March 21/ 1918] 



NATURE 



57 



sudden subsidences of increasing amount, as shown on 

 the accompanying chart. The last and greatest subsi- 

 dence of June 5, igi6, happened at Kilauea just at 

 the close of the lava flow which culminated the erup- 

 tive period on Mauna Loa, and the lava column there- 

 after rose steadily for seven months on the Kilauea 

 side of the system, the Mauna Loa side being sealed. 

 There is good reason to suppose that similar sym- 

 pathetic relations have existed in previous eruptions. 

 There were no seismometric and volcanometric data 

 on those occasions, and quantitative records are essen- 

 tial to establish such conespondences. 



Another line of investigation, based on analysis of 

 -uch lava-tide charts as Figs. 3 and 4, plotted for four 

 and a half years, and on a study of the imperfect 

 records from 1865 to 191 1, indicates that there are 

 larger semi-annual and smaller semi-monthly varia- 

 tions in the height of the lava column, after making 

 due allowance for local interferences and longer term 

 cycles, which vary strikingly with a time curve con- 

 structed to express the relative amounts of the forced 

 lutational strains in the globe attributable respectively 

 U) sun and moon. Mr. H. O. Wood computed this 

 curve, and the writer executed the lava measurements 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford. — The School of Geography has published 

 its programme of lectures and other work for next 

 term. Mr. H. O. Beckit, the acting director, will 

 lecture on the historical geography of Europe and on 

 problems of social and political geography; he will 

 conduct classes on elementary surveying and on Indian 

 geography; also, in concert with the Rev, E. C. Spicer 

 and Miss MacMunn respectively, a field class and a 

 special class for the study of the Oxford district. Miss 

 MacMunn will lecture on Indo-China, and Mr. J. 

 Cossar on "Eastern Trade Routes." Informal in- 

 struction in geography will also be given. 



The Committee for Anthropology announces lectures 

 by Prof. A. Thomson (human anatomy), Miss Czap- 

 licka (ethnology), Mr. H. O. Beckit (distribution of 

 man), Mr. H. Balfour (comparative technology — 

 aesthetic arts). Prof. Sollas (stages of human culture 

 and the latest episodes in the earth's history), Mr. 

 Griffith (questions relating to ancient Egypt), Dr. 

 Marett (primitive morals, religion : rudimentary forms, 

 legal institutions of savages), Mr. T. R. Glover (pro- 



1912 

 WIN JANlF E B!MAR|APR|M A Y JUNJpULlAUGtSE PIOCTKiO VJDEC 



1913 



JAN FEB MAR APRMAY JUN JUL 



I 



Fig. 4.— Chart showing measured rise and fall of Kilauea lava at five-day intervals during general subsidence iqi 

 eauinox : supposed lunar fluctuation superposed upon this curve. Deaths below ritn of Halemaumau in feet 



equinox ; supposed lunar fluctuation superposed upon 



w ith alidade or transit for the years 1912, 1913 (Fig. 4), 

 1914, 1915, and 1916 (Fig. 3). It is possible that the 

 longer term cycles vary with a strain curve of free 

 nutation (Chandler) due to variation of latitude. 



Seismic Indication of Volcanic Activity. 

 As stated above, there were earthquake swarms 

 accompanying and preceding the outbreaks of Mauna 

 Loa, and there have been similar groupings of local 

 shocks accompanying the ups and downs of the Kilauea 

 lava column. In addition, there are volcanic vibra- 

 tions and extraordinary tiltings of the ground, the 

 latter both periodic and prolonged, which promise in- 

 tensely interesting data concerning the movements of 

 the hard lava underground. Remembering the per- 

 manent surface deformation determined geodetically 

 after the San Francisco earthquake, and after the 

 eruptions at Usu and Sakurajima, in Japan, the writer 

 l)elieves, from experimental evidence, that a volcano 

 station is most advantageously placed for critical seis- 

 mometric investigation of the progress of such dis- 

 placements. The co-ordination of deep magmatic 

 movements with the earthquake problem is the pro- 

 foundest enigma of geology. T. A. Jaggar. 



NO. 2525, VOL. lOl] 



-13. Maxima near solsti 

 t (left), elevations above sea-Icvel (right). 



gress in religion). Dr. Farnell (Greek religion), Sir 

 P. Vinogradoff (historical jurisprudence), Prof. Mac- 

 donell (Indian religion, customs, and archaeology), Mr. 

 V. A. Smith (Indian archaeology and art), and Mr. S. 

 Langdon (questions relating to ancient Babylonia). 

 The instruction given in many of the foregoing sub- 

 jects will be of an informal character. 



Lord Bryce and Prof. R. H. Chittenden, of Yale 

 University, were the chief guests at a dinner of Amer- 

 ican Univeisity men now in England, including the 

 graduates of the United States Military and Naval 

 •Academics, held under the auspices of the American 

 Universities .Mumni Association, at the Criterion 

 Restaurant on March 14. The dinner marked the in- 

 auguration of a London branch of the American Uni- 

 versity Union in Europe. Lord Bryce, in the course 

 of an address, said he cherishes the hope that after the 

 war there will be more and more British students in 

 American universities to learn those subjects which are 

 best taught there, and more and more American 

 students in British universities. The war has given 

 convincing proof of the unity of spirit between England 

 and America: and in the future the two nations will 



