460 



NATURE 



[Sept. II, 1879] 



by the Italian naval officer, Lieut. Bove. Apropos of 

 recent troubles between Chili and Bolivia is an article, 

 with map, on the desert of Atacama. Among the infor- 

 mation in the Monaisbericht are a number of important 

 data as to the heights of various places in Japan. 



At the last annual meeting of the Swiss Alpine Club the 

 following resolutions were adopted : — (i) The club deter- 

 mines for six years the field of its excursions as follows : — 

 The high Alps between the cantons of Berne and Valais to 

 be explored from west to east in three parts : the Lenk 

 with its neighbourhood, the Blumhs-alp, and the glacier 

 of Aletsch and the Jungfrau as far as Grindelwald ; (2) A 

 series of lectures will be opened for the guides ; (3) The 

 central committee will publish all interesting documents 

 collected until now as to the motion of glaciers, with 

 bibliographical notes on former publications on this 

 subject. 



The new number of the Geographical Society's 

 monthly periodical contains Mr. Keith Johnston's 

 "Notes of a Trip from Zanzibar to Usambara, in Feb- 

 ruary and March, 1879," illustrated by an excellent little 

 map, which has been reduced from the original drawing 

 sent home by him. These and the other reports and 

 maps connected with his preliminary work, and published 

 in a previous number, were, as the editor very truly 

 remarks, "a sure promise of great things to come when 

 he should have traversed the unknown regions of the 

 interior," and show very clearly how gi'eat a loss geo- 

 graphy has sustained by Mr. Johnston's premature death. 

 Notes on the geology of Usambara, collected during the 

 same journey, are by Mr. J. Thomson, the geologist and 

 naturalist of the East African expedition, who has now 

 taken Mr. Johnston's place. The " Lecture on the 

 Origin of the Flora of the European Alps," by Mr. John 

 Ball, F.R.S., occupies a considerable portion of the 

 present number. The geographical notes do not this 

 month contain anything very striking, but some of them 

 are good, especially those relating to Col. Grodekof's and 

 M. Oshanin's expeditions, and to the exploration of the 

 Sanpo River and Count Szechenyi's further attempt to 

 reach Lob-Nor from China. We would also call parti- 

 cular attention to the obituary notice of Mr. Keith John- 

 ston. The rest of the number is chiefly occupied with 

 the presidential address in the Geographical Section of 

 the British Association. 



A PROPOSAL similar to the oftcn-ventilatcd plans of a 

 sea in the great Sahara has been recently made by the 

 Governor of the State of Arizona, in North America. It 

 is suggested that a short canal should be constructed which 

 would admit the waters of the Pacific to a large and low- 

 lying area of land situated between Arizona and Southern 

 Cahfornia. The district is quite a desert at present, and 

 is believed to be the bed of an ancient lake. It measures 

 some 200 miles in length and 50 miles in breadth ; its 

 level is estimated to be about 300 feet below that of the 

 Pacific. Its western boundary is at only 45 miles distance 

 from the Gulf of California, and as on this part, where the 

 canal would have to be built, there is already a lake of 

 20 miles length, the length of the actual canal would be 

 reduced to 25 miles. The cost of the undertaking would 

 amount to about 200,000/., and the work could be com- 

 pleted in six months. The importance of an undertaking 

 of this kind need not be pointed out. 



We learn by telegram from New York that Commander 

 Lull, U.S.N., has read a paper before the American 

 Science Association, on his recent explorations in connec- 

 tion with the proposed ship-canal through the Panama 

 Isthmus. He considers that the only practicable routes 

 are those via Nicaragua and Panama, and that locks will 

 be indispensable. Commander Lull gives a decided 

 preference to the Nicaragua route. 



The last number of the Isvestia of the Russian Geo- 

 graphical Society contains much interesting information 



as to the meetings of the Society and of its sections. 

 Unhappily, all the proceedings are very old, as we do not 

 find anything more recent than from February 6 to May 

 30 of last year. It is a pity that the Society does not 

 publish its interesting proceedings immediately after the 

 meetings. 



M. HOEVERT has undertaken a valuable work, the com- 

 pilation of a complete bibliography of all works relative 

 to the geography of Russia published till now. He has 

 already finished the revision of the libraries of the Geo- 

 graphical Society of the Academy of Sciences (which re- 

 ceives all Russian works published), and of the General 

 Staff. 



With a view to turning the island to profitable account, 

 a Saghalien Fishing Association has been established 

 under licence from the authorities at St. Petersburg, and 

 vessels for the purpose are being built or chartered in 

 Japan. The business is expected to prove a very lucrative 

 one. 



The caravan of Capt. S. Martini, whilst on its way to 

 convey supplies to the Italian African expedition, has 

 been attacked by the Somalis tribe and robbed of all its 

 merchandise at a distance of some six day's march from 

 Zeila. 



NOTES 



The eighth general meeting of the German Astronomical 

 Society took place at the lecture hall of the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences at Berlin on the 5th inst., under the presidency of Prof. 

 Krijger, Director of the Gotha Observatory. Numerous guests 

 fiom England, France, Belgium, Holland, Russia, Sweden, 

 Denmark, and Austria were present. The Minister for Public 

 Instruction, Herr von Puttkammer, welcomed the assembly in 

 the name of the German Government. We shall refer to the 

 meeting in a future number. 



A SMART shock of earthquake was felt in the neighboiurhood 

 of Szegedin (Hungary) on September 3. 



An announcement made by the Society of Arts states that the 

 Society offers the Fothergill gold med.il for the best means of 

 protecting ships from loss by fire and by sinking, and a silver 

 medal for the protection of ships from either calamity. 



A PAMPHLET containing a collection of necrological notices 

 of the late M. Victor Masson, formerly principal of the eminent 

 Paris publishing firm, has recently been published in Paris. The 

 deceased died at his comitry house of Chassagne (Cote d'Or) on 

 May 3 last, at the age of seventy-two years. His name was 

 well-known in all scientific circles, as he held the highest place 

 among scientific publishers of the French capital. Personally he 

 was greatly esteemed by all who knew him, his relations with 

 men of science were ever of the most liberal, friendly, and 

 upright character, and the care and elegance with which he 

 brought out the scientific works entrusted to him always deserved 

 special praise. 



On the 25th inst. the Pompeii celebration, to which we referred 

 some time ago, will take place. The director of archccological 

 excavations in Italy, Prof. Michele Ruggiero, will deliver a 

 historical address to the assembled guests in the basilica of the 

 ruined city. Hereupon he will lead them through the entire 

 area hitherto laid bare, and afterwards some excavations will be 

 made in presence of the guests. 



The Clothworkers' Company have voted 3,500/., beyond the 

 10,000/. previously voted, to cover the complete cost of that 

 portion of the buildings of the Yorkshire College of Science, 

 Leeds, which will be required for the teaching of the sciences 

 applied to the textile industries and dyeing. They have further 

 agreed to maintain the buildings and the operations in full effect 

 for a period of five years from January i next, at a cost of 

 1,200/. per annum. 



