244 



KNOWLEDGE A: SCIEXTIEIC NEWS. 



[October, 1905. 



prism he found to take place, according to his colleague 

 working with him in a dark room, whether the prism 

 was in position or not. A piece of wood seemed ti 

 have the same effect as a file in acting upon the retma 

 to increase its sensitiveness to N-rays ; and the re- 

 moval of wood or file had no influence in stopping the 

 apparent effects which continued to be observed by the 

 experimenter when these exciting objects were re- 

 moved. On the whole, I'rof. Wcxxl, who has himself 

 observed and recorded so many interesting results in 

 his experiments on light, left the lalK)ratory, which was 

 one of the homes of the N-rays, with the firm convic- 

 tion that all the changes in distinctness of sparks, and 

 variations in luminosity of screens by which the exist- 

 ence of X-rays has been thought to be proved, were 

 purely im:iginary. 



Other experimenters, both in England and America, 

 as well as in Germany, have severely criticised the 

 methods adopted and the results obtained. No satis- 

 factory reply to these searching criticisms has yet been 

 forthcoming, and it would appear to be highly probable 

 that the long series of researches carried out on these 

 mysterious new rays must be regarded as forming a 

 chapter in the history of human error. 



The Cairo ZoologicdLl Gardens. 



.\ L.\Ki.E luirnijtr ol animals havi- rcci'nllv been .idcicci 

 to this collection as the result of some members of the 

 staff, including Capt. Stanley Flower, making an ex- 

 pedition to the Sudan. The new additions include 

 three .African elephants, 15 -Sudanese lions, two addax, 

 one QZIians wart hog, two Senegal or saddle-billed 

 storks, and six crocodiles, and amount in all to 129 

 animals. 



Where to be Safe from 

 E^arthqviakes. 



By BEKiisioKD l.\e;R.\.\i, H.A., l-.C.S. 



The terrible effects of the eartlK|uake in Calabria, 

 lialv, last month, together with the equally destructive- 

 shocks in India, and the disturbing tremors felt in 

 Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in .April last, must have 

 caused more than one person 10 inquire where he must 

 live to be safest from these calamities, against which 

 the precautions of man arc so utterly futile. 



Many years ago Dr. Mallet made an exhaustive in- 

 vestigation of this question, and his work, when pro- 

 perly studied, brouglit to Hght a fact of fundamental 

 importance to the linghsh people, i.r.. No place in the 

 world can claim an immunity from these terrestrial 

 disturbances, but, nevertheless, England is less liable to 

 iiif-fer seriously from the cfjeels of a shoek than any 

 other European country. 



A review of the following facts, which he, and others, 

 have formulated, will confirm the reader in the accept- 

 ance of the above gratifying assurance. Mallet pre- 

 pared a map of the world, coloured so as to show where 

 earthquake shocks had been experienced. The colour 

 Vi'as deepened at those localities which had suffered 

 most or had been subjected to a greater number of 

 upheavals. 



When this map was finished and studied, it revealed 

 the following important facts : — 



(i.) The bands of the darkest colour run along 

 those mountain chains on which volcanoes occur. This 

 would seem to suggest that volcanic eruptions and 

 earthquake shocks had some connection. 



(2.) The .-ibove b.inds (r.illed "seismic bands") 

 generally follow the lines of elcwilion tliat mark and 



Within the black band earthquakes are both fre(|iicnt and severe. 



