of the Sorbonne, on January 26. The place, 

 although fitted to accommodate 2,000 people, was crowded to 

 inconvenience. On Saturday a banquet was given to Com- 

 mander Cameron by the Fellows of the Geographical Society, 

 about 200 being present. The President of the Republic was 

 represented by his first aide-de-camp, the Marquis D'Abzac, and 

 the Minister of Public Instruction by his general secretary, M. 

 Watteville, who delivered to Commander Cameron the University 

 gold palms and diploma. The knife and fork used by Living- 

 stone in his African travels, and which had been purchased by 

 MM. Rambaud, the large French trt^ders established in Zanzibar, 

 and presented to the Geographical Society of Paris, were used 

 by Cameron. A magnificent album of the portraits of all the 

 persons present at the banquet will be sent to Commander 

 Cameron. MM. Hachette and Co. are preparing a magnificent 

 French edition of Cameron's work. 



At the session of the Berlin Academy of Sciences on January 

 25, Prof. Du Bois-Reymond gave a report of the investigations 



carried on in connection with the Humboldt foundation intrusted 

 to the Academy. At present two travellers are supported by 

 the funds — Dr. Hildebrandt, who is studying the snowy regions 

 of the Kilimanjaro Mountains in Eastern Africa, and Dr. C. 

 Sachs, engaged in researches in Brazil on the nature of the 

 electricity of the electric eel. 



A PIECE of burnt stone resembling a piece of partially burnt 

 slate coal, with white sparkling specks on it, fell at Ecclefechan 

 on the evening of the 2nd January. Two men, walking on 

 the Glasgow road, heard a noise behind them, and on turn- 

 ing round they found the stone referred to embedded in the 

 ground to the extent of half-an-inch or more. One of them 

 attempted to lift it but got his hand burnt. The stone, which 

 measures about four inches by two, and weighs nine ounces, took 

 twenty minutes to cool. A volume of smoke proceeded from it. 



A FEW years since, M. Delacour, sub-director of the Danish 

 Meteorological Institute, invented the so-called phono-tele- 

 graphic system. Since then he has carried on an extensive 

 series of experiments, the cost of which has been defrayed by 

 the Danish Government, with the view of perfecting the new 

 system. The results of his investigations were displayed a few 

 days since to a company of electricians and members of the 

 Danish Parliament. As is already known this system is based 

 upon the application of vibrating currents, tuning-forks of the 

 same number of vibrations per second being brought within the 

 influence of current at both ends of the wire, M. Delacour 

 made use on the above occasion of twelve different pairs of 

 tuning-forks, all of which were connected at the same time with 

 a single telegraphic wire. He was then able to send simul- 

 taneously twelve messages by means of the tuning-forks as well 

 as one by the ordinary method, and most satisfactorily solved 

 the problem with regard to the use of a single wire for the 

 forwarding of numerous messages at the same time. 



Prof. Anton Kerner, author of the "Means of Protection 

 in Flowers against Unwelcome Visitors " (Nature, vol. xv. 

 p. 237), has lately received from Charles Darwin the following 

 characteristic epistle :— " Allow me to express to you my 

 heartiest thanks for the pleasure experienced in reading your 

 work. You have opened up an entirely new field of research, 

 and explained many things which were previously enigmas to 

 me. I find that I have fallen into many mistakes, in the pre- 

 paration of my last book, when touching upon the subject which 

 you have considered so fully." 



The last number of the jfahrbuch der k. k. geologischen Reichs- 

 anstalt (vol. xxvi. No. 3) contains a very valuable elaborate 

 paper by K. M. Paul—" Grundziige der Geologic der Bukowina " 

 — with a map on a scale of i : 280,000, reduced from that of the 

 Geological Survey, and embodying the results of the survey, 

 made during the last four years, together with the data furnished 

 by former explorations. The southern, hilly corner of the 

 Duchy is occupied by an island of crystalline rocks, bordered 

 on one side by a zone of mesozoic limestone (Dyas and Trias), 

 A broad zone of the so-called Carpathian sandstones (Neo- 

 comian, Gault, and Upper Chalk, and probably Eocene) follows, 

 as is generally the case at the northern slope of the Carpathian, 

 and crosses the land in a north-western direction. Further to 

 the north-east we see a broad district covered with Neogene 

 formations (Lower and Upper Mediterranean, and Garmathian 

 stages), diluvial deposits, and loess, which district meets with 

 the Galician plains to the west, and the Podolian to the north. 



The geological structure, and especially the volcanoes of the 

 southern parts of Luzon (Philippines) are the subject of an in- 

 teresting note by Dr. Drasche, being a preliminary report upon 

 his recent travels in the interior of the island, which appeared 

 in Tchermak's Mineral. MiUk., 1876, Heft 3. The note is 



