2o6 



NATURE 



\^jfune 26, 1879 



Government Gazette respecting the Chinese island of 

 Hainan and the Gulf of Tongking. The following are 

 the positions determined : — Hoihow Fort A, lat. 20° 

 3' 13 N. long. 110° 19' 3" E. ; Pakhoi Customs flagstaff 

 lat. 21° 29' N. long. 109° 6' 6" E. ; Guie-chow Island 

 summit lat. 20° i' 15" N., long. 109" 6' 31"; Cape Cami 

 lat. 20° II' 58" N., long. 109° 54' 57" E. ; North Taya 

 Island, lat. 19° 58', N., long. 111° 16' E. 



It is stated that Major Serpa Pinto will come to 

 London soon to give a lecture on his recent journey across 

 Africa. 



Sir Samuel Baker, who has spent the last six 

 months in traversing the island of Cyprus in a gipsy 

 waggon, carefully observing all the natural phenomena, 

 is engaged in writing a book to be called " Cyprus as I 

 saw it in 1879," which will be published by Messrs. Mac- 

 millan and Co. 



The newly published Bulletin of the Belgian Geo- 

 graphical Society contains two papers by their indefatig- 

 able vice-president, Colonel Adan, one of which is 

 entitled "Sur la Participation des Officiers aux grands 

 Travaux de Geographic Scientifique." M. Greiner con- 

 tributes some notes on the cultivation of tobacco. We 

 are glad to observe that considerable space (upwards of 

 29 pp.) is devoted to " Chronique Gdographique," and 

 much care is evidently bestowed on the collection of 

 matter. Among these notes there is one of much interest 

 on the proposal ^for connecting Lidge and Escaut by 

 means of a canal. 



The ever-interesting Monatschrift fiir den Orient for 

 June contains several papers of varied interest. Georg v. 

 Gvurkovics writes on the trade politics of Bulgaria ; Dr. 

 G. Schweinfurth sends from Cairo some notes on Rohlfs 

 last exploring journey in Tunisian territory. In view of 

 the new relations of Germany with the Samoan Islands, 

 Dr. Hubbe-Schleiden's article on Germany in the Pacific 

 is well-timed, and so from another point of view is Herr 

 Josef Hras's letter from Shanghai on the Kulja Question. 

 Under the title of Tsin and Ta-Tsin Count Schweiger- 

 Lerchenfeld contributes a learned paper on the old trade 

 routes of the Chinese. 



The principal paper in the June number of Petermann's 

 Mittheiltingcn is a long account by M. A. Woeikoff of his 

 travels in Yucatan and the south-east provinces of 

 Mexico in 1874. As might be expected from so accom- 

 plished and experienced a traveller, the paper is very com- 

 prehensive and full of original observations on the many 

 interesting features of the region visited. Dr. P. Jonas, 

 contributes the conclusion of a paper begun some time 

 since on Venezuela, describing a journey he made through 

 the Llanos to the Apurc. Dr. Emin 15ey continues his 

 valuable narrative of his journey from Mruli to the chief 

 town of Unyoro, and Herr B. Hassenstein describes the 

 north coast of Siberia between the mouth of the Lena 

 and Behring Strait. 



News, dated February 23, have just been received at 

 Vienna from the Hungarian Expedition travelling in 

 China under the leadership of Count Bela Szechenyi. 

 Count Szechenyi, Lieutenant Kreitner, and Herr L. Loczi, 

 started from Sia-an-Sen, and after a very laborious march 

 of 20 days, during which they had to pass several moun- 

 tain chains measuring more than 3,000 metres in height, 

 finally arriving at Lan-Chan-Sen. The province of Shen- 

 Si, where, as in Shan-si and Konan a famine was raging, 

 showed decay and ruin everywhere ; the same state of 

 things prevailed in the province of Kiang-Su. The long 

 rebellion of the last years has left these unenviable traces. 

 The expedition intended to leave for Su-tshou on February 

 14, on which march they would have to pass the Hoang-ho 

 river. 



At the last meeting of the Berlin Geographical Society 

 the President, Dr. Nachtigal, communicated the latest 

 reports received fio;n the German African travellers. 



Engineer Schiitt has started on his journey into the in- 

 terior and believes that he has now succeeded in overcoming 

 all the difficulties which at first presented themselves to 

 his further progress towards the East and North ; he now 

 intends entering the country of the Adjellengo tribe. Dr. 

 Buchner was detained at Cassenge through the rainy 

 season. He intended leaving for the interior at the 

 beginning of May. Dr. Gerhard Rohlfs has had much 

 to endure from the fanaticism of the natives at Djalo, 

 where he is still staying, and has also been unable to 

 obtain a guide through the Wadai desert on account of 

 the unfriendliness of the Bengasine Government. His 

 companion Dr. Strecker has returned to Bengasi in the 

 meantime in order to attempt to make the Government 

 more favourably disposed towards Dr. Rohlfs under- 

 taking. 



On June 3rd the Dutch North Polar Expedition sailed 

 from Amsterdam on board the " Willem Barends." The 

 ship is equipped with all necessaries for 10 months. 



A CARAVAN from Abyssinia has arrived at Marseilles, 

 being destined for the acclimatization garden of Paris. 

 It is composed of 15 men, 4 women, 2 children, 32 camels, 

 4 oxen, 2 zebras, 4 elephants, 8 ostriches, asses, and horses 

 from Dongola and Abyssinia. 



The Batavian Society of Arts and Science have pub- 

 lished in English in a recent volume of their Transactions 

 some curious notes on the Malay Archipelago and Malacca, 

 which have been compiled from Chinese sources by Mr. 

 W. P. Groeneveldt. 



NOTES 



We regret to say that although all critical symptoms have dis- 

 appeared, Sir Wyville Thomson is not regaining strength so fast 

 as was at first hoped. It will be some time still before he can 

 attend to business letters. In the meantime all communications 

 connected w ith Challenger matters should be addressed either to 

 Mr. John Murray, his Principal Assistant, Challenger Office, 31, 

 Qneen Street, Edinburgh, or his Secretary, Mr. George Leslie, 

 University, Edinburgh. 



Prof. A. R. Ramsay has been elected a Foreign Correspond- 

 ing Member of the R. Accademia dei Lincei. At the same time 

 Drs. vom Rath and Donders were elected to a similar honour. 



Prof. August Kroenig, the author of " Grundziige 'einer 

 Theorie der Case," died at Berlin on June 5, after a year's 

 illness. 



In the death of Prof. Carl Theodor Ludwig Neubauer, to 

 which we briefly alluded in our last number, German che- 

 mistry has lost one of its most accomplished specialists. 

 Neubauer was born at Liichow in 1830. After a fair high- 

 school education and some experience as an apothecary he 

 entered, at the age of twenty-three, the laboratory of the famous 

 analytical chemist, Fresenius, at Wiesbaden, in the capacity of 

 assistant. In 1856 he commenced his pedagogical career as 

 privat-docent, and received in 1864 a professor's chair. At an 

 early period he became a recognised authority in various 

 branches of analytical, agricultural, and physiological chemistry, 

 and especially in the chemistry of the urine, to which he has 

 always devoted his chief attention. His researches in this de- 

 partment embrace the detection of various normal and abnormal 

 constituents previously unknown, and the elaboration of exact 

 methods for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of urine. 

 The manual of Neubauer and Vogel on this subject, which 

 reached its seventh edition in 1876, is regarded as the most ex- 

 haustive and complete work of the kind. The various higher 

 derivatives of the urea group occurring in nature, such as xanthin 

 and kreatin, were also made the base of careful research. 

 Neubauer's investigations into the chemistry of wine have likewise 



