66 



NA TURE 



[Nov. 20, 1884 



whose death in 1724 it descended to his son. The latter, having 

 died childless, gave the business to a relative named Ebersberger, 

 and a friend named Franz, provided they always retained the 

 name of Homann in the title of the firm. Franz endeavoured 

 to introduce originality into their maps, thus coining in contact 

 with many geographers, and ultimately founding the " Cosmo- 

 graphic Society," which was divided into mathematical, geogra- 

 phical, and historical sections. In a work published in 1750— 

 the " Kosmographische Nachricht und Sammlung auf das Jahr 

 1748" — -the Society complained loudly of the defective condition 

 of mapping and surveys in the German States, and criticised un- 

 favourably existing maps of Germany, as well as suggested the 

 best modes of improving them. The paper then describes the 

 principal members of the Society, their projects for the increase 

 of geographical knowledge — among others a lottery to procure 

 funds. Gradually, however, the 1 eading spirits were called away 

 to various I lerman universities, or to Russia ; the Seven Years' 

 War prevented any steady work of the kind advocated ; Franz 

 and Tobias Meyer died, and the " Cosmographic Society" 

 ceased. Its labours appear to have been confined to remedying 

 defects which lay at hand, to supplying good popular maps of 

 Germany, and to obtaining more accurate information as to 

 German geography. 



In August last the ship Fenorina, Capt. Nilson, arrived at 

 Philadelphia from Ivigtut, in Greenland, reporting that an 

 Eskimo had found on an ice-floe in the Julianehaab Bay, the lower 

 part of a tent, the sides of a wooden chest, and some other 

 things marked Jeannette, a bill of lading, and some cheques 

 signed ^'De Long," a pair of oilskin trousers marked "Louis 

 Noros," and a bearskin which covered something of the shape 

 and size of a human body, but which the Eskimo did not 

 examine on account of his superstitious prejudices. On another 

 floe he found a quantity of sailors' apparel. The Eskimo 

 brought some of the articles to Julianehaab, and gave them to 

 the govern ir, Heir Lytzen, who at once set out to recover all the 

 rest, but the Eskimo was unable to find the spot again. Heir 

 Lytzen now states that among the articles are two sides of a wooden 

 chest, on which is written in pencil, "General orders, telegrams, 

 sailing orders, discipline, ship's papers, various papers, various 

 agreements, charter party, . . ." The last words are not very clear. 

 On the other board is written, " Before sailing." There is also 

 a torn book of cheques, on which is printed, "For deposit with 

 the Bank of California," and a pair of oilskin trousers marked 

 "Louis Noros." The most remarkable circumstance of this 

 discovery is naturally the spot in which it was made, as these 

 articles must in the course of three years have drifted on an ice- 

 floe from long. 155" E. to 46° W. ! They can hardly hail from 

 the place where the Jeannette was crushed, as she sank, and the 

 surrounding ice-floes were ground to dust by the catastrophe. 

 But we know from the reports of Messrs. Dannenhower and 

 Melville that the crew, after leaving the vessel, camped for a few 

 ■ me ice-floes, in order to divide the provisions. This 

 took place near the New Siberian Islands, and probably the tent 

 had been erected where the remains were now found. As no- 

 body had then died, there cannot have been any corpse under 

 the bearskin. Which way the ice-floe has drifted can only be 

 conjectured ; but by a rough calculation the distance is about 

 2500 nautical miles, and, as it has been covered in about 1000 

 days, the average rate of drifting is z\ nautical miles per day, 

 without allowing for deviations. 



''Emperor William," "Prince Bismarck," and "Count 

 Moltke are the names given to three cataracts by Herr Gustav 

 ivlederstein on his exploring tour up the Parana River in the 

 province of Misiones (Argentine Republic). They belong to a 

 middle group of some hundred cataracts of the Iguassi River, 

 which at that spot forms the boundary between the Argentine 

 Republic and Brazil. The river's breadth above the falls is 

 about 5 kilometres; the "Emperor William" is the middle 

 one of the three cataracts, and the total height of the falls is 

 abouisomelres. At a distance of some 16 kilometres below 

 the tails tlie Igua-si joins the Parana. 



M. Thouar, who has already travelled in South America in 

 search of the Crevaux Expedition, is about to commence a new 

 journey of exploration, which is to last two or three years He 

 intends investigating the delta of the Pilcomayo, and endeavour- 

 ing to open a great trade route between Bolivia and Paraguay. 

 In this work he will, it is said, receive the active support of 

 several South American Governments. During the journey he 

 will collect the materials for a great work on South America. 



The Expedition which had left Loango, led by Lieut. Delizie, 

 in order to carry provisions to De Brazza's Mission at Stanley 

 Pool, was abandoned by about two hundred carriers on the 

 shore of Lake Loudima. It arrived at the Manyanga Station 

 on the Congo (a station of the International Society) on July 18, 

 and prepared to make a new start. 



AN ACCOUNT OF SOME PRELIMINARY 

 EXPERIMENTS WITH BI RAM'S ANEMO- 

 METERS ATTACHED TO KITE STRINGS 

 OR WIRES 1 



'"THESE experiments were regularly commenced in September 

 1S83, and continued at intervals up to June 14, 18S4. A 

 preliminary note descriptive of the apparatus and method em- 

 ployed appeared in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteoro- 

 logical Society in 1S83. As, however, some improvements have 

 since then been made in the mode of flying and estimating the 

 heights, it may be as well to give a brief account of the scheme 

 de novo. 



First of all two kites are now flown tandem, the upper one 

 being a small kite about 4 feet high, which is easily got up, and 

 which, when it has reached an altitude of about 100 feet, where 

 the wind is always considerably stronger than at the earth's 

 surface, is used to lift up the larger main kite (7 feet high) which 

 bears the string (latterly wire) to which the instruments are 

 fastened. It also helps to keep the latter steady when up, and 

 prevent any sudden and dangerous descent of kites and instru- 

 ments. The larger kite is now made of tussore silk of the diamond 

 pattern and capable of folding up like Archer's patent portable 

 kites. The tail, which is in reality a most important adjunct, 

 and usually the first part of the. apparatus to give way, is made 

 of six large wire-rimmed canvas cones fastened to a swivel which 

 allows them to revolve without twisting their cord. 



In the first experiments the main kite was flown with a strong 

 flax cord, but latterly, at a suggestion by Sir William Thomson, 

 piano-cord steel wire has been used similar to that employed in 

 Sir William's deep-sea sounder. This I have found a great 

 improvement on the string. It is double the strength, one-fourth 

 the weight, one-tenth the section, and one-half the cost, the only 

 drawback being that, unless great care be exercised, it is very 

 liable to kink and rust. To obviate the latter I have got my 

 supply for the coming year electroplated. 



It is also necessary to have wire all through, otherwise a dis- 

 agreeable discharge of electricity is apt to take place at the 

 junction of the wire and string in ordinary weather, a fact to 

 which some of my friends would be able to testify. When the 

 wire is continuous, and in contact with the iron of the winder 

 which is riveted to the ground, I have found no perceptible shock 

 in ordinary weather. The winder was made for me by Messrs. 

 Elliott Bros , and though by no means perfect, is capable of 

 being riveted to the earth so as to hold the kite in a powerful 

 wind, and being furnished with a ratchet and spring catch, can 

 be locked so as to allow me to attend to the anemometers, take 

 observations with the theodolite, &c. 



The anemometers are of the ordinary Biram pattern, 6 inches 

 in diameter, and suspended to a gun-metal rod so as to swing in 

 the vertical plane of the wire, the rod being fastened to the wire 

 by clamps at its ends. When the large kite is about 100 feet 

 or so from the winder, and steady, an anemometer is fastened to 

 the nearest 100-foot mark and its indication and the time noted. 

 The wire is then payed out a certain distance, and another 

 anemometer attached, and so on, the interval between the 

 lowest instrument and the winder being regulated by whether 

 the differences of velocity are required for a comparatively high 

 or low altitude respectively. The altitudes are measured by 

 taking the vertical angles of the instruments every ten minutes 

 with a theodolite placed at the winder, and combining their 

 average value for the whole period with the lengths up to 

 each instrument. The method employed is necessarily ap- 

 proximate, as 1 cannot leave the winder very well and take 

 simultaneous observations at the ends of a base line. It 

 is, however, one which I have reason to believe to be very 

 fairly accurate. A certain allowance for curvature is made 

 up to the lowest instrument. The arc between the two instru- 

 ments is then taken to be approximately equal to its chord, and 

 from this and the vertical angles the chord to the highest instru- 

 ment is calculated, and thence its vertical height. This method 



1 Paper read at the Montreal meeting of the British Association by Prof. 

 E. Douglas Archibald. 



