May 



891] 



NATURE 



67 



the effect of the solar radiation upon the surface of the earth 

 and the heating of the lower strata of the atmosphere are quite 

 insignificant, Prof. Hellmann conchides that Prof. Hann and 

 others are right in assuming that the normal daily range of the 

 barometer is chiefly an effect of the absorption of the solar rays 

 in the upper strata of our atmosphere. Prof Hann has applied 

 the harmonic analysis to the numbers furnished by Prof. Hell- 

 mann, and, by combining several stations in a group, has found 

 the coefficients of the periodic formula to be practically the 

 same as those for the normal daily range. We should, how- 

 ever, like to see a further confirmation with respect to the co- 

 incidence of the lowest readings and the diurnal minima, since 

 the lowest readings occur so frequently during the passage of a 

 severe storm, which can scarcely be said to have any agreement 

 with the ordinary diurnal fluctuation. 



The first paper in the last volume of Transactions of the 

 Seismological Society of Japan is by Mr. Bertin, and describes 

 the double oscillograph and its employment for the study of 

 rolling and pitching. It traces curves automatically, showing 

 the motion produced in a floating body by waves. The second 

 paper is on the "Seiches" of lakes, by Dr. F. A. Fore), of 

 Geneva, and discusses those variations in the level of the water 

 of lakes with the investigation of which the author's name has 

 been associated for some years past. Prof. John Milne de- 

 scribes the remarkable instrument invented by him for measuring 

 and recording the oscillatory movements of railway trains. Mr. 

 Mason contributes a paper, accompanied by carefully compiled 

 tables, demonstrating the importance of elaborating some uniform 

 system of timekeeping for the purposes of seismological observa- 

 tions. Prof. C. G. Knott, in his paper on earthquake frequency, 

 explodes two of the time-honoured delusions of the popular mind 

 in regard to earthquakes, viz. that they are more frequent during 

 the night than the day, and that their periodicity is connected 

 with lunar culminations. Mr. Otsuka gives an interesting 

 account of the great earthquake that visited Kumamoto in July 

 1888 ; and Mr. Pereira contributes a carefully compiled record of 

 all the earthquakes noted by him in Yokohama from March 1885 

 to December 1889. Mr. W. E. Forster writes on earthquakes 

 of non-volcanic origin, caused, it is suggested, by the displace- 

 ment of masses of land beneath the ocean. The volume con- 

 cludes with various reports and papers by Prof. Milne, such as 

 diagrams of earthquakes recorded in Tokio, a report on earth- 

 quake observations made in Japan during the year 1889, and 

 an essay on the connection between earthquakes and electric 

 and magnetic phenomena, which is full of matter of an interesting 

 and suggestive kind. 



According to the Colonies and India, Mr. Alexander 

 McPhee, a West Australian bushman, who has steadily been 

 earning fame lately by his explorations in the central regions of 

 Australia, started inland from Roebourne in July last on another 

 tour of discovery, taking back at the same time an albino aboriginal 

 whom he found and brought to Melbourne a couple of years 

 since. News has been received from which it appears that 

 Mr. McPhee, with the albino, Jun Gun, and a "black fellow" 

 named Timothy, went along the coast some 250 miles to a 

 station called Yinadong, when the party turned inland in an 

 easterly direction. After travelling about 350 miles, Mr. McPhee 

 came upon another albino, a boy of fourteen years, whom he 

 describes as the most extraordinary specimen of humanity he 

 ever saw. One old man in this camp told Mr. McPhee that 

 when he was a boy he heard of a party of whites and horses 

 dying a long way inland. The old fellow could give no par- 

 ticulars about this party, but Mr. McPhee feels certain, owing to 

 his acquaintance with the habits and customs of the blacks, and 

 being thoroughly conversant with their dialect, that a party of 

 white men perished about forty years ago somewhere in the 

 NO. I 125, VOL. 44] 



interior. He heard of Warburton's party, and saw a native wha 

 told him that he guided them to water. He also heard of two 

 parties of whites who had lately been in the desert, but turned 

 back. From his turning point to the coast of La Grange Bay, 

 Mr. McPhee reckons he was about 250 miles in a south-east 

 direction from that bay. He found the natives very friendly, 

 and on no occasion was it necessary to keep a watch. The 

 country is described as very poor. The only birds observed 

 during the journey were an odd crow and a few sparrows about 

 the water ; not a track of a kangaroo or emu was seen. 



Some satisfactory statements as to the growth of collegiate 

 education are made in the last official report on public instruction 

 in the North-West Provinces and Oudh. Of individual colleges,. 

 Agra, at which the numbers in 1885 had fallen as low as 45, 

 has increased within the last two years from 97 to 175, or by 

 over 80 per cent., and the percentage of increase last year was 

 in no case less than 20. The number of matriculated students, 

 indeed, is rising so rapidly that the existing accommodation is 

 said to be barely adequate ; it will, the Government resolution 

 says, become a question of urgent importance whether the in- 

 creasing number of students should be provided for by additions 

 to the staff and buildings at the colleges now in existence, or by 

 the creation of new colleges, or by the strengthening of the 

 college classes at high schools and adding to their number. 

 " Government," it is added, "will necessarily be guided to a 

 great extent by the nature and direction of the local demand, as 

 indicated by the willingness of the residents of the principal 

 towns to contribute to the increased burden of expenditure." On 

 its present basis, at all events, the higher education of India has 

 received a fair share of Government support. But if it is satis- 

 factory, says the Pioneer, to find that collegiate education in its 

 present form is making decided progress, and that it is becoming 

 possible to throw the cost of the advance on private shoulders, 

 it is a distinct disappointment that not a word is said, as not a 

 step has been taken, in those new directions of educational 

 activity where other provinces have not only started, but made 

 appreciable progress. There may be two opinions as to the 

 extent to which, or the means by which, it is possible to intro- 

 duce technical education, but there can be no question that some 

 movement is desirable. It may be hoped that the omission is 

 due, not so much to a failure to estimate the importance of the 

 subject, as to a desire to give it fuller treatment on a future 

 occasion. 



The amount of apparent flattening of the vault of the heavens 

 Prof. Reimann has lately attempted to measure by noting the 

 point which seems to bisect an arc extending from the zenith to 

 the horizon. From 83 observations at Hirschberg he found that 

 this point was 2i°'47 ± o'o8 above the horizon. This indicates 

 a ratio of the vertical axis to the horizontal of I : 3 "66. This 

 I apparent flattening has an annual period, and is dependent on 

 cloud. The highest position of the bisecting point was assigned 

 in autumn (2i°-98), the lowest in spring (20°*42). The vault 

 seems flatter the more the cloud. It seems least flat with a misty 

 horizon ; and the flattening seems less by night than by day. 

 Curiously, several other persons whom Prof. Reimann got to 

 make the same determination all gave higher values for the 

 angle. 



The settlement of a purely philological question (that, namely, 

 as to the position of the French accent), by a physical method, 

 has been recently attempted by Dr. Pringsheim, of Berlin 

 {Naturui. Rdsch.) The instrument used was Konig and Scott's 

 phonautograph, into which a number of Frenchmen were required 

 to speak ; the measurement of the record being afterwards 

 made by means of a tuning-fork curve running parallel with it. 

 This instrument renders possible a determination of the dura- 

 tion, pitch, and intensity of each syllable, and Dr. Pringsheim 



