July 12, 1894] 



NA TURE 



251 



naturalists. The party will explore Jones's Sound and make a 

 chart of the coast, returning to Bowdoin Bay for Lieut. Peary 

 on .September l. The expedition is expected to return by 

 September 20. Dr. Ohlin, the Swedish zoologist, and Messrs. 

 Chamberlain and Libbey, represent the scientific side of the 

 party, which is under the leadership of Mr. Bryant. 



Dr. M. a. Veeder informs us that the Jackson-Harmsworlh 

 Polar Expedition, which starts from London to-day (see p. 

 255) for an extended sojourn in the Arctic regions, will co-operate 

 in observation of the aurora upon the concerted plan which is in 

 use by a large number of observers ia various parts of the earth, 

 and by the expeditions of Lieul. Peary and Dr. Nansen. This, 

 together with what has already lieen done, insures the con- 

 tinuance and perfecting of these observations, which are having 

 results that promise to be of great practical value both to 

 astronomical and meteorological science, as well as to the study 

 of physics in general. 



At the last meeting of ihe Physical Society it was announced 

 that in future the meetings of the Society will l)e held in the 

 rooms of the Chemical Society, Burlington House. Since its 

 foundation in 1874 the Socieiy has met in the Physical 

 Lecture Theatre of the Royal College of Science. 



Violent earthquake disturbances were experienced in 

 Constantinople on Tuesday afternoon. The first shock 

 occurred shortly after noon, and is said to have lasted twenty 

 seconds. Another wave was felt at four o'clock. In both 

 cases the direction of motion appears to have been from east to 

 west. About the same time, a severe earthquake was also felt 

 at Smyrna and Scio, and in the Dardanelles. 



Miss Ormerod, writing to the Times of Saturday last, 

 mentions that bad attacks of the grass-destroying caterpillars 

 of the antler moth are now occurring in some localities in Scot- 

 land. She says that in 1S84 these caterpillars devastated an 

 area of about ten miles in extent of the mountainous parts 

 of Glamorganshire, and in 1SS5 spread over an area of about 

 seven by five miles in Selkirkshire, N.B. The district infested 

 at present is that in which the voles not long ago did so much 

 damage, and Prof. Wallace reports that the caterpillars are 

 doing even more mischief than the voles. 



Thunderstorms again occurred in nearly all parts of Great 

 Britain on the 6th inst., and were reported at places during 

 several subsequent days ; the disturbance appears to have been 

 caused by a shallow barometric depression advancing north- 

 wards from the south-west of France. The thunderstorms 

 were again jireceded by abnormally high temperatures, es- 

 pecially over the eastern and southern pans of England, where 

 the thermometer rose above 85 , while at Rochefort, in France, 

 the maximum temperature in the shade rose to 99° on the 5lh. 

 Some very heavy falls of rain have also been reported, the total 

 in two days amounting to about three inches in the south-west 

 of Ireland, and quantities of considerably over an inch in 

 twenty-four hours (ell in Scotland and the south of England. 

 The average rainfall since the beginning of Ihe year has now 

 been about reached, or exceeded, in all districts except the 

 midland parts of England ; in Scotland the average has been 

 exceeded by about five inches. 



At a-Council meeting of thePharmaceutical Society of Great 

 Britain, last week, Mr. Martindale moved the following re- 

 solution : — " That after the first day of January, 1S95, a practical 

 knowledge of the metric system of weights and measures shall 

 be required of all candidates for the Minor examination in the 

 subjects of prescriptions and practical dispensing, and that the 

 Board of Examiners be instructed to require from candidates a 

 general knowledge of posology in terms of the metric as well 

 NO. 1289, VOL. 50]. 



as the British system of weights and measures as defined by the 

 British Pharmacopoeia, 1S85 ; and in practical dispensing ' to 

 weigh, measure, and compound medicines ' by the metric as 

 well as the British system of weights and measures." .\fter 

 some discussion Ihe resolution was altered to the effect that the 

 Board of Examiners should be requested to consider the ad- 

 visability of acquiring a practical knowledge of the metric 

 system of weights and measures for the Minor examination. In 

 this form it was carried. 



We regret to note that the recently issued report of Ihe 

 Council of the Marine Biological .Association states that there 

 is no immediate prospect of a satisfactory boat being obtained 

 by the Association : the question is purely a financial one, and 

 its solution is only to be found in the generosity of public com- 

 panies or private individuals. The Council points out that it 

 is impossible that a sea-going boat can be purchased out of 

 income, so long as the revenue of the Association is so sm ill. 

 During the past year the work of collection has been largely 

 carried out by means of hired vessels, a method both expensive 

 and unsatisfactory. As to scientific investigations, we read 

 that, during the past year, both Mr. Cunningham and Mr. H ilt 

 continued their inquiries into the various questions relating 

 to the maturity of food-fish which were so prominent last yiar 

 before the House of Commons Select Committee on S;a 

 Fisheries, and upon which much information is still required. 

 More important, perhaps, is the fact that .Mr. Cunningham has 

 finally settled by direct experiment the much-debated question 

 of the identity of the egg of the pilchard. He has been able 

 to rear the larva- of plaice, hatched and fertilised in the aquarium 

 at Plymouth, to the age of thirty-seven days ; no flat-fish 

 larva; had previously been reared in confinement from the ovum 

 to this age, and the result is of great economic value. 



The German Fisheries Association offers prizes of 800, 

 icoo, and 600 marks, respectively, for ihe best works on the fol- 

 lowing subjects : — (i) Simple, trustworthy, and generally 

 applicable methods for the determination of the gases oxygen, 

 carbonic acid, and nitrogen found in n<atural waters, or at least 

 of the first two, special importance being attached to methods 

 independent of the higher resources of the chemical laboratory. 

 Competitors to send in before June I, 1S95. (2) Investigations 

 concerning the pathological and anatomical effects upon fishes 

 of the following bodies found in drain-waters :— Free acids, 

 free bases, especially lime, ammonia, soda, and the soluble 

 carbonates of potash and soda ; free bleaching gases, such as 

 chlorine and sulphurous acid. Further, the determination of 

 the symptoms of suffocation from these causes. Partial and 

 even negative answers are not excluded. Representatives of the 

 Salmonidseand Cyprinidae families are recommended for investi- 

 gation. Papers to be sent in before November i, 1896. (3) The 

 development and conditions of life of the water fungus Lepto- 

 milus laclius, and its appearance and disappearance in polluted 

 waters. Papers to be sent in before November I, 1S95. All papers 

 for the competition are to be sent in registered envelopes to the 

 General Secretary, Prof. Dr. Weigelt, Berlin, S.W., Zimmer- 

 strasse 90, 91. They may be written in German, French, or 

 English, and are to be provided with a motto and with the name 

 and address of the author in a sealed envelope bearing the same 

 motto. The object of the .Association is to throw light on the 

 pollution of natural waters by animal and industrial refuse. Ttie 

 withdrawal of the gases mentioned, which have an intimate re- 

 lation to the amount of pulrifying matter, is difiicult to prove. 

 The symptoms of death due to pollution by free acids and other 

 poisons are not as yet v.;ry well knuvn. Sugar and starch fac- 

 tories send drain-waters into the rivers, which offer ample sus- 

 tenance to the white river alg», especially Leploiitiliis laeleus. 

 These may be regarded as having a purifying effect, bat the de- 



