August 1, 1896.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



179 



induced to lend drill and steam plant to the value of 

 two thousand five hundred pounds. The New South 

 Wales Government also supplied skilled workmen, and 

 contributes towards the wages of those in charge of the 

 machinery. 



After some five years' preliminary preparation and hard 

 organizing work, an expedition to carry out Darwin's wish, 

 and to discover by boring the origin of a coral atoll, was 

 formed. The expedition is in charge of Professor Sollas, 

 who is well known as having devoted special attention to 

 coral formations. The other members of the expedition 

 are Mr. John Stanley Gardiner, B.A., whose work as a 

 biologist is considered of great promise, and Mr. Charles 

 Hedley, of the Austrahan Museum, who, besides being a 

 naturalist, is an artist, and will make all the drawings and 

 sketches for the expedition. 



The Government have placed H.M.S. Penijuin at the 

 disposal of the expedition, for the purpose of carrying the 

 jn'monncl and plant from Sydney to the scene of opera- 

 tions and back. The remjuin started on May 1st, and 

 next month will probably be bringing the members of the 

 expedition back. The island chosen for investigation is 

 Funafuti, the largest isle of the atoll of that name, which 

 forms one of the group of the Ellice Islands. These coral 

 isles are situated in latitude 9^ south, longitude \%(f, and 

 almost due north of Fiji. Funafuti is a typical atoll, being 

 a chain of thirty-five islets encircling a large central lagoon 

 about ten miles long by five wide. The chief island — 

 and that on which the expedition is located — is about four 

 miles long by half a mile wide, and it is nowhere higher 

 than from eight to nine feet above the sea level. The 

 island, which is under British protection, is covered with 

 cocoanut trees, and supports a peaceful population of four 

 hundred natives, nominally Christian. 



Professor Sollas' instructions are simplicity itself; he is 

 " to investigate a coral reef by sounding and boring," and 

 is to do so with a mind quite unbiassed as to the various 

 rival theories of coral-reef formation. The drill which 

 does the boring is faced with black diamonds, which will 

 cut through anything. The diameter of the drill is four 

 inches. Seeing that the coral polype has never been 

 recorded as living at a greater depth than ninety feet, it 

 will only be necessary to bore to a depth of six hundred 

 feet, and if that depth be reached the chief object of the 

 expedition wiU have been attained. At the same time it 

 is an open secret that Professor Sollas intends to go as far 

 down as one thousand feet, if possible, and thus solve 

 beyond a doubt the point to be cleared up. 



Sc(cn« Notts. 



Mr. T. EuDniiiAN Johnston has projected a most 

 interesting and instructive aid to the study of geography 

 in the shape of a huge terrestrial globe, having a diameter 

 of eighty-four feet, and showing the earth's surface on a 

 scale of about eight miles to the inch. Every geographical 

 feature of any importance will be found on the proposed 

 globe, several sections of which have been already con- 

 structed under Mr. Johnston's patent, and these may be 

 seen at 21, Pall Mall. 



A correspondent writes : "I have hoard that the 

 ' perch ' land measure of sixteen and a half feet, derived 

 from pirtiia iLat.), 'a rod,' had its origin in the long 

 goads usfd in former times to goad on the ploughing 

 oxen, which subsequently came to be used as land 

 measures. Can any of your readers inform me if there is 

 good authority for this statement?" 



From investigating the cases in which death caused by 

 electricity has occurred, whether by the accidental passage 

 through the body of a powerful current used in industrial 

 processes, or by the designed passage in cases of execution 

 by electricity, the conclusion is reached that usually death 

 by electricity is due to the excitement of the nervous 

 centres, producing stoppage of respiration and syncope. 

 Browu-Sequard and D'Arsonval are of this opinion. In 

 many cases where artificial respiration is employed, a man 

 apparently killed by electricity or lightning can be resus- 

 citated. A man struck by lightning should be treated like 

 one apparently drowned. 



Not((ts of ISoolts. 



Mar.'i. By Percival Lowell. (Longmans.) 123. 6d. "A 

 steady atmosphere is essential to the study of planetary 

 detail, sizeof instrument being a secondary matter." So Mr. 

 Lowell begins his book. " With regard to work on the 

 planets, the important point about an observatory is not 

 so much what is its lens as what is its location." These 

 are his closing words, and it is to his reaUzation in his 

 observing station of the condition which he presents in 

 these two sentences, coupled with the steady determination 

 to study Mars as long and as continuously as it was 

 possible, that won him the remarkable success which he 

 has recorded in tlie most interesting and striking volume 

 now before us. 



Mr. Lowell's " Mars " marks an epoch in the study of 

 our planetary neighbour. There can be no doubt of that. 

 As certainly as Mr. Green's true and beautiful designs, in 

 1877, established a record then, not since surpassed in 

 their own line — as certainly as the discovery of the canal 

 system by Prof. Schiaparelli marked a little later a new 

 period — so Mr. Lowell's work advances us farther still ; and 

 the marvellous, the almost incredible result is presented to 

 us that, from actual observation of a planet some forty or 

 fifty millions of miles away, we have a strong prim't f,tcie 

 case made out for the recognition of the actual handiwork 

 of intelligent beings. Of mere speculation and surmise we 

 have, of course, had, in the past, volumes by the score. 

 This is different. It would, of course, be absurd to speak 

 as if Mr. Lowell's presentment of his case amounted to a 

 mathematical proof ; that cannot be expected. But he 

 certainly makes it what we may fairly term "reasonably 

 probable ' that in the " canals " of Mars we have the 

 evidence of the work of skilled and trained intelligences — 

 of engineers and mathematicians, in fact — and it is not 

 too much to say that this is an achievement of the most 

 astonishing kind. 



The book is written in a style both bright and clear, and 

 we feel sure that our readers will be grateful for being 

 induced to read it. To our own mind the most valuable 

 part is the clear demonstration of the progress of the 

 eft'ects of season on Mars. In the chapter on "Atmosphere," 

 however, a reliance is placed on diiierences of measure- 

 ments of diameter of too minute a character to merit much 

 confidence until very fully confirmed by independent 

 observations in other opposition?. But, as a whole, the 

 book stands as a remarkable record of a most successful 

 attempt to extend our exploration of Mars. 



British Sea Birds. By Charles Dixon. (Bliss, Sands, 

 & Foster.) Illustrated. 10s. Gil. Mr. Dixon is an energetic 

 and constant writer on oiniiholo<^'y. Tlie subject of this 

 volume has so often, and especially of late, been discu-<sed 

 and written about, that there really seems nothing fresh 

 to say. Indeed, it is difficult to find a use for this book. 



