March i, 1877] 



NATURE 



377 



THE SOUTH-AFRICAN MUSEUM 



CINCE we last gave a notice of this institution we 

 »--' have learned, with much pleasure, that the Cape 

 Government has made liberal provision for its more effi- 

 cient administration and maintenance. There is none of 

 the more important British Colonies which has of late 

 made more rapid progress than the Cape in material 

 prosperity, and it is most gratifying to find that the 

 Molteno administration (the first ministry organised 

 under the Parliamentary System of Government initiated 

 in 1872) has not been oblivious of the claims of science 

 during its four years' tenure of office. In the estimates 

 for the financial year 1876-77, as passed by the Colonial 

 Legislature, we find provision made for Botanical Gardens 

 to the extent of 2,900/. ; for Public Libraries, 2,600/. ; for 

 Museums, 1,300/; while such items as "Geological Re- 

 searches, 1,500/. ; " " In aid of publishing Dr. Bleek's 

 Bushman Researches, 200/. ;" and " Meteorological Com- 

 mission, 250/," sufficiently prove that the duty of endowing 

 research is practically recognised by the Cape authorities. 

 The present able Governor, Sir Henry Barkley, F.R.S., is 

 as well and widely known far his attachment to scientific 

 pursuits as for his distinction in Colonial administration, 

 and we think we cannot err in tracing to his judicious 

 influence much of the enlightened action of his respon- 

 sible advisers in their recommendations to the Par- 

 liament. 



The South-African Museum is located in Cape Town, 

 and is the public museum of the Colony. It was insti- 

 tuted in 1855 under the auspices of Sir George Grey, a 

 governor distinguished for his energy and success in 

 initiating measures for awakening and developing the 

 intellectual life of the Colony. Many years before there 

 had existed a South-African Museum in Cape Town, 

 consisting of the combined collections formed by the 

 Expedition for Exploring the Interior, under the super- 

 intendence of the celebrated zoologist, Sir Andrew 

 Smith, and by M. Verreaux ; but this museum was devoid 

 of means for permanent maintenance, and afcer languish- 

 ing for a while came to an untimely end for want of public 

 support. Many of its finest specimens, however — and 

 notably those of the magnificent larger mammals charac- 

 teristic of the region which constituted its chief orna- 

 ment — were fortunately secured for the British Museum, 

 and still form an imposing feature of the national col- 

 lection. The new, or present institution, was started 

 by public subscription aided by an annual grant from 

 the Government of 300/. Two trustees were appointed 

 by the Governor, and a third elected annually by the 

 subscribers; but in 1857 the collections already brought 

 together were of sufficient importance to induce the 

 passing of an "Act to Incorporate the South-African 

 Museum," under which all the three trustees were to be 

 appointed by the Governor, and to be vested with full 

 powers for the entire management and control of the 

 institution. Under this Act the Museum has continued 

 to be and is still administered. 



In happy contrast to the untoward fate of too many 

 kindred institutions, the South- African Museum has froii 

 the first been most fortunate in the possession of trustees 

 who were men of culture and of scientific attainments ; 

 and for fifteen years it enjoyed the further advantage of 

 the services of Mr. E. L. Layard, C.M.G. (now H.M. 

 Consul in New Caledonia), as its Curator. 



The usual difficulties attended the acquisition of suit- 

 able premises for the Museum, but these were eventually 

 obviated by the erection at the cost of the public of a 

 building expressly designed for the purpose ; and on 

 April 5, i860, the Museum was opened to th; public in 

 its new quarters. 



As mentioned in our notice already referred to, the Cape 

 Museum appears, notwithstanding the advantages stated, 

 to have sutTered from the chronic complaint of very in- 

 sufficient funds. The system of support partly from the 



Colonial Treasury, and partly from private subscriptions, 

 seems to have failed, the subscribers lost by death or 

 departure from the Colony not being as a rule replaced 

 by others ; and of late years the institution depended 

 almost wholly on the government subsidy of 300/. With 

 such limited means at their disposal, it was obviously out 

 of the question for the Trustees to award an adequate 

 remuneration to the Curator, and they had no alternative 

 but to make shift with engaging the services of a gentle- 

 man willing to devote a part of his time to the Museum. 

 This unsatisfactory state of things has now been remedied 

 by the government on the recommendation of the Trustees, 

 constituting the Curatorship a Civil Service appointment, 

 with a suitable salary. We congratulate Mr. Trimen— 

 who has been for four years endeavouring to satisfy simul- 

 taneously the rival claims on his attention of an ordinary 

 public office, and of a museum of natural history — upon 

 his appointment to the Curatorship on its improved basis ; 

 and we consider that great credit attaches to the Cape 

 Government for effecting so desirable a reform. We 

 must not omit to mention, moreover, that, under further 

 legislative provision, a new gallery has just been erected 

 in the Museum, and other much-needed repairs and im- 

 provements in course of execution are approaching com- 

 pletion. 



ATLANTIC SOUNDINGS 

 npHE recently-announced discovery by Commander 

 ^ Gorringe, of the United States sloop Gettys- 

 burg;;, of a bank of soundings bearing N. 85^ W., and 

 distant 130 miles from Cape St. Vincent, during the last 

 v<^yage of the vessel across the Atlantic, taken in com- 

 bination with previous soundings obtained in the same 

 region of the North Atlantic, suggests the probable 

 existence of a submarine ridge or plateau connecting the 

 island of Madeira with the coast of Portugal, and the 

 possible subaerial connection in prehistoric times of that 

 island with the south-western extremity of Europe. The 

 soundings obtained in January, 1873, by H.M.S. Chal- 

 lenger, and in July, 1874, by the German frigate Gazelle, 

 furnish additional data, v/ith the help of which the accom- 

 panying contour-chart has been constructed. 



These soundings reveal the existence of a channel of 

 an average depth of from 2,000 to 2,500 fathoms, extend- 

 ing in a north-easterly direction from its entrance between 

 Madeira and the Canary Islands towards Cape St. 

 Vincent. It is bounded on the west and north by the 

 submarine ridge which unites Madeira with the Josephine 

 bank and the recently-discovered Gettysburg bank, on 

 the east by the coasts of Portugal and Morocco, and on 

 the south by the submarine plateau which connects the 

 Canary Islands with the African continent. 



As shown in the chart, this channel is virtually an 

 extension or branch of the sttil deeper channel which runs 

 up between Madeira and the Azore?. The island of Ma- 

 deira, with the adjacent islands of the Dez^rtas and 

 Porto Santo, occupies the southern extremity of the divid- 

 ing ridge, and marks the junction of the tv/o channels. 

 Confined by a comparatively steep bank on the west and 

 a more gentle slope towards the African shore, this 

 eastern branch seems to attain its greatest depth off Cape 

 St. Vincent, after which it contracts into a narrower 

 channel, less than 2,000 fathoms deep, and continuing 

 northwards as far as the latitude of Cape Roca, it once 

 more joins the vast abysses of the Atlantic. The Strait 

 of Gibraltar is undoubtedly a recently-formed connecting- 

 link between this basin and that of the Mediterranean. 



Commander Gorringe, when about 150 miles from the 

 Strait of Gibraltar, found that the soundings decreased 

 from 2.700 fathoms to 1,600 fathoms in the distance of a 

 (gw miles. The subsequent soundings, five miles apart, 

 gave 900, 500, 400, and 100 fathoms, and eventually a 

 depth of 32 fattioms was obtained, in which the vessel 

 anchored. The bottom was f jund to consist of live pink 



