4S6 



NA TURE 



[September 12, 1S95 



development of shallow depressions over the Bay of Biscay and 

 the English Channel, and by the intense heat over the continent, 

 the maximum shade temperature in some parts of France being 

 considerably above 90°, while in the east of England a tempera- 

 ture of 85° was recorded. Rainfall exceeded an inch in London 

 and other places, and amounted to 17S inches in Hampshire. 

 During the height of the storm the lightning flashes averaged 

 about twenty-five to the minute. 



The Shetland County Council, says the Glasgmv Htraid, hiis 

 resolved to apply to the Secretar)- for Scotland for an order 

 under the Wild Birds Protection Act of 1 894, prohibiting the 

 taking of the eggs of certain wild birds. The schedule proposed 

 includes such birds as the white-tailed or sea eagle, great skua, 

 Richardson's skua, .\llan whimbrel, ember goose, &c. .-Ml these 

 birds have become extremely rare, and it is stated that there has 

 been recently a trade carrj'ing on in their eggs for the .\merican 

 market, to the threatened extinction of the birds. 



We are asked to announce that with the September number 

 the Ameriiaii fournal of Psychology will enter upon its seventh 

 volume. The preceding volumes have been edited by President 

 Ci. Stanley Hall (Clark University). For the future the editorial 

 responsibility of the Journal will \k shared by President Hall, 

 Prof. E. C. Sanford (Clark University), and Prof E. B. Titchener 

 (Cornell University). A co-operative Imard has been formed, 

 which includes the names of Prof. F. Angell, Prof M. Beaunis, 

 Prof J. Delboeuf, Dr. .\. Kirschmann, Prof. O. Kuelpe, Dr. A. 

 Waller, F.R.S., and Prof II. K. Wolfe. The A«r«<j/ will l>e 

 devoted exclusively to the interests of experimental jisychology 

 (psychophysiology, psychophysics, physiological psychology, 

 &c. ). Each number will contain, as heretofore, original articles, 

 reviews and abstracts of current psychological books and mono- 

 graphs, and notes upon topics of immediate psychological 

 importance. Contributions may be addressed to either of the 

 three editors. 



Science states that the Board of Scientific Diiectors of the 

 New York Botanic Garden has recently resolved to authorise a 

 topographical survey of the 250 acres of land in Bronx Park 

 which have been set aside for the uses of the garden. AH the 

 trees in the park are to be laljcUcd, and new varieties of seeds 

 desirable for cultivation are to Ije secured. 



The Allahabad Pioneer Mai/ say% that an experiment is now 

 in progress in several of the larger gaols of the Punjab, which 

 may have important results in the future. It has been one of 

 the ordinary precautions in lime of cholera epidemics to lx)il the 

 drinking water supplied to the prisoners. To ascertain whether 

 it might not Ijc advisable always to boil the drinking water, the 

 Lieutcnant-CJovernor has ordered that a certain number of the 

 prisoners should l>e given Ixiiled, and an equal niunber unboiled, 

 water, the results Ixiing reported at the end o( (he year. If 

 these are as expected, the reduction in the fever death-rate 

 should be followed by a similar reduction in the mortality from 

 dysentery and diarrhnca. 



We learn from Engineering that an imixirtant undertaking 

 has been inaugurated at Seattle, in the State of Washington, 

 U.S.A. This city is situ.itcd on Elliott Bay, a thoroughly shcl- 

 terc<l harbour, which communicates with the Pacific by the 

 .Straits of San Juan de Fuca. About two miles from the coast 

 ami liehind the town is a fresh-water lake of considerable size, 

 the water level of which is about 16 feet almvc high water in the 

 boy. A ship canal Iwtween the lake and the sea has long licen 

 »uggc»lcd, and the work has at last been ilcfinltely commenced. 

 The b<jttom of the channel will l>c 80 feet, and the greatest 

 depth of cutting will be 308 feet. Almost the whole of the work 

 will, however, be carried out through comparatively high land, 

 the amount of excavation required being estimated at 36,000,000 

 cubic yard.s. The material i.^ mostly glacial <lrift, and it is jiro- 



NO. 1350, VOL. 52] 



posed to use hydraulic nozzles to facilitate the work of excava- 

 tion, the spoil being washed down by a jet of water issuing at 

 high pressure from a nozzle, as in some of the Californian gold 

 workings. A lock 400 feet long will be constructed at the sea 

 entrance to the canal. The material excavated will be used for 

 raising the level of low-lying ground along the sea front of the 

 city. 



M. Z.^CHAREWIEZ, Professor of -Xgricultiire at Vaucluse, has 

 found by experiment with different-coloured glasses that fruit is 

 finest and earliest when grown under clear glass. Orange glass 

 produces an increase of vegetation, but at the cost of the amount 

 of fruit, of the size and of its forwardness. Violet glass causes 

 the number of fruit to increase at the expense of the quality. 

 Red, blue, and green glass are hurtful to all kinds of vegetation. 



The possibility of successfully boring for water in extensive 

 areas of crystalline rocks has been demonstrated, we learn from 

 the September number of Natural Science, at several |ilaces 

 in Sweden. The experiments were suggested by certain 

 conclusions of Nordenskiold, based on the downward limit of 

 surface variations of temperature and other physical con- 

 siderations. He considered that vertical jointing of the rocks 

 would not extend below 30 or 40 metics, and that at that 

 depth extensive horizontal fissures must be formed. This has 

 now been found to be the case, and from these horizontal fissures 

 abundant water of great purity has been obtained. While these 

 results are of practical importance (particularly with regard 

 to the water-supply of small rocky islands), it also opens up a 

 number of interesting general questions as to the flow anil 

 pressure of water in cr)stalline rocks. 



In our issue for August 15, we printed an abstract of a pajier 

 on " The Voyage of the .-/H/an//V to Victoria Land," read by Mr. 

 C. E. Borchgrevink at the recent International Geographical 

 Congress, and now have to acknowledge the receipt of the 

 journal and notes of the commander of the whaler .4nt 

 arctic, in which Mr. Borchgrevink made his somewhat un- 

 propitious voyage as a sailor before the mast, which the 

 Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia 

 (Victorian Branch) has been good enough to send us. The 

 pamphlet, which contains some highly interesting matter, is 

 accompanied by a lithographed map, by Captain Leonard 

 Kristensen, of the track taken by his vessel, and forms part ot 

 the Transactions of the above-named Society. 



Natural Science for September contains extracts from ilie 

 address delivered by the Rev. Canon A. M. Norman, 

 F.R.S., as President of the recently held Mu.seums A.ssociation 

 at Newcastle, and deals with the jirogress of biology in that 

 northern town. .\n article on " The Geology of Ipswich and its 

 Neighbourhood, " by Mr. Clement Reid, appears at an opportune 

 moment, and will doubtless be consulted by many geologists 

 visiting the British .Vssociation. Other contributions to the 

 number are : — " Some Recent Insect Literature," " The 

 Nucleolus," "The Role of Sex," and "The .Mleged Miocene 

 Man in Burma." The last-named article has reference to a |)aper 

 by Dr. Noctling, published towards the close of List year, "On 

 the Occurrence of Chip|x;d (?) Flints in the Upper Miocene of 

 Burma." The writer, Mr. K. D. OMham, says in conclusion, 

 " till more complete evidence has been produced it is im|X)S- 

 sible to accept the existence of man in either Miocene or I'lioccn; 

 times as one of the established facts of geology." 



Wk are glad to note the reappearance of the Bolletttno 

 Afensnale of the reorganised Italian .Meteorological Society. 

 The bulletin is is.sued in a more convenient, small folio form, 

 but in other respects it is similar to the former publication. The 

 current nund)cr contains two important articles by Prof L. 

 Di Marchi, on the causes of the glacial epoch, and the dynamical 



