134 



NA TURE 



[December i i, 190: 



and Mr. W. Willcocks, C.M.G., of the Egyptian Irrigation 

 Department. To be C.M.G., Mr. A. L. Webb, Mr. K. E. 

 Verschoyle, Mr. M. Fitzmaurice and Mr. G. H. Stephens. 



The suggestion that the British Association shorld meet in 

 South Africa in 1905 was mentioned in these columns some time 

 ago. The following statement with reference to the meeting 

 has now been published in the daily papers : — Reuter's Agency 

 is informed that the suggestion that the British Association 

 should hold its annual meeting for 1S95 m South Africa emanated 

 from the new South African Association of Science, of which 

 Sir D. Gill, Astronomer Royal for the Cape, is president. Before 

 the last meeting of the British Association at Belfast, invitations 

 were sent from the municipalities of Cape Town, Kimberley, 

 Bulawayo and other centres in South Africa, and it is understood 

 that these have been accepted, and that the session of 1905 will 

 be held in South Africa. Scientific papers will be read at 

 various centres in the South African Colonies, and visits will be 

 paid to various places of interest. A sum of 7000/. has been 

 collected in South Africa for the entertainment of the Association. 

 While in Rhodesia, the men of science will be the guests of the 

 Chartered Company, who will place the railways at their dis- 

 posal and, among other things, take them by special train to 

 the Zambesi, where they will stay at the new hotel to be erected 

 near Victoria Falls. Probably the guests will leave England in a 

 special steamer. 



At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on Mon- 

 day, Dr. Sven Hedin described to a large audience the results 

 of his explorations in Central Asia during the three years 1S99- 

 1902. Before the reading of the paper, it was announced that 

 Dr. Sven Hedin had been awarded the Victorian medal of the 

 Society for geographical survey. The scientific records and 

 other material obtained during the expedition are of great 

 value, and include some interesting evidence of secular move- 

 ments in the region of Lop-nor. The surface of the lake of 

 Kara-koshun was found to be about seven-and-a-half feet below 

 the northern shore of the ancient lake of Lop-nor. The lake 

 of Kara-koshun is gradually disappearing in the place where 

 Prjevalsky found it, and slowly creeping northwards towards its 

 ancient bed, where Dr. Hedin believes it will be found at no 

 great distance of time. The lake is getting choked with mud 

 and drift-sand and decaying vegetable matter ; while, on the 

 other hand, the northern part of the desiccated desert is being 

 eroded and furrowed by the winds, and is thus growing deeper 

 and deeper every year. As the lake moves, so do the vege- 

 tation and the various animals of the desert. They, as well as 

 the fisher-folk, with their reed huts, follow after to the new 

 shores, while the old lake gradually dries up. There are 

 reasons for believing that in the far-off future the same pheno- 

 mena will recur again, but in the reverse order, though the 

 natural laws which will effect the reversal will remain pre- 

 cisely the same. Whenever that occurs it will be possible 

 to determine the length of time required for these periodic 

 changes. Dr. Hedin pointed out, however, that it is 

 already known that in the year 265 A. D. the lake of Lop- 

 nor lay in the northern part of the desert. Lop-nor is, as it 

 were, the oscillating pendulum of the Tarim River, and each 

 oscillation probably extends over a space of a thousand years or 

 more. 



The following men of science have been elected honorary 

 members of the Cambridge Philosophical Society : — Profs. 

 Bayley Balfour, A. H. Becquerel, E. Fischer, Richard Heymons, 

 J. H. van 't Hon", M. Jordan, H. F. Osborn, W. K. von 

 Rontgen, Corrado Segre and Hugo de Vries. 



The Antarctic relief ship Morning, carrying provisions for 

 the Discovery, now in Antarctic regions, sailed from Wellington, 

 New Zealand, on December 6. 



NO. 1728, VOL. 67] 



The Times correspondent at St. Thomas, in a message dated) 

 December 6, reports that Mont Pelee has been- dangerously 

 active during the past week. There has been a heavy fall of 

 ashes, and vessels were advised not to approach the coast. 



An ascent of the Soufritre while still in a state of activity 

 was made, on October 2S, by Mr. J. P. Quinton, of the Botanic 

 Station of Sierra Leone. Mr. Ouinton and his party were the 

 first to try the ascent since the eruption of October 15-16. 

 Some of the ridges they had to cross were not more than six 

 inches wide, with a fall of a thousand feet on either hand. The 

 ascent took two and a half hours stiff climbing. Mr. Quinton 

 found that the new crater had unwarrantably been held 

 responsible for the mischief of October 15 ; only the old crater 

 was doing anything. This was discharging volumes of steam and 

 water, and was throwing stones and ashes to a height of 30ft. or 

 more. But no lava at all seems to have been ejected. The 

 steam comes up through a fissure in the south wall of the 

 crater, hangs along in a depression close in under the south- 

 eastern wall, and, finally gaining the summit, is blown over to- 

 the west, making it look as though it were coming from the new 

 pit. The old crater is very much wider than it used to be and 

 more funnel-like. Red-hot s.tones and ashes are piled up on all 

 sides — in some places over the rims. All through the night and 

 the following morning while the party was on the mountain, 

 rumbling sounds were constantly emitted, with clouds of steam 

 and showers of ashes. 



A Times correspondent describes the recent eruptions ir> 

 Guatemala as communicated to him by a resident in the 

 republic. On October 24, at about 5 p.m., a violent eruption 

 took place in the ravine which divides the volcano of Santa 

 Maria from that of the Siete Orejas. At 5 a.m. on October 25, 

 subdued noises were heard, emanating apparently from the 

 direction of Quezaltenango. Later on the detonations grew 

 louder. At 6 p.m. the eruption reached its climax. For about 

 an hour the detonations had ceased, when, by a terrific out- 

 burst, the whole of the capital was thrown into a panic and 

 everybody rushed out into the streets. This cannonade lasted 

 for ten minutes, during which time the strongest built houses 

 shook violently. At intervals the detonations continued through 

 the night and in a less degree afterwards. The explosions were 

 heard in the south of Nicaragua, and a telegram was received 

 from San Salvador stating that the inhabitants had rushed into 

 the streets in terror on hearing the noise. Quezaltenango was 

 thirty-six hours in total darkness, during which time a heavy 

 rain of ashes and sand had been falling. The manager of the 

 Sabinas Estate, which lies just above the scene of the eruption, 

 says that at about 5 o'clock on October 24 they were alarmed 

 by a series of earthquakes of a throbbing nature, which appeared 

 to come from below them. Almost simultaneously, a cloud of 

 steam was seen to issue from the ravine already mentioned, 

 about a league away. Soon ashes and sand, accompanied by 

 small stones, commenced falling, and two hours later the odour 

 of sulphur and gases was so great that he could hold out no 

 longer, and he left on foot for Retalhuleu, a distance of some 

 thirty miles. Reports from the other planters confirm the fear 

 that the whole of the Costa Cuca, probably the richest coffee 

 zone in the country, is totally ruined. 



Among the lectures to be delivered at the Royal Institution- 

 before Easter, we notice the following :— Prof. H. S. Hele- 

 Shaw, six lectures (adapted to young people) on locomotion, on 

 the earth ; through the water ; in the air (experimentally illus- 

 trated) ; Prof. Allan Macfadyen, six lectures on the physiology 

 of digestion ; Sir William Abney, three lectures on recent ad- 

 vances in photographic science ; Sir Robert Ball, three lectures 

 on great problems in astronomy ; Mr. A. J. Evans, three 

 lectures on pre- Phoenician writing in Crete and its. bearings on 



