May ii t 1883] 



NA TURE 



117 



study and collection. The Sofia called at Thurso for coal on 

 Sanday and left on Tuesday. 



In connection with Prof. Fries' suggestion of colonising 

 Greenland by mountain Lapps, to which we referred last week, 

 we learn that Baron Nordenskjold takes with him to Greenland 

 two Lapps from Jockmock, to give their opinion of the country. 

 One of them is thirty, and the other thirty-three years of age. 



We learn from the last annual report of the East Siberian 

 branch of the Russian Geographical Society that this Society, 

 which has contributed so largely to the increase of our know- 

 ledge of Siberia, is beginning to recover from the losses it sustained 

 during the great fire at Irkutsk. Private subscriptions have been 

 raised for the reconstitution of the library and museum to the 

 amount of 2170/., and both are in a fair way of development. The 

 library already has about 4000 volumes, but is in great want of 

 foreign geographical publications, and makes an appeal to the 

 geographical ;ocieties throughout the world to send their publi- 

 cations and, if possible, series of former publications, which 

 ought to be addressed to the Secretary of the East Siberian 

 branch at Irkutsk. The chief occupations of the Society were : 

 the geological exploration ea-t of Lake Baikal, by M. Chersky, 

 who ha> already published a map of the western coast of the 

 lake ; archaeological researches as to the prehistoric inhabitants 

 of Siberia, by MM. Agapitoff, Khangaloff, Witkovsky, and 

 Bogolubskiy ; and the part it took in the organisation of the 

 Arctic Meteorological Station at the mouth of the Lena, and of 

 a series of four intermediate stations between Irkutsk and this 

 station. This last scheme could not be realised in full, but two 

 stations have already been opened at Verkholensk and at Preo- 

 brajenskoye. The last number of the Journal of the Society 

 contains, besides the annual report and the proceedings, a list of 

 new determinations of latitudes and longitudes in Transbaikalia ; 

 a notice on Shamanisur with Yakuts ; a paper on the populations 

 of the basin of the Amur, according to Prof. Schrenck ; a paper 

 on the inscriptions on stones and rocks in the district of 

 Minusinsk ; and several notes, on the Lena Meteorological Sta- 

 tion, on the Usuri legion, &c. 



Petermanris Mittheilungtn for May co tains a paper by Mr. 

 Carl Bock describing a journey recently made by him from 

 Bankok to the frontiers of the independent Shan States. He 

 travelled along the Menam Kiver in a boat given him by the 

 Siamese Government, as far as Raheng, where he diverged into 

 the Me Ping. He then proceeded partly by the river, partly by 

 land through Lakon and Lampun, to a town which he calls 

 Tschengmai, but which is more generally known as Kiangmai, 

 or Zimme. This place, which is the capital of the Shan States 

 tributary to Siam, is an important point in Mr. Colquhoun's 

 proposed railway from Rangoon and Moulmein, into south- 

 western China. It formed the proposed terminus, too, of that 

 gentleman's recent journey through Yunnan and the Shan States. 

 Mr. Bock described it as a fortified town of about 700,000 

 people, lying in a fertile plain of uninterrupted rice fields, about 

 500 yards from the Me Ping, which is here 400 feet wide. 

 Even now it is of great political and commercial importance, as 

 it controls the trade of these regions both with Siam and with 

 British Burmah. The teak forests of the States he describes as 

 almost inexhaustible, especially higher up near the Meikong, 

 where, however, it is not yet known whether the lumber can be 

 easily floated down to the sea. For this purpose Mr. Bock 

 recommends a careful survey of the various rivers and their 

 tributaries. From Zimme he continued his way higher up to 

 Kiangtsen, in the valley of the Meikong, and on the borders of 

 the independent Shan States. It was his original intention to 

 travel through these States into Yunnan, as it was Mr. Colqu- 

 houn's to travel through them from Yunnan, southwards. 

 Failing this, he returned to the Me Ping, with the object of 

 tracing this river to its source. He was prevented from carrying 

 out either project by the native hostility, which, we regret to 

 say, Mr. Bock himself did much to intensify, if not arouse, by 

 his indiscreet behaviour. It would be inconceivable, if we did 

 n at have it on his own testimony, that any traveller among a 

 people who, as he was specially warned, disliked even 

 the Siamese, and absolutely hated any white man, should 

 so far forget all discretion as to enter a populous town and 

 "out of his own hand," as he describes it, take posses- 

 sion of the court of justice, and assault with a stick the 

 official who endeavoured to prevent this unjustifiable tres- 

 pass. He was punished by several days' imprisonment, 

 but it is unfortunate for the cause of science that the hostility 



thus carelessly and wilfully aroused should have put a speedy 

 termination to a journey full of promise. Mr. Bock, how'ever, 

 has shown beyond doubt that a railway from Bankok to the 

 Shan frontiers is a possibility. It would pass through populous 

 and rich districts in the valleys of the Menam and Me Ping. He 

 says that no one who has not visited Zimme can understand how 

 extensive the trade of the place is, and his proposed railway 

 would place the Laos States in direct communication with the 

 sea, and attract the commerce not only of the Shan States, k u t 

 also of Yunnan. The-e are exaclly the arguments by which 

 Mr. Colquhoun supports his scheme for a railway to Rangoon. 

 Let u^ hope that in days to come, when this colossal project is 

 an accomplished fact, there may be no dispute as to the originator 

 1 f the idea of attracting the trade of south-western China to the 

 sea by means of a railway through the Shan States. 



A NEW FORM OF SEISMOGRAPH 1 



jVj UMEROUS forms of seismometers have from time lo time 

 been invented, and having these various instruments, it 

 may be asked why there is any necessity for a new form, and 1 

 can best answer this by quoting from a report of a committee of 

 the British Association of 1872, as follows: — "Some simple 

 and cheap method of indicating earthquake movement is thus 

 much to be desired — any apparatus for the purpose should 

 occupy small space, be little liable to derangement, capable of 

 being put up in any apartment not of special construction, and 

 its indications such as any intelligent person could easily interpret 

 and readily note." 



Now none of the instruments yet invented fulfil these con- 

 ditions, and hence I bring before you one which is of the very 

 simplest nature. 



The idea of the instrument I propose was suggested to me by 

 the aseismatic arrangement designed by my father, Mr. David 

 Stevenson, for averting damage to buildings and lighthouse 

 appara us in countries subject to earthquakes (Trans. Roy. Scot. 

 Soo. Arts. vol. vii.). 



The instrument is shown below, and consists of a ground 

 and polished glass plate (a), about 5 inches square, placed 

 level (once for all), on which rest three accurately turned 

 ivory balls about ij inch diameter, and on the top of these 



hair - 



balls is placed a plate (n) similar to the lower, but having 

 attached to it a projecting arm with a long vertical hole pierced 

 through it. Through this hole passes a steel needle (c) with a 

 fine point, which rests by its own weight on a lampblack surface 

 formed on the plate D. A hair about 2 inches long should be 

 fixed to the eye of the needle to assist in adjusting it. The 

 instrument thus becomes a pendulum of infinite length, so that 

 whenever there is any movement of the ground, and therefore 

 of the lower plates, the top plate with its arm and needle 

 attached remain practically steady, and the point of the needle 

 therefore marks on the lampblack surface the amount of motion 

 and the direction in which the lower plate is moved. This 

 instrument, it will be observed, fulfils all the requirements 

 mentioned in the report of the committee of the British Associa- 



1 Abstract of paper read before the Royal Scottish Society of Arts, 

 February 13, 1882, by Charles A. Stevenson. C.E., Edinburgh. 



