Aftrzl 30, 1885] 



NA TURE 



611 



hardly a yenr passes without one. Judging from past shocks, 

 Granada and the neighbourhood of Torrcvieja and Guardamar 

 "tli of Alicante, are the two main earthquake centres. 

 last the shocks extend along the coast as far as Malaga. 

 The most violent occurred in 15 18 and 1829. On November 9, 

 1518, the town of Vera in Almeira was wholly destroyed, and 

 in March, 1829, the towns of Guardamar and Torre 

 converted into heaps of ruins. Malaga has been visited by earth- 

 quakes four times during the past century — viz. 1775 and 1777 ; 

 October 8-10, 1790 ; January, February, and August, 1S04, and 

 August 4, 1841. In 1802, from January 17 to February 6, there 

 were repeated shocks at Tone la Mota and Torrevieja ; on July 

 9, 1822, at Cartagena, Murcia, and Alicante (over 200 shocks in 

 twenty-four hours) ; on April 27, 1S26, and until July of the 

 same year, innumerable shocks in and around Granada. The 

 whole population of Granada lelt the town and camped in the 

 fields. Similarly for many other places in Southern Spain. If 

 to all these be added the numerous earthquakes on the west of 

 the peninsula, with centre at Lisbon, it will be clear that, next 

 to Italy, no other part of Europe is so frequently visited by 

 earthquakes as the south and west of the Iberian peninsula. 



M. CAMBOU, a missionary in Madagascar, writes from 

 Tamatave to Cosmos to report that on February 25, after a 

 terrible cyclone, the coast of Madagascar, near Tamatave, was 

 covered with pumice-stone and dust, in all probability, says 

 M. Cambou, from the Krakatoa eruption. On March 28, 1884, 

 similar pumice was found on the coast of Reunion. Sub- 

 sequently, in the middle of May, the same phenomenon was 

 observed on Mayotte, in the Mozambique Channel ; and in 

 September of last year it was noticed at Tamatave. Crystals 

 of feldspath were mix d with the amorphous matter. The 

 - were generally small, the edges being worn round by 

 attrition. A very few were of a pale reddish colour. Accord- 

 ing to the course of the currents in the Indian Ocean these 

 would have been carried from the Straits of Sunda down to the 

 16th or 17th degree of south latitude in a south-westerly direc- 



Thence they 1 ached Madagascar, and the adjacent 

 islands, through the agency of the equatorial current and the 

 trade-winds. The probability that this pumice is that of the 

 Krakatoa eruption is supported by the following facts : the 

 Americ n frigate Pemacola, passing the Straits of Sunda on 

 December 22, 1S83, crossed large banks of pumice, and con- 

 tinued to sight smaller ones until January 10, 1S84, when she 

 was in 16° 7' S. lat. and 66 S' E. long. The average speed of 

 the current is stated to have been fifteen miles per day. Sub- 

 sequently, on April 13, 1SS4, tl.e French war-ship Boursaint 

 met a bank of this pumice floating off the coa=i of Madagascar, 

 in 14 35' S. Iat., and 48V E. long. The circumstances under 

 which this pumice reached the Malagasy coast are specially 

 interesting to ethnologists, is tl da new proof of lite 



possibility of human migrations to considerable distances. They 

 also give some support to the theory that the Hovas 1 f 



«scar are of Malay descent. 



The Madrid Correspondent of the Standa d writes that 

 several doctors in Valencia have been making numerous 

 ments by inoculating adults and children with the ch 

 virus. The faith of the local physicians and of persons of all 

 classes in these experiments is so great that in tne afternoon 

 300 persons were inoculated. The Scolapian Fathers brought all 

 their pupils also for this preventive vaccination against ch ilera. 

 The medical men say the same phenomena have been observed 

 as were noticed in similar experiments in France last year during 

 the epidemic. A commission of Madrid doctors has been sent 

 to report on the experiments. 



The Executive Council of the forthcoming International In- 

 ventions Exhibition at South Kensington has issued a most useful 



railway-guide and route-book, for the use of intending visitors. 

 The district included is about forty miles in every direction 

 around London, and the book gives for each station the number 

 of trains daily, the fares, the average time occupied on the 

 journey, the points at which to change for connection with the 

 Exhibition, and the last two trains each day. It will be of great 

 use to those numerous visitors who are not acquainted with the 

 readiest and most convenient methods of getting from South 

 Kensington to other parts of the metropolis and its suburbs. 



We have received the second edition of Marion's " Guide to 

 lie, igraphy," the first edition of which we notice:! on its 

 appearance. The text contains various additions, needed to 

 ; of the latest photographic improvements. 



We have received the Report of the Mason Science College, 

 Birmingham, for the year ending " Founder's Day," February 

 23, 1S85. The appeal issued last year for an additional endow- 

 ment fund for scholarships and exhibitions, additions to the 

 teaching staff, &c, has been met by subscriptions amounting to 

 nearly 5000/. The free lectures to artisans appear to have been 

 very successful, each lecture having to be repeated on account of 

 the demand for tickets. It is interesting to notice that the 

 chairman of the Academic Board reports that "the presence of 

 ladies in the classes stimulate, manly qualities in the students, 

 and encourages gentlemanly behaviour." Besides prizes in all 

 five languages taught, the ladies have distinguished themselves 

 in physics this year. The fees for the evening classes have been 

 diminished by one-half, being now threepence each lecture. 



The National Fish Culture Association have transferred another 

 large consignment of whitetish fry to the lakes in the Isle cf Mull 

 in order to further their acclimati ation to the waters of this 

 country. Hitherto many experiments have been tried in this 

 direction, but with no success, d'he American Government are 

 rendering valuable assistar.ee in effecting their propagation and 

 are watching the result of the endeavours now being made with 

 keen interest. 



THERE will shortly appear, published by the Clarendon Press, 

 "The Flora of Oxfordshire," including the contiguous portion 

 of Berkshire, by G. Claridge Druce, F.L.S., &c. Over half a 

 century having elapsed since the publication of Walker's " Flora 

 of Oxfordshire," the many changes in noaienclature, the sub- 

 division of species, and the great a Ivance in botanical know- 

 ledge, demand a new work on the subject. Mr. Alfred French 

 long ago commenced one, and on his premature death, in 1S79, 

 his MSS. came into Mr. Druce's possession. At the request of 

 1 ector of the Botanical Department of the British Museum, 

 he undertook its completion. The " Flora" is intended to be 

 not only a catalogue of the county species, with their localities, 

 but also a history of them, and of the botanists connected with ■ 

 the University and county. About 400 species and varieties, 

 additional to those given in Walker and Sibthorp, will be 

 enumerated, and something like 20,000 records have been made 

 ing nearly every parish in the county. The comparative 

 plant occurrences in the counties of Berks, Bucks, Warwick, 

 impton, and Gloucestershire will be shown. Orders 

 ,e sent to Mr. G. C. Druce, 118, High Street, Oxford. 



A "Beginners' Star Atlas," by the Rev. T. E. Espin, with 

 an introduction by Mr. J. A. Westwood Oliver, is in the press, 

 and will be published shortly by Messrs. W. Swan S mnenschein 

 and Co 



In a paper read before the Academy of Sciences of Berlin at 



a recent meeting, Dr. G. Hellmann continued a paper read 



usly on certain regularities in the states of the weather in 



ive seasons of the year. The author, from a long series 



