39« 



NA TURE 



[August 24, 1893 



4 



to a height of more than 17000 feet. Dr. Gregory ha-, explored 

 tha glaciers and the head-streams of the Tana, and the water- 

 sheds between the Tana and .\thi rivers. 



The dealh is announced of Prof. G, W. Coakley, who for 

 "hirty three years occupied the chair of mathematics and 

 astronomy in New York University. He was born on the 

 i.-land of St. Bartholomew on February 22, 1814, entered 

 Rutgers College in 1832, and graduated in 1836. In 1843 he 

 was made professor of mathematics and astronomy in St. James's 

 College, Indiana, where he remained until i860, when he 

 accepted the same professorship in New York University, 

 filling the chair vacated by Prof. Loomis, whohadgone to Vale 

 University. He held this chair in New York University 

 until his death, and was engaged in active teaching until his 

 77lh year. 



A Reuter's telegram from Halifax, Nova Scotia, states that 

 a terrific hurricane swept over the Maritime Provinces on 

 August 21, and was the worst that has occurred since the great 

 '.torm thirty years ago. In Halifax a vessel was sunk in dock, 

 trees were uprooted, and the electrical systems were wrecked. 



On August 25 Prof. J. Victor Carus, the editor of the 

 Zoologische Anzeiger, will celebrate his seventieth birthday. 

 In honour of the occasion, the current number of that journal 

 contains a remarkably fine portrait of the renowned zoologist. 



The Board of Agriculture notify that arrangements have 

 recently been made by which the latest issues of the Ordnance 

 Survey maps on the I in. and 6 in. scales have been made avail- 

 able for inspection by the public at the offices of the Board, at 

 3, St. James's Square. Changes in the boundaries of boroughs, 

 of local government districts, and of parishes will hz recorded 

 on the 6 in. maps as soon as possible after they have been 

 authorised, and a complete set of the index maps and indices of 

 all Ordnance Survey maps and publications will be kept in hand 

 for reference. It is believed that the facilities for inspection 

 thus afforded will be found to be of general public utility. 



The Times gives some details received from Japan with re- 

 gard to the recent volcanic eruptions in the Fukushima district, 

 in the mountains of which Bandaisan, where there was a de- 

 structive eruption a few years ago, is the chief. The disturb- 

 ances began with an earthquake early in the afternoon of 

 June 4, which was followed by an eruption of Azuma-Yama 

 the next morning. Other peaks in the neighbourhood became 

 active, and the showers of stones and ash did much damage, 

 especially to the mulberry trees of the district. It was decided 

 to investigate the mountains, and two members of the geologi- 

 cal bureau of the Agricultural Department were despatched 

 from the capital for the purpose. They ascended Azuma-Yama 

 v.-ry early on the morning of June 6 with the view of making 

 observations in the immediate vicinity of the craters, and the 

 same night reported to the authorities in the capital that, when 

 they ascended, volcanic ash was falling and strong puffs of 

 black cloud were escaping from time to time. They were 

 able to make a circuit of the craters, from one of which dense 

 volumes of vapour and ash were being emitted and from another 

 heated air only. Whenever part of the sides gave way and fell 

 in, the volume of vapour increased and a rumbling noise was 

 heard. Heated fragments of rock were thrown out from time 

 to time. On the morning' of June 7 two students of the Uni- 

 versity of Japan and two engineers ascended the volcano. A 

 violent eruption occurred while the party were approaching the 

 cra',er. A dense column of gas arose, and was accompanied 

 by a shower of rock fragments. After the explosion it was 

 found that the two engineers had been overcome by the fumes. 

 Attempts were made to rescue them, but they unfortunately 

 failed. It was not until the following day that the neigh'oour- 

 hood of the crater cjuld be searched and the bodies recovered. 

 NO. 1243, VOL. 48] 



The Journal otihe College of Science, Imperial Univertity, 

 Japan, Vol. V. Part IV. , contains a paper by Prof. B. Kjto 

 " On the Cause of the Great Earthquake in Central Japan, 

 1891." Prof. Koto has examined a great line of fault \fhich 

 traverses a distance of 112 kilometres from the Kisogawa lo the 

 city of Fukui, through the Neo valley, cutting the hills, . 

 mountains, and plains alike with remarkable regularity and 

 sharpness. He is of the opinion that the entire region on one 

 side of the line of fault moved downwards in Oaoher, 1891, 

 and was also shifted horizontally towards the noith-west for 

 from one to two metres along the plane of disloca:ion, thereby 

 causing the earthquake. 



Mr. J. D. McGuiRE has, during the last two years, been 

 endeavouring to reproduce aboriginal methods of work, chiefly 

 in stone, with tools of stone, wood, and bone, such as are foimd 

 in village sites in America and Europe, as well as with tools 

 found in graves, and those used by races living in savagery. He 

 describes his experiments in a paper "On the Evolution of 

 Working in Stone," that appeared inthe American Anthi apologist 

 for July. Tha experiments show that the art of grinding and 

 battering stone must have preceded that of chipping, and that 

 neolithic implements which are supposed to have taken year; to 

 fashion were really but the work of a few hours. 



WRiTtNG in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, Kiss 

 Teuira Henry, of Honolulu, says that a strange ceremony used 

 to be practised by the heathen priests at Raiates, but can now 

 only be performed by two descendants of priests, Tupua and 

 Taero by name. This ceremony consisted in causing people to 

 walk in procession over a hot earth-oven, without any prepara- 

 tion upon their feet, whether barefooted or shod, yet upon their 

 emergence they did not even smell of fire. The ovens arc fre- 

 quently thirty feet in diameter, and are filled with roots of the 

 (■/■plant (Dracaena terminalis) and short pieces of a/^root 

 {Anctn coslatum). It is hoped that some one will endeavour to 

 solve the mystery of the feat while those men who practise it 

 still live. 



The U.S. National Museum have published a report by Mr. 

 Romyn Hitchcock on "The Ancient Burial Mounds of 

 Japan," illustrated by ten excellent plates, mostly reproduced 

 from original photographs. Mr. Hitchcock visited Japan with 

 Mr. W. Gowland, who has spent several years in the study of 

 the Japanese mounds. One of the earliest modes of burial in 

 Japan was in artificial caves, hewn out of the solid rock on hill- 

 sides. It has been said that the early Japanese were cave- 

 dwellers, but Mr. Hitchcock thinks this is very doubtful, for 

 the rea.son that natural caves are not found where the history of 

 the people begins, in Idzumo and Yamato. The examination 

 of both natural and artificial caves indicates, at any rate, that 

 the Japanese have not been cave-dwellers since their migration 

 to Japan. Four distinct methods of burial have prevailed in- 

 Japan at different periods, which are distinguished by Mr. 

 Hitchcock as follows : — (l) Burial in artificial caves. (2) Burial 

 in simple mounds of earth. (3) Burial in mounds with rock 

 chambers, or dolmens. (4) Burials in double mounds, or imperial 

 tumuli. The chronological sequence of these different modes 

 of burial is a matter of speculation, but, in all probability, the 

 caves preceded in lime the rock-built dolmens. No inscription 

 remains, however, to enable ethnologists to solve the origin of 

 the custom of cave-burial. A variety of articles were obtained 

 from the mounds by Mr. Hitchcock, notably vessels of pottery 

 of various shapes, illustrations of which accompany his report. 

 The forms and style of decoration of these vessels are very 

 rude ; in fact it is pointed out that the decoration is much less 

 elaborate than that found on the older pottery of the shell- 

 heaps and pits of Yezo, and usually designated as Aino pottery. 

 As Mr. Hitchcock remaiks, it is difficult to explain the curious- 



