May 29, 1890] 



NA TURE 



109 



Having successfully crossed the body of water mentioned, they 

 came to lofty galleries through which the river flowed. It was 

 possible to walk on the banks of the stream, but at intervals it 

 expanded into small lakes, and the boat had to be used. At 

 last the gallery branched into two corridors, one of which the 

 stream rendered impassable, while the other was high and quite 

 dry. The boat was dragged up, and the party proceeded. After 

 crossing a fourth lake, the largest they had met, they found that 

 the Ottoker Cave had been reached. The journey through the 

 galleries lasted six hours. The explorers saw that they had by 

 no means penetrated to the remotest parts of the grotto, and 

 there is evidently still a wide field for discovery. 



According to a telegram sent through Reuter's Agency from 

 New York, a slight shock of earthquake was felt at Utica and 

 at other points in the northern portion of New York State on 

 May 25. The disturbance was felt more severely in Mont- 

 gomery County, At Little Falls the shock was sufficiently 

 strong to cause dishes and other similar articles to rattle, and 

 subterranean rumblings were heard, while at Fort Hunter the 

 buildings were so shaken that beds were moved and their 

 occupants awakened. No damage was done. 



Another telegram, sent through Reuter's Agency from Con- 

 stantinople on May 26, tells of the destruction of an Armenian 

 village by an earthquake. The village was Kayi, in the district 

 of Refahie. Mineral springs spouted from the crevices made in 

 the ground, and flooded the fields. There was no loss of life, 

 as two days previously subterranean rumblings were heard, and 

 cracks appeared in the ground, in consequence of which the 

 Caimakan of the district ordered the inhabitants to leave the 

 village. 



On Sunday last an influential meeting was held in Madrid, at 

 the official residence of the Prime Minister, to prepare the way 

 for the celebration, in 1892, of the four hundredth anniversary 

 of the discovery of America by Columbus. The meeting 

 selected a Grand Committee, which will act in concert with 

 the Spanish Government and the Royal Commission appointed 

 some time ago, and presided over by the Duke of Veragua, a 

 lineal descendant of Columbus, and the present Minister of 

 Public Works. The Madrid Correspondent of the Daily Nnvs 

 says that the most eminent among Spanish statesmen, as well as 

 artists, writers, men of science, and military men, will assist on 

 the organizing committees. It is proposed that the centenary 

 shall be celebrated, if possible, by an Exhibition at Madrid. 

 Vigorous preparations are also being made at Genoa for the 

 suitable commemoration of the same great event. 



The Danish Admiralty has ordered systematic hydrographical 

 observations to be made all round the Danish coast. They be- 

 gan on May i, and are to be continued regularly once a month 

 on all lightships and on five movable stations. The object of 

 these observations is to obtain detailed data concerning the 

 ichthyological and meteorological conditions of the Danish seas. 

 Special apparatus has been constructed by Captain Rung for 

 the measurement of the percentage of salt in the sea-water. 



We learn from Science that, at a recent meeting of the Ame- 

 rican Meteorological Society in Washington, resolutions were 

 adopted " favouring the recognition of the eminent services of 

 American electricians by perpetuating their names' in the nomen- 

 clature of electrical units." At the Electrical Conference to be 

 held in America in 1892, it will be proposed that the name of 

 Joseph Henry — or some modification of it — shall be given to 

 the unit of self-induction, *' he having been the first to investi- 

 gate th'at phenomenon, and his Investigations having been more 

 complete than those of other electricians before or since." 



The temperature of snow at different depths has been in- 

 vestigated by Signor Chistoni. He finds that the variations in 

 NO. 1074, VOL. 42] 



temperature of the lowest layer, next the ground, are extremely 

 small, whilst the uppermost layer has often considerably higher 

 temperature (as much as 10° C. at times). The temperature 

 minimum of the air-layer next the snow was always lower than 

 that of the uppermost snow-layer, while an air-layer about 20 

 inches above the snow had a higher temperature than the layer 

 I "2 inches above the snow. 



Dr. J. Hann communicated to the Academy of Sciences at 

 Vienna, on April 17, a memoir on the high air-pressure of 

 November 12-24, 1889, in Central Europe, together with 

 remarks upon high- pressure areas generally. As this anti- 

 cyclone lay nearly the whole time over the Alpine district, 

 observations could be made at various stations up to a height 

 of above 10, coo feet. Dr. Hann found (i) that the high 

 pressure extended to more than three kilometres above sea- 

 level ; {2) that at this altitude the relative warmth was as great 

 as at a height of one kilometre, while the usual depression of 

 temperature of winter anticyclones was limited to a few 

 hundred feet above the earth ; (3) that great dryness prevailed 

 in the higher strata of the air. The author finds in these 

 results a cogent reason for concluding that in barometrical 

 maxima the air has a descending motion, and that the 

 conditions of pressure are not explained by conditions of 

 temperature, but are a consequence of the movement of the 

 air. The temperature conditions are dependent upon the move- 

 ments of the anticyclones, in the same way as the dryness of 

 the air, and the clearness of the sky. In another section of the 

 paper he investigates the vertical distribution of temperature 

 in a barometrical minimum. During one instance, on October 

 9-10, 1889, he found that the temperature on the sumn -t of the 

 Sonnblick was lower than during the barometrical maximum 

 above quoted. Until the establishment of mountain stations, 

 the temperature was assumed to be one of the chief causes of 

 the form of motion of cyclones and anticyclones, but future 

 inquiries must take into account that up to at least four or five 

 kilometres the temperature of the centre of an anticyclone may 

 be, and probably always is, higher than in the centre of a 

 cyclone. 



In a recent number of the Zeitschrijt fiir Schul-Geographie, 

 Mr. H. Habenicht has written an article on the causes of the 

 cyclones of the North Atlantic. The author points out that, if 

 the globe were covered with water, the general circulation of 

 the air would be very regular, without local depressions and 

 steep barometric gradients, and he refers to the contrast of the 

 systems prevailing, e.g. between the South Pacific and the North 

 Atlantic. He finds the explanation primarily in the obstruction 

 off"ered to the regular courses of the winds by the great con- 

 tinents to the east and west of the Atlantic ; and, secondly, in 

 the constant barometrical maxima over the continent in winter 

 and in the neighbourhood of the Arctic regions. 



The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, has 

 issued the twenty-fifth annual catalogue of its officers and 

 students, with a statement of its courses of instruction and a list 

 of its alumni. The courses of study include the physical, che- 

 mical, and natural sciences and their applications ; pure and 

 applied mathematics ; drawing ; the English, French, German, 

 and other modern languages ; history ; political science ; and 

 international and business law. It is claimed that these studies 

 and exercises are so arranged as to afford a liberal and practical 

 education in preparation for active pursuits, and a thorough 

 training for most of the scientific professions. 



In the entomological part of the forty-first Annual Report of 

 the trustees of the New York State Museum of Natural History, 

 lately published, reference is made to the statements which have 

 been advanced as to the long imprisonment of beetles within furni- 

 ture. The writer suggests that when such cases occur the condi- 



