November 21, 1895J 



NATURE 



61 



If the Buchan Field Club succeeds in carrying out the ethno- 

 logical survey sketched in its Transactions (1895) ^X Mr- T. 

 Gray, who gives also the results of preliminary observations 

 made by Mr. J. F. Tocher and himself, it will not only fill an 

 important hiatus in the ethnographic chart of Great Britain, but 

 also set an example which may be followed with advantage by 

 similar societies all over the country. The observations referred 

 to were made at the annual Buchan gathering, held this year at 

 Mintlaw, and though no definite conclusions can be safely made 

 from them, they show that a continuation of the survey will lead 

 to interesting results, and help to settle a number of vexed 

 questions in ethnology and history. The class of people at such 

 gatherings as that at which the measures were made is very 

 typical of the natives of the district, and the statistics obtained 

 by Mr. Gray, and those working with him, should be of great 

 value in determining the accurate anatomy of the typical native 

 of Buchan. 



A VALUABLE Contribution to the existing literature of water- 

 bacteriology has been recently made by M. N. van der Sleen. 

 This monograph is a record of bacteriological investigations 

 made during more than four years on the Amsterdam water- 

 supply. The author has identified and described no less than 

 80 varieties of water microbes, some of which he regards as 

 new, whilst others are identical with those already discovered by 

 other investigators. A most helpful diagnostic aid is furnished 

 by the 118 excellent photographic figures of microbes which 

 accompany the text. No cholera bacilli were at any time found, 

 and only one form which at all resembled them, although a care- 

 ful search was made at a period when cholera had broken out in 

 the vicinity of the intake of the water-supply, and when the 

 river Vecht was declared contaminated by the authorities. M. 

 van der Sleen has endeavoured to give water-bacteriologists 

 fresh assistance in the difficult task of recognising the bacteria 

 found in water, and the conscientious care with which he has 

 accomplished this tedious piece of work eserves the highest 

 praise. 



The well-known difficulty of obtaining instruments which 

 will indicate rapid variations of temperature, has induced Mr. 

 Paul Czermak, of Graz, to try thermo-elements with very fine 

 wires for meteorological observations. These are better than 

 thermometers with platinum bulbs, and much superior to glass- 

 bulb thermometers, where rapid variations are to be measured. 

 One of the instruments constructed consists of a thermo-couple 

 of copper and constantane wire o"i m.m. thick. The ends are 

 soldered to two hollow copper cylinders drawn into a point at 

 the ends, and mounted side by side on a wooden support. The 

 cylinders contain water, and hold ordinary thermometers indi- 

 cating the average temperature. This instrument, when used in 

 circuit with a strongly-damped aperiodic galvanometer, showed 

 variations amounting to 2° C. within five minutes on a clear 

 frosty Tirolese morning. The stratification of the air in layers 

 of different temperatures was less in the afternoon. The paper 

 describing these results, in IVtedeman/t^ s Annalen, also gives an 

 account of a " relative actinometer " consisting of two con- 

 centric copper cylinders. The interior one is empty, and across 

 one end of it are placed three thermo-couples in parallel, pro- 

 tected from draughts by a plate of rock-salt mounted obliquely to 

 the axis of the cylinders. This instrument indicates the slightest 

 variations of the intensity of solar radiation, such as those 

 produced by different thicknesses of a filmy cloud. 



Sir Robert Bell is said to have discovered a very large 

 river flowing into James Bay. The river rises near the upper 

 waters of the Ottawa, and drains a large area hitherto unexplored. 

 The volume of water is so great as to make the river rank among 

 the largest in Canada. It is navigable through the greater part 

 of its course, but about one hundred miles from its mouth the 

 NO. 1360, VOL. 53] 



descent becomes greater, and a series of rapids are formed. The 

 name " Bell River " is proposed, in honour of its discoverer. 



We are indebted to the Vienna correspondent of the Times 

 for the following information. At the beginning of this month 

 the German Society for Geographical Discovery, and the special 

 committee which has been organised for the purpose of pro- 

 moting the exploration of the South Polar regions, held a joint 

 sitting in Berlin, which Herr Julius von Payer, the well-known 

 Austrian Arctic traveller, was requested to attend. In the course 

 of the proceedings he was invited to modify the arrangements 

 he had himself made in connection with the expedition to North- 

 East Greenland, and, if possible, to co-operate with the Germans 

 in undertaking an expedition to the South Pole. Herr von Payer 

 replied that, although he was not adverse to the proposal, he 

 could make no definite statement 1 until he had ascertained the 

 opinion of the Vienna committee, who had in hand the arrange- 

 ments relative to the intended Austro- Hungarian expedition to 

 Greenland. Within the next few days the Vienna committee 

 will meet, under the presidency of Count Wilczek, with the 

 object of considering the German proposals. The invitation to 

 act in concert with Germany seems to be regarded with favour 

 in Vienna. Herr von Payer has stated that, in view of the mul- 

 titude of scientific and artistic opportunities afforded by a visit 

 to Antarctic regions, he would have no objection to alter the 

 destination of the contemplated Austro-Hungarian expedition. 

 During the preliminary discussion, which took place in Berlin, 

 it was decided that the expedition should consist of two steamers 

 equipped on the most improved lines. The first landing would 

 be effected on Kerguelen Island, whence it would be possible to 

 proceed in two different directions — namely, either south or 

 south-west, leading to a totally unknown region, or south-east 

 towards the Magnetic Pole, in which direction a continent is 

 supposed to exist. Geographical discovery, of course, would be 

 the chief object of the expedition, but equally valuable results 

 are expected to accrue to botany, zoology, and geology. About 

 eighteen months would be required to prepare and organise the 

 expedition, and the cost is estimated at about i ,000,000 marks. 

 In order to achieve success the exi>edition would remain absent 

 from two and a half to three years, it being considered essential 

 that at least two winters should be spent in the Antarctic regions. 



The seventh number of the current volume of the Verhand- 

 lungen der Gessellschaft fiir Erdkunde zu Berlin contains a 

 discussion, by Hermann Moedebeck, of the project of reaching 

 the North Pole by balloon, with the conclusion that, in our present 

 ignorance of Arctic wind currents, it is imposssible to decide as 

 to the probabilities of success. Dr. Hedin continues an account 

 of his journey across the Takla-Makan desert east of Yarkand. 

 Wegener gives a summary of the papers read at the Geographical 

 Congress in London. The volume refers to the departure of an 

 expedition, under Humpelmayr and Sperhinger, from the Somal 

 coast, in order to march southwards across the Galla country to 

 Mombasa. The more important contributions offered to this 

 Society are published in its Zeitschrift, of which we have received 

 the fourth part of vol. xxx. This contains the third part of the 

 report by the cousins Sarasin upon their travels in Celebes, de- 

 scribing the journey, in the winter of 1894, across the centre of 

 the island from Boni to the Gulf of Tomini. The report is 

 mainly narrative, but contains many notes on the zoology, 

 anthropology, and geology of the district traversed. The mono- 

 graphs previously issued by the Sarasins, containing zoological 

 and anthropological discoveries made during their visit to Ceylon, 

 are well known, and encourage us to expect important results 

 from their present journey. 



The principal article in the last number of the Mittheilimgen 

 of the Geographical Society of Vienna (Bd. xxxviii. Nos. 7 

 and 8) is a memoir, by R. Payer, on the districts of Extern 



