43° 



NATURE 



^August 28, 1884 



The Russian Ministry of Marine has distributed among seve- 

 ral learned societies a plan for despatching a Russian expedition 

 to the North Pole, starting from North-Eastern Siberia or 

 Teannette Island, discovered by the Jeanndtc Expedition, and 

 proceeding entirely on foot over the ice in several parties, with 

 large depots in the rear. It is thought that there are many 

 islands north of Jeannette Island which may be explored. 



The following lecture demonstrations will be given in the Hy- 

 gienic Laboratory at the International Health Exhibition during 

 the forthcoming week by Mr. Charles E. Cassal, F.C.S., Chief 

 Demonstrator : — Tuesday, September 2, Arsenic in Wall Papers 

 and Articles of Clothing ; Wednesday, September 3, Drinking- 

 Water ; Friday, September 5, Common Food Adulterations. 

 The lectures will commence at 4 p.m. 



While at Newcastle last week, the Prince of Wales opened 

 a new Library and Museum of Natural History. 



Having been asked by M. Wilkens if there are not among 

 the plants of Central Asia remains of the Tertiary period corre- 

 sponding to those which have been discovered among the ani- 

 mals, Dr. A. Regel, in a letter from Tashkend, which has just 

 appeared in the Bulletin de la Societi ties Naturalistes Je Moscou, 

 answers that to say anything about the subject would require a 

 closer comparison with fossil plants. This he could not possibly 

 make during his journey. Still, he points out how many plants 

 in the lowlands and in the wild spurs of the highlands have quite 

 special characters : it is sufficient to mention the plants with 

 leather-like leaves, the Salsolaceae without leaves, which recall 

 the vegetation of Australia and Africa, or the Ericaceae-like Reau- 

 muriacese of Jungaria. He considers, however, such observations 

 " rather Eesthetical," and not sufficiently conclusive ; he likes 

 better to collect the necessary material for ulterior work. 



Prof. Raoul Pictet, of the University of Geneva, com- 

 municates to a local journal a short memoir of his friend, Baron 

 Thenard, who died at his Chateau of Talmay on August 8. The 

 late Baron was the son of the illustrious chemist of the same 

 name, and, like him, he devoted his life and his fortune to the 

 service of science. The late M. Thenard was especially distin- 

 guished for his investigations in agricultural chemistry — investi- 

 gations which obtained for him in 1865 admission to the French 

 Institute. An extensive landowner in the Departments of the 

 Cote d'Or and Saone-et-Loire, he paid great attention to the 

 perfection of agricultural machinery and implements, to improved 

 methods of husbandry, the discovery of more efficient fertilisers, 

 and the introduction of new fruits and vegetables. In his 

 laboratories at Paris and at Talmay Baron Thenard devoted 

 himself with rare energy to the elaboration of new methods of 

 organic analysis. Some of the substances he desired to examine 

 he placed in closed circuits, full of pure oxygen, in order to 

 measure how much of the gas was absorbed during the process 

 of combustion, the circulation of the gas being actuated by 

 mercury pumps of the Baron's own invention, which Prof. 

 Pictet describes as singularly ingenious pieces of mechanism. 



It is proposed to form, at the Academy of Sciences of St. 

 Petersburg, a special Committee for the concentration of all 

 observations on meteorology, magnetism, rainfall, and thunder- 

 storms, which are now made in Russia, partly under the direction 

 of the Central Physical Observatory, and, to a great extent, by the 

 initiative of the Geographical Society, the Departments of Ways 

 and Communications, Agriculture, and so on, or privately. The 

 Committee will consist of members of the Academy of Sciences, 

 the Geographical Society, and those Ministries which grant sums 

 of money for meteorological observations. 



The last number of the Izvestia of the East Siberian branch 

 of the Geographical Society (vol. xiv. fasc. 4 and 5) contains 



some interesting notes on the paths that connect Verkhoyansk 

 with Yakutsk, with two maps of the country, by M. Gorokhoff ; 

 a note on the Ike-Aral settlement in Transbaikalia, by M. 

 Mikhailoff; and letters from the Polar meteorological station at 

 Sagastyr. The last of these is dated November 25, 1883, 

 and we notice with pleasure that the zeal of the scientific 

 staff of the station continues unabated ; the news that they have 

 been allowed to stay for a second winter at the station has been 

 received by them with great pleasure ; and Dr. Bunge, already 

 on his journey home, returned immediately from Bulun as soon 

 as he met with the Cossack who brought a letter from the Geo- 

 graphical Society granting the necessary money for a second 

 year's stay at the mouth of the Lena. 



It has been resolved, it seems, to drain the beautiful Merje- 

 len Lake, seen by all tourists who climb the Eggishorn and 

 visit the great Aletsch glacier. From time to time it breaks its 

 icy barriers, leaps in a mad torrent into the bed of the Marsa, 

 and spreads terror and destruction in all the valley of the Upper 

 Rhone. The Merjelen contains 10,000,000 cubic metres of water, 

 is 50 m. deep at the point where it is bounded by the Aletsch 

 glacier, and I2'50 m. at the opposite extremity. The basin 

 of the lake is 1500 m. long, its direction is from west to 

 east, and at the eastern end is the overflow. It is here that the 

 proposed operation will be effected. The opening, 54° m - 

 long and I2'50 m. deep, will thus be at the back of the lake, 

 and its effect will be to lower its level by 1 2 '50 m., and 

 diminish its volume by about one-half, the present mean depth 

 being some 25 m., and although, so say the engineers, the 

 operation may not absolutely prevent future floods, they will be 

 rendered thereby both much rarer and far less dangerous. 



La Lumiire £ltctrique\a& sent a scientific'mission of six of its 

 staff in order to report on the Exhibition of Philadelphia and the 

 state of electrical industries in America. 



An Imperial decree, issued this month, interdicts the delivery 

 from Russian circulating libraries to their subscribers of the 

 scientific works of the following authors : — Agassiz, Biichner, 

 Huxley, Lubbock, Lewes, Moleschott, Reclus, Adam Smith, 

 Spencer, Vogt, and Zimmermann. The works of Charles Darwin 

 have already been submitted to the same interdiction. 



The principal article in the current number of Petermanris 

 Mittheilungen is on the Trans-Caspian and the neighbouring 

 regions, based on the travels of Lessar. It deals with Atek, the 

 roads from Saraks and Merv to Herat, including four days in 

 Afghanistan, Meshed, the road from Saraks to Merv, with an 

 account of the latter town, and Merv to Bokhara. The paper is 

 accompanied by a map of Merv and the Russo-Persian frontier. 

 Another paper, of present importance (also with a map) is one 

 on the territory of the International Association on the Congo. 



A correspondent of the Times from Pekin, writing on 

 mining in China, refers to the various obstacles which have stood 

 in the way of progress in this direction in the Middle Kingdom. 

 First there is the mysterious but powerful feng-shni, or geomantic 

 influences, an all-pervading superstition, but occasionally elastic, 

 and yielding to expediency, as the spread of telegraphs in the 

 country during the past two years has demonstrated. Then 

 comes the innate suspicion and dislike of foreigners, by whom the 

 mineral wealth of China has been explored, and the importance 

 of working it demonstrated. But " the most efficient obstacle of 

 all " is the ignorance of the officials of the application of science 

 to industry. The long and absorbing devotion to Chinese litera- 

 ture which is necessary to obtain official employment renders any 

 other study, even did the taste or the means of pursuing it exist, 

 all but impossible. The rulers of China fear to avail themselves 

 largely of the services of the "base mechanical " foreigner, unless 

 as a humble instrument, which they cannot always be sure that 



