Jan. 25, 1872] 



NATURE 



251 



Cheshire by the repeated landslips which have occurred there. 

 For several winters in succession large surfaces of ground have 

 fallen in, it is supposed on account of the withdrawal of the salt 

 from the salt-mines. The slip which occurred this winter is on 

 the same spot where similar occurrences happened twelve months, 

 two, and four years ago. The pit is about 300 yards in circum- 

 ference, and about 100 feet deep, and the sides are almost per- 

 pendicular. It is feared that if these subsidences continue the 

 town itself will be threatened, and the attention of the Govern- 

 ment has been called to them. 



Mr. W. Laird Clowfs, in a letter to a contemporary dated 

 The Cottage, Pmner, Monday, Jan. 8, writes: — "To-night, 

 between 8.15 and 8.30, I noticed three beautiluUy luminous at- 

 mospherical phenomena on the not them horizon. They all took 

 the form of an arc of fire of between 8° and 10" in height, the 

 first two happening within a minute of one another, and the last 

 about eleven minutes after the second. There were a sbght 

 breeze and light clouds at the time." This was most probably 

 an aurora borealis, but we have not seen any other account 

 of it. 



The Trinity Board have established an electric light at the 

 South Foreland lighthouse, which is situated between Dover and 

 Deal. It was formally opened on New Year's Day by Sir 

 Frederick Arrow, the Deputy-Master of the Trinity Board, in 

 the place of Prince Arthur, who was prevented from being 

 present. This lighthouse establishes a triangle of electric lights, 

 the other two being at Dungeness and Cape Grisnez 



The accounts furnished by the Boston Advertiser from the 

 captains and crews of the vessels of the whaling fleet lately 

 destroyed or ice-bound in the Arctic Ocean concur in describing 

 the presence of peculiar meteorological phenomena during the 

 past season. The prevailing summer wind on the north-west 

 coast of Alaska is from the north, and this works the ice off 

 from the land and disperses it, while the north-westerly winds 

 close it up on the shore. As ihe ice moves off, tbe ships gene- 

 rally work up by the land, and in that situation find whales in 

 plenty. By the end of the season, when north-westerly winds are 

 prevalent, the ice becomes so broken up and melted that it has 

 ceased to be an element of danger, and the vessels are compelled 

 to retire to the northward by heavy ice drifting along the coast 

 from the north, and not from a threatened closing in upon the 

 land. But this season the easterly winds were not so strong and 

 constant as usuil, and the ice that had gone off from shore re- 

 turned in a heavy pack, so that it was impossible to get a ship 

 through, or even to hold against it at anchor. The heavy ice-fields 

 are all composed of fresh-water berg-ice, not floe-ice of salt- 

 water. The bergs are not of the immense proportions seen in 

 Greenland seas, but are solid enough to be equally dangerous, 

 many masses being so heavy as to ground in ten fathoms of 

 water. 



On Nov. 15 the town of Oran, the second city in the province 

 of Salta, was destroyed by a series of earthquakes lasting nme 

 hours. Very liille life was lost, the first shocks being light. The 

 inhabitants had time to flee to the open camp of Monte Video. 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE FROM 



AMERICA" 



Advices from Lieutenant G. M. Wheeler, United States Engi- 

 neers, whose movements during the past year we have had 

 frequent occasion to chronicle, announce his arrival at Tucson 

 about Dec. 4, with the men and animals nearly e.xhausted. 

 Tne trip from Prescott to Camp Apactie tiail been very severe, 

 on acci.»unr of the snow and high winds on the Colorado plateau. 

 Duiing their exploration one party had been sent to ihe San 



* Communicated by tlie Scientific Editor of Harper's Weekly. 



Francisco mountains, and made the ascent of the principal peak. 

 These mountains c<^>nsist of three prominences, g-^oupmg in the 

 form of a crater, the nonh-eastern rim being wanting. The 

 principal peak was occupied as a topographical, baromeirica), 

 and photographic station. It is believed to be nearly 1,000 feet 

 higher than the peak usually asceudtd ; and Lieutenant Wheeler 

 was of the opini.:n that his party was the fir.-.t to occupy its sum- 

 mit. This, however, was a mistake, as Dr. Edward Palmer, of 

 the Smithsonian Institution, made ihe a-cent in 1S70, and ob- 

 tained a number of new specie- of plants and insects. — A docu- 

 ment which has been for some years in preparation, and toward 

 which much expectation has been directed by agriculturists, has 

 just appeared from the Government press, namely, the Report of 

 the Commissioner of Agriculture upon the Diseases of Cattle in 

 the United Sates. About the middle of June, 1868, a disease 

 broke out at Cairo, Illinois, among a numb.r of Te.\as cattle, 

 known as the Spanish fever, or the Texas cattle disease. In 

 consequence of the a[.id extensi n of this disease, very st-rious 

 alarm was excited, and ttie services o Prof John Gamgee, a 

 distinguished English veterinarian, tht-n in the Uni ed States, 

 were secured by General Capron, the Commissioner of Agricul- 

 ture, for the purpose of instituting a cartful inquiry as to its 

 cause, course, and m thods of ircatmenr. The Professor imme- 

 diately visited the infected distric s in Illinois, and in the spring 

 of 1869 examined that part of Texas on or near the Gulf coast, 

 where the transportation of ihe native cattle begins. In this 

 last journey he was accompanied by Prof. Ravenel, of South 

 Carolina, a specialist among the fungi, and whose particular object 

 was to determine what part such plants played in tfie infection. 

 Dr. J. S. BiUmgs and Dr. Curtis, of the army, were also asso- 

 ciated in the inquiry, having special reference to ihe microscopic 

 investigations. A second investigation by Prof. Gamgee, under 

 the authority of ihe Commis-ioner of Agriculture, had reference 

 to the subject of pleuro-pneumonia, in the course of which nu- 

 merous microscopic observations were made by Dr. Woodward, 

 of the Army Medical Museum. Full reports on ihcse various 

 subjects made by the different gentlemen are embodied in 

 the volume referred to, which appears in quarto lorm, with 

 numerous well-executed plates in chrnmo-lithography. It 

 is also accompanied by a report by Mr. Dodge, the statistician 

 of the Agricultural department, upon the history of this Texas 

 cattle disease, also known as splenic fever, in which the devasta- 

 tions of this peculiar native malady are traced back into the 

 eighteenth century. This report was considered by General 

 Capron as simply preliminary, and further investigations are in- 

 dicated as important. Among those especially mentioned are 

 inquiries as to the best mode of arresting the con'aL^ion, and the 

 proper way of transportation of the cattle northward. He 

 thinks that a general law of the United States, in the interest of 

 public health, of an enlightened humanity, and of the cattle 

 trade, should regulate this traffic, not only throughout the Gulf 

 Siate.s, but on the great routes throughout the country. — A valu- 

 able dr cument lately issued by the Surgeon-General's Office at 

 Washirgton, prepared by Dr. G. A. Otis, consists of a report of 

 suriical cases treated in ihe army of the United .States from 1S65 

 to 1871, covering almost every possible variety of injury, whether 

 by gun-s'iot wounds, iacer-itions, fractures, dislocations, ampu- 

 tations, lie. The report, which is a quar:o of nearly 300 

 pages, is illustrated in the same exi client style as its prede- 

 cessrrrs, and the woodcuts arc especially worthy o* all praise. — 

 Bills have been introduced both in the Senate and House of 

 Representatives providing for the reservation of that portion of 

 the region ab ut the Yellow Stone Lake, in which the wonderful 

 geysers and hot Sj rir gs occur, to wh ch we have repeatedly 

 Cilleil the a lention of our readers. The thorough expl ration 

 of that country made during the past season by Dr Ilaydc n has 

 enabled hin todefir;e the IrmitSAithin which tliese natural feattres 

 occur, and the bill is based upon a plan prepared unde his direc- 

 tion. The area proposed to be preserved is about sixty five miles in 

 length by fifty-five in width, and it is suggested that the reserva- 

 tion be placed under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, 

 who is to be empowered to take such .steps as may be required 

 to protect the natural curiosities from injury or destruction. It 

 is highly important that this should become a law at the present 

 session, as the glowing accounts given by Dr Hajden will cause 

 a great many per.sons to vi-ii the country during the coming year, 

 and with the natural iconoclasin if the Anglo >axon race, there 

 is great danger that the wonderful water basins and formal ions of 

 sulphur and of calcareous and siliceous rocks will be knocked to 

 pieces for the purpose of securing mtmenloes of a visit. 



