March 31, 1892] 



NATURE 



519 



explored between Candia and Alexandria — the depths attaining 

 from 3310 metres (l8io fathoms) some twenty miles south-east of 

 Grandes Bay, and from 2392 metres (1208 fathoms) to 2120 metres 

 (1322 fathoms) within a short distance from Alexandria; the 

 maximum depth sounded being 3068 metres (1678 fathoms) in 

 28° 39' 30" north latitude, and 33° 19' 54" east longitude. The 

 highest temperature was found during the first part of the 

 voyage, at depths of I to 50 metres, the highest being 8o°"8 

 Fahrenheit at l metre ; the lowest temperature, 52^°, was 

 observed at the issue from the Adriatic Sea, at a depth of 

 760 metres. In explorations conducted some two years ago in 

 the Central Mediterranean, it was observed that the density of 

 the water and its saturation with salt increased with depth, and 

 the same was noticed in the western part of this year's cruise. 

 But in the Eastern Mediterranean the density of water varies but 

 very little in the different strata, and it is higher on the whole 

 than in the west. The transparency of the water is very great 

 in the Eastern Mediterranean. Altogether the Pola made no 

 fewer than 50 deep-sea soundings, 27 of which touched depths 

 of more than 1000 metres. 



At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on Monday^ 

 a paper describing a recent journey to the head waters of the 

 Ecayali, Central Peru, by Mr. Alexander Ross, was read by Sir 

 Alfred Blunt. The journey was undertaken by desire of the 

 Peruvian Corporation. Mr. Ross was accompanied by Mr. 

 Arthur Sinclair, who, like himself, had spent many years plant- 

 ing in Ceylon ; and, for research in economic botany, by Mr. P. 

 D. G. Clark, assistant at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, 

 near Xandy, Ceylon. Their travels lasted five months, and 

 were confined to the central portions of the interior. Mr. Ross 

 said that not much of the Sierra visited by them was suited to 

 modern systems of tillage. But in the MontaJia there were vast 

 areas at suitable altitudes well adapted for settlement by Euro- 

 pean immigrants. In the lower parts of the Amazon basin, in 

 a climate more or less unsuited to white labour, immense tracts 

 awaited only the introduction of Chinese or the Indian coolie 

 to turn what was now a magnificent forest wilderness into a rich 

 and thriving province. The Central Railway would have been 

 completed to Oroya in June next, and the Chanchamayo road 

 would be opened soon thereafter. In continuation of these, and 

 to connect ihem with the navigable waters of the Amazon, the 

 survey of a railway line had already been ordered. The immense 

 influence these would have upon the future of Peru and its pro- 

 gress would then become apparent. At present, to those who 

 had not seen that country's varied and unlimited mineral re- 

 sources, its grand forests, its rich soil and splendid rivers, a full 

 realization of the future of Peru was impossible. 



At a meeting of the Royal Botanic Society on Saturday last, 

 the Secretary, in calling attention to the various examples of 

 azaleas in flower from the Society's Gardens shown at the meet- 

 ing, remarked upon the many intermediate forms represented 

 between the single and so-called double varieties. In some the 

 stamens were only beginning to assume a flattened shape, the 

 anthers still remaining at the top ; in others, again, following 

 the usual course of formation of double flowers — namely, by 

 alteration of parts instead of adding to their number, the whole 

 of the internal organs had become changed into petals, depriving 

 the plant of all opportunity of reproducing itself by seed. 



There is some difference of opinion in America on the ques- 

 tion whether the method of execution by electricity ought to 

 be maintained. The American journal Electricity maintains 

 strongly that it should. The newspaper reports as to the elec- 

 trical executions which have already taken place go to show, it 

 contends, that death has been almost instantaneous in every case. 

 While this has been disputed by a few witnesses, almost all have 

 conceded that loss of consciousness has followed immediately on 

 NO. I 170. VOL. 45] 



the application of the current. " The muscular action which 

 has been noticed cannot for a moment," says Electricity, " be 

 attributed to any consciousness on the part of the criminal. 

 It is purely a reflex nervous action which can be reproduced by 

 applying a current to the nerves of an animal which has been 

 dead for some time ; in fact, a most vigorous muscular action 

 can be set up in a dead body in this way. That the victim, 

 however, is alive, or that he suffers pain in any degree, is not 

 for a moment to be considered." 



The new number of the Economic yotirnal contains, among 

 other things, the Rev. Prof. W. Cunningham's inaugural lecture 

 delivered at King's College, London. It is on the relativity of 

 economic doctrine, and is conceived in a thoroughly scientific 

 spirit. In the course of his argument. Prof. Cunningham urges 

 that the results of economic investigation are relative in a way 

 in which the results of physical investigation are not. The 

 physicist announces principles which hold good, without sub- 

 stantial modification, for the whole period of human existence 

 on the globe ; whereas there are areas, and probably periods of 

 human existence, to which the very simplest economic principles 

 are hardly applicable, since there are tribes which seem to be 

 destitute of ideas of exchange. The movement of the earth, 

 the principle of gravitation, are entirely independent of human 

 existence and unmodified by its changes. Economic principles, 

 on the other hand, are statements about human nature in some 

 of its aspects ; and the alterations in the human race, their 

 habits and practices, cannot be left out of account, more espe- 

 cially as the economic side of life occupies a very different im- 

 portance at different stages of human progress. In consequence 

 of this distinction between economical and physical investiga- 

 tion, results that may be used as the bases of practical ap- 

 plications cannot be as readily obtained in economics as in 

 physics. The art of navigation follows very closely on the 

 observations and principles expounded by the astronomer, bilt 

 there is need of much correction and allowance before the prin- 

 ciples of the economist can be applied by the statesman to steer 

 his course in regard to the details of any great social measure. 



Prof. G. H. Williams, in an interesting paper printed in the 

 latest of the "Johns Hopkins University Circulars," speaks of 

 the important part played in the growth of geological opinion by 

 those regions which happen to be near great Universities. Such 

 districts, as he says, were naturally earliest and most thoroughly 

 studied, and have therefore become classical for all subsequent 

 comparison. He especially mentions the mining districts of 

 Freiburg and Clausthal, the volcanic regions of Edinburgh and 

 Bonn, and the Tertiary basins of Paris and Vienna. These have 

 become, once for all, the type-localities for the geological forma- 

 tions which surround them. Such masters as Werner, Hutton, 

 von Dechen, Cuvier, and Suess, have worked there, erecting 

 monuments to themselves in the regions which they have inter- 

 preted. Prof. Williams's practical conclusion is that Maryland, 

 which, from a geological point of view, is full of interest, ought 

 to be thoroughly investigated by geologists connected with the 

 Johns Hopkins University. 



The Council of the Mason Science College, Birmingham, 

 append to their report for the year ended February 23, 1892, 

 some interesting extracts from a report by the Principal on the 

 educational work of the College. From these we are glad to 

 learn that the year, although marked by no new and striking 

 developments of the College work, was throughout a year of 

 continued prosperity, both in legard to the number of systematic 

 students attending the College classes and the excellence of the 

 work done, as testified by the honours won at various Uni- 

 versity examinations. There was a decrease in the number 

 of students attending the departments of -'zoology, botany, 



