April 26, 1906] 



NA TURE 



621 



it, but the only true testing must be left to investigators 

 of the future, for it is to be feared that in the past 

 seismologists have been inclined to reject, as bad, all re- 

 cords of time which failed to fit in with their preconceived 

 ideas of the direction of propagation of the shock, though 

 they might have fitted in with a less simple, though possibly 

 truer, conception of the form and extent of the earthquake 

 origin. R. D. Oldham. 



CURRENTS IN THE STRAITS OF MESSINA. 



|70R our knowledge of the physical conditions at the 

 bottom of the sea we are very largely beholden to the 

 enterprise of submarine cable companies ; indeed, it is 

 difficult to imagine a more thoroughly satisfactory method 

 of survey than that employed by them. Duties connected 

 with the maintenance of cables have led to the discovery 

 of details in the configuration of submarine gullies, of fresh- 

 water outlets beneath the sea, and of alterations in the 

 bed of the ocean itself, which would otherwise have eluded 

 observation. Prof. Platania, of the Istituto Nautico of 

 Catania, has directed attention to another rather surprising 

 fact, namely, that in the Straits of Messina there are deep- 

 water currents of sufficient velocity to cause the interrup- 

 tion of the cables joining Sicily with the mainland (" I 

 cavi telegrafici e le correnti sottomarine nello stretto di 

 Messina," reprinted from the Atti delta R. Accademia 

 Peloritana, vol. xx.). The period under observation covers 

 the last forty years, during which time there have 

 been twenty-six interruptions ; neglecting two, nineteen 

 occurred between November and April, and five between 

 May and October. The strong currents cause a continual 

 attrition by sand and pebbles. The rocks on the sea 

 bottom are swept free of mud and sand, and their rough 

 surfaces, thus exposed, have worn out the cables lying 

 upon them. In one case a cable seems to have been 

 corroded by a sulphurous spring. The surface currents 

 attain a speed of five miles an hour. They have always 

 been a danger to navigation, and the wrecks of two large 

 vessels which were lying last summer upon the Sicilian 

 shore show that Scylla and Charvbdis have lost none of 

 their power. The existence of correlated strong deep-water 

 currents had been suspected. Biologists have long been 

 attracted to Messina by the plentiful harvest of deep-sea 

 animals which are occasionally brought up to the surface 

 by a vast turmoil of waters, thus affording almost unique 

 opportunities. M. Thoulet and others have repeated the 

 classical experiments of our countryman, Captain Richard 

 Bolland, made in 1675 in tne Straits of Gibraltar, and 

 have demonstrated the existence, at twenty fathoms, of an 

 undercurrent flowing in a contrary direction to that on 

 the surface, but these currents have not yet been as 

 systematically studied as the importance of the subject 

 demands. The tides, as is frequently the case in narrow 

 straits, as, for instance, inside the Isle of Wight, are 

 doubled. 



T I 



A PERIODICAL FOR PALAEONTOLOGISTS. 



"HIS new venture in scientific literature, 1 which is to 

 appear quarterly, and leads off with a double number, 

 will be warmly welcomed by all palaeontologists, for since 

 the " Annales des Sciences Geologiques " ceased to exist, 

 there has been no accredited journal for palaeontology in 

 France. The " Annales des Sciences Naturelles : Zoologie, " 

 it is true, has on occasion offered the hospitality of its 

 pages, but the whole of its space is not too great for the 

 living subject. 



Material enough and to spare lies ready to hand at the 

 Paris Museum in collections from all parts of France and 

 its colonies, while it is further intended to carry on 

 D'Orbigny's incompleted tasks begun in his " Paleontologie 

 Francaise " and " Prodrome de Paleontologie strati- 

 graphique universelle." The publication of illustrations of 

 the yet unfigured types of the latter work, with reprints 

 of the author's diagnoses, accompanied by notes and ex- 



1 "Annales de Pa'eontol .gie, publie.es s, 

 P.-->ule." Tome i. fasc. 1 and 2. fanuarv. 

 (Paris : Masson el Cie.) 



NO. 1904, VOL. 73] 



notes and ex- 

 la direction de Marcel 

 5. Pp. xi + 100; plat 



planations, an undertaking of great merit, is begun in this 

 first part. 



As regards guiding principles, the editor, while not wish- 

 ing in any way to dictate to his contributors, gently 

 suggests in his introduction that he has preferences. On 

 the one hand, he seeks memoirs on stratigraphical or purely 

 systematic palaeontology, in which the principal object will 

 not be the multiplication of genera and species, holding as 

 he does that mieux valent des choses sans noms que des 

 noms sans choses. On the other, he inclines to papers 

 having a philosophic bearing. 



With his former predilection all must be in accord, 

 while of the latter, the very first paper, one by the veteran 

 Albert Gaudry, " Fossiles de Patagonie. Les attitudes de 

 quelques Animaux, " is an excellent example, where " atti- 

 tudes " is used to express the comparative bearing, gait, 

 and appearance, and not posture alone. The author points 

 out that in Tertiary times in Patagonia Plantigrades and 

 Rectigrades predominated over Digitigrades. 



The editor and M. A. Thevenin give the first instalment 

 of a series of memoirs on the palaeontology of Madagascar, 

 in which they deal with the molluscan fauna from newly 

 discovered Upper Cretaceous beds on the eastern side of 

 the island. Some of the species enumerated are identical 

 with those found by the Rev. R. Baron in the northern 

 and north-western districts, that were described by Mr. 

 R. B. Newton in the Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. for 1889 

 and 1895, a fact to which, however, allusion is not made. 

 This fauna presents considerable analogy with that which 

 lived during the same epoch in India. 



The second contribution to the same series, by M. 

 Douville, treats of some nummulitic beds in Madagascar. 



M. Boule adds a memoir on " Les grands Chats des 

 Cavernes," principally the lion, that takes the form of a 

 popular review of current knowledge on the subject. 



The part concludes with the opening portion of the de- 

 scriptions and figures of D'Orbigny's types already re- 

 ferred to. 



Altogether there are 100 pages of text, with nine photo- 

 type plates, besides abundant illustrations in the text, all 

 the figures being most excellent, and veritable works of 

 art. 



There is, indeed, but one objection to raise, and that 

 is against the adoption of dual pagination, each paper 

 having its distinct pagination in addition to that of the 

 volume, because the disadvantages of this system for pur- 

 poses of citation far outweigh any possible benefits. 



It is to be hoped that the glossy surfaced paper selected, 

 so suitable for modern text illustrations, though not for 

 type of the face employed, is not of that perishable de- 

 scription which we have been lately warned will deprive 

 future generations of the fruits of our intellectual labours. 



B. B. W. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The special board for mathematics has put 

 forward new proposals, both with regard to the mathe- 

 matical tripos and the mechanical sciences tripos, which 

 involve far-reaching changes. The first-named report 

 points out that in the opinion of the special board the 

 existing mathematical tripos is unsatisfactory as an examin- 

 ation. The special board proposes to substitute for the 

 present part i. a new part i., which may be taken by a 

 student either at the end of his first or second year. Part i. 

 will not qualify for a degree without further examination. 

 It is hoped that this part will be taken by many who pro- 

 pose to proceed later to study engineering or natural 

 sciences. The board further proposes that for the existing 

 part ii. a new part ii. be established, which must be taken 

 at the end of the third year. The position of senior 

 wrangler is abolished, but the class list of each part will 

 contain three classes, the names in each class being 

 arranged alphabetically. Schedules are published for each 

 of the proposed new parts. 



With regard to the report of the mechanical sciences 

 tripos, the special board of mathematics suggests that 

 part ii. of the tripos should be abolished, and it is pro- 

 posed to modify part i. by the inclusion of a number of 



