May 20, 1875] 



NATURE 



53 



duced by the warming action of the sun on the sohd 

 surface exposed to its rays. These special currents, 

 although somewhat dangerous in making a descent, die 

 out at an altitude of a few hundred feet. The superficial 

 current experienced in the Algiers ascent was running 

 eastwards, and was really a marine current produced by 

 the vicinity of the sea. A peculiarity of this ascent was the 

 ' presence of a fog, observed at a certain distance above 

 i the earth, in air which was coming from the water and had 

 been rendered humid when crossing the Mediterranean 

 Sea. The thermometer, which was only 23° centigrade on 

 the ground, ascended gradually to 25°, and gave 38° and 

 40° when the balloon had traversed the fog. The maxi- 

 mum observed was 43" at a small altitude. 



Clouds do not always prevent the rays of the sun from 

 warming the atmosphere below to a certain extent. In 

 an ascent executed at Avignon (Vaucluse) on the 6th, the 

 thermometer exhibited a warming effect of 5° C, although 

 the balloon had not passed through the clouds, which were 

 at an elevation of more than 4,000 feet. 



I do not think we should depend entirely for our know- 

 ledge on such points to elaborately organised ascents. 

 As much of our knowledge of the sea has been ob- 

 tained from the log-books of trading vessels, so by a little 

 good management on the part of aeronautical societies, 

 much important information concerning the atmosphere 

 might be collected from balloonists who make ascents 

 either for purposes of pleasure or profit. 



W. DE FONVIELLE 



NOTES 

 . M. Andr6, the head of the French Transit Expedition to 

 New Caledonia, has arrived in Paris. His account of the obser- 

 vations will be read to the Academy on Monday week. Dr. 

 Janssen is not expected to arrive in Paris before the loth of 

 June. 



Dr. Hooker was present at Monday's sitting of the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, of which he is a correspondent in the 

 section of Botany. M. Fremy, the president, noticed the fact, 

 and Dr. Hooker was warmly received by all present. 



We remind the Fellows of the Royal Society of the Reception 

 on the 26th inst, at their rooms in Buriington House, to which 

 they have been invited. 



Information has been received at the Admiralty, by tele- 

 gram, stating that the Challenger will not visit Vancouver Island 

 as intended, but will proceed to Nagasaki, Honolulu, and Val- 

 paraiso. Letters should be addressed to Honolulu until the 

 middle of July, and after that date to Valparaiso. 



The French Aeronautical Society has elected for its president 

 M. Paul Bert, the physiolc^ist, who recently organised the fatal 

 ZifmV/j expedition. M. Bert (has never ascended in a balloon, 

 and has refused several times to do so. M. Tissandier, who had 

 experienced so narrow an escape in the Zenith, was appointed 

 one of the vice-presidents. 



The Spectacle Makers have resolved to confer the freedom of 

 their Company on Sir George B. Airy, K.C.B., F.R.S., &c., 

 Astronomer Royal. 



We learn from the Australian papers that an expedition for 

 the exploration of New Guinea is being fitted out by Mr. Macleay, 

 a wealthy citizen of Sydney. Important scientific results are ex- 

 pected to be gathered by this expedition, and Mr. Macleay is 

 worthy of praise for devoting his wealth to so important an object. 

 Notwithstanding that so many explorers are and have been on the 

 island, there is a great deal yet to be done ere we can have any- 

 thing like an adequate knowledge of its people, its physical con- 

 dition, and natural history. We hope Mr. Macleay's expedition 

 will attack a part of the island not hitherto explored, and add 

 much that is new and valuable to our knowledge of a country so 

 interesting in itself and in relation to the past of Australia. 



The Swedish Arctic Expedition to Novaya Zemlya, which 

 will start at the beginning of next month from Tromsbe, will be 

 occupied first with botanical, geological, and ethnological 

 inquiries in the southern part of Novaya Zemlya, and then 

 advance along the west coast to the northern point, which it 

 expects to reach about the middle of August. Thence it will go 

 to the north-east to explore this still quite unknown part of the 

 Polar Sea, and then southwards to the mouths of the Obi and 

 the Jenisei, where the country is geologically very interesting. 

 If the ice creates no obstacles, Prof. Nordenskjold will here 

 quit the vessel, and go in a boat up the river, to return home 

 afterwards by land. 



The February number of the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal contains the President's Address. Colonel Hyde, 

 among other important and interesting topics, refers to the scheme 

 for providing Calcutta with a Zoological Garden, which, through 

 various untoward circumstances, has been hitherto frustrated. 

 The value of such an institution in Calcutta, if put on a rational 

 footing, both to the European and native communities as well 

 as to science, is undoubted, and we hope with Colonel Hyde 

 diat the scheme will have the attention both of the Imperial and 

 Local Governments. Indeed, we believe that the Lieutenant- 

 Governor of Bengal has taken up a piece of land suitable for the 

 purpose. The question of the estabhshment of a Zoological 

 Garden at Calcutta has been before the public and the Asiatic 

 Society from time to time during the last thirty-five years, and 

 it does seem strange that the capital of India should have been 

 so long without such an institution. 



Another subject referred to by the President in the above 

 address is that of earth-current measurements, a committee in 

 connection with which has been appointed at the suggestion of 

 Mr. Schwendler. Considering the very great importance of 

 research in this direction, " there can be no doubt," to quote 

 the Calcutta Englishman, "that the Government of India 

 would be fully justified in promoting the undertaking, just as it 

 has assisted the observations of the Transit of Venus, of eclipses, 

 and of meteorological phenomena ." 



An unprecedented contest has taken place at the Academic 

 Fran9aise in filling the seat vacated by the recent demise of M. 

 Guizot. After four scrutinies, the election was postponed for 

 six months. M. Dumas, the perpetual secretary of the Academy 

 of Sciences, was a candidate, and had as an opponent M. Jules 

 Simon, the former Minister of Public Instruction, an influential 

 member of the Academy of Moral Sciences. But a third 

 candidate, M. Laugel, the scientific reviewer of the Temps, and 

 the private secretary of the Due d'Aumale, having been pro- 

 posed by his patron and voted by him throughout the four 

 scrutinies, no result could be obtained, the nominations bemg 

 only made on an absolute majority. M. Laugel has written a 

 few philosophical essays on scientific matters, and is a man of 

 knowledge, but is not known except to a limited circle of 

 friends. 



It is said that thirty young Chinese belonging to influential 

 families are expected very shorUy in Paris, where they are to be 

 educated. They are under the care of a French naval ofl.cer 

 who, having joined the Chinese navy, has been appointed 

 Director of Fow-chow Arsenal. 



M LEVERRiER has presented to the Academy of Sciences 

 the observations on the transits of small planets made during the 

 last three months at Greenwich and at Paris : the two Obser- 

 vatories are working conjointly in this department. Obser- 

 vations, limited to those asteroids which are near their apposition, 

 have been made on twenty-two small planets ; but the weather was 

 so bad at both Observatories that only sixty-nine observations are 

 recorded, sixty at Paris and nine at Greenwich. Generally the 

 proportion is greater in favour of English observers, but the 

 clouds were dreadfiiUy against them during the last quarter. 



