1/4 



NATURE 



[July I, 1875 



depth, 34°- 5 F. ; so that at that place there is a layer of water at 

 that uniform temperature occupying the bottom of the ocean 

 trough of the enormous thickness of 3,075 fathoms (18,450 feet). 

 The observations made in this section, taken in connection with 

 others made elsewhere, would seem to point to the following 

 law: — That "Globigerina ooze" — a rapidly forming deposit, 

 containing the whole of the abundant carbonate of lime of the 

 shells of the Foraminifera living on the surface and beneath it, 

 and consequently consisting of almost pure carbonate of lime — 

 generally occupies depths under 2,000 fathoms in the ocean ; 

 that beyond this depth, the proportion of the calcareous matter 

 is gradually diminished, and the deposit, which now contains a 

 considerable amount of clay, goes under the name of grey ooze ; 

 that at 2, 600 fathoms the calcareous matter has almost entirely 

 disappeared, and we have the purest form of " red clay," a sili- 

 cate of alumina and iron with siliceous tests of animals ; that 

 from this point the "clay" decreases in proportion, and the 

 siliceous shells increase, until at extreme depths the " clay " is 

 represented by little more than a red cement, binding the shells 

 together. As to the transition from the "Globigerina ooze" to 

 the "red clay," the Timts correspondent says, it is due to the 

 removal of the lime of the Globigerina shells by water and car- 

 bonic acid, or in some other way ; the apparent disappearance 

 of the " red clay " is a fallacy produced by the increased propor- 

 tion of the siliceous shells. It has now been ascertained by the 

 use of the tow-net at great depths that Radiolarians and Diatoms 

 inhabit the water all the way down, and are probably more 

 abundant at greater depths ; and it follows from this that four 

 times more, at least, must die and shed their tests in 4,000 

 fathoms than in 1,000 fathoms. The most marked temperature 

 phenomenon observed in the two sections was the presence of a 

 surface layer of water of an average depth of 80 fathoms, and a 

 temperature above 77° F., extending northwards from the coast 

 of New Guinea about 20°, and westward as far as the meridian 

 of the Pellew Islands. The greater part of this huge mass of 

 warm water is moving with more or less rapidity to the west- 

 ward. 



M. Janssen was present at Monday's sitting of the Paris 

 Academy. 



The preparations for the Geographical Congress in Paris are 

 being actively completed. The large map of France executed 

 by the staff oficers will be exhibited, all the sheets having been 

 joined, thus forming one continuous sheet of paper of immense 

 size. The map will be exhibited at the Tuileries in the 

 Salle des Etats. It will be photographed by the microscopical 

 and panoramic process. There is a law prohibiting valuable 

 documents in the National Library, Paris, from being taken out 

 of the building. But a large hall will be set apart for their 

 exhibition, and all the members of the Geographical Congress 

 will get free admission to view them as often as they may desire. 



M. Leverrier, at Monday's silting of the Paris Academy, 

 ntimated that the great reflecting telescope, and other large 

 apparatus, will be ready for inspection by the members of the 

 Geographical Congress on their visit on the 5th of August. 



Mr. a. J. Anderson, from Manchester Grammar School, and 

 Mr. T. W. Stubbs, from Clifton College, have been elected to 

 Demyships in Natural Science in Magdalen College, Oxford. 

 Mr. H. A. Wilson, of Magdalen College School, was at the 

 same time elected to the Exhibition in Natural Science. The 

 stipend of the Demyships is 95/. per annum, and of the Ex- 

 hibition 75/. They are tenable for five years. 



S. Nall has been elected! to a' Foundation Scholarship for 

 proficiency in Natural Science at St. John's College, Cambridge. 

 Stewart, Lowe, and Houghton to Exhibitions, 



J. T. Moller, of Wedel (Holstein), having been repeatedly 

 requested to publish his process of preparing Diatomacesc, has 

 resolved to adopt the following plan :— If a sufficient number of 

 subscribers is obtained, he will publish a work with illustra- 

 tions, under the title of "The Preparation of the Diatomacea;, " 

 which will contain — i. The collecting ; 2. The cleaning and puri- 

 fying (a) of the living subjects ; {b) of dead subjects in the mud ; 

 (<r) of fossils. 3. The separation of the different species. 4. 

 Ti)e preparation and mounting {a) in the ordinary manner— in 

 quantity ; (b) as selected and arranged ; (c) as * ' Typen- and 

 Probe- platte," &c 



We believe that the Pandora, which has just sailed to attempt 

 the north-west passage, has been fitted out at the joint expense 

 of Lady Franklin, Mr, James Gordon Bennett, Lieut. Lillingston, 

 and Capt. Allen Young— the last-mentioned, however, bearing 

 the major portion of the cost, as well as the whole risk of 

 the voyage. We are glad to hear that the health of Lady Franklin, 

 who has been seriously ill, has considerably improved. On 

 Monday evening the Pandora finally left Plymouth for Disco. 

 On the same day, the Times sajs, there was to sail from 

 Sunderland Dock a small sloop named the Whim, bound to the 

 Arctic seas and zone ; it is under the command of Capt. 

 Wiggins, of the merchant service, and is manned by five able 

 seamen. The Httle vessel is only twenty-seven tons register. 

 Capt. Wiggins is bound for the Russian coast. 



On Monday evening an extraordinary meeting of the Royal 

 Geographical Society was held, at which the Seyyid of Zanzibar 

 who was present, was received with great enthusiasm, and ex- 

 pressed his anxiety to do all in his power to forward the objects of 

 the Society, Mr, John Forrest gave an account of his journey 

 across the western half of Australia, from Champion Bay on the 

 west coast to the Overland Telegraph line. We have already 

 given some details of thejourney in vol. xi. p, 93. Mr. Forrest 

 concluded by slating that all the geographical problems have 

 now been finally solved, and the only remaining portion of 

 interest is the small part in the north-west corner from Roebuck 

 Bay to the Victoria River. 



At the above meeting Dr. W. B. Carpenter read a paper on 

 recent observations on ocean temperature made in the Challenger 

 and Tuscarora, with their bearing on the doctrine of a general 

 oceanic circulation, sustained by difierence of temperature. 



Under the heading of "Early Indications of Spectroscopy in 

 America," the American Chemist for May reprints two papers 

 by Dr. David Alter, from the Arnerican Jotirnal of Science of 

 1854 and- 1855, in which he describes some experiments made by 

 him on the spectra of metals and gases, at least;, three years 

 before the publication of the researches of Bunsen and Kirchhoff . 



The Sub- Wealden Exploration has made considerable progress 

 during the past week. A further depth of 108 feet has been 

 reached in five days, making a total of 1,246 feet. 



The most interesting objects which' attract attention at tlie 

 Southport Aquarium just now are the eggs of the Rough Hound 

 {Sqiialus catulus), which were deposited in the tanks about the 

 beginning of December of last year. All the eggs seem to be 

 in a healthy condition, and the young fish are now so far ad- 

 vanced that their movements within their horny cases can be 

 distinctly traced, and possibly only a short interval will elapse 

 before they are completely free. Mr, Long anticipates a similar 

 result from the eggs of the Skate {Raia batis) deposited in 

 February last. The fine Sturgeon about eight feet long, and 

 about thirty specimens of the Sea-horse {Hippocampus brevi- 

 rosiris) are also objects of much interest. 



With reference to our note (vol. xii. p. 135) on the attempt to 

 acclimatise humming-birds in Paris, a correspondent informs us 



