July 21, 1881] 



NATURE 



265 



The German Government has been requested by many eminent 

 hydrologists to establish a hydrological " Reichs-Centralstelle." 

 They consider hydrological researches extending over the whole 

 Empire necessary for the general welfare with regard to tlie 

 utilisation of water and for the general prolec'i >n of arable lands 

 against floo:ls and inundations. As these researches would 

 necessarily often be cinibined with meteorological observations, 

 it is proposed to connect the Hydrological Office wi'.h the Meteo- 

 rological Central Office. The work would have to be done princi- 

 pally by hydrologists and meteorologits, but the staff would 

 have to comprise geologists, agricnlturi-ts, and fore.-t-rangers. 



The news that in the Pastoral Moor of Dejbjerg (district of 

 Rinlijobing, Jutland) a carriage of the fourth or fifth century has 

 been discovered, causes great sen?ation in archasol 'gioal circles. 

 At the beginning of this year the Museum of Northern Antiqui- 

 ties of Copenhagen received several bronzes which had been 

 found in the moor in question, which unquestionably had 

 originally been carriage ornaments. Perfectly similar bronzes 

 had been found a few year, ago at Broholm (Fiinen) in a tomb, 

 and hal been ex])Iained as ornaments of a wooden carriage which 

 had been burned with the dead. The discovery i 1 the Dejbjerg 

 Moor now confirms this view. Dr. H. Petersen, who also con- 

 ducts the excavatiotis at Broholm, was intrusted with the investi- 

 gation of the Dejbjerg Moor, and his researches show that the 

 fragments now found belonged to a state carriage with neatly 

 turned spars and fine I ronze ornaments on the wheels and sides. 

 Apart from the cirriage fragments only a few clay vessels were 

 found. They all date from the migration peri id. 



Thf. Archjeological Society at Athens has purchased the land 

 at Eleusis necessary in order to excavate the temple of Ceres. 

 News from the director of the excavations at Epidauros state 

 that the theatre excavated in the forest of A«klepios is the 

 second largest of Ancient Greece and a masterpiece of the 

 architect Polykleitos. Even the headless statue f .und there, 

 which is supposed to represent Ilygieia, is believed to be a work 

 of Polykleitos. 



The Museum of Antiquities at Sjiarta is reportid to have 

 been broken open and roblied of many objects. 



As we anticipated in our last issue, M. Berthelot has been 

 nominated a life-member of the French Senate almost unani- 

 mou ly. It may be noted tliat it is jut twenty years since M. 

 Berthelot received the great pri/e of the Academy of Sciences 

 for his method of producing artificially sul stances which have 

 been found only in living bodies. 



A SAD accident has happened in the vicinity of Lyon=, where 

 two balbons were sent up on the occa-ion of the fele of July 14. 

 A match having been ignited close to the place «here the largest 

 landed, the ballo n exploded instantaneously with a fearful 

 crash. Three people were severely wounded. 



M. DE MfiRiTENS, the well-known electrician, tried a new 

 system of electrical illumination on the occasi m of the festivities 

 of Ju'y 14. He supended his regulators between two poles 

 placed on each side of the Boulevard des Italiens and fifiy feet 

 high. A series of four of these regulators weie placed at a dis- 

 tance of about 200 feet from each other. 1 he effect was much 

 approved by a large number of people. 



A SPECIAL competition has been opened for erecting a statue 

 to Camot, the celebrated mathematician and politician of the 

 First Republic. The number of competitors exceeds fifty, and 

 some of the works sent are highly creditable to their authors. 

 The statue is to be erected by public subscription at the birth- 

 place of Carnot, Nolay, in Cote d'Or. 



■Our Paris correspondent informs us that Philippart and Sons 

 aa-e preparing to work tramways at Roubaix with improved 



Faure batteries, and that experiments will also shortly be made 

 in London. Our correspondent witnessed some preliminary 

 experiments which he thinks give room for high expectations. 

 One of the most important changes is the substitution of flat for 

 round sheets, which produced numerous cracks in the minium 

 coating, and had been resorted to in imitation of the old Plants 

 batterie;. 



At the anniversary meeting of the Sanitary Institute of Great 

 Britain held at the Koj.al Institution, Albemarle Street, on 

 Thursday, July 14, the Right lion. Earl Fortercue in the chair, 

 an address was delivered by Prof. F. S. B. F. de Chaumont, 

 M.D., F.R.S., chainnan of the. Council, entitled "Modem 

 Sanitary Scienc-," and the medals and certificates were awarded 

 to the successful exhibitors at the exhibition held at Exeter in 

 October, 1880. 



The forty seventh anniversary meeting of the Statistica' 

 Society w as held in the Society's rooms, King's College, Strand, 

 on the 2Sth ult., Dr. W. A. Guy, a past president, in the chair. 

 The report was highly satisfactory, showing that in the last 

 decade the nunber of Fellows, the income, and the amount 

 invested have been mire than doubled, while the expenditure 

 had increased in a less ratio A new edition of theLibr.ary cata- 

 logue is being prepared. Ten papers had been read during the 

 year. The president for 1S81-82 is James Caird, C.B., F.R.S. 



A SECOND earthquake is reported from Metkovich (Dalmatia). 

 It was observed on June 14 at 5.27 a.m. During the night of 

 May 17 a violent shock occurred in Haiti, causing several land- 

 slips, through which a large number of cattle perished. The 

 volcano in the Gulf of Santorin, which has been inactive since 

 1870, again began to eject vapour on May 30 last. This activity 

 increased considerably on June 2. The sei between Pala and 

 Aeo Kaymene has again became heated. Earthquakes are 

 reported from the east coast of Tunis. It is stated thai 

 since June 10 last Gabes and neighbourhood was visited 

 by a great many violent shocks, some recurring at very 

 short intervals. The last shock was felt during the night 

 of June 22-23. The mountains in the neighbourhood of Gabes 

 are of volcanic nature ; smoke rises during the night fri>n> the 

 Ay-Euin Mountain (.about 30 kilometres to the north-west of 

 Gabes), and at Hamma, 18 kilometres from Gabes, there are hot 

 springs. Shock< of earthquake are reported from different places 

 inDilmatia: Ragu aon July 4, at 10.28 a.m. ; Budua, Castelastua, 

 Sutomore, on July 4, at 10.19 3-"i- an^' 1-33 P-™- ; duration, 

 two to fourseconds ; direction, north to south. 



The growth of .Xmerican journalism is shown by recent census 

 results to have been much more rapid than that of English. In 

 1824 there were eleven daily new spapers in Philadelphia and twelve 

 in New York, with a circulation varying from loco to 4000 

 copies. To-day the State of New York has 115 daily news- 

 papers and 84 weeklies, with a combined annual circulation of 

 384,328,454 ; and Pennsylvania 98 daily newspapers and 57 

 weekly papers, with a combined circulation of 202,539,482. 

 There are 962 daily newspapers in the United States, and 

 803 weekly, seaii weekly, tri-weekly, and Sunday newspapers. 

 The total circulation of all newspapers is estimated to be 

 1,344.101,235, the bulk of which is in ten great States. 



From a recent U.S. Census Bulletin relating to the Fishery 

 Industries of the Pacific States and Territories (California, 

 Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) we gather that the total 

 number of persons engaged in these fisheries is 16,745, of whom 

 7910 are Esquimaux, Aleuts, and Indians, and about 400O 

 Chinese. A capital of over 2j million dollars is invested in 

 vessels, boats, apparatus, building, &c. There are 53 vessels 

 and 5547 boats. Among other items in this Bulletin we note 

 that the number of salmon caught in 1880 (to which all these 



