November 16, 1905] 



NA TURE 



59 



•exactly fifty years ago, the falls were discovered by Living- 

 stone. The native (Sekololo) name for the falls is " Mosi- 

 oa-tunya," meaning "the smoke which sounds." Viewed 

 from anv of the surrounding hills, the rising columns of 

 spray, more particularly on a dull day, bear an extra- 

 ordinary resemblance to the smoke of a distant veldt fire. 

 At sunrise, during the rainy season, a dense white column 

 mounts upwards to a height of iooo feet, which is visible 

 at a distance of fifty miles from the falls. After a clear 

 description of the places of interest in the neighbourhood 

 of the falls, the book provides geological notes written by 

 Mr. G. W. Lamplugh, F.R.S., botanical notes by Mr. 

 C. E. F. Allen, ornithological notes by Mr. W. L. Sclater, 

 and hints and cautions to visitors. 



Two letters from Captain Amundsen, of the Norwegian 

 vessel Gjoa, giving the earliest results of his expedition 

 to the north magnetic pole, are published in Tuesday's 

 Times (November 14). Captain Amundsen sailed in May, 



1903, for Godhavn, on Disko Island, off the coast of Green- 

 land. In the course of his first letter, dated November 24, 



1904, he remarks : — February turned out the coldest month, 

 ■with an average temperature of — 40°-5 C. Commenced on 

 March 1, 1904, putting down the stores for the coming 

 spring voyage to the vicinity of the pole. Observed during 

 this tour — in the interior of the country — our lowest 

 temperature, — 6i°-7 C. Came back at the end of May. 

 The summer I have spent in magnetic observations around 

 the station. Wiik has put up the variation instruments — 

 October, 1903 — and has attended to them the whole time. 

 Ristvedt is the meteorologist. Lieut. Hansen has to take 

 care of the astronomical observations. Lund and Hansen 

 have their hands full on board. The variation instruments 

 will be kept in function until June 1, 1905. Besides the 

 variation instruments, which have been in continual func- 

 tion, we also have made daily absolute observations. Along 

 with the meteorological observations, we have also made 

 observations of the aurora borealis. Besides we have ample 

 collections of ornithological, ethnographical, and botanical 

 matter, and some fossils. It is my intention to make my 

 way out of the ice and go direct to San Francisco in the 

 autumn of 1905. I will not omit to mention that the 

 variation on the spot varies between N. io° W. and 

 N. 10° E. We have even found greater deviations. Most 

 frequently it is about 5° W. The inclination is about 

 89 20'. Captain Amundsen's second letter is dated May 

 22, 1905. In it he remarks : — This winter has not by far 

 been so hard as the former. The sea-ice, which last year 

 about this time measured about 380 cm., now is no more 

 than about 170 cm. The lowest temperature we had in 

 February, —45°. I commenced in February to circle the 

 magnetic station, and have just finished this task. The 

 magnetic variation house has been in uninterrupted activity. 

 Absolute magnetic observations have been made daily, and 

 at all temperatures. The meteorological registering instru- 

 ments have been in function all the time. The zoological 

 and ethnographical collections are constantly increasing. 

 The magnetic variation house will be pulled down in the 

 beginning of June, after nineteen months of uninterrupted 

 activity. 



In an article in the current number of the Fortnightly 

 Review the Marchese Raffaele Cappelli sketches the 

 growth of the ideas which led to the recent international 

 conference on agriculture held, at the initiative of the 

 King of Italy, at Rome. He enumerates also the 

 advantages likely to accrue from the International Institute 

 of Agriculture created on that occasion. At the close of 

 the conference referred to, a protocol was signed bv the 

 NO. I 88 I, VOL, ■/$] 



representatives of all the Governments of the world — with 

 the exception of some minor ones — favouring the establish- 

 ment of the International Institute, and asking the re- 

 spective Governments to adhere to the same. In the 

 opinion of the writer of the article, the institute must aim 

 at regularising, promoting, and generalising its inter- 

 nationalism. It must provide for the rapid and general 

 diffusion of knowledge of technical improvements in the 

 economics of production. The institute must further under- 

 take the task of coordinating the efforts of many 

 cooperatives scattered throughout the world, so that they 

 may act in harmonious agreement. But most important 

 of all will be the services which the international corpor- 

 ation will be able to render in the field of the economics 

 of distribution. When once the institute is in full work- 

 ing order, it will be able to give an approximate idea of 

 the stock in hand of each kind of produce, and so provide 

 farmers with a trustworthy guide as to which crops they 

 will be able to cultivate to the best advantage in a given 

 year. The Marchese Raffaele Cappelli, in the course of 

 his inaugural address as president of the International 

 Congress of Agriculture held in Rome during 1903, adum- 

 brated the present tendency towards international dealings 

 in agriculture, and he is to be congratulated upon the 

 successful inauguration of an institute which will realise 

 the ends he has advocated. 



We have received the second part of vol. lxi., and the 

 first part of vol. Ixii., of the Verhandlungen of the Natural 

 History Society of Rhenish Prussia, Westphalia, and 

 Osnabruck. Three papers, respectively by Dr. Krusch, 

 G. Miiller, and H. Westermann, are devoted to points 

 connected with the coal-fields of Rhenish Westphalia and 

 other districts coming within the purview of the society. 

 Zoology is represented by a paper on the migrations of 

 fresh-water planarian worms in the streams of the dis- 

 trict, in which the author, Prof. W. Voight, distinguishes 

 between the migrations of individuals and of species, and 

 further subdivides the former class into accidental and 

 periodical movements. In botany, Mr. F. Wirtgen 

 descants on rare and disappearing plants of the Rhenish 

 flora. 



To the October number of the Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science Dr. H. W. M. Tims contributes a 

 suggestive paper on the development, structure, and 

 morphology of the scales in certain bony fishes. Such a 

 study, the author suggests, may not only throw light on 

 the relationships of fishes, but it may also help to solve 

 many problems in connection with the development of 

 tooth-germs, for there seems little reason to doubt that 

 scales and teeth are homologous. The question whether 

 scales are ever replaced is raised in the course of the 

 communication. Among the other contents of the same 

 issue reference may be made to a paper by Mr. H. L. 

 Kesteven on the developmental stages represented by the 

 embryonic shell, or protoconch, of the gastropod molluscs. 



In the October issue of the Quarterly Journal of 

 Microscopical Science Messrs. Assheton and Stevens 

 describe the minute structure of the placenta of an 

 elephant belonging to Messrs. Sanger which in 1902 gave 

 birth to a calf in the Zoological Society's Gardens. The 

 duration of pregnancy appears to have been no less than 

 twenty-eight months, although this is not absolutely 

 certain. Bv an unfortunate error in Sir William Flower's 

 article " Mammalia " in the ninth edition of the " Encyclo- 

 paedia Britannica " (perpetuated in Flower and Lydekker's 

 " Study of Mammals "), the proboscidean placenta is said 

 to be non-deciduate. The deciduate character of the zonary 



