Aug. 12, 1875] 



NATURE 



299 



more deserving of help than the Icelanders, and moreover, they 

 have the claim upon us of close kindred. 



We have received the "Fourth Report of the Meteorological, 

 Magnetic, and other Observatories of the Dominion of Canada 

 for 1874," pp. 316. The Report gives iuU details of the tri- 

 daily observations made at the various meteorological stations, 

 the monthly means and extremes, and, as regards temperature 

 and rainfall, a comparison of the results of 1874 with the 

 averages of previous years. The most important fact perhaps 

 noted in the Report is the gradual extension of the system over 

 British North America. 



From a letter from the Canada correspondent of The Scots, 

 man, dated 23rd July, 1875, we learn that the summer in Canada 

 has been unusually cold. The nights have been quite chilly so 

 as to necessitate extra covering ; and during the whole summer 

 the temperature has only once reached 90° ; on the evening of 

 the 1 8th July it fell to 43°. Capt. Richardson, of the Nova 

 Scotian, which had just arrived, reports having passed a large 

 number of icebergs on the coast, and having sailed through 

 floating ice for twenty-four hours. Reports from the extreme 

 north state that the ice had given way to a greater extent than 

 for many years, in which case the Arctic Expedition will 

 probably reach a higher latitude before the summer closes than 

 was expected. 



In the Bulletin Hcbdoinadaire of the Scientific Association of 

 France it is stated, after a careful review of the loss sustained by 

 the different districts, that the total loss caused by the late inun- 

 dations in the South of France exceeds the enormous sum of 

 eighty millions of francs, and that 550 persons perished. 



The June number (just issued) of the Bulletin of the French 

 Geographical Society contains an interesting chart of the world, 

 by M. Malte-Brun, intended to exhibit at a glance the propor- 

 tion of the known and unknown regions. Countries known in 

 their details are wholly covered with red, and those of which we 

 have a good general knowledge, with red having a slight dash 

 of white. "White, with specks of red, indicates countries imper- 

 fectly known, while those entirely unknown are left in white. 

 Of course the various shades of red run into each other, but 

 countries unknown and imperfectly known considerably exceed 

 in extent the two other classes, so that there is little danger of 

 exploring and surveying parties wanting work for many years to 

 come. The greater part of Asia and America comes under the 

 two last categories, as also nearly the whole of Africa and 

 Australia ; indeed, notwithstanding all that has recently been 

 done in the way of geographical discovery, the white at least 

 balances the red in Malte-Brun's chart. 



The same number of the Bulletin contains a valuable illus- 

 trated paper, by M. L. Chambeyron, giving some details con- 

 cerning the physical geography of New Caledonia. 



The Geographical Magazine states that the committee of the 

 statistical section of the Russian Geographical Society appointed 

 to report on a proposition made by MM. Sobolyef and Jansson, 

 to publish a gazetteer of Central Asia, has reported favourably 

 on the subject. They recommend that particular attention be 

 paid to historical geography and ethnology, as statistical data are 

 subject to frequent alterations. The territory to be embraced by 

 the work is bounded on the north by the watersheds of the Ural 

 and Irtysh ; on the west coast by the Caspian ; on the south by 

 the Elburz, the Hindu Kush, and the Karakorum Range ; and 

 in the east by Mongolia. The authorities for every statement 

 made, are to be carefully referred to for future reference, and 

 great care is to be taken with respect to the spelling. A final 

 programme will be laid down by a joint committee of the three 

 sections of the Russian Geographical Society. 



The New York Tribune of July 10 contains a [long article, 

 with many illustrations, on Prof. Hall's magnificent collection of 

 fossils, which, at a cost of $65,000 has been secured for the 

 American Museum of Natural History, at the Central Park, 

 New York. 



The Watford Natural History Society has already taken an 

 established place in the first rank of our local societies and field- 

 clubs. It has not been many months in existence, but already 

 have we received the first number of its neatly printed Trans- 

 actions, containing the following papers: — "The Cretaceous 

 Rocks of England," by J. L. Lobley, F.G.S. ; "Notes on the 

 Flora of the Watford District," by Arthur Cottam ; and "Notes 

 on the proposed Re-issue of the Flora of Hertfordshire, with 

 Supplementary Remarks on the Botany of the Watford 'Dis- 

 trict," by R, A. Pryor, F.L.S, 



In connection with the Sheffield Ladies Educational Associa- 

 tion, Mr. Barrington Ward, F.L.S., has recently conclude;! a 

 successful and well attended series of elementary lectures on 

 Botany. The results of the examinations on the lectures appear 

 to have been highly satisfactory, and to judge from the specimen 

 examination paper sent us, the questions were well calculated to 

 test the real knowledge of the students. 



In Part I. No. i, for 1875, of the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal will be found a very valuable illustrated paper 

 by Major G. E. Fryer, " On the Khjeng People of the Sando- 

 way District, Arakan." Details are given of the habits of the 

 people, with a brief grammar a'nd copious vocabulary of their 

 language. 



Mr. G. K. Gilbert's preliminary Geological Report con- 

 tained in Lieut. Wheeler's Report of the work done by his expe- 

 dition in 1872 in Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, gives a few 

 interesting data bearing on the former glaciation ol N. America. 

 About White's Peak, in the Schell Range, Nevada, are the 

 terminal moraines of five or six glaciers that descended to 8,000 

 feet altitude in lat. 39° 15'. At about the same altitude, and in 

 lat. 39°, are moraines and an alpine lake upon the flanks of 

 Wheeler's Peak, of the Snake Range, Nevada. Old Baldy Peak 

 (N. lat. 38° 18'), near Beaver, Utah, overlooks two terminal 

 moraines, one of which contains a lakelet at an altitude of about 

 9,000 feet. No traces were seen of a general glaciation, such as 

 the Northern States experienced and the cumulative negative 

 evidence is of such weight that Mr. Gilbert is of opinion that 

 the glaciers of the region*referred to were confined to the higher 

 mountain-ridges. 



The same observer shows that the level of what is now Great 

 Salt Lake must at one time have been much higher and its area 

 much greater than it is at present. Former levels are marked 

 by a series of conspicuous shore-lines carried on the adjacent 

 mountain slopes to a height of more than 900 feet. When the 

 waters rose to the uppermost beach they must have covered an 

 area of about 18,000 square miles, eleven times that of the pre- 

 sent lake, and a trifle less than that of Lake Huron; the average 

 depth was 450 feet, and the volume of water nearly 400 times 

 greater than now. The lake was diversified by numerous rocky 

 islands and promontories, and its water was fresh. The flooding 

 of the Great Salt Lake valley, Mr. Gilbert believes, marked a 

 temporary climatal change, and was contemporary with the 

 general glaciation of the northern portion of N. America, and 

 with the formation of the numerous local glaciers of western 

 mountain systems ; he considers it a phenomenon of the Glacial 

 Epoch. While the general climatal change that caused or 

 accompanied that epoch (depression of temperature, carrying 

 with it decrease of evaporation, if not increase of precipitation) 

 may be adduced as the cause of the inundation of Utah, Mr. 

 Gilbert sees no reason to suppose that the relative humidities of 



