134 



NATURE 



\_yune 5, 1879 



A volcanic eruption which has broken out in a mountain on the 

 banks of Lake Balaton in Hungary, seems to have begun almost 

 simultaneously with that of Etna, referred to in next note. 



The following are the most recent reports of earthquakes 

 from various quarters : — From April 25 until May 2 repeated 

 violent shocks were felt in the Senio valley in the Romagna. 

 Several buildings were destroyed completely and many others 

 damaged. The village of Palazzuolo suffered most, and the inha- 

 bitants left the dwellings and camped out in the fields. — Another 

 series of shocks occurred at Shabka, in the Soroki district, 

 Bessarabia ; they were preceded by a subterranean noise similar 

 to the report of a cannon, followed by a long rumbling noise. 

 Twenty-four houses fell in ; fissures appeared in the soil, from 

 which water flowed out. Fifty-four trees were uprooted. — A 

 third and fourth phenomenon of this nature were observed at 

 Serajewo (Bosnia) on May 14 in the morning, and at Maramaros- 

 Szigeth (Hungary) on May 18 at midnight. Altogether the 

 volcanic phenomena in the Austrian Empire have been remark- 

 able recently, and the signs of eruption shown by the Csobancz, 

 one of the mountain cones on the shores of Lake Balaton, which 

 has been extinct for centuries are no less so. — The last report 

 which has reached us comes from Batavia, where, on April 4, a 

 violent earthquake was observed. At Tjandjoer, some fifty 

 miles from Batavia, a number of stone houses fell, burying many 

 of the inhabitants beneath their ruins. — A Samarang paper 

 states that the volcanoes in Eastern and Western Java are simul- 

 taneously in eruption. From the Smeru volcano a broad fiery 

 stream of lava is making its way through a ravine to the sea- 

 shore on the south, while at the other end of Java the Gedeh 

 mountain is casting out an immense quantity of ashes, which 

 spread themselves for miles round the neighbourhood. 



An exceptionally large meteor was observed^ at Herford 

 (Westphalia) on April 25 at 8.30 p.m. The nucleus was nearly 

 of the apparent size of the moon's disk, and its light was so 

 brilliant that while the phenomenon lasted (»>., three seconds) 

 no fixed stars could be seen. 



The Italian State Secretary for Public Buildings has sanctioned 

 the plans submitted to him for the construction of an observatory 

 on the summit of Mount Etna. 



The Anthropological Exhibition at Moscow seems to be one 

 of great interest. It is contained in a vast building lent by the 

 Minister of War, and used in winter for drilling soldier.', and 

 the exhibition has been rendered as picturesque as it is scien- 

 tific. A garden which has been arranged most artistically for 

 the purpose presents, among other features, a very remarkable 

 " pateontological valley." This is planted with lycopods, 

 gigantic ferns, and other fossil plants ; this forest is inhabited 

 by models representing megatheriums, mammoths, ichthyosaurs, 

 &c. On miniature mountains, the age of which is indicated by 

 artificial geological sections, are shown facsimiles of Russian, 

 French, Danish, and other tumuli. Besides this, an ethnologi- 

 cal garden is peopled with models representing the principal 

 human types, especially those of Russia. There is, beside?, a 

 remarkable anatomical and craniological exhibition. Altogether 

 this is one of the most remarkable anthropological exhibitions 

 ever brought together, and has been an immense success. 



The question of the definite location of the observatory for 

 which a legacy of 700,000 dollars was provided by the late James 

 Lick, has resolved itself into a selection of one of the three peaks 

 of Mount Hamilton — Observatory Peak, 4,302 feet high; East 

 Peak, 4,448 feet ; and Middle Peak, 4,318 feet. At the sugges- 

 tion, it is said, of Prof. Simon Newcomb, of the U.S. Naval 

 Observatory, to whom the question was submitted, the tnistees 

 have referred the suljject of a selection to Mr. S. W. Eurnham, 

 an amateur as^tronomer of some distinction. So soon as this 



decision is announced, the work of erection will be at once 

 proceeded with. 



A FEW weeks ago the fossil head of a Rhiitocerus tichorhimts 

 was found in Siberia, and is said to be in a very good state of 

 preservation. The valuable object was presented to the Museum 

 of Moscow University by the Siberian branch of the Russian 

 Geographical Society, and will find a place in the Anthropo- 

 logical Exhibition at Moscow. 



A NEW sensation is in store for visitors to Niagara ; whether 

 desirable or otherwise will depend on the tastes of the visitors. 

 The " Niagara FaLs Prospect Park Company " have ordered one 

 of the largest -sized Bru-ih machines and sixteen lamps, where- 

 with, by means of parabolic reflectors and otherwise, to throw 

 light upon the descending water and upon the mist, " thus pro- 

 ducing electric rainbows to order in the darkest night." It is 

 also expec'ed that a light can be placed behind the American 

 fall, so as to throw rays out through the water. 



The death is announced of Karl Koch, formerly Professor of 

 Botany in Berlin University. 



We hear that the Abbe Moigno, the editor of Les Moiides, 

 who has just published a work in three volumes called " Les Splen- 

 deurs de la Foi," has disposed of his journal, and will proceed to 

 Rome in order to lay before his Holiness the comble of his 

 science. He may eventually be rewarded by being made a 

 cardinal . 



A venerable relic of past engineering skill has been pre- 

 sented by the Earl of Lonsdale to the Patent Office Museum, 

 South Kensington, where it may be seen by the public. This is 

 a specimen of Heslop's Winding and Pumping Engine, a patent 

 for which, numbered 1,760, was taken out in the year 1790. 

 Heslop's engine, one of the immediate predecessors of James 

 Watts's invention, was considered in the days of our great grand- 

 fathers to be an almost perfect machine, being superior to the 

 atmospheric engine of Newcomen, even as improved by Smeaton. 

 The present engine has been at work in the neighbourhood of 

 Whitehaven for seventy-three years, having been erected at Kell's 

 Pit for raising coal about 1 795, afterwards removed to Castlerigg 

 Pit, and thence to Wreath Pit in 1837. At the latter place it 

 not only lifted coal out of the mine but worked a pump till last 

 summer, when it was brought to London. The engine now at 

 South Kensington is the last survivor of its race. 



A TELEGRAM from New York, June I, states that the States 

 of Kansas and Nebraska have been visited by a tornado, by 

 which about forty persons were killed and over one hundred 

 wounded, while fifty buildings were destroyed, and the crops 

 and other property greatly damaged. 



Mr. W. H. Coffin writes us with reference to our note last 

 week on the conversazione of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 

 He states that the electric lamp for surgical use exhibited by him 

 is an improved modification of M. Trouve's " Polyscope Elec- 

 trique," devised and constructed by Messrs. Coxeter and Son, 

 the surgical instrument makers. 



The Municipal Council of Paris has resolved to adopt the 

 cremation system on sanitary grounds. 



Among various applications proposed by M. Plante for his 

 secondary couples is that of electrical drilling. It is known 

 that those high-tension currents (which he produces), when 

 made to act on glass in presence of a saline solution, act 

 like a graver or diamond, tracing grooves and making con- 

 siderable hollows. Rock crystal may be thus attacked, spite 

 of its hardness, and if it is not regularly engraved, it at 

 least breaks into small fragments, and is ultimately disaggre- 

 gated. Now, in America, black diamonds are used to attack 

 hard rocks and effect the borings for mines. Might not 

 these (M. Plants asks) be advantageously replaced by action of 



