NA TURE 



[Afay 12, 1 88 1 



There was no paper of special interest in the Chemical 

 section, of which M. GrimauK is president for 1S82. The 

 section of Meteorology was very active at the last, and 

 supplied some interesting papers on the meteorology of 

 Asia, of the Sahara, and of the district between the Atlas 

 and the Cevennes ; also on meteorological instruments — 

 thermographs and anemographs, and registering baro- 

 meters. MM. Denzd and Tacchini among the foreigners 

 contributed largely to this section. M. Fines is the pre- 

 sident for I SS2. The Geological section had no communi- 

 cations of general or special interest. Professors von 

 Szabo of Buda-Pesth and Villanova of Madrid both con- 

 tributed papers, and an interesting communication was 

 m ;de by M. Fusch (who is president of the section next 

 ye:ir), on the lead and iron mines of Tunis, and the copper 

 mines of the Petite Kabylie, a district to the east of 

 Algiers. The Botanical section announced only two 

 papers of very limited interest for the last day but one of 

 the Congress, and it did not meet at all on the last day. 

 M. Ed. Bureau is president for 18S2. The sections of 

 Zoology an 3 Zootechny also showed signs of languishing. 

 On the other hand the section of Anthropology exhibited 

 the greatest vigour from first to last, and on the last day 

 of the Congress no less than sixteen papers, many of 

 them of great local interest, were announced. Among 

 these we may specially mention observations on the 

 Kabyles of the Djurdjura, and on the Tziganes; on the 

 Romans in Africa, and the Berber migration ; on the 

 civil, political, and religious institutions of the Jews ; and 

 on craniometrical studies in the o.tsis of Biskra. .'\ pre- 

 historic map of the north of Africa was discussed by M. 

 Cartailhrc. Anthropology is one of the sciences which 

 has benefited most by the Algerian Congress. M. Henri 

 Martin is president for 1S82. 



The interest in the Medical section continued to the 

 last. We hive before had occasion to remark that the 

 Congress to a greit extent was a medical 7-eunion, and 

 more than one-fourth of the members were medical men. 

 Seventeen papers were announced for the last day of the 

 session, and fourteen had been read the day before. The 

 most interesting to the general non-medi;al members were 

 on the epidemics of Algiers, on acclimatisation, and on 

 the clinnte of Algiers as regards its influence on con- 

 sumptive patients. Dr. .^zam of Bordeaux is the presi- 

 dent for 1S82. The success of this section has been 

 complete; a large number of very valuable papers have 

 been communicated, and the attendance has always been 

 large. The final papers communicated to the section of 

 Agronomy related mainly to the development of the agri- 

 culture of Algiers : on the cultivation of cereals and of 

 sorghum; on the rearing of cattle; on agricultural rail- 

 ways ; and on watercourses. M. Dubort is president for 

 1882. The section of Geography was also mainly devoted 

 to Algerian questions : the Trans-Saharian Raihvay ; the 

 geodesy and topography of North Africa ; tnaps and geo- 

 graphical vocabulary. Ttie section of Political Economy 

 devoted its list hours to the dominant subject throughout 

 — the colonisation of Algeria, the treatment of the in- 

 digenous races, and the peopling of the Sahara. Finally 

 the section of Pedagogy visited the principal schools of 

 the city, and collected as much information as possible 

 concerning the methods of instruction. 



At the commencement of the Congress the members 

 were presented with a volume entitled "Notices Scien- 

 tiriques, Historiques, et Eco.Tomiques sur Alger et I'Al- 

 gerie." The second volume is to be ready before the 

 end of this month. The work is compiled by twenty-one 

 residents in Algeria, erch one very competent to discuss 

 the subject of his contribution. Thus the geography is 

 described by the president of the Algerian Geographical 

 Society, the general administration by the secretary of 

 the Council of Government, and the history by the 

 Director of the Ecole supijrieure des Lettres. The whole 

 constitutes the nrost complete and exhaustive history of 



Algeria which exists. Starting with the geography, 

 hydrography, and climatology of the country, an able 

 discussion of its complex meteorology follows. Statistics 

 are given of the barometric pressure, mean temperature, 

 hygrometry, winds and atmospheric currents, electricity, 

 rain, evaporation, &c. There are forty meteorological 

 stations in the country, extending from Mogador in 

 Marocco, to Sfax in Tunis. A daily bulletin has been 

 issued since 1875, and it is distributed over thirteen 

 points on the coast. The very interesting geology and 

 mineralogy of the country forms an article by M. Pomel, 

 from which we learn that copper, argentiferous lead, zinc, 

 iron, building- stones, and s.lt are profitably mined. 

 About 3500 miners are employed, more than half of them 

 finding occupation in the province of Constantine. The 

 succeeding articles treat of botany, zoology, and anthro- 

 pology. The major part of the indigenous population 

 consists of two ethnic groups: on the one hand the Arabs, 

 nomad tribes, shepherds, with a patriarchal organisation, 

 and with warhke and religious feudality {fcodalitt' 

 gue7-ficre et feodalite rcligicusc) ; on the other the 

 Kabyles, cultivators of the soil, non-nomadic, and with 

 a social organisation which is democratic and com- 

 munalistic. 



An article of much interest, by Dr. Liautaud, treats of 

 the colonisation and peopling of Algeria. We have no 

 space to give even an outline of its contents, but we 

 commend it to every one interested in the present and 

 future of the colony. It is followed by articles on the 

 actual state of agriculture ; industry and commerce, 

 public works, the financial system, and the Algerian 

 budgets. Then a general survey of the history of Northern 

 Africa is given by M. Masqueray ; archaeology by M. 

 MacCarthy ; the general administration by M Di.uier ; 

 judicial organisation by M. Fau, .Advocate-General of 

 Algiers, and taxes and imposts by M. D'.'^ufresne. 



We will glance for a moment at some of the statistics 

 connected with public works and education. When the 

 French too'.; possession of Algiers in 1S38 they found a 

 tabu ill 7-asa as regards public works. In 1S43 they set on 

 foot the drainage of the Mitidja; between 1840 and 1846 

 ports were constructed, and lighthouses placed along the 

 coast, and great systems of excellent roads were inaugu- 

 rated ; in 1857 railways were commenced. Forty-five 

 lighthouses are now in operation, and there are seven 

 ports. In 1830 the imports amounted to a value of 

 5,000,000 francs, and the exports to 1,500,000 francs; 

 while in 1879 ''^^ values were respectively 272,126,102 

 francs and 151,918,421 francs. There are 10,506 kilo- 

 metres of roads and 1282 kilometres of railways. There 

 are now about 600 agricultural villages dispersed through 

 the three provinces of Algiers, Oran, and Constantine. 



As regards public instruction, higher instruction is 

 given in four schools, which no doubt will soon be united 

 into a university : law, medicine, letters, and science. 

 Secondary education is provided by a Lycce in Algiers, 

 ten communal schools, and three free schools. The former 

 contain 3405 pupils, among who.n there are 365 Jews, and 

 272 Mussulmins. The number of primary schools, in- 

 cluding Arabic, Kabylie, and Arab-French schools is 

 703, in which are educated no less than 53,803 pupils — 

 28,803 boys, and 24,501 girls. The boys consist of 

 11,639 French, 7336 foreigners, 7408 Jews, and 2420 

 Mussulmans. 



On April 20 the various excursions commenced : east- 

 ward to the confines of Tunis, southward to the Sahara, 

 and westward to the boundaries of Marocco. We have 

 not space to tell how we went into the country of the 

 indigenes — the Kabyles who were driven into the moun- 

 tains when the Arabs first took possession of the land — 

 how they met us headed by their chiefs, and conducted 

 us, with accompaniments of barbaric music, and discharges 

 of guns to awaken the echoes, through the magnificent 

 gorges of Palestro ; and how on the following morning 



