420 



NA TURE 



[September i, 1892 



Dr. von Lendenfeld, at one time assistant to Prof. Lan- 

 kester at University College, Gower Street, has been appointed 

 to the chair of zoology at the University of Czernowitz, rendered 

 vacant by the death of Prof. V. Graber. 



Prof. Dr. Charles Berg has become director of the 

 National Museum at Buenos Ayres, in the place of Prof. Dr. 

 Hermann Burmeister. 



The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers has issued 

 a list of subjects on which it invites original communications- 

 The list, it is explained, is to be taken merely as suggestive, 

 not in any sense as exhaustive. The Council points out that it 

 has power to award to the authors of papers premiums arising 

 out of special funds bequeathed for the purpose. No award 

 will be made unless a communication of adequate merit is 

 received, but more than one premium will be given if there are 

 several deserving memoirs on the same subject. 



The twenty-third session of the German Anthropological 

 Congress, which was held at Ulm early in August, was in every 

 way most successful. At the first meeting one of the most 

 prominent speakers was Prof. Ranke, who spoke of the need for 

 a German National Museum. He recognized the value of the 

 museums at Mainz and Niirnberg, but urged that a genuinely 

 national institution ought to be established, and that the proper 

 place for it is Berlin. At this meeting an interesting discussion 

 on the so-called Kannstadt race was opened by Dr. von Holder. 

 The opinion of the meeting was that the characteristics of the 

 famous Kannstadt skull are found in some persons of the present 

 day, and that the skull is not one that has come down to us 

 from prehistoric times. Prof. Virchow, who took part in the 

 discussion, uttered a general warning as to the necessity for 

 caution in attributing high antiquity to human remains. On the 

 following day a paper on the anthropological position of the 

 Jews was read by Dr. von Luschau. His main points were that 

 the Jews are a mixed race, and that in some of their physical 

 peculiarities (such as the form of the nose) they resemble the 

 Armenians more closely than any people of purely Semitic 

 origin. Prof. KoUmann dealt with the question of the origin 

 of the European peoples, and Prof. Virchow spoke of the fact 

 that the traveller Vaughan Stevens has found in the interior of 

 Malacca a genuine Negrito stock, and has sent skulls and speci- 

 mens of hair. At the third meeting one of the best papers was 

 by Dr. Boas, on the organization of anthropological research in 

 North America. It was decided at this meeting that the next 

 session of the Congress would be held at Hanover in 1893. 

 Scientific excursions were made to Blaubeuren and Schussenried, 

 where traces of lake dwellings have been discovered, and to 

 Sigmaringen and Schaffhausen. 



The causes of the St. Gervais disaster are being gradually 

 elucidated. A very interesting paper describing a visit to the 

 small Tete-Rousse Glacier is contributed to La Nature (August 

 20) by M. Vallot, director of the new Mont Blanc Observatory. 

 At the end of the glacier, on a steep face of rock, he and M. 

 Delebuque found an enormous arching cavity, filled recently 

 (it would appear) with ice which had been shot out by some 

 internal force. They entered the cavern, and observed traces of 

 an interior lake. A passage, strewn and overhung with blocks 

 of ice, led up to an open space, a sort of huge crater, with walls 

 of white ice, absolutely vertical. It was about 270 feet long, 

 and 1 33 feet broad and deep. M. Vallot and his friend returned 

 by the way they entered, and examined this crater from above. 

 Their opinion is that a lake had been formed at the bottom of the 

 glacier, and the crater, gradually accumulating through obstruc- 

 tion of the orifice of outflow, had undermined the ice-crust over 

 the upper cavity. This at length collapsed, exerting enormous 

 pressure on the water, which pressure, transmittad to the lower 

 NO. II 92, VOL. 46] 



grotto, burst the glacier, throwing out the anterior part on the 

 steep rocky slope. Thus is explained the enormous quantity of 

 water precipitated into the valley, carrying in its passage the 

 soil of the banks, and forming a torrent of liquid mud mixed 

 with ice blocks and rocks. M, Vallot estimates that about 

 100,000 cubic metres of water and 90,000 of ice issued from the 

 glacier. On reaching the Baths the torrent may have been 

 300,000 cubic metres. He supposes that the sub-glacial lake 

 may form again, and the remedy would be to blast the rocky 

 bottom so as to provide an escape for the water ; a work which 

 should be done speedily to be of use. 



The weather has been very unsettled during the past 

 week, several low-pressure systems having passed over our 

 islands from the westward, accompanied by very heavy rain, 

 especially in the southern, northern, and western parts of the 

 country. Between mid-day of Saturday and Sunday if inches 

 fell in the south, being about three-fourths of the average fall 

 for the month of August, and another heavy downpour occurred 

 in the north and west on Monday night, two inches being 

 measured in the west of Scotland, and i J inches at Holyhead, 

 The temperature has fallen considerably since the previous 

 week, the daily maxima rarely exceeding 70° in the southern 

 I parts of the country, while in the north and west it has been 

 considerably lower. The wind has reached the force of a gale 

 on the coasts on more than one occasion during the week, 

 and on Tuesday the centre of a rather deep depression lay over 

 Ireland, while the sea was rough on nearly all coasts, the con- 

 ditions being very threatening, with a prospect of further heavy 

 rains. In southwest England the amount of rainfall from the 

 beginning of the year up the week ending August 27th, was still 

 more than eight inches below the average, and the only district 

 where the amount just exceeded the average was the northern 

 part of Ireland. 



The New England Meteorological Society has issued a 

 volume of Investigations for the year 1890 (reprinted from the 

 Annals of Harvard College Observatory, Vol. xxxi. pt, I., 1892) 

 containing a summary of the observations made at the Society's 

 stations ; reports were received from 1 72 observers during the 

 year, also five-year tables of temperature and precipitation, by 

 J. Warren Smith, with an introduction by W. M. Davis, Direc- 

 tor of the Society. The title scarcely explains the real amount 

 of work done, for at some stations there are many periods of five 

 years, e.g., at New Bedford (Mass.) the observations extend over 

 15 pentades (1816-1890). It has not been possible to keep to 

 the same years in all cases, nor has any attempt yet been made 

 to discuss the data. — The tornado at St, Lawrence (Mass.), of 

 July 26, 1890, by Helen Clayton. This storm caused consider- 

 able loss of life and property. The distances between the points 

 where destruction was reported seem to indicate that the de- 

 structive winds descended at times to the earth's surface at certain 

 points, and after a short track rose again. Prof. Davis has 

 written a preface to this paper, in which he discusses fully the 

 characteristics of tornados. 



The Annual Report on the Royal Botanic Gardens, Trinidad, 

 for 1891, contains a table showing the monthly and yearly 

 rainfall values for thirty years ending 1891. The average 

 yearly fall for that period was 65 'gi inches. Mr. F. H. Hart 

 points out that the rainfall shows a decrease at a seriously rapid 

 rate, for, dividing the period into decades, the first decade 

 shows a total of 7 "12 inches more than the second, and the 

 third shows another decrease of 9 '56 inches on the second, or 

 16 '68 inches on the first decade. This is a subject of the 

 utmost importance to questions of forestry and water supply. 

 He also points out that the rainfall is not so much affected as 

 is generally supposed by the contiguity of Trinidad to the 

 mainland, but more particularly to the course of the trade- 



