192 



NATURE 



{Jan. 3, 1878 



that it will be reproduced in a way that will leave no 

 question as to his devising capacity or sanity. It is 

 already possible by ingenious optical contrivances to 

 throw stereoscopic photographs of people on screens in 

 full view of an audience. Add the talking phonograph to 

 counterfeit their voices, and it would be difficult to carry 

 the illusion of real presence much further. 



NOTES 



Mr, Sorby is busy perfecting his new method of studying 

 minerals. Some very remarkable properties are still unexplained, 

 and only the other day Mr. Sorby made a very great fresh 

 advance in the subject. 



It is probable that Sheffield will be chosen for the meeting of 

 the British Association in 1879. Nottingham was to have been 

 the place of meeting, but a difficulty has arisen respecting the 

 meeting there, and Sheffield has been unofficially written to. 

 The matter is being warmly taken up by some of the principal 

 townsmen, and there can be no doubt with a successful result. 



A PHOTOLiTHOiiRAPHic plate of the primary triangulation 

 of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the 

 Territories, carried on during the summer of 1877, by Mr. A. D. 

 Wilson, chief topographer, has just been published by the 

 United States Geological Survey, under the charge of Dr. 

 F, V. Hayden. The area covered by these triangles extends 

 from Fort Steele, in Wyoming Ty., westward to Ogden, in 

 Utah Ty., a distance of about 260 miles, and north as far as the 

 Grand Teton, near the Yellowstone National Park, including 

 Freemont's Peak of the Wind River Range of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. The area embraces about 28,000 square miles, and within 

 it, twenty-six primary stations were occupied, and their positions 

 accurately computed. Besides these occupied stations, a large 

 number of mountain peaks were located, which in the future 

 will be occupied as points for the extension of the topographical 

 work of the Survey. A base line was carefully measured near 

 Rawiin's Springs, on the line of the Union Pacific Railroad, 

 and from this initial base the work was extended north and west 

 to the valley of Bear River, in Idaho Ty, Here a check base 

 was measured, and the system expanded to the neighbouring 

 mountain peaks to connect with the triangulation as brought 

 forward from the first-mentioned base. Along the line of the 

 Union Pacific Railroad the work was connected at six points 

 with the triangulation system of Clarence King's 40th parallel 

 survey. In addition to the importance of this sheet as the base 

 work of the season's topographical work, it presents a most 

 striking feature in the number of remarkably long sights which 

 were taken from the summits of some of the most lofty moun- 

 tains in the area explored. Many of these sights were over 100 

 miles in length, while some reach a distance of 135 miles. 

 From Wind River Peak all the prominent points in the Big 

 Horn Mountains were sighted, also the loftier peaks of the 

 Uinta Mountains; the former are located 165 miles to the 

 north-east, while the Uinta Mountains are situated about the 

 same distance to the south-west. As these ranges were not 

 in the scope of the season's work, they are not given on the 

 chart. 



The Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the 

 year 1876, which has recently been published, is of general 

 interest. The Institution continues to carry on its usual work 

 with vigour and efficiency. Two important volumes of the 

 Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, xx. and xxi., have 

 been issued. The former on the Winds of the Globe, by Prof, 

 Coffin, consisting of 781 quarto pages, is considered to be the 

 most important contribution to knowledge which the Institution 

 has i,iven to the world. It presents a rich mine of information 

 for the use of meteorologists, the physical geographer, and the 



mariner. Volume xxi. contains the following articles, viz. : — (i) 

 Statements and Expositions of Certain Harmonies of the Solar 

 System, by Prof. Alexander. (2) On the General Integral of 

 Planetary Motion, by Prof. Newcomb. (3) The Haidah Indians 

 by J. G, Swan. (4) Tables of Atmospheric Temperature in 

 America. There has been published an important work on the 

 Antiquities of Tennessee, by Dr. Joseph Jones, and another on 

 the Archaeological Collections of the U.S. National Museum; 

 also a supplement to Prof F. W. Clarke's work on the " Con- 

 stants of Nature," consisting of tables of specific gravities, boiling 

 and melting points, specific heats, &c. Large additions have 

 during the year been made to the collections of the National 

 Museum in charge of the Institution, In the Appendix to the 

 Report there is a translation of the eulogy on Gay-Lussac by M. 

 Arago ; a biographical sketch of Dora Pedro II. ; a transla- 

 tion of an i important paper of Prof. Pilar on the Revolu- 

 tions of the Earth's Crust, which will be read with interest by 

 students of physical geography and geology. The subjects dis- 

 cussed in this article are the origin of the earth, central heat, the 

 fluid envelope, organism?, ice, with a concise account of the 

 theory of secular changes of climate resulting from changes in 

 the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, antiquity of man, &c. Then 

 follows a paper by Dr. D. Kirkwood on the Asteroids between 

 Mars and Jupiter. But the article which will probably attract 

 most attention is one by Mr. W, B. Taylor on Kinetic Theories 

 of Gravitation. In this memoir, occupying about eighty pages, 

 is given an interesting historical account of all the principal 

 theories which have been advanced since the time of Newton to 

 the present day to explain the nature of gravitation. Villemot, 

 1707 ; BernouiUi, 1734; Le Sage, 1750 ; Euler, 1760; Herapath, 

 1816; Guyot, 1832; Faraday, 1844; Seguln, 1848; Boucheporn, 

 1849; Lame, 1852; Waterston, 1858; Challis, 1859; Glennie, 

 1861 ; Keller, 1863 ; Tait, 1864 ; Saigey, 1866 ; Croll, 1867 ; 

 Leray, 1869; Boisbaudran, 1869; Guthrie, 1870; Crookes, 

 1873. These theories are all criticised with considerable acute- 

 ness, Mr. Taylor lays down six fundamental characteristics of 

 gravity with which, he asserts, every theory must agree. But 

 unfortunately it is in reference to the truth of some of Mr, Taylor's 

 postulates that the greatest diversity of opinion exists. No kinetic 

 theory of gravitation can fulfil his six conditions. Mr. Taylor 

 seems to misapprehend some of the theories in important points, 

 particularly those of Le Sage and Croll, The Appendix con- 

 cludes with a number of interesting papers on Ethnology, 



We have already referred to Prof, A. Agassiz's intention of 

 carrying out a series of researches in the Gulf of Mexico, With 

 an assistant he is to be accommodated on board the United States 

 Coast Survey steamer Blake, which has just sailed on a surveying 

 cruise that will occupy this winter in the Gulf of Mexico, By 

 a study of the animals dredged from the bottom of the Gulf, 

 Prof, Agassiz will be enabled to make important comparisons 

 with the fauna of the Atlantic, and especially as to growth, 

 habits, migrations, and changes of living forms found in the 

 waters near the British Islands and the Scandinavian Peninsula. 

 The expedition is under the command of Lieutenant-Commander 

 Charles D. Sigsbee, United States Navy, who has had several 

 years experience on coast survey duty, and has been notably 

 successful in deep-sea soundings. 



New York will in all probability have a magnificent new 

 Zoological Garden in Central Park before the end of another 

 year. The Park Commissioners have little doubt that the 

 amount of money, 300,000 dollars, necessary to make a com- 

 mencement, will be subscribed without difficulty. 



The death is announced of Mr, Robert Hollond, a gentleman 

 formerly well-known in connection with aeronautics. 



The Rev. Horace Waller writes to the Times that Col. 

 Mason has been round Lake Albert Nyanza in a steamer, and 



