No. 1072, Vol. 42] 



NATURE 



Mr. T. G. Paterson, of Edinburgh, has sent to the Daily 

 Ncivs the following information regarding what will be the most 

 northerly telephone in Europe: — "My brother, Mr. Spence 

 Paterson, H.M. Consul for Iceland, writes to me: 'It is 

 proposed to put up a telephone line between Reikjavik and 

 ITavnefiord. The cost of apparatus and construction is reck- 

 oned under Kr. 30,000, and a small company is to raise the 

 capital.'" 



We learn from Humboldt that in connection with the tenth 

 International Medical Congress, to be held this year in Berlin 

 from August 4 to 9, there is to be an International Medico- 

 Scientific Exhibition. The following kinds of objects will be 

 exhibited : new or improved scientific instruments and apparatus 

 for biological and especially medical purposes, including ap- 

 paratus for photography and spectrum analysis so far as they are 

 of service to medicine ; new pharmaceutical and chemical stuffs 

 and preparations ; new or improved instruments for operative 

 purposes of medicine, including electrotherapy ; new plans and 

 models of hospitals, convalescent homes, disinfection arrange- 

 ments, baths, &c. ; new arrangements for care of the sick, in- 

 cluding means of transport, and baths for invalids ; newest 

 apparatus for hygienic purposes, &c. Communications (marked 

 " Ausstellungsangelegenheit ") should be sent to the office of 

 the Congress, Dr. Lassar, Berlin, N.W., Karlstrasse 19. 



The dinner given in honour of M. de Lacaze-Duthiers by 

 the Club called Scientia, on April 30, seems to have been a 

 great success. It took place in the Hotel Continental. M. 

 Charles Richet, who presided, delivered an eloquent speech on 

 the achievements of the Club's guest — "that conqueror of the 

 sea, and apostle of zoology " — calling attention especially to 

 his services as the founder of the marine laboratories of Roscoff 

 and Banyuls. 



The Kcw Bulldin for May opens with an interesting collec- 

 tion of facts relating to efforts which are being made to obtain 

 commercial rubber from the "Abba" tree of West Africa. 

 There are also sections on a mealy bug which has lately been 

 very destructive to cultivated plants at Alexandria; on Mauritius 

 hemp machines ; on Siberian perennial flax ; and on Liberian 

 coffee. 



The several Australian Governments have completed their 

 arrangements with regard to the Mining Exhibition which is to 

 be held this year at the Crystal Palace. According to the 

 Australian Mining Standard, the best display will probably be 

 made by New South Wales. Mr. Wilkinson, the Government 

 Geologist, will visit England as the official representative of that 

 colony ; and the collections to which high honours were awarded 

 at the New Zealand Exhibition will be sent to London. 



The first number of "Records of the Australian Museum," 

 edited by Dr. E. P. Ramsay, the Curator, has been issued. The 

 editor explains that the rapid increase in the collections of the 

 Museum, and the gradual acquisition of extensive series of new, or 

 little known, forms from Australia, New Guinea, and the Pacific 

 islands, have "forcibly brought under the notice of the trustees 

 the necessity of officially publishing the investigations of their 

 scientific staff." Accordingly the " Records " will appear as an 

 occasional periodical. Among the contents of the first number 

 are a report on a zoological collection from the Solomon Islands, 

 by E. P. Ramsay and J. D. Ogilby ; a re-description of an 

 Australian skink, by the same writers ; a report of a collecting 

 trip to Mount Kosciusko, by R. Helms ; general notes made 



I during a visit to Mount Sassafras, Shoalhaven district, by R. 



f Etheridge, Jun. , and J. A. Thorpe ; and a report on a collecting 

 trip to North-P^astern Queensland during April to September 

 1889, by E. ]. Cairn and R. Grant. 



The Aeronautical Society of Great Britain will hold a meeting 

 at the Society of Arts, on Friday, May 16, when a lecture will 

 be delivered by Mr. Henry Middleton, of Slough, on "the 

 fundamental principles of flight, and their application to the 

 construction of flying machines." Mr. Edgar Stuart Bruce will 

 read a short paper on electric balloon signalling, with details of 

 some late experiments in Belgium. 



An obituary notice of Theodor Kirsch has been issued as the 

 fifth of the series of " Abhandlungen und Berichte " of the 

 Dresden Zoological and Anthropological Museum, edited by Dr. 

 A. B. Meyer. Herr Kirsch had charge of the entomological 

 department of the Museum. The notice is accompanied by a 

 portrait, and by a list of his writings. 



The buildings of the Botanical Museum and Laboratory of 

 the Michigan Agricultural College have been entirely destroyed 

 by fire, and with them the whole of the Wheeler Herbarium^ 

 containing over 7000 species, the most complete collection of 

 Michigan plants ever brought together. 



The well-known botanical explorer Mr. C. C. Parry died at 

 Davenport, Iowa, on February 20, from an illness following on 

 an attack of influenza. 



Dr. Tschirch, of Berlin, has been appointed Professor of 

 Pharmacology in the University of Berne. 



Dr. Istvanffy-Schaarschmidt has been appointed Curator 

 of the botanical collections in the National Museum of Buda- 

 Pesth. 



Herr J. Bornmuixer was engaged during April in a 

 botanical investigation in Asia Minor. He began with the 

 mountainous region in the neighbourhood of Amasia, and 

 proceeded westwards into Galatia and Paphlagonia. 



Two slight shocks of earthquake were felt at Sofia on May 

 10, at half-past 2 and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. The seismic 

 disturbances travelled in a vertical direction. 



The Deutsche Seewarte has just published Part III. of 

 " Ueberseeische meteorologische Beobachtun;jen," containing a 

 valuable series of observations from distant stations, carefully 

 compiled in the most desirable form. Full particulars are givea 

 about the positions of the stations, and the construction of the 

 instruments. 



We have received the Report of the Meteorological Service 

 of the Dominion of Canada for the year 1886. It contains, as 

 before, very clear tables of the daily, monthly, and quarterly 

 means, for a large number of stations, and values of bright sun- 

 shine for 14 stations. The storm signal service seems to be 

 much appreciated, and to be very successful ; Mr. Carpmael 

 states that, whenever a storm of any magnitude occurred, due 

 warning was given to the shipping. The issue of daily weather 

 forecasts has also been very successful — 88 '6 per cent, having 

 been fully verified. The system of disseminating weather 

 information, by attaching metal disks to the railway cars, has 

 been perfected, and Mr. Carpmael states that these forecasts are 

 as eagerly sought for by farmers and people resident in country 

 districts as by the inhabitants of the towns where they are pub- 

 lished. The Report also contains five coloured plates, showing 

 the quarterly and annual distribution of rainfall in Ontario. 



The daily and yearly variation, and the distribution, of wind- 

 velocities in the Russian Empire have been fully investigated by 

 Kiersnowski {Repert. f. Meteor.). The highest velocities (mean 

 6-3 metres per second) occur in the Baltic provinces. On the 

 White Sea, on the Caspian, in the region of the North Russian 

 lakes, and on the Steppe, the values are also high ; in the forest 

 region and the Caucasus they are low. Towards the interior of 

 Asia the velocity decreases, and in Transbaikalia is the mini- 



