278 
NATURE 
[JANUARY 21, 1897 
soon followed by Humboldt, who climbed Chimborazo (19,000 
feet) in 1802. The next climber to set foot on that mountain 
was Mr. Whymper, in the year 1880. The Jungfrau was first 
ascended in 1811, and the Finsteraarhorn in 1812. 
Swiss peaks have fallen one after the other—the Wetterhorn in 
1854, Monte Rosa in 1855, and the Matterhorn in 1865. Mr. 
Freshfield scored the first great victory when he climbed 
Elbruz (18,526 feet) in 1868 ; but long before that Gerard had 
climbed to 19,410 feet on Porgyul in 1818. The highest climbs 
of later years have been those of Sir Martin Conway, who 
climbed Pioneer Peak in the Himalayas in 1892, and of Mr. 
Mummery and Mr. Hastings, who climbed to 21,000 feet on 
Nanga-Parbat. Dr. Gregory reached to about 16,000 feet on 
Mount Kenya in Central Africa (20,000 feet high), and Hans 
Meyer reached to 16,830 feet on Kilima N’jaro. In Asia 
there are four colossal mountains which still defy all efforts. 
Mount Everest (29,000 feet) still lies far beyond the reach of 
man. Dapsang (28,700) is almost equally inaccessible. Ta- 
garma (25,800) and Khan-Tengri (24,000) have yet to be scaled. 
Similarly, in Africa, the highest mountain is still a virgin; 
and though Mount Cook (12,349) has been climbed in New 
Zealand, Charles Louis (20,000) still remains unascended in 
New Guinea, and seems likely to remain so.” 
A TouCcH of real winter has been experienced over the British 
Islands during the last week, and the thermometer has in many 
places registered a lower reading than on any previous occasion 
since winter set in. Towards the close of last week, and 
especially on Friday and Saturday, snow fell very generally at 
many of the English stations, and on Saturday night there was 
a fairly heavy fall in the metropolis. The snow quickly dis- 
appeared from the more crowded parts of London, but it remained 
unthawed in the suburbs on Tuesday morning. The therniometer 
in the screen at night has registered 10° or 12° of frost in many 
parts of Great Britain, while the exposed thermometer, on the 
grass, has fallen several degrees lower. The type of weather 
over our Islands has become anticyclonic ; and if these con- 
ditions continue, a spell of settled cold weather will be 
experienced. 
THE two young naturalists of the University of Cambridge 
(Mr. J. Graham Kerr and Mr. J. S. Budgett), who left England 
in August last for the Chaco Boreal of Paraguay, in quest of 
specimens of the American Lung-fish (Lefidostren paradoxa), 
appear to have been very successful. Letters recently received 
from Mr. Kerr inform us that on arriving on the Upper 
Paraguay they found that there had been a mission station 
lately established in the Chaco, near the very spot where 
Lepidosiren was said to be most abundant. On arriving there 
the travellers were entertained on roast Lefzdosiren for supper 
the very first evening, and found that this queer fish was very 
common in the surrounding swamps. A large series of specimens 
and eggs in every stage of development has been obtained, 
and Messrs. Kerr and Budgett will shortly return home with 
their collection in order to work out the results, which promise 
to be of no little interest. 
A REUTER correspondent at St. Petersburg reports the arrival 
there of two Danish officers, MM. Oloufsen and Philipsen, on 
their return from a journey of exploration to the Pamir country, 
where they reached places hitherto untrodden by Europeans. 
They have brought back with them over 30c photographs of 
places they have visited and types they have met. During their 
travels they met, among others, tribes who are still fire- 
worshippers and totally uncivilised in their mode of life. It is 
said that the men of these tribes and even their animals are of 
very small size, the bulls and cows being no larger than a 
European foal, the donkeys about the size of a large dog, and 
NO. 1421, VOL. 55] 
The other 
the sheep about as large as a'small poodle. The use of money 
is unknown to them, and their only trade consists in the barter- 
ing of furs. Women are bought at the rate of five or six cows 
or fifteen sheep apiece. These natives are very timid, and on 
the approach of strangers take to flight. MM. Philipsen and 
Oloufsen have secured numerous scientific collections, which 
they intend presenting to the Natural History Museum in 
Copenhagen, and have also made interesting meteorological 
observations. In the course of their voyage they occasionally 
reached a height of 14,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
THE annual meeting of the Institution of Electrical Engineers 
was held on Thursday last, and Sir Henry Mance, C.I.E., suc- 
ceeded Dr. Hopkinson as President. The Institution has been 
in existence twenty-five years, and it now has three thousand mem- 
bers. Founded originally by electricians and telegraph men, it 
has adapted itself to modern requirements, with the result that it 
is now the oldest and largest society of electrical engineers in 
the world. In the course of his presidential address, Sir Henry 
Mance, who has been actively connected with submarine tele- 
graphy for the best part of his life, said that the earliest record 
of a subaqueous line is that of the experiment made by Baron 
Schilling, who, in 1812, exploded mines across the river Neva, 
using wire insulated with india-rubber. The earliest record at 
Somerset House of any submarine telegraph company is dated 
June 16, 1846, when the late Jacob Brett and Alexander Prince 
obtained a renewal of their provisional certificate of registration 
for the General Submarine and Oceanic Telegraph Company. 
The first concession connected with international submarine 
telegraphy was also granted to Jacob Brett in 1847, so that this 
year we may fairly be said to have reached the jubilee of the 
inception of international telegraphy. Sir Henry Mance said he 
had come to the conclusion that to no one individual could fairly 
be granted the credit of the inception and development of the 
submarine cable ; the work was the work of many. 
A DETERMINATION of the velocity of a flight of ducks, 
obtained by triangulation, was made at the Blue: Hill Meteoro- 
logical Observatory on December 8, and is described in Sezence 
by Mr. Helm Clayton, While engaged with Mr, S. P. Fer- 
gusson in measuring clouds, a number of ducks passed across the 
base-line, which is 2590°3 metres (8496 feet) in length. The 
observers succeeded in obtaining a simultaneous set of measure- 
ments on the apex of the flock, and one or two independent 
subsequent observations, and from these data the height of flights, 
as well as the velocity, was calculated. The height was 958 — 
feet above the lower station, which is situated in the yalley of 
the Neponset River, above which the ducks were flying. The 
velocity of flight calculated from this measurement of height, 
and from the angular velocity measured at the ends of the base- 
line is 47°S miles an hour. The wind was very light, having a 
velocity of only two miles an hour according to the automatic 
record made at Blue Hill Observatory, 615 feet above the valley 
station. The direction of the wind was from the north, and 
the ducks were flying from the north-east. 
A PAPER on “‘ The Monier System of Construction”’ was read 
by Mr. Walter Beer, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, on 
January 15. The system originated in the attempts of a Parisian 
florist, named Monier, to obtain large vessels of a material more 
durable than wood and lighter than concrete. The principle of 
the system is the combination of Portland-cement concrete with 
iron or steel insuch a manner as to developin the same material 
the high resistance, to compression and binding of the former, 
and the great tensile strength of the latter. It has been found 
that in such a combination the good qualities of both materials 
are retained, and no chemical action occurs between the iron and 
the moisture in the concrete. The latter adheres firmly to the 
