452 



NATURE 



{Sept. 6, 1888 



Colonel Heaviside, of the Indian Survey Department, has 

 retired after more than twenty years' service in the Department, 

 during which he had charge of several important geodetic and 

 geographical operations, notably the completion and extension 

 of the series of pendulum observations formerly carried on by 

 Captain Basevi. 



A serious earthquake, which was felt throughout both islands, 

 occurred in New Zealand on the morning of the 1st instant. 

 There were five distinct shocks, extending over the space of 

 nearly half an hour. At Christchurch the spire of the Cathedral 

 was destroyed, and other buildings were damaged. The in- 

 habitants at first fled from their homes, but returned later when 

 the danger appeared over. Another shock has since been re- 

 ported from Westport, on the south-west coast of the Nelson 

 district. 



During the month of August at the Granton Marine Station, 

 the use of which was kindly granted by Dr. Murray of the 

 Challenger, Mr. Patrick Geddes and Mr. T. Arthur Thomson 

 conducted a class of over thirty students of both sexes — teachers, 

 medical students, and others from various parts of Scotland and 

 England — through a course of lectures and laboratory work in 

 botany and zoology. The work at Granton was supplemented 

 by visits to the Botanical Gardens, Museum, &c, and by field 

 and marine excursions, including a day's dredging in the Firth of 

 Forth. This is the second year of the course, and it is meant to 

 be continued in future years. 



A correspondent of the Daily News gives the following 

 account of the recent eruption of Bandai-San in Northern 

 Japan : — " The rumbling and trembling of the earth have now 

 stopped, but the mountain still belches forth smoke, and there are 

 evidences that mighty subterranean forces are still at work. The 

 place where the disaster occurred has been and is greatly 

 changing, mountains have risen where there were none before, 

 and large lakes appearing where once there were only rice fields. 

 This being so, it is with the greatest difficulty that guides can 

 be procured, as none can tell where a road now leads and how 

 far it is passable. Landmarks are obliterated, and villages which 

 but a week ago nestled among the rich and plentiful vegetation 

 of the mountain-side are now beneath twenty feet of ash and 

 cinders. The wounded are receiving treatment in the school- 

 house at Inawashiro, but their condition is terrible. Some have 

 fractured skulls, the majority broken limbs, while others are 

 fearfully burned. Five villages have been totally buried. The 

 state of the bodies recovered resembles the appearance of victims 

 of a huge boiler explosion. Many are cut to pieces, and others 

 parboiled, so that it is difficult to distinguish sex. But the most 

 ghastly sights which met the eye of the helpers were bodies 

 dangling on the branches of blackened and charred trees. 

 Thrown into the air by the awful violence of the eruption, their 

 descent had in many cases been arrested by the trees, and there 

 the victims hung, their bodies exposed to the 'cruel and well- 

 nigh ceaseless rain of red-hot cinders and burning ashes. From 

 appearances death speedily relieved them from their agony, yet, 

 short as the time was, their sufferings must have been past belief. 

 In other places flesh hangs from the branches of trees as paper 

 from London telegraph wires. Bandai-San is composed of five 

 separate peaks, of which the largest is called Great Bandai. The 

 second is a perfectly smooth mountain. The third is called 

 Kushigamine, and is the second in height. The fourth is called 

 the Middle or Northern Bandai, and is the one which broke forth ; 

 while the fifth, which is called the Small Bandai, is close to the 

 fourth. Great Bandai is only covered with white ashes, but No. 2 

 has been greatly shaken, while all the trees above the centre of the 

 mountain have been destroyed. From No. 3 large stones and 

 boulders have been hurled to the bottom, and from half-way down 

 the mountain its sides are covered with bluish earth. No. 4, 



from which the eruption really occurred, has been entirely 

 blown away, the lighter pieces ejected from it being swept away 

 over the neighbouring mountains, whilst the heavier pieces were 

 carried some five or seven miles, and have formed a table-land at 

 its base, covered with stones and ashes. No report has been 

 received as to any foreigners having been within the fatal region 

 at the time of the occurrence." 



M. Chevreul entered his 103rd year last week. On Tues- 

 day he was able to walk through the Sanitary Exhibition at the 

 Palace of Industry. 



The twenty-fifth annual meeting of the British Pharmaceutical 

 Association is being held in Bath this week. On Monday evening 

 the President, Mr. F. Baden Benger, and other officers of the 

 Conference held a reception at the Grand Hotel, followed by a 

 conversazione. The opening meeting took place on Tuesday 

 morning. The Presidential address dealt largely with the pro- 

 gress of the Association since its establishment, and with the 

 preliminary education of pharmacists. 



The thirty-seventh meeting of the American Association for 

 the Advancement of Science was held at Cleveland, Ohio, on 

 August 15 and following days. Science states that the meetings 

 were not as well attended as in past years, but the whole 

 gathering was nevertheless successful. The largest attendance 

 of members appears to have been 303. The scientific depart- 

 ments at Washington were well represented, and the most 

 prominent scientific men of the country were present. According 

 to the secretary's report, the financial condition of the Association 

 is excellent. The research fund, consisting of the contributions 

 of life members, amounts to more than 4400 dollars. The 

 subject of the address of Prof. Langley, the retiring President, 

 was the history of the theory of radiant heat, which we hope to 

 reprint in extenso, if space permits, on a future occasion. Prior 

 to the meeting, advantage was taken of the presence of a number 

 of American geologists to take the preliminary steps for the 

 establishment of an American Geological Society. In its general 

 report of the meeting, Science refers specially to a lecture 

 delivered by Prof. Stanley Hall. "It was the first time that 

 the new psychology had been given a place on the programme of 

 the Association. . . . Prof. Hall gave a brief review of the 

 scope of experimental psychology. He dwelt on the researches 

 made in the study of psychologic physiology, and on the 

 functions of brain and nerves ; he mentioned the methods of 

 psychophysic inquiries, and the important bearing of ethnological 

 studies upon psychological questions. He concluded his sketch, 

 which was listened to with the greatest attention, with a reference 

 to the study of hypnotism, which is one of the most promising 

 fields of psychic research." Major Powell is the President for 

 the current year, and Prof. Mendenhall for next year. 



Mr. Cook, the President of the Section of Geology and 

 Geography, took for the subject of his address the International 

 Geological Congress, and the part of American geologists in it. 

 He recalls the fact that in 1876 the Association originated the 

 Congress of Geologists in Paris in 1878 for the settling of obscure 

 points relating to geological classification and nomenclature ; 

 since that time similar Congresses have been held in Bologna 

 and Berlin, and one is about to be held in London, but, says 

 Mr. Cook, a meeting of the Congress must be held in the 

 United States, and American geology must be fully represented, 

 before any conclusion can be reached which will be accepted by 

 the scientific world, and therefore an attempt will be made at 

 the London Congress to have the meeting of 189 1 held in the 

 United States. The discussion on the important topics here 

 mentioned should not be regarded as closed until after the 

 American meeting, and he defines the business of American 

 geologists, prior to the meeting, to be the preparation of a case 

 which will fairly "present the claims of American geology to 

 representation in a general system of geology. " 



