y?me 14, 1883] 



NA TURE 



159 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



At the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on 

 Monday night Mr Henry Rawlinson read the following telegram, 

 forwarded by the Eastern Telegraph Company from Zanzibar, 

 with regard to the movements of Mr. Joseph Thomson: — 

 "Thomson reached Dgare na Erobi, in Masai country, long. 37°, 

 lat. 3'5, on May 5. Was compelled to flee during night to evade 

 what could only have been a disastrous fight, through troubles 

 raised by Fischer's caravan in front. Got safely back to 

 Taveta, where he camped his men, and has come down to 

 Mombasa with small party in seven marches to replenish his 

 goods, which has become necessary in consequence of his retreat 

 from Masai and prolonged detention at Taveta. Returns in a 

 few da\s to Taveta 'to proceed by Arushn, probably in compauy 

 of another caravan. Is in good health. Details by post." 



The Russian Geographical Society has awarded its great gold 

 medal to H. W. Abich, Member of the Academy of Sciences, 

 for his researches into the Geology of the Caucasus. The gold 

 medal of Count Lutke has been awarded to \Y. K. Dollen, 

 astronomer of the Pulkova Observatory, for his ne » improved 

 instrument for the determination of latitudes and longitudes. 

 Two other gold medal-, for ethnographical and statistical works, 

 have been awarded to M. Barsoff, for collections of songs of 

 Northern Russia, and to M. Krasnoperoff for a statistical de- 

 scription of the Government of Perm. Small gold medals have been 

 awarded to MM. Eklon and Kohorovsk, who both accompanied 

 M. Prshevalsky in his travels; to M. Oshanin, zoologist, for 

 travels in Karategin, I arvaz, and Turkestan ; and to M. 

 Vitkovsky, for exploring graves of the Stone period about 

 Irkutsk. Silver medals have been awarded to M. Lessar for 

 levelling operations between Askabad and Seraks ; to M. Schultz 

 for the same between Orenburg and Lake Aral ; 10 M. Brounoff, 

 for researches on cyclones and anticyclones in Europe; to M. 

 Gladysheff, for determinations of latitudes and longitudes in the 

 Akhal-tekke oasis ; to M. ki-clcfl", for a jou r ney to the Bi--han; 

 to M. Rudionoff, for surveys in Karategin ; to M. Slovtsoff, for 

 a description of the district of Kokchetan ; also four other 

 medals for smaller ethnographical and statistical works. 



M. I.essar, who made so interesting a journey from Askabad 

 to Mash had, continues to make a series of excursions in the 

 same region, lie went a second time to Mash-had vid Khelat, 

 and thence to Zurabad, Saraks, Merv, Charjui, and Khiva ; 

 then he made a barometric levelling from Askabad to Tejent, 

 visited Merv a second time, and in December list journeyed 

 in the mountain region of Khelat, Daraghez, and Attek, thus 

 covering about 3300 miles from April to December. 



The proprietors of the Melbourne Age have despatched an 

 exploring expedition to New Guinea. 



We mentioned in a preceding volume the late l'.arbot de 

 Marny's theory as to the formation of the dune- (barkhans) in 

 the steppe of Kyzyl-I urn and the influence of the wind as a 

 powerful agency in modifying the earth's surface in the steppes. 

 We find now, in the Zapiskioi the Kieff Society of Naturalists, 

 several objections to this theory by M. Bor-choff. Without 

 denying the partial influence of the wind, he reduces it to a 

 quite secondary agency, and decidedly opposes the vind-theory 

 of the formation of barkhans. Wind may increase the bark- 

 hans to a certain amount, but their primary origin must be 

 sought for elsewhere, and the rile of the wind is far below what 

 has been assumed. So hard a rock as the sandstone, permeated 

 wi'h iron and lime, of the Kara-kum and Kyzylku n steppes 

 cannot be disintegrated by wind, unless it has been disinte- 

 grated beforehand by rains and rapid changes nf temperature 

 — both which conditions are missing in the steppes. Therefore 

 on the Emba, the Ilik, the Irghiz, where the same sandstones 

 occur — as devoid of vegetation as in the Kyzyl-knm, there are no 

 such surfaces covered with barkhans as in the neighbourhood of 

 Lake Aral. As a rule the dunes appear only where there are 

 remains of former lakes, and in such cases they assume the 

 directions of the shores of these former basins. Far from being 

 dependent on the direction of the prevailing winds, the direction 

 of the barkhans varies, even within short distances, and it fol- 

 lows the windings of the coast of Lake Aral. Thus, they in- 

 close the Sary Cheganakbay, like the parallel steps of an amphi- 

 theatre, the same directions being also taken by the rocky ledges 

 of the terraces of sandstone, even beneath the water of t e bay. 

 The close connection of these ridges with the former action of 

 the interior sea is the more obvious, as these dunes — sometimes 



stratified in their interior — often contain remains of Aral mollusks, 

 such as Cardinal rusticum, Dreisstna pohmorpha, as also Adacna 

 vitna. Whole banks, from a quarter to half a toot thick, of these 

 shells are found in the barkhans, and thev are met with at dis- 

 tances of 27 miles from Lake Aral, and 70 feet above its 

 level (at Sopak), or even 80 miles north of it, and 100 to 120 

 feet above its level (at the Toulagai hill), whilst the depressions 

 between the barkhans contain deposits of salt, with the same 

 shell- - , or with an alga similar to the Arab an Zostera. The 

 primary origin of the barkhans, M. Borschoff says, can be dis- 

 covered even now in the low coast ridges. These ridges once 

 formed slow ly increase afterwards by the accumulation of vege- 

 tation on their summits, and vegetation pUys a most important 

 part in their growth. Several Solaneae, ^uch as Caroxylon, or 

 Halostazhys, and Gramineae, such as _-Eru!ops lavis, grow on 

 their summit, which is covered subsequently with various species 

 of Tamarix and CaWgonum. When deeply covered with 

 vegetation, their further increase is one to the sand brought by 

 the wind, the organic life still remaining a powerful agency of 

 increase. But their original appearance must be sought for, it is 

 contended, in the agency of waier. M. SevertsofFs remarks on 

 the influence of vegetation on the growth of the dunes, and those 

 of the Turkestan railway expedition on the immobility of the 

 dunes (already analysed in NATURE), go far to sustain M. 

 Borsch iff's conclusions. 



An expedition, under the direction of Col. Pishevalsky, is 

 being o ganised for the purpose of scientific researches in Central 

 Asia and Thibet. The expedition is expected to start in 

 August next. 



A series of vab'a.le papers on the island of Yezi now 

 appearing in the Japan Gazette deserve the attention of geo 

 graphers. They are from the pen of Capt. Blakiston, wdio 

 received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 

 iNbi for ex| 1 .ration on the Yan^-tsze, and who has fur many 

 years resided at Hakodate, the principal port of Yezo. The 

 papers, which have reached iheir fifteenth part, are so varied 

 and complete that they may fairly be called an encyclopedia of 

 the island. The geography, ge logy, fauna and Bora, the pro- 

 gress made during the past twenty years by the Japanese admin- 

 istrators, the Ainos, the mineral productions are all treated, and 

 in addition the records of numerous journeys over all parts of 

 the island arc given. It is to be ho ed that these valuable 

 will be published in a collected form, for no future 

 ace unt of Yezo will be comple'e in which copious reference is 

 not made to them. The numerous reports of the employes of the 

 [apanese 1 tovernment to the Col misati in Department in Tokio, 

 which aie now so difficult to obtain, are largely quoted in notes 



ACCORDING to a new survey of the rapids of the Dnieper, the 

 total fall of the river, on a stretch if forty-six miles, from 

 Ekatetinoslav to the Khortitsa Island at Alexandrovsk, is 1065 

 feet. The aggregate fall of the nine rapids is 603 feet, and 

 their aggregate length is 5335 yards, the greatest rapid being 

 that of Nenasytetsky (the Insatiable) which has a fall of 19-5 

 feet and a lenah of 1867 yards. The discharge of water at the 

 bead of the rapids ha- been found, at a level 2"S feet below 

 the verage. to be 27,934 cubic feet per second. 



THE CAUSE OF EVIDENT MAGNETISM IN 

 IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER MAGNETIC 

 METALS'' 



THE extreme sensitiveness of the induction balance to all 

 molecular changes in the structure of metals was remarked 

 in my first paper on this subject to the Royal Society ; 2 and in 

 the case of iron and steel it is most remarkable, as the addition 

 or subtraction of i/joo.oooth part, or the addition of the 

 smallest iron filing to an already large balanced mass of iron, is 

 at once rendered evident and measurable. 



Posse- sing such an invaluable instrument of research, I was 

 desirous of investigating the molecular construction of iron and 

 steel, but at once I met with a difficulty, viz. that magnetism 

 itself c impletely changed the character of any piece of iron under 

 investi"ation ; consequently, finding no help or explanation of 

 the effects produced from any accepted theories of magnetism, I 

 was forced to investigate, by means of the induction balance, the 



1 Paper read before the Society of Telegraph Engineers and of Elec- 

 tricians, on May 24, 1883. by Prof. D. E. Hugh-is, F.K.S., Vice-President. 



2 " u'n an Induction Current Balance, and Experimental Researches made 

 therewith." — Proceedings Roiai Society, March 29, 1879, p. 56. 



