July 3, 1879] 



NATURE 



227 



heat at noon. Nevertheless, the scientific labours of the 

 expedition had great success, the country being explored 

 in all directions, and the gallant Colonel only hopes to 

 attain as fruitful results in Thibet. He intended ad- 

 vancing to Barkul and Chami, as the shortest way through 

 the southern Altai range. 



From the Annual Reportupon the Survey of theNorthern 

 and North-Western Lakes and the Mississippi River, in 

 charge of Major C. B. Comstock andCapt. H. M.Adams, 

 we learn that on Lake Erie the triangulation has been 

 carried from Cleveland, Ohio, to the west end of the lake. 

 The topography and hydrography have been extended to 

 include all of the American shore, and the Canadian shore 

 from Detroit River to Point Pelde. A base-hne has been 

 measured near Chicago and the connecting triangulation 

 east has been completed to White Pigeon, Mich. The 

 latitude and longitude of Memphis, Tenn., have been de- 

 termined, and in connection with Capt. W. S. Stanton, 

 United States Engineers, the longitudes of Fort Laramie, 

 Wyo., Camp Robinson, Neb., and Deadwood, Dak., have 

 been determined. The survey of the Mississippi River 

 has been carried from Mound City, above Memphis, to 

 Scanlon's Landing, Ark., and a line of precise levels has 

 been completed from Memphis, Tenn., to Austin, Miss. 

 A chart of Lake Ontario, coast charts Nos. i and 2 Lake 

 Ontario, coast charts Nos. 7, 8, and 9 Lake Michigan, 

 and detail charts Nos. i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 Mississippi 

 River have been completed. 



In his last report from Saigon, Mr. Consul Tremlett 

 states that the water communication between Saigon, 

 Cholon, and the western provinces of French Cochin 

 China being very circuitous and inadequate to the traffic, 

 the Canal of Cho-goo has been cut from Cho-goo to 

 Soug-tra, being six miles in length and no feet broad. 

 This canal is of immense importance to the country be- 

 tween the River Donnai and the Mei-Kong. Another 

 short canal is to be cut near the junction of the Viaco and 

 Soir-ap, two arms of the Donnai. Mr. Tremlett also 

 mentions that a canal which did not attract much atten- 

 tion was opened in 1 876, connecting the lower and upper 

 branches of the Mei-Kong ; it is 3^ miles long, and opens 

 a more direct course from the south-western parts of the 

 colony to Cholon, the great centre of traffic. 



Ernest Marno, the well-known Austrian traveller in 

 Africa, who originally formed one of the staff of the Belgian 

 expedition under the late Capt. Crespel, has recently been 

 appointed deputy governor of the province of Galabat in 

 the Soudan. M. Statin, another Austrian traveller, has 

 gone to the region of the Upper Nile, the special object of 

 his journey being meteorological investigations. 



Messrs. S. T. Leigh and Co., of Sydney, have issued 

 a map which will be very useful to persons visiting 

 Australia during the approaching exhibition. It shows 

 the Great Western Railway of New South Wales crossing 

 the Blue Mountains, from the Nepean River to Bowen- 

 fells, also the localities and natural features of greatest 

 general interest. The map has been compiled on the 

 scale of one geographical mile to an inch by Mr. E. Du 

 Faur, and is intended to accompany some fine photo- 

 graphs of the same region which Mr. Du Faur published 

 about two years back. The more remarkable gorges 

 and cliffs among the mountains are illustrated by dark 

 shading. 



No. I of the new volume (36) of Globus has the first 

 of a series of articles on the Island of Chios, by Dr. Ad. 

 Testevuide, of that island. There are two papers of 

 considerable ethnological interest : one by M. Andrde on 

 the ethnological boundaries in France, and the other by 

 Dr. Jung, mentioned in next note, on Australian types 

 and sketches. Among the news are some details con- 

 cerning Severtzov' s second journey in the Pamir. | 



"AUSTRALIEN UND Neuseeland " is the title of an 

 historical, geographical, and statistical sketch by Dr. Carl 

 E. Jung, which has just been published at Leipzig (O. 

 Mutze), with ten illustrations. 



LAST YEARS SOLAR ECLIPSE'' 



XXTE have received an interesting account of the ob- 



' • servations made during the late eclipse in Texas, 

 under the direction of Mr. Waldo. The first part of tlie 

 Report is chiefly taken up with an account of the deter- 

 mination of the geographical position of Fort Worth. 

 The second part contains the reports of the various ob- 

 servers. Mr. Waldo gives a description of the photo- 

 graphs obtained. Unfortunately the camera had no proper 

 clockwork. An ingenious, though most likely shaky, 

 arrangement was used to correct the sun's motion in 

 altitude, while his motion in azimuth was left to take care 

 of itself. Each point more luminous than the remaindei 

 of the sun's corona is therefore drawn out into a line ; but 

 this outline of the moon's edge at the beginning and end 

 of totality is sufficient to determine the position of these 

 brighter points. An attempt was made to obtain photo- 

 graphic evidence of the polarisation of the corona, by 

 inserting a double image prism between the lenses of the 

 camera. The result was doubtful. The photographs 

 were examined by Prof. Pickering, who found inequalities 

 in them, which, as far as they go, tend to indicate a tan- 

 gential polarisation ; but in the opinion of Dr. Hastings, 

 the evidence is not conclusive. 



Mr. R. W. Willson observed the corona through a 

 3-inch telescope. By an oversight a red shade was not 

 removed before totality. Through this shade the corona 

 seemed to have a pretty well-defined limit about four or 

 five minutes from the moon' s limb. After the shade had 

 been removed, other portions of the corona could be 

 seen, the light of which was nearly as intense as that 

 near the sun's limb; while the ring, which alone was 

 visible through the shade, was not distinguished from the 

 other parts of the corona. These observations would in- 

 dicate that there is more red light in the corona near the 

 body of the sun than away from it ; and this observation 

 is confirmed by Prof. S. H. Lockett, who, in a letter to 

 Mr. Waldo, calls the outer corona " more bluish-white " 

 than the inner corona. 



Prof. J. H. Rees made some spectroscopic observations 

 with a two-prism spectroscope. No bright lines were seen ; 

 but on widening the slit dark lines were noticed, amongst 

 them especially C and D. 



Mr. W. H. Pulsifer made also some spectroscopic ob- 

 servations. He noticed the reversal of the Fraunhofer 

 lines with a tangential slit, and from the length of these 

 lines he determined approximately the thickness of the 

 reversing layer to be about 524 miles. No observations 

 could be made during totality, as the image of the corona 

 on the slit was lost, and could not be found again. The 

 mischief was caused originally by one of the lamps, which 

 went out just before totality. Moral : Don't trust to any 

 lamps during eclipse observations. There is always a 

 gust of wind at the beginning of totality, which is pretty 

 sure to extinguish lamps. 



Mr. Seagrave could see the inner corona about thirty 

 seconds before totality. 



Several gentlemen have sent in sketches of the corona, 

 which are given on the last of the four plates accompany- 

 ing the report. The remaining plates are taken up by an 

 enlarged copy of the best photograph obtained, by a 

 sketch illustrating Mr. Willson's report, and by a sketch 

 of the corona made by Prof. Lockett. 



Arthur Schuster 



■ Report of the Observ.itions of the Total Solar Eclipse, July 39, 1878, 

 made at Fort V^orth, Texas. Edited by L. Waldo. (Cambridge : J. Wil- 

 son and Son, 1879.) 



