370 



NATURE 



[August i8, 1892 



in the middle of last week gave place on Friday, the 12th inst., 

 to a south-westerly current, with showery weather, the rainfall 

 being rather heavy in the north and west, while the low pressure 

 over the north of Scotland caused rather strong gales and heavy 

 seas on Saturday and Sunday. During the early part of the 

 present week a depression advanced from the southward, oc- 

 casioning unsettled weather and fog or mist in places, while 

 exceptionally heavy rains occurred in parts of Ireland and Scot- 

 land, the amount measured at Parsonstown on Monday morning 

 being i -24 inches. During the week the maximum temperatures 

 have nearly reached So"" in some parts of England and in the 

 east of Scotland. For the week ending the 13th inst., tempera- 

 ture was below the mean in all districts, except the Channel 

 Islands, where it just equalled it. The absolute minima, which 

 were registered on the iith, were exceedingly low for the time 

 of year, and at many of the more inland stations frost was 

 experienced on the grass. 



The fifth annual report of the National Association for the 

 iPromotion of Technical and Secondary Education has just been 

 published, and satisfactory progress is shown. During the year 

 a bi-monthly journal has been issued under the title of the 

 Record of Technical and Secondary Education, in which detailed 

 accounts of the work done by the County Councils have been 

 given from time to time. The Record has to some extent 

 relieved the pressure on the space of the report, which is 

 shorter than its predecessors. 



The Ceylon Observer for July 21 has an editorial on " Marine 

 Biological Stations," and while sympathizing with the decision 

 of the meeting which was called together a short time ago to 

 take steps to establish a station in the island of Jamaica, ventures 

 the hope that Ceylon, too, may have its marine biological 

 station, and points out how particularly well situated that island 

 is for such an undertaking . 



We refer elsewhere to Prof. Forel's report on the present 

 extension of the Alpine glaciers, to which, whatever the modus 

 operandi, the disaster of St. Gervais was due. A letter in 

 Tuesday's Times refers to Mr. Douglas Freshfield's warning 

 that there may still be an excess of water ready to discharge 

 itself in the neighbourhood of the Aiguille du Goute, and states 

 that the view has received a remarkable confirmation. While 

 a party was breakfasting at the Pierre P ointue, which overhangs 

 the stream that drains the eastern wing of the Glacier des 

 Boisons, a tremendous noise suddenly brought them all — visitors 

 and employes of the chalet — out upon the platform to see the 

 violent flood of opaque brown fluid which tore down the bed of 

 the stream which had been flowing so quietly before. No great 

 damage seems to have been done, but certainly the occurrence 

 will strengthen the view that ca reful scientific studies should 

 be made so that complete warning may in all cases be given. 



An address on "Geological Chronology," which Prof. 

 Young delivered to the Physical Society of Glasgow University 

 in February last, has been published in pamphlet form by 

 Messrs. Carter and Pratt, Glasgow. 



A PRELIMINARY draft prospectus of a new physical atlas, 

 which Messrs. J. Bartholomew and Co. , Edinburgh, have in 

 preparation, has reached us. The work will be based upon 

 Berghaus's " Physikalischer Atlas," published by Justus Perthes, 

 of Gotha, 1889-92, but will, we understand, be much larger and 

 more extensive, and contain a great deal of entirely new and 

 original matter. According to the present intentions of the 

 compilers, the work will be issued in five separate sections as 

 follows: (i) Geology; (2) Orography and Hydrography; (3) 

 Meteorology and Magnetism ; (4) Botany and Zoology ; (5) 

 Ethnography and Geographical Demography, and when com- 

 plete may be obtained either in one complete volume, or in five 

 smaller volumes. The joint authors will be Mr. J. G. Bartholo- 

 . NO. I 190, VOL. 46] 



mew and Dr. H. R. Mill, and the various sections will be re- 

 vised and edited by, amongst others, Prof. Bayley Balfour, 

 Dr. A. Buchan, Sir Archibald Geikie, Prof. James Geikie, and 

 Dr. John Murray. 



The Times of Tuesday states that Lieutenant Bower has dis- 

 covered in Chinese Turkestan the remains of a subterranean city, 

 in one of the excavations near which he found a curious birch- 

 bark manuscript, which he took with him back to India for the 

 investigation of scholars. The manuscript is described as having 

 been dug out of the foot of one of the curious old erections just 

 outside a subterranean city near Kuchar. These erections are 

 said to be about 50 feet to 60 feet high, in shape like a huge 

 cottage loaf, built solid with sun-dried bricks, with layers of 

 beams now crumbling away. Dr. Hoernle, who undertook the 

 examination of the manuscript, thinks that these erections are 

 Buddhist stupas, which often contain a chamber enclosing relics 

 and other objects. These chambers are generally near the level 

 of the ground, and are often excavated by persons in search of 

 hidden treasure. There is no reason why a birch-bark manu- 

 script, thus preserved from the chances of injury, should not last 

 for an almost indefinite period, especially if the chamber is air- 

 tight. Dr. Hoernle has now communicated to the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal the result of his examination of the manuscript. 

 It is written in Sanscrit of a very archaic type, not in the Sarada 

 character of Cashmere, as was at first surmised, but in the Gupta 

 character, which is a much earlier form. Separate portions of 

 it were written by different scribes and at different dates, and 

 the latest portion must, he thinks, be ascribed to a period not 

 later than the second half of the fifth century — say 475 A.D. — 

 while the earlier portion must be referred to a date half a century 

 earlier. The manuscript is therefore the oldest Indian manu- 

 script, and one of the oldest manuscripts existing in the world. 

 The manuscript consists of fifty-five leaves, all of which have 

 now been transcribed and the greater part translated by Dr.. 

 Hoernle, and both will be published in instalments by the 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



The Times India correspondent gives us some important 

 intelligence regarding Mr. Conway's exploring party in the 

 Hindu- Kush. The party has arrived at Askoleya after making, 

 the first definitely recorded passage of the Hispar Pass — the 

 longest glacier pass in the world. The party left Nagar on 

 June 27, spent ten days exploring the vast system of glaciers 

 not marked on any map which covers the north slopes of the 

 main Hindu-Kush range in that neighbourhood. Mr. Conway 

 ascended a difficult rock peak of 17,000 feet, and attempted 

 the ascent of the Great Nagar Mountain, but he was driven 

 back by a hundred yards of ice fall, that proved to be absolutely- 

 impassable. On July II, after a day's halt at Hispar, Mr. 

 Conway started up the great glacier and reached the foot of 

 Nushik in three short marches. The next day being cloudy 

 he did not go to the top of Nushik, as he had intended, but 

 he sent a party under Mr. Rondebush to cross that pass. They 

 took all the spare baggage and conveyed it by the Braldo Valley 

 to Askoleya. Meanwhile Mr. Conway and Mr. M'Cormick 

 with an Alpine guide, Zurbuggen, continued three more 

 marches up the great Hispar glacier to the pass, which they 

 actually crossed on July 18. The view from the pass is said to 

 be superb, over a vast lake of snow some 300 miles in area, 

 quite flat, surrounded by a ring of giant peaks and with a row 

 of peaks rising like islands in the midst of it. They camped 

 just below the pass on the east side and were overtaken by a 

 severe snowstorm. They descended two marches down the Biafo 

 glacier to the level of grass, whence they sent Zurbuggen to 

 Askoleya, which he reached in one long day's march. Mr. 

 Conway spent six days on the way, chiefly occupied in survey- 

 ing, which the continued bad weather rendered difficult. The 

 whole party re-united at Askoleya on July 26. The length of 



