June 24, 1897] 



NATURE 



183 



are cut off from communication, and nothing has been heard 

 from them. Throughout almost the whole of the province of 

 Assam bridges have been destroyed and the roads rent with 

 fissures, so that communication by road is impossible, and the 

 telegraph cannot be used. Further information from Assam 

 shows that the earthquake was slight in Silchar, Kohima, 

 Manipur, Dilbrugarh, and Sibsagar ; violent at Barpeta, Now- 

 gong, and Mangaldai, in addition to the places already re- 

 ported. The Chief Commissioner estimates the mortality from 

 the earthquake in the Cherra Hills at between 4000 and 6000, 

 but details have not yet been received. 



The semi-centennial anniversary of the American Medical 

 Association, held at Philadelphia June 1-4, was attended by 

 President McKinley. About 2500 delegates were present. Dr. 

 Nicholas Senn, of Chicago, presided, and Dr. Nathan S. Davis, 

 of the same city, founder of the Association, was also present. 

 Several hundred papers were read before the various sections. 



Dr. Arthur G. Butler, writing in the Zoologist (June 15), 

 describes some observations which tell against the assertion that 

 birds build their nests by imitation, and that the reasonwhy 

 many of them at the commencement of the season trifle with 

 building material for some time before they produce a satisfac- 

 tory structure is that they are unable at once to remember 

 exactly what the character of the nest was in which they first 

 saw the light of day. Difierent hen canaries, reared in the usual 

 square box of a London breeding-cage, were turned loose by 

 Dr. Butler in aviaries in which no typical finch-like nest existed, 

 and they reproduced nests nearly resembling those of their wild 

 ancestors. A still more convincing proof of the instinctive 

 building habit in birds is given. Dr. Butler turned loose a 

 canary, also cage-bred, in one of his aviaries, late in April. The 

 bird took possession of a square box hung high up on the 

 wirework, and had almost completed a nest therein when it was 

 disturbed. Afterwards it commenced and completed an elabo- 

 rate cup-shaped nest in a dead bush. 



We are very glad to see that the value of experimental work 

 in agriculture is becoming more widely recognised by British 

 farmers. That this is so, is shown by a petition which agri- 

 culturists of the Dunblane district of West Perthshire have sent 

 to the Board of Agriculture in favour of experimental farms. 

 The petition points out that in the United States there are about 

 fifty-four agricultural experimental stations, apart from colleges, 

 receiving Government support to the extent of from 3000/. to 

 4000/. each ; in France, Denmark, Norway and other countries, 

 large sums are annually expended by Government in aid of agri- 

 cultural education and research ; and in Germany, about a dozen 

 colleges and experimental stations combined receive an average 

 Government grant of about 30CX)/. each. In comparison with 

 this is the fact that in Great Britain the Government grants 

 amount to only about 8000/., which is distributed among eleven 

 colleges and three dairy institutes, and is mostly expended on 

 teaching. The petition goes on to state that a great deal of 

 money is annually lost to farmers through the misapplication 

 of manures, as well as by the injudicious feeding of stock ; and 

 though much knowledge has been accumulated by wise and ob. 

 servant farmers, yet this knowledge is being continually lost 

 through want of proper record and confirmation. While some 

 of the suggested remedies for agricultural distress are objection- 

 able, it is believed that a judicious and extended system of 

 experiment would tend, on the contrary, by teaching farmers 

 how to grow larger crops with the same or less expenditure, 

 to increase the supply of home-grown food without increasing 

 its cost. 



The retirement of M. Folie from the directorship of the 

 Brussels Observatory has led to an appeal in both Houses of the 

 NO. 1443. VOL. 56] 



Belgian Parliament for the separation of the meteorological ser- 

 vice from that of astronomy, which is now the case in nearly al 

 other countries, del et Terre of June i contains a verbatim 

 account of the speeches made in favour of the separation. The 

 Royal Observatory of Brussels was established in 1826 by A. 

 Quetelet, who presided over the International Maritime Con- 

 ference at that place in 1853, and whose works on the climate of 

 Belgium, and the ' ' Physics of the Globe " are still considered as 

 models of scientific discussion. The Belgian Meteorological 

 organisation, although dealing with a comparatively small area, 

 is one of considerable importance in the European system. It 

 issues a daily weather chart based upon the reports received by 

 telegraph from nearly fifty inland and foreign stations, a volume 

 referring specially to the observations made at the Observatory, 

 by self-recording and other instruments, and a monthly Bulletin 

 containing a summary of the observations made in the country. 

 It supplies daily weather telegrams to the various fishing stations, 

 and storm warnings, when necessary, based on the telegrams re- 

 ceived from the Meteorological Office in London, and also issues 

 notices to collieries in the event of unusual falls of the 

 barometer. 



Mr. H. C. Russell, C.M.G., F.R.S., sends us a descrip- 

 tion of a very brilliant aurora observed in lat. 47^° S., by 

 Captain Hepworth, of the R.M.S. Aoraugi, on April 20, while 

 on a voyage from the Cape to Sydney. He thinks the aurora 

 is by far the finest that has ever been seen in the southern hemi- 

 sphere. It was first observed as a diffused light over the 

 southern arc of the horizon at 6.30 p.m. From this light 

 horizontal flashes soon spread, and flashed upward in ever}- 

 direction, increasing in length and brilliancy, until, at 7.30 p.m., 

 they were shooting across the sky to within 30° of the 

 northern horizon. At 8.30, Captain Hepworth noted that " an 

 arch of bright green light, fading off into yellow, formed over 

 the southern horizon, rose rapidly to a higher and higher alti- 

 tude, and was followed by similar arches in regular sequence, 

 until there were six distinct arches, their apices being from 

 10° above the southern horizon to 60" above the northern 

 horizon. They were formed of vertical bands of light from 

 5° to 20° wide, bright green and yellow at their tops, and of 

 a rosy hue at their bases. Subsequently these arches changed 

 their shapes in all parts of the sky, others forming, but some 

 kind of sinuous curve was always preserved, except in one or 

 two cases. At 9 o'clock a circle formed round the zenith, 

 having a rotary motion, this circular motion having been apparent 

 in all the formations hitherto mentioned. A special feature in 

 this display should be mentioned. These formations all had a 

 westward movement. After 9. 15 the aurora was less brilliant, 

 but burst into greater activity a few minutes afterwards, more 

 especially in the northern semicircle. The display lasted until 

 9.45, gradually fading after 9.30." Mr. Russell adds to this 

 description some interesting remarks on the supposed connection 

 between auront and the weather. 



The last number of the Izvestia of the Russian Geographical 

 Society contains a dramatic account of M. Pastukhoff's second 

 ascent of the Elbruz. The two summits of this Central Cau- 

 casus peak attain, as is known, the altitude of 18,470 feet and 

 18,340 feet respectively, and consist of two funnel-like craters, 

 situated nearly two-thirds of a mile from each other. The 

 northern and eastern slopes of the peak are covered with a thick 

 nk'c, from which originate fourteen large and several smaller 

 glaciers ; they cover an aggregate surface of about sixty-seven 

 square miles, and attain a great thickness, fissures 700 feet deep 

 having been measured in one of them. The lowest level 

 reached by the glaciers is 7640 feet. During the ascent, M. 

 Pastukhoff's companion and one guide were disabled, and had 

 to be left behind, and two nights had to be spent on the glacier, 



