y^ay 22, i875] 



NA TURE 



i\\ 



world and visited many of the principal places in Europe, 

 North and South America, Asia, and Australasia. She was, 

 as might be surmised, a woman of superior intelligence, clear- 

 sightedness, and great determination ; her name will no doubt 

 live alongside of that of her renowned husband. 



FROAt a circular letter of M. Leverrier to the Presidents of 

 the Meteorological Commissions of the Departments of France, 

 we learn that the '« Atlas Meteorologique " for the years 1872 

 and 1873 is in the press, and that concerted action of several 

 departments by regions is, if slowly, yet gradually being inaugu- 

 rated in different directions, particularly in the valleys of the 

 Seine, Gironde, Rhone, and Meuse, and the Mediterranean 

 sea-board. M. Fron resumes the discussion of thunderstorms, 

 and M. Belgrand undertakes that of the rainfall. 



In connection with the recent disastrous inundation of the 

 Garonne, the following heights, above low-water, of the floods of 

 that river from 1804, as given by M. W. de Fonvielle inthe j5«/- 

 lain Hebdomadaire of the Scientific Association of France, Nos. 

 400 and 402, will be interesting :— July 1804, 217 feet ; August 

 1809, ii-Sfeet; May 1810, 21-8 feet; April 1812, 12-5 feet ; 

 June 1813, 17-8 feet; May 1815, 176 feet; April 1816, 167 

 feet; February 1817, 167 feet; November 1819, 10-9 feet; 

 March 1821, 15-4 feet; May 1824, 16-4 feet; October 1826, 

 18-9 feet ; May 1827, 23-3 feet ; May 1830, 11-5 feet ; October 

 1833, 17.4 feet; May 1835, 24-6 feet ; March and April 1836, 

 131 feet; February 1839, 15-4 feet; April 1842, 17-1 feet; 

 June 1845, 19-4 feet; February 1850, 18-4 feet; June 1853, 

 167 feet ; June 1854, l8-o feet ; June 1855, 23-6 feet ; and on 

 the 24th June, 1875, 26-2 feet, the last being thus a foot and a 

 half higher than any flood that has occurred in this valley during 

 the past seventy-one years, and 3-3 feet higher than the historic 

 flood of 1772. 



Peterm ANN'S Miitheilungen for July contain a map of Asia 

 Minor, which by means of different colours shows the various 

 levels of that region in metres. The map is, moreover, a useful 

 one for general purposes, and is accompanied by a descriptive 

 article by Freiherr v. Schweizer-Lerchenfeld. 



The same number of this Journal contains the continuation 

 of Dr. Chavanne's valuable paper on the condition of the ice in 

 the polar seas and the periodical changes to which it is subject. 

 This paper is the result of a minute and careful examination of 

 the reports of the most trustworthy observers, and contains two 

 valuable tableis, one showing the normal value of the winter and 

 summer temperatures in fifteen of the principal polar basins, and 

 the other the variation from the normal mean temperatures in 

 summer and winter of the same basins for the period 1800-74. 

 The paper is accom.panied by a graphic chart illustrative of these 

 tables, and also showing the secular variation in the condition of 

 the ice in the Dwina at Archangelsk from 1734 to 1854, in con- 

 nection with the secular variations in intensity of the Aurora 

 Borealis from 1722 to 1870. 



Petermann's journal for August will contain a valuable 

 paper by Dr. G. Nachtigal, giving a historical and descriptive 

 account of the ^new Egyptian province, Dar Fur, and a brief 

 sketch of the traveller's journey from Kuka to Khartoum. A 

 map of the region referred to will accompany the paper, showing 

 not only Nachtigal's route, but those of Von Heuglin and 

 Schweinfurth. 



In connection with the Arctic papers of the Geographical 

 Society, we recently referred to speculations on the condition of 

 the interior of Greenland. The August number of the Mii- 

 theilungen will contain a paper by Dr. Rink on this subject, and 

 on the possibility of crossing Greenland. The following are his 

 principal conclusions : — l . The so-called interior ice is pro- 

 bably only a wall or rind, inside which may be found val- 



leys free from snow and ice, and possibly even wooded. 2. 

 All Greenland, probably, consists of a number of islands soldered 

 together by the universal ice covering. 3. Most probably in 

 two or three places, where the ice-fjords still disembogue, in 

 earlier times a sound must have extended right across from the 

 west to the east coast, 4. Glaciers and permanent snow are 

 probably on the increase all over the land. 5. Floating icebergs 

 are detached from the land by a sort of fall or downflow of the 

 land-ice glaciers. Dr. Rink thinks that by means of properly 

 constructed sledges drawn by men, and by carefully selecting a 

 route and establishing suitable stations, the Greenland continent 

 might be crossed from coast to coast. 



While so much is being done for Arctic exploration, the 

 Germans in recent years have not been neglecting the explora- 

 tion of the Antarctic seas. In 1873 the German Arctic Society 

 of Hamburg, presided over by Albert Rosenthal, who has 

 contributed so much to the equipment of polar expeditions, sent 

 out an expedition to the south polar region under the command 

 of Capt. Dallmann. Some of the results of this expedition will 

 be found in the recently published expedition of Stieler's " Hand- 

 Atlas," and a few details will be found in the August number of 

 Petermann's Miitheilungen, especially with reference to Capt. 

 Dallmann's exploration of Graham Land, discovered by the 

 whaling Captain Biscoe, in 1832. Capt. Dallmann deserves 

 credit for having added considerably to our knowledge of this 

 hitherto little-known land. At the place where Biscoe saw nothing 

 but what appeared a continuous coast line, Dallmann has 

 discovered a strait from fifteen to eighteen nautical miles wide, 

 with highlands between as far as the eye could reach, and an 

 Archipelago of islands of about sixty nautical miles in extent, 

 which has been named after Kaiser Wilhelm. Two other deep 

 bays and many islands have been discovered and named, and 

 wiU be found on the map already referred to. 



The prizes of the French Geographical Society have this year 

 been awarded as follows : — A gold medal to Father Armand 

 David, for his explorations in China and Mongolia; a gold 

 medal to Dr. G. Schweinfurth, for his travels in North Africa ; 

 a silver medal to Abbe Iimile Petitot, for his exploration of the 

 North American region which extends from Great Slave Lake 

 to the mouth of the Mackenzie ; a silver medal each to MM. de 

 Compiegne and Marche for their journey to the Gaboon and up 

 the River Ogove ; and the la Roquette gold medal to the family 

 of the late Capt. Hall of the Polaris Arctic Expedition. 



M. Adrien Germain in the Bulletin of the French Geo- 

 logical Society discusses the propriety of having a common 

 meridian for all nations, and comes to the conclusion that the 

 French should decidedly not abandon the meridian of Paris as 

 their first, as it presents all the advantages which a first meridian 

 should have. 



Mr. E. W. Prevost has succeeded Mr. Clowes as Science 

 Master at Queenwood College, Stockbridge. 



Important changes are contemplated in the organisation of 

 the French National University, as a new law has been adopted 

 by the Assembly allowing, under certain conditions, the opening 

 of free Universities. 



With regard to Mr.* Barrington's query in last week's 

 NatureJ(p. 213), relative to the sudden scarcity of blackbirds 

 and thrushes, Mr. G.Lingwood, of Alnwick, writes that in the dis- 

 trict where he resides, and with which he is well acquainted, 

 there is no such scarcity. Mr. J. Preston, writing from Belfast, 

 likewise testifies to their superabundance in that neighbourhood. 



In an octavo volume of some eight hundred pages, the U.S. 

 Government has recently issued a handbook of the orruthology 

 of the region drained by the Missouri River and its tributaries. 



