February 12, 1903] 



NA TURE 



3-19 



A Central News message from New York reports that 

 earthquake shocks were felt on Sunday evening in Indiana, 

 Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri. 



A despatch from Kingston, through Reuter's Agency, 

 states that an earthquake with loud subterranean rum- 

 blings occurred in Western Jamaica during the evening of 

 February 5. 



According to news from San Francisco, a hurri- 

 cane and great wave struck the Societ)' or Tahitian 

 Islands and the Tuamotu Archipelago, 5 00 miles further 

 east, on January 13. The hurricane lasted for several days, 

 but it was most severe between January 14 and 16. Eighty 

 islands are said to have been overwhelmed and 1000 natives 

 killed. Native refugees at Tahiti state that the sky began 

 to assume a peculiar aspect on January n, and that the in- 

 habitants were all greatly alarmed. The air was very 

 oppressive, and the wind began blowing fiercely from the 

 south-east. Hour by hour it increased in violence, and 

 every wave was higher than its predecessor. The natives on 

 several of the adjacent islands succeeded in making their 

 way to Hikuera, which has the greatest elevation of all the 

 islands in the group. A wall of water, said to have been 

 at least forty feet in height, rose and rushed hundreds of 

 miles wide through the islands. For ten hours this state 

 of affairs prevailed. The storm extended to Raiatea in the 

 I.eeward Isles, where much damage was done, but no fatali- 

 ties occurred. In connection with this disturbance, the 

 earthquake records described by Prof. Milne on p. 34S are 

 of interest. 



The Daily Mail announces that excellent telephonic com- 

 munication was established on February 3 between the cen- 

 tral State office in Copenhagen and Frankfort and Mayence 

 in Germany, a distance of about four hundred miles. The 

 Dutch Vice-Consul at Kallundborg, North-West Seeland, 

 also spoke to Frankfort, every word being distinctly audible. 



Dr. A. S. Grunbaum has accepted the post of director of 

 cancer research at the invitation of the committee appointed 

 to administer the fund initiated for that purpose by a gift 

 of io.oooi. from Mr. Sutton Timmis, of Liverpool. The 

 work will be carried on at the University College, Liverpool, 

 and the Royal Infirmary. 



We learn from the Athenaeum that the King of Sweden 

 and Norway has instituted a gold medal in honour of the 

 centenary, last autumn, of the famous mathematician Niels 

 Abel. The medal, which will be given by the Academy of 

 Science in Christiania every fifth year, will be awarded 

 for eminent work in pure mathematics, without regard to 

 nationality. 



Mr. H. Balfour, the curator 01 the Pitt-Rivers Museum at 

 Oxford, has been elected president of the Anthropological 

 Institute for the year 1903. The council has selected for 

 election as honorary fellows of the Institute, Mr. A. W. Howitt, 

 of Melbourne, for distinguished services to the ethnology of 

 Australia ; Dr. F. von Luschan, for numerous contributions to 

 ethnology ; and Dr. Salomon Reinach, for his researches into 

 the early history of civilisation in the Mediterranean and 

 western Europe. 



Remarkable results in the way of swift locomotion are 

 said by the Westminster Gazette to have been obtained with 

 the new Midland Railway compound engines, which for a 

 distance of fifteen miles between Leeds and Carlisle attained 

 a speed of more than eighty-two miles an hour, with a load of 

 about 350 tons. The total weight of engine and tender is 

 eighty-five tons, but the weight in working order is 112 

 tons. These engines are working express passenger trains 

 between Leeds and Carlisle. 



NO. 173/, VOL. 67] 



To encourage investigations into the increase of fertility 

 in soils by the action of bacteria and other micro-organisms, 

 under the influence of mineral manures, with special refer- 

 ence to manuring with basic slag, the Berlin Association of 

 Thomas's Phosphate Works has instituted a competition, 

 with prizes amounting to a total of 1950!. Scientific essays 

 and experiments conducted by practical farmers will be 

 admissible in the competition. The competition is to be 

 open to all, without regard to nationality. Competitors are 

 requested to send in their essays, written in German, to the 

 address of the association, Berlin, S.W., Hafenplatz 4, not 

 later than February 1, 1906. 



The Berlin correspondent of the Times states that Dr. 

 Sven Hedin delivered a lecture on February 7 to the Geo- 

 graphical Society of Berlin upon his recent journeys in 

 Central Asia and Tibet. The Imperial Chancellor, Count 

 von Biilow, who had intended to be present, was at the last 

 moment prevented from attending. The Imperial Secretary 

 of State for Foreign Affairs, Baron von Richthofen, appeared 

 on behalf of the German Foreign Office. At the conclusion 

 of the lecture, Prof. Hillman announced that the German 

 Emperor had conferred on Dr. Hedin the second class with 

 the star of the Prussian Order of the Crown. Dr. Sven 

 Hedin was elected an honorary member of the Berlin Geo- 

 graphical Society, and was presented with the golden 

 " Nachtigal " medal, which was founded in memory of a 

 well-known Central African explorer. 



The United States Commercial Agent at Vladivostock 

 states in a recent report that a German engineer has found 

 new naphtha ground on the eastern part of Sakhalin Island, 

 and also a large lake filled with dry naphtha. This, he 

 says, would be excellent material for preparing asphalt. 

 This engineer thinks the prospects for naphtha promise 

 to be richer than those of Baku. 



The Scientific American gives an account of some experi- 

 ments in wireless telegraphy which were recently carried 

 out with a moving train, and proved very successful. 

 Several difficulties peculiar to the case presented themselves ; 

 a vertical collecting wire could not be used, and horizontal 

 wires inside the cars had to be substituted. It was also 

 found that the receiving relay could not be used at its 

 maximum sensitiveness on account of the vibration of the 

 train. In spite of these and other minor drawbacks, it was 

 found possible to keep the train in touch with the station 

 for from eight to ten miles. The experiments were carried 

 out by Dr. E. Rutherford and Dr. H. T. Barnes, of McGill 

 University, Montreal. 



Dr. R. T. Glazebrook, writing to the Electrician, states 

 that the arrangements for carrying out photometric work at 

 the National Physical Laboratory are now nearly completed. 

 The photometric laboratory has been largely equipped by the 

 generosity of Messrs. Crompton, who have presented a poten- 

 tiometer outfit, the Electrical Power Storage Co., which is 

 giving a battery of 150 cells, and Mr. Trotter and Sir Wm. 

 Preece, who have presented other apparatus. A 10 c.p. pen- 

 tane standard is being compared with that of the gas referees 

 by Mr. Vernon Harcourt, and Mr. Glazebrook is in corre- 

 spondence with the Reichsanstalt as to obtaining standard 

 lamps. As soon as everything is in working order the 

 laboratory will be able to assume the position and responsi- 

 bility of a standard photometric authority, so far as this is 

 possible without legislation. The establishment of this 

 laboratory will be a great boon to electrical engineers, who 

 will be able to look to it for guidance in some of the many 

 vexed questions of photometry. The possibility of obtaining 



