78 



NATURE 



[September i6, 19 15 



mammals, and a femur of a small Toxodont is de- 

 scribed by Mr. Carlos Ameghino, showing a piece 

 of worked quartzite which must have penetrated the 

 bone during life. 



The Avezzano earthquake of January 13 last origin- 

 ated in a portion of Italy in which strong earthquakes 

 are of infrequent occurrence. One of its latest pre- 

 decessors, that of February 24, 1904, has been studied 

 by Dr. A. Cavasino {Boll. Soc. Sis. Ital., vol. xviii., 

 1914, pp. 411-48), and his conclusions are of interest 

 in connection with the recent earthquake. The area 

 of destruction contains only 54 square miles, and its 

 centre lies about seven miles north-west of Avezzano. 

 The two earthquakes were therefoi-e in all probability 

 associated with the same fault. As the disturbed area 

 includes only about 4750 square miles, the focus cannot 

 have been at a great depth. Using Button's method, 

 Dr. Cavasino estimates that depth to be about 

 4i miles. 



A SUMMARY of the weather for the past summer is 

 given in the issue of the Weekly Weather Report of 

 the Meteorological Office. The period comprises the 

 thirteen weeks from May 30 to August 28, and the 

 aggregates of temperature, rainfall, and bright sun- 

 shine are given for the several districts of the United 

 Kingdom. The mean temperature was below the 

 average everywhere except in the north of Scotland, 

 where the excess was less than 0-5°; the deficiency 

 amounted to a degree in the south-east and south- 

 west of England, and in the English Channel, whilst 

 in other districts it was generally about 0-5'*. The 

 east of England was the only district with the absolute 

 maximum temperature as high as 90°, and in all the 

 western districts the thermometer failed to reach 80°. 

 Rainy days were in fair agreement with the normal, 

 whilst the total rainfall varied considerably in different 

 parts of the United Kingdom. There was a deficiency 

 of rain in the north and west of Scotland, the north 

 of Ireland, the north-west and south-east of England, 

 and in the English Channel; the greatest deficiency 

 was in the west of Scotland, where the rainfall was 

 only 72 per cent, of the average. There was an excess 

 generally in the eastern district, in the south-west of 

 England, and in the south of Ireland; the greatest 

 excess was 123 per cent, of the average in the east of 

 England. Bright sunshine differed very little from the 

 normal, and the only districts with an excess were 

 the north of Scotland and the north-west of England. 



The number of the Proceedings of the Tokyo Mathe- 

 matico-Physical Society issued in June, 1915, contains 

 a rdsumd in English by Mr. Tokur6 Nakano of a 

 magnetic survey of Japan for the epoch January i, 

 19 13, executed by the Japanese Hydrographic Office 

 under the superintendence of Prof. Tanakadate. There 

 were four survey parties in the field, and the whole 

 of the observations were concluded within fourteen 

 months, so that uncertainties arising from secular 

 change were unusually small. A previous survey had 

 been made for the epoch January i, 1895, also under 

 the supervision of Prof. Tanakadate, and the same 

 instruments and a good many of the same stations 

 were employed on the two occasions. A still earlier 

 survey was executed in 1887 by Profs. C. G. Knott 

 NO. 2394, VOL. 96] 



and Tanakadate. The 19 13 survey, however, unlike 

 the earlier ones, was not confined to Japan proper. 

 Of its 331 stations, 78 were in Korea and 16 in For- 

 mosa ; 38 of them were adjudged disturbed and left 

 out of account in deducing the isogonals, isoclinals, 

 and isodynamics. Formulae were found for the values 

 of the different magnetic elements, proceeding in 

 powers of the latitude and longitude differences. 

 Tables based thereon give the calculated values of the 

 declination, dip, and horizontal force at the inter- 

 sections of degrees of latitude and longitude. Similar 

 formulae were found for the secular change, and even 

 for the rate of change, or " annual acceleration," of 

 the secular change. The secular change conclusions 

 were based on the results from fixed magnetic observa- 

 tories and from stations common to two or more of 

 the surveys. 



The Transactions of the Royal Society of South 

 Africa, vol. iv., parts i and 3, 1915, contains three 

 papers by Prof. J. C, Beattie dealing with terrestrial 

 magnetism in South Africa. The first paper, read 

 July 16, 1913, gives the values of declination, dip, and 

 horizontal force observed by Prof. Beattie himself at 

 about ninety stations in the years 1910 to 1913, and 

 values of the declination observed by Mr. O. C. Mac- 

 pherson at seven stations in 1909. Some of the ninety 

 stations had been previously observed at by Profs. 

 Beattie and Morrison during their survey of the epoch 

 July I, 1903. The new parts of the country dealt with 

 included the West Transvaal, British Bechuanaland, 

 and Bushmanland. The second paper, also read on 

 July 16, 1913, gives a table of values of declination, ^ 

 dip, and horizontal force for the epoch July i, 1908, J 

 at 255 South African stations. The observations had 

 beerf made at various times from 1900 to 1913, the 

 reductions to a common epoch depending on the 

 secular change results obtained from repeat stations. 

 There are three charts representing respectively the 

 isogonals, the isoclinals, and the lines of equal horizontal 

 force for the epoch considered. The third paper, read 

 May 20, 1914, discusses the secular variation of the 

 magnetic elements in South Africa between 1900 and 

 19 13. There are three charts showing respectively the 

 mean annual changes of declination, dip, and hori- 

 zontal force. Westerly declination is falling through- 

 out the whole of South Africa, the rate of fall being 

 especially large — from 10' to 13' annually — along the 

 east coast as far north as Mozambique. The southerly 

 dip is increasing rapidly, but in this case the rate of 

 change is largest — 8' per annum — in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cape Town. Horizontal force is diminishing 

 rapidly, the annual fall in Cape Colony varying from 

 857 to looy per annum. There are few parts of the 

 world where so large secular changes have been 

 observed, thus magnetic observations in South Africa 

 are of exceptional value. 



The London Mathematical Society has issued, with 

 the assistance of its official printer, Mr. T. T. Hodg- 

 son, a list of suggestions for notation and printing 

 of mathematical formulae, accompanied by a sample 

 illustration showing the leads, spaces, and quadrats 

 required in mathematical composition. Most of the 

 suggestions might be summed up briefly in th« 



