302 
NATURE 
[May 21, 1914 
resembled the present Alpine chain, is shown as re- 
sulting from the Armorican folding. Immense intru- 
sions of igneous rocks then took place, and some of 
the gneisses of the Vosges and the Black Forest are 
now recognised as granites of Carboniferous age. 
While the great lowering of the Rhine-trough by 
down-faulting dates from Middle Oligocene times, 
and while this was emphasised by the Miocene uplift 
of its flanking walls, it is interesting to reflect that 
the Rhine itself played no part in the modification of 
the valley until it flowed for the first time northward 
at the opening of the Glacial epoch. 
StncE the description by Prof. Malladra, in May, 
I9g12, of the existence of a practicable’ path 
by which the bottom of the Vesuvian_ crater 
can be reached, several observers have availed 
themselves of the opportunity of making investi- 
gations concerning volcanic action under these 
unique conditions. In the Geologische Rundschau 
(Band v., Heft 2, 1914) a very interesting account of a 
visit to the crater is given by Mr. Max Storz, of 
Munich. Among the valuable results published as 
the outcome of this visit, we may direct attention to 
the temperature observations, made by means of 
metallic wires with different melting points, and to 
the determination of the acids and bases present in 
the emanations. The acids found were hydrochloric 
and sulphurous-acid gases, and indications of the 
following metals were detected—lead, copper, calcium, 
magnesium, potassium, and sodium. Useful plans of 
the crater and of the bocca at its bottom are given, 
together with photographs which are similar in every 
respect to those obtained by Mr. Burlingham, three 
of which appeared in Nature of February 5. 
Tue Californian earthquake of 1906 originated in a 
movement along the San Andreas fault-rift extending 
over a distance of 290 miles. Since that year three 
slight earthquakes have been traced to slips along the 
same fault. The first, on September 12, 1912, occurred 
near the south end of San Francisco Bay; the second, 
on October 25, 1913, to the. north-west of Berkeley ; 
the third, on January 23, 1914, in an intermediate posi- 
tion close toSan Bruno. The epicentre of the last was 
determined by Mr. E. F. Davis (Bull. Seis. Soc. 
America, vol. iv., pp. 25-28) by means of Omori’s 
formula for local shociks from the duration of the 
preliminary tremors at the Lick, Santa Clara, and 
Berkeley Observatories. 
THE report for 1913 of the Stonyhurst College Ob- 
servatory (Lancs.) has been received from Father 
Sidgreaves, and contains inter alia mean and extreme 
meteorological values at that important station for 
the last sixty-six years. The observatory has recently 
severed its principal connection with the Meteoro- 
logical Office (as explained in the last annual report 
of the meteorological committee), but it still furnishes 
the latter body with weekly reports; the automatic 
recorders remain at Stonyhurst, and their continuous 
registrations are uninterrupted. 
THE yearly report for 1913 of the Deutsche Seewarte 
(Hamburg) bears witness to the great activity of that 
useful institution with regard especially to (1) mari- 
NO. 2325, VOL. 93] 
| several recent improvements, 
| time meteorology, (2) weather telegraphy, and, 
generally speaking, to all matters connected with the 
welfare of the seafaring community. Much attention 
is given to the proper installation of the mariner’s 
compass, and to the application of the theory of mag- 
netism to navigation; these matters also engaged 
the earnest attention of the late Dr. v. Neumayer. 
During the year the number of complete sets of ob- 
servations received from observers at sea exceeded 
three-quarters of a million. These are utilised in the 
preparation of monthly meteorological charts, sailing 
directions, and daily synoptic weather charts of the 
North Atlantic. The daily report has undergone 
and it now includes 
small charts showing separately the changes of air- 
pressure during the preceding day and night by 
lines of equal values of these changes (isallobars) ; 
these values are fully discussed by Dr. N. Ekholm in 
No. Ixiv. of the publications of the international 
council for the study of the sea (NATURE, September 
18, 1913). 
BoLttzMaNn’s formula for entropy considered in 
relation to the theory of probability has recently been 
made the basis of many of our modern radiation 
theories; but objections have been raised by Einstein 
and others, in particular to the validity of the formula 
when applied to systems other than isolated systems 
the energy of which is constant. A short note on 
this question is published by Dr. Karl F. Herzfeld in 
the Vienna Sitzungsberichte for 1913 (recently re- 
ceived), in which the author confirms the more general 
formula according to which the entropy in any state 
is proportional to the logarithm of the number of pos- 
sible cases plus a constant, but the value of this con- 
stant is not definite, as it was in the usual Boltz- 
mann formula. 
A sHoRT time ago Mr. Jenkins described (Philo- 
sophical Magazine, vol. xxvi., p. 752) a method devised 
by Prof. Hicks for determining a magnetic field, in 
particular the horizontal component of the earth’s 
field, by a method which reduced the measurement to 
that of an electric current. In the case of the earth’s 
field a solenoid through which a measured current 
flows is used to reverse that field. The state of the 
joint field is judged by the time of oscillation of a 
small magnet at the centre of the solenoid. In the 
March number of Terrestrial Magnetism, Prof. 
Schuster describes a similar method which he has had 
tested at the National Physical Laboratory. It seems 
probable that when the coil is wound with the degree 
of accuracy used in current-measuring instruments, 
the accuracy of a determination will be at least as 
great as with the Kew magnetometer, and the time 
required will be five minutes instead of an hour. 
AN electrical sterilisation process has been in suc- 
cessful operation at one of the milk depédts of the 
Liverpool City Corporation for the past six months, 
and a report on this process drawn up by the city 
bacteriologist, Prof. Beattie, was presented last month 
to the Health Committee of the City Corporation. 
The process depends upon the use of an alternating 
current of high potential for destroying, by shock, the 
bacteria contained in the milk. The sterilising appa- 
