Dec. 29, 1887] 



NATURE 



211 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



The two great medals of the Paris Geographical Society have 

 been awarded to General Alexis de Tillo for his great topo- 

 graphical work on Europe and Asia, and to M. Alphaud, 

 Inspector-General of the Fonts et Chause'es, who, "by inspiring 

 a feeling for the beautiful and of the necessities of hygiene, has 

 done so mucli to improve the topography of the capital." 

 Medals of the first class were awarded to M. Enguehard, geo- 

 graphical draughtsman ; Prof. Frangois Bazin ; Prof. Maxime 

 Mabire ; Prof. Paul Gaffarel, for a work on the soil of France ; 

 M. Fauve, for his fine topographical works ; M. Ch. Lasalle, 

 for a work on the defences of France ; M. Pierre Collet, for 

 his relief plans ; Lieut. Somprou ; M. Poinet ; and M. 

 Verragen. 



Lieut, von Francois and Dr. Wolf will start shortly on a 

 scientific mission to Togoland, one of the German possessions 

 on the West Coast of Africa. 



In the new part of the Journal of the Manchester Geo- 

 graphical Society there is an instructive paper by the Rev. 

 R. P. Ashe on Uganda, and the manners and customs of its 

 people. 



News from Africa states that the well-known African traveller, 

 Herr Gottlob Adolf Krause, has returned to Accra on the Gold 

 Coast. In May 1886 he commenced his exploring expedition. 

 Starting from Accra and crossing the River Acropang-Volta at 

 Kpang, he proceeded in an easterly direction, passing through 

 Kpando, Krahje, Salaga, Dagomba, Walawala, East Gurunsi, 

 and Busanga to Wagaduga and Ban Djagara, penetrating to 

 within a few miles of Timbuctoo. On his return he journeyed 

 through West Gurunsi, the Ashantee District, Kintimso, Salaga, 

 Sogede, Baleta, Gheshi, Atakpama, and Pla. Lieut. Kund 

 on his journey to Cameroon met Herr Krause at Accra, and 

 sends this report. Herr Krause states that to the north of Salaga 

 the influence of the Sahara is most prominent, and the country 

 is more desolate the further north one goes. Rice and tobacco 

 are universally cultivated. The principal articles of commerce are 

 kola-nuts and salt, the district being chiefly inhabited by the 

 Fula tribe. Nearer to the coast there are several other tribes 

 and dialects, but the Haussa language is most generally spoken. 

 Most of the population is still heathen, but some of the merchants 

 and beter educated families are Mohammedans. Herr Krause 

 was not enabled to proceed as far as Timbuctoo, owing to the 

 unfriendliness of the Sheikh Tidchani. 



The Bollettino of the Italian Geographical Society for 

 October and November publishes a valuable paper by Sig. A. 

 Borda on the geography, history, and present social conditions 

 of the Republic of Columbia (New Grenada), which promises 



to enter on an era of peace and prosperity under its enlightened 

 and popular President Nunez, who was elected last June for a 

 term of six years. The present population is calculated on 

 official returns at about four millions, including 200,000 still 

 living in the tribal state in the more inaccessible forest regions. 

 These forests are described as abounding in a great variety of valu- 

 able trees yielding the finest cabinet woods, balsams, gums, dye- 

 woods, alimentary and medicinal products. The flora and fauna 

 are scarcely exceeded by those of any other land in diversity of 

 types, while the country contains vast supplies of minerals, such 

 as gold, silver, platina, rubies, emeralds, crystals, porphyry, salt, 

 and sulphur. Since the conquest till the present time the yield 

 of the precious metals is estimated at ;^ 130, 000, 000, mined 

 chiefly in the departments of Canea and Antioquia. Mining 

 operations, which had suffered much from the unsettled state of 

 the country, have recently received a fresh stimulus by the intro- 

 duction of foreign capital and improved engineering appliances. 

 The metalliferous districts, which occur at various elevations, and 

 especially along the river valleys, are stated to be generally 

 salubrious, and foreigners are now enabled to purchase mines on 

 the same terms as the natives. But the great natural resources 

 of Columbia still lie almost untouched, chiefly through the lack 

 of good and regular communications, the roads being generally 

 impracticable for wheeled traffic, while the railway system is 

 little developed. Besides the Panama, Bolivar, and Cucuta 

 lines already open, others are in course of construction in the 

 departments of Canea, Antioquia, Cundinamasca, Tolima, and 

 Santander. The great water highway of the Maddalena has a 

 fleet of twenty-five steamers, and is connected with the seaport 

 of Cartagena by the Digue, a navigable canal branching off at 

 Calamar. The yearly imports from Europe and the United 

 States average ;^3, 000,000, and the exports ;^i, 600,000. The 

 revenue for 1887-88 is estimated at ;i^4,ooo,ooo, the expendi- 

 ture ;^4,6co,ooo, and the public debt ;^4,50o,ooo, half internal 

 and half foreign. The Government has still at its disposal ex- 

 tensive domains, which are granted on favourable terms to 

 immigrants as well as to native and foreign speculators. At 

 present the country is in the enjoyment of profound peace, with 

 improved external and internal relations, and a general desire to 

 close once for all the era of aimless political revolutions. 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY.^ 



T^HE most recent number of this Journal well keeps up the 

 credit of its predecessors in spite of the grievous loss 

 the Society sustained a year ago in the death of its talented 

 editor, Mr. H. M. Jenkins. The contributors include the Earl 

 of Coventry, Sir F. Bramwell, F.R.S., Drs. J. Voelcker and P. 

 Vieth, Major Craigie, Principal W. Robertson of the Royal 

 Veterinary College, Mr. James Macdonald, of Edinburgh, 

 Messrs. Bernard Dyer, Albert Pell, Charles Whitehead, William 

 C. Little, Charles Clay, Herbert J.. Little, and others. Since 

 these remarks were penned, we regret to hear of the sudden 

 death of Principal Robertson, of the Royal Veterinary College. 



The contents may be classified as — strictly agricultural, com- 

 prising articles on ensilage, sheep-feeding experiments, and 

 reports on the prize-farm competitions in Northumberland ; 

 statistical, as presented in papers upon twenty years' changes in 

 our foreign meat supply ; engineering, as represented in trials of 

 portable engines, and report of the consulting engineers at New- 

 castle ; and purely scientific, as in papers on micro-organisms 

 and their action on milk and milk products, on protective 

 inoculation for anthrax ;and quarter ill, and on the progress of 

 the Hessian fly. 



Few of the papers possess such a wide general interest, 

 both scientific and sanitary, as that of Dr. P. Vieth, on the 

 action of micro-organisms on milk. Milk is subject to lactic 

 fermentation, caused by the presence of a bacillus, consist- 

 ing of short motionless rods propagating by segmentation. The 

 effect of these bacilli is to cause the milk to sour and lose its 

 liquid character, and assume the appearance of a gelatinous mass. 

 The milk, in fact, " turns," and a separation of the curd from 

 the whey follows, as though rennet had been added, but from a 

 different cause. It is also now shown that lactic fermentation 

 requires to be induced by the introduction of bacilli from without, 

 after the milk is drawn from the cow, and that it is not inherent 



' " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society," Series II. vol. x.xiii. 

 Part II., 18S7. (John Murray, Albemarle Street.) 



