I lO 



NATURE 



\ymie 2, 1887 



property in the district of Londonderry. Surely they could not 

 employ the income, which they hold as a public trust, in a more 

 advantageous manner than in facilitating the education of 

 deserving persons, hindered by straitened means from securing 

 for themselves the benefits of higher education." 



At the last examination of students of medicine at the 

 Nicholas Hospital, in St. .Petersburg, fifty-four ladies out of 

 ninety-two obtained their degree. 



The first Danish lady physician. Miss Nielsen, has just begun 

 to practise at Copenhagen. She took her degree with the 

 highest honours. 



In a lucid and interesting article in the Scotsman, on " Tem- 

 perature of the Western Lakes and Lochs," Dr. H. R. Mill 

 sums up the results of various recent observations made by him- 

 self and by Mr. John Murray, of the Challenger Commission. 

 The eastern fringe of the North Atlantic brings between the 

 western islands water at a uniform temperature of 46°. An 

 equal temperature prevails on the surface, except in the vicinity 

 of land, where it is higher. In nearly land-locked sea lochs 

 and basins the temperature of the mass of water is determined 

 by the configuration, and varies from 47" '5 to 43°'8, according 

 to certain definite laws. In fresh-water lakes, those that are 

 shallow are at a temperature of about 45° ; those that are deep 

 are colder, varying from 43° to 41°, and showing hardly any 

 diiference in temperature between surface and bottom. 



On May 19, at 22h. 37m. (Greenwich time) a shock of earth- 

 quake was felt in the Alpes Vaudoises, at Sion, Bex, Aigle, 

 Vevey, Rougemont, Gessenay, and other places. On May 20, 

 3 h. 5m., a slighter shock was felt at Rolle (Vaud). 



On May 30, about 3 o'clock in the morning, heavy shocks 

 of earthquake were felt at the city of Mexico. The earth 

 tremor was of a violent kind, and had a lifting motion lasting 

 five seconds. This was followed by a low roar and a strong 

 vibration of the earth from east to west, lasting thirty-nini 

 seconds. The houses rocked, and thousands of people left their 

 beds. It was afterwards found ihat shocks of earthquake had 

 been general in the States of Hidalgo, Mexico, Morelos, Puebla, 

 Tlascala, Vera Cruz, and Oajaca. The force of the earthq lake 

 caused bells to ring and walls to crack. One of the aqueducts 

 bringing water into the city of Mexico was damaged. On the 

 same day a severe shock of earthquake occurred at Benton, 

 Arizona, at noon, and at Nogales, Arizona, at I o'clock in the 

 afternoon. 



According to a telegram from Ne.v York, dated May 31, 

 shocks of earthquake have baen felt in the islands of St. Lucia, 

 St. Vincent, and Grenada. 



A CYCLONE of unusual severity passed over the northern 

 portion of the Bay of Bengal last week. The Calcutta Corre- 

 spondent of the Times says that at the beginning of the week 

 the Meteorological Department reported that a storm had formed 

 near Diamond Island, and was slowly advancing towards the 

 Madras coast. At first the storm appeared likely to strike land 

 near Vizagapatam, but on Wednesday morning it took a more 

 northerly direction, and during the following night passed 

 between Saugor Island and False Paint, and thence inland, viii 

 Midnapore and Chota Nagpore. At Saugor Island the wind's 

 rate was sixty-seven miles an hour, when the anemometer and 

 storm signals were blown away. It is believel that the wind 

 attained greater foi ce later. 



The New England Meteorological Society has two special 

 investigations on hand for the coming summer, in addition to its 

 regular work of temperature and rainfall observation. The first 

 special subject (which has been investigated during the last two 

 summers) is thunder-storms in New England ; the second is the 



sea-breeze on the eastern coast of Massachusetts, now under- 

 taken for the first time. The Society would be unable to carry 

 on these inquiries but for the aid received from the U. S. Signal 

 Service, the Bache Fund of the National Academy, and the 

 Harvard College Observatory. 



General Greely, the new Chief Signal Officer of the United 

 States, has made a laudable effort to publish the Monthly Weather 

 Review as nearly as possible up to time. The Reviews for January 

 and February last have lately been issued — leaving some six 

 months of arrears to be worked up subsequently. If these 

 Reviews are published regularly, and quickly, the current in- 

 formation contained in them will be of much value, as they give 

 not only complete data for the whole of the United States and 

 Canada, but also details of the storms, ice, and fog in the 

 Atlantic Ocean. The Reviews in question are accompanied by 

 a number of very clear charts, one of which shows the tracks of 

 the areas of low pressure over the ocean in each month, and the 

 appendices contain particulars of miscellaneous phenomena and 

 various notes. Among the latter may be specially mentioned 

 articles on sunspots and meteorological phenomena, and results 

 of anemometer observations at sea, with a description of a 

 graphical method for deducing the trui velocity of the wind 

 from the records of the instrument and the motion of the vessel. 



The Oficina Meteorologica Argentina has just published vol. 

 V. of its Anales (620 pp. 4to, Buenos Aires, 1887), containing 

 the monthly and yearly results of observations made at various 

 stations during the year 1884, together with exhaustive articles 

 on the climate of four places in the Republic, based on observa- 

 tions taken between the years 1855 and 18S6. This service, 

 which is undoubtedly the most completely organized of any 

 existing in the South American States, is .now under the 

 superintendence of Mr. W. G. Davis, who has succeeded Dr. B. 

 A. Gould, the former Director. A new meteorological observa- 

 tory is being built at Cordoba, and will be furnished with the 

 best self-recording instruments —the astronomical observatory, 

 with which it has been hitherto connected, being made a separate 

 institution. Several new stations have been recently established 

 in remote places, including an important one on Stat . n Island 

 (54°-55° south latitude). The service is under the Ministry of 

 Public Instruction. 



At a recent meeting of the Canadian Institute, Dr. Rosebrugh, 

 of Toronto, read a paper on and presented some specimens of 

 the photography of the interior of the living eye. Two series of 

 photographs were shown. The first simply presented views of 

 the optic nerve and retinal blood-vessels. The second series 

 showed not only the retina of the eye, but also an inverted 

 picture of objects to which the eye was directed, depicted upon 

 the retina. 



A photographer at Pesth has succeeded in taking photo- 

 graphs of projectiles, fired from a Werendler gun, whilst having 

 a velocity of 1300 feet per second. The projectiles appeared 

 on the impressions enveloped in a layer of air hyperbolic in 

 form. 



In a recent communication to the Russian Geographical 

 Society, M. Krasnofl:' has described the formation, at the present 

 time, of loess from the glacial gravelly clay in the Tian-Shan. 

 The rains which wash this clay take away its finest dust, which 

 is deposited in layers, but accumulates slowly on account of the 

 small amount of rain. M. Krasnofif supposes with much prob- 

 ability that the yellow loess of China originated in this way. As 

 to the flora of the Tian-Shan, M. Krasnoff points out that it 

 formerly held a place between that of the Altai and that of the 

 Alps, and resembled the present vegetation of the Caucasus, 

 The desiccation of the country caused the retreat of the glaciers^ 



