March 19, 1885] 



NA TURE 



469 



Jupiter in conjunction with and 4 40' north 



of the Moon. 

 Venus in conjunction with and 0° 36' south 



of Mars. 

 Mercury at least distance from the Sun. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



Dr. R. von LENDENFELD, in a letter to Prof. Cayley dated 

 Sydney, January 24, 1885, writes as follows : — I have been sent 

 by the Geological Survey Department of this colony to make a 

 scientific investigation of the central part of the Australian Alps 

 and have returned a few days ago. I found out that the peak, 

 considered as the highest hitherto, which has been measured by 

 several scientists and named Mount Kosciusko, is not the highest, 

 and made the first ascent of the highest peak some distance 

 further south. I calculated the height of the latter at 7256 feet 

 (Mount Kosciusko has been measured at 7176, 7175, and, by 

 myself, at 71 71 feet). I name this hill after our celebrated 

 geologist, the Rev. W. B. Clarke, Mount Clarke. Further, I 

 discovered indubitable signs of prehistoric glaciers above 5800 

 feet, and photographed some beautiful roches moutonnees. A 

 large valley was filled at the glacial period by a glacier extending 

 500 feet up its sides. I had excellent weather, and photographed 

 the panorama from the summit of Mount Kosciusko. I had one 

 guide and a geological assistant with me. We camped only 

 three nights, and had glorious weather all the time. The upper 

 limit of trees lies at a height of 5900 feet. Patches of snow are 

 found attached to the leeside of the main range above 6500 feet 

 all the year round — in the European Alps such little nhiis would 

 not lie below Sooo feet — another proof for the lower tempera- 

 ture and greater amount of wet south of the equator, as our Alps 

 lie 46 J -48° N. , and Mount Kosciusko 37° S. I collected many 

 flowers and geological specimens, and found the whole trip 

 equally enjoyable and interesting. It froze every night, and I 

 cannot tell you how happy and comfortable I felt in the brisk 

 cold air up there, after having been confined to the hothouse 

 climate of Sydney for a year. 



The Vienna correspondent of the Times telegraphs that at a 

 private meeting of the committee of the Imperial Geographiral 

 Society of Vienna, it has been resolved that Dr. Oscar Lenz, 

 Secretary of the Society, should be sent on a new expedition to 

 explore the watershed between the Nile and the Congo. This 

 expedition has been planned chiefly by Baron Leopold Hofmann, 

 late Imperial Finance Minister, and now President of the 

 Austrian African Association. Dr. Lenz will visit the stations 

 of the International Belgian Society, and one of the objects of 

 his journey will be to find traces of Dr. Junker, Dr. Schnitzler 

 (known in Egypt as Emin Bey), Signor Cassati, and Lupton 

 Bey. Dr. Lenz's journey will be under the special patronage of 

 the Crown Prince of Austria and the King of the Belgians, and 

 the cost will be defrayed partly by the Geographical Society of 

 Vienna, partly by the Government and from private subscrip- 

 tions. Dr. Lenz proposes to start early in May. 



At the meeting of the Geographical Society of Paris, held 

 on the 6th inst, M. Mascart in the chair, Prince Roland 

 Bonaparte referred to the recent exploration of the Van Braam 

 Morics in New Guinea. — A correspondent of the Society wrote 

 from Ciudad Bolivarin Venezuela that it was reported there that 

 one of the members of the Cre'vaux mission was still living in 

 captivity among a tribe of Indians, and it is also stated that 

 fragments of a paper were found in a Bolivian forest, on which 

 were written in letters of blood the name of the prisoner and 

 his fate. — M. Teisserenc de Bort described the oasis of Djerid 

 in Tunis. It contains 9,700 inhabitants. — A communication was 

 read with reference to the tribes employed in the recent revolt in 

 Morocco, correcting the names given to them. — M. Schrader 

 read a paper on the masses of snow moved about by the wind 

 amongst mountains. These masses are not carried about by 

 chance — they obey very simple laws, which cause them to be 

 deposited at spots where the wind is diminished in intensity, 

 and give them forms which may easily be analysed when we take 

 into account the quality of the snow, the force and direction of 

 the wind, and the contour of the mountains. — M. Rabot de- 

 scribed the results of the mission with which he was charged by 

 the Minister of Public Instruction to explore Northern Finland 

 and-Russian Lapland. He explored especially the valleys of the 

 Pasvig and Talom, as well as Lake Enara. The whole region is 



one immense forest, with lakes and peat-bogs scattered every- 

 where, and cut up by numerous water-courses. These rivers are 

 the only means of communication, but their navigation is most 

 difficult, on account of cascades and rapids. Lake Enara, 

 which is drained by the Pasvig, is described by M. Rabot as a 

 veritable inland sea, with hundreds of islets covered with mag- 

 nificent pine trees. The climate is very rigorous. Winter 

 begins in September, and the ice is still in the ground in the 

 beginning of June. The spring is short, but comparatively 

 warm, and it is not rare to see the frost again in August. The 

 country around Lake Enara is level and little broken, and forms 

 a depression between the plateau of Finmark and the masses of 

 hills which stud Russian Lapland. 



A work which will shortly be published by Prince Roland 

 Bonaparte deals with the populations of Dutch Guiana from an 

 anthropological and sociological point of view. He has studied 

 three groups of the population : (1) the Indians (Caribs) ; (2) 

 wild Negroes, or Negroes of the woods, being fugitive slaves 

 who have returned to savage life ; (3) freed slaves or settled 

 Negroes. The section on the Negroes who have returned to 

 their original state is probably the most interesting of the three. 

 Many of these are descendants of slaves who fled from ill-treat- 

 ment in the early days of the colony to the woods and inaccess- 

 ible solitudes of the highlands. In 1712, when Admiral Cassard 

 laid siege to Paramaribo, the planters sent away their slaves into 

 the interior, so that they should not fall into the invader's hands, 

 and they refused to return after the peace. Gradually their 

 number augmented, and these Negroes formed themselves into 

 villages and cultivated land. They grew so powerful that 

 after several bloody and expensive wars, the Colonial Govern- 

 ment found it expedient to make a treaty of peace, recognising 

 them as allies, in 1762. At the present moment they number 

 8000 souls, and are divided into four sections or tribes, according 

 to the locality in which they have settled. They appear to have 

 preserved most of the characteristics of the Negro, but they have 

 adopted many of the habits and modes of life of the Indians, by 

 whom they are surrounded. 



The first number of the Scottish Geographical Magazine, the 

 organ of the new Scottish Geographical Society, has been issued. 

 It aims at being much more than the organ of the Society, how- 

 ever. It begins with Mr. Stanley's opening address, and a some- 

 what perfervid article on Scotland and geographical work. This 

 is followed by a most instructive article by Prof. James Geikie 

 on the physical features of Scotland, accompanied by a map 

 essentially new in design and nomenclature. The geographical 

 notes occupy about fourteen pages, and are unusually full and 

 comprehensive, aiming at a nearly exhaustive chronicle of geo- 

 graphical progress in all departments. This is followed by a 

 resume oi geographical literature for 1884, new books and new 

 maps. Besides Prof. Geikie's map there is one of the river 

 basins of Africa, and a portrait of Mr. Stanley. Altogether the 

 Magazine is a valuable addition to the literature of its class, 

 creditable to the enterprise of the Society and the knowledge 

 and intelligence of its editors. 



ACCIDENTAL EXPLOSIONS PRODUCED BY 



NON-EXPLOSIVE LIQUIDS* 

 '"TEX years ago the lecturer discussed in some detail the 

 various causes of the continually recurring casualties which 

 are classed under the head of accidental explosions, and he then 

 had occasion to compare the causes of coal-gas explosions, the 

 occurrence of which is as deplorably frequent now as it was 

 then, with those of accidents connected with the transport, 

 storage, and use of volatile inflammable liquids which are 

 receiving extensive application, chiefly as solvents and as 

 illuminating agents. 



Within the last few years he has had occasion to devote 

 special attention to the investigation of instances of this class of 

 accident, and to examine more particularly into the probable 

 causes of frequent casualties connected with the employment of 

 lamps in which the various products included under the general 

 designations of petroleum and paraffin oil are burned. The 

 latter branch of these inquiries, which is still in progress, has 

 been conducted in association with Mr. Boverton Redwood, the 

 talented Secretary and Chemist of the Petroleum Association, 

 and with the valuable aid of Dr. W. Kellner, Assistant-Chemist 



' Address delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, Friday, 

 March 13, 1885, by Sir Frederick Abel, C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S., M.R.I. 



