August 1 8, 1881] 



NATURE 



Z^l 



western districts of Aargau and Berue. From Valence to Basel, 

 and from Chaloas-iui'-Saone to Suza and Zinzal, the region of 

 disturbance included both sides of the Jura Mountains, besides 

 traversing the great chain of the Alps. It affected an area 350 

 kilometres long and 250 kilometres wide, equal to 8000 square 

 kilometres of surface. There were two very slight shocks on 

 the evenhig of July 21, and a feeble shock at 12.10 on the 

 morning of the 22nd. The prmcipal shock, which took place 

 at 2.48 a. m., was followed at 3.30 and 4.30 by t«o oscillations 

 that were only just perceptible to the senses. The great shock 

 consisted of two quakes and several smaller, but distinct, vibra- 

 tions. In some localities as many as ten vibrations were 

 counted. Relatively to its extent, the shock was intense ; in the 

 neighbourhood of Chambery and Ai.\-les-Bains, chimneys fell 

 and walls were fissured. In Switzerland the shock was stronger 

 near the Jura than nearer the Alps, and especially strong at 

 Geneva, in Vaud, and in Neuchatel. Prof. Forel, who edits the 

 report, remarks on the singular variations in the intensity and 

 direction of tlie shock even in the same neighbourhood. These 

 differences, w hich have been observed in previous earthquakes, 

 are too great to be due solely to errors of observation. An 

 earthquake is often more felt in one quarter of a town than in 

 another ; and as this variation is irregular, a locality that hardly 

 feels a shock at all on one occasion feeling it on another, it 

 cannot arise from differences in the density of tlie underlying 

 strata. Prof. Forel offers no explanation of this phenomenon, 

 albeit he thinks it ought to be explained, and craves for it the 

 particular attention of his brother seismologists. 



Dr. K. von Fritsch of Halle discu.ses the subject of earth- 

 quakes in the last issue of the V^r/ianciluiigett of the Berlin 

 Geogi'aphical Society. He maintains that the cause of earth- 

 quakes must be sought for at a rather small depth, the greatest 

 depth ascertained not exceeding ten to fourteen miles, and 

 usually far less, whilst rather feeble forces produce earthquakes 

 which are felt at great distances. It is known that Krupp's 

 hammer, v\hich weighs 1000 centners, and falls from a height of 

 three metres, produces sensible concussions on a surface of 

 eight kilometres diameter ; whilst the recent explosion of the 

 Leimbach dynamite manufactory was felt at Halle and Merse- 

 burg, forty-one and forty-five kilometres distant. Whilst show- 

 ing how easily concussions are produced by causes comparatively 

 feeble. Dr. Frit»ch points out how earthquakes might be and 

 must be produced by the increase and decrease of volume of 

 rocks under the influence of physical and chemical forces, and 

 by concussions, by the opening of crevices in rocks, and by the 

 subsidence of masses of rocks due to these agencies. Many 

 schists are subjected, as is known, to extension, and when cre- 

 vices arise the schists must enter into oscillations which must 

 produce very varied phenomena, according to the direction and 

 the force of the oscillations, much like to what we see in the 

 oscillations of tuning-plates. Dr. Fritsch concludes by saying 

 that future researches as to the causes of earthquakes ought 

 to be directed especially to the study of the geotectonical con- 

 ditions of the localities where they occur. 



In the course of the excavations for the new fort at Lier, in 

 the neighbourhood of Antwerp, a number of bones of extinct 

 animals, mammoth's teeth, and the almost complete skeleton of 

 a rhinoceros have been dug up. It was in tlie same district that, 

 in 1760, was found the immense skeleton of a mammoth, which 

 has been preserved in the Natural History Museum at Brussels. 



The Faure accumulators have been tried again by the Paris 

 Omnibus Company on a tramway with a carriage arranged for 

 the purpose. The experiment is said to have been highly 

 success! ul. 



The Committee formed some time ago for the exploration of 

 the subsidences in Blackheath have published a report, in v. hich. 



while giving an account of their proceedings, and the opinions 

 of various geologists for the probable causes of the subsidences, 

 they themselves have come to no definite conclusion. 



A Congress has been opened at Bordeaux on the education of 

 the deaf and dumb. In connection therewith \.he yournal Ofikial 

 publi-hes a series of articles by M. Claveau, General Inspector 

 of " Etablissements de Bieiifaisance," who tries to prove that the 

 method of teaching the deaf and dumb how to speak was 

 invented and practised by St. John of Beverley, Archbishop of 

 York, in S65, and fully described by the Venerable Bede. 



The Meteorological " Centralanstalt " founded] by the Swiss 

 Naturalists' Society at Zurich has become a Government Institu- 

 tion by a decree of the Swiss Senate, and now bears the title 

 "Swiss Meteorological Centralanstalt." Herr R. Billwiller has 

 been appointed director, while the Swiss Home Secretary and a 

 special Commission will superintend the Institution. 



The Royal University Bill (Ireland) on Tuesday night last 

 was read a third time in the House of Commons, having been 

 sent down from the House of Lords. It now only awaits the 

 Royal Assent. The programme of the Natural Science course 

 seems framed in accordance with modern views, and when the 

 Scholarships and Exhibitions shall be finally settled by the 

 Senate, we will probably refer again to the subject. 



■We notice in the last number of the Zeitschrift of the Berlin 

 Geographical Society (vol. xvi. fascicule 3) an interesting de- 

 scription of spring in Madagascar, from the pen of the late 

 Herr J. M. Hildebrandt, who died on May 29 at Antanana- 

 rivo. Spring arrives about the middle of November, when the 

 cold south-eastern wind which blew throughout the winter, 

 leaving its moisture on the eastern slopes of the highlands, 

 covered with thick forests, and driving before it the savannah 

 fires, gives place to the north-western wind which brings warmth 

 and moisture. The revival of nature under the influence of this 

 wind is well described by Herr Hildcljrandt, and his paper cin- 

 tains valuable information as to the tlora and fauna of Mada- 

 gascar. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include an Orange-winged Amazon (Chrysotis aina- 

 zonica) from South America, presented by Mr. R. Seyd ; a 

 Grey Ichneumon (hcrpcsUs ^iscus) from India, presented by 

 Sir Patrick Colquhoun ; a Herring Gull {Larus argentatus), 

 British, presented by Mr. E. A, Brown ; a White-crested 

 Touracou (Corythaix albocristata) from South Africa, presented 

 by Capt. T. G. Steer; a Black-eared Marmoset (Hapale penicU- 

 lata) from Soulh-East Brazil, presented by Mrs. Alsop ; an 

 American Tapir, i (Tapirtis tenestris) from Trinidad, presented 

 by Herr Fritz Zurcher ; two West Indian Agutis (Dasyprocla 

 cristata), three Garden's Night Herons (Aycticorax g-irdeiii), and 

 two Martinican Doves (Zenaitia martinicana) frum the Antilles, 

 presented by Mr. H. T. Burford Hancock, F.Z. S. ; two Stock 

 Doves (Colurnba anai), British, presented by Mr. A. E. C 

 Strealfield ; two Topela Finches (Muiiia topela) from China, a 

 Nutmeg Finch {Miinia pimciulaiia) from India, a Javan Nutmeg 

 Finch (Miinia nisoria) from Java, a Francis Eagle Owl (Buha 

 pbensis) from West Africa, two Aldrovandi's Skinks {PUstioJon 

 auratiis), and two Pantherine Toads {Biifo pantherinus) from 

 North Africa, a Bay Antelope [Ctpkalopltus dorsalis) and a Water 

 Chevrotain {Hyovtoschus aquaticus) from West Africa, pur- 

 chased ; and two Common Marmosets {Hapale jacc/ius) from 

 Brazil, deposited. In the Inseclarium may be seen full-ted 

 larvEe, now spinning up, of the Atlas {Atiacus atlas) and Ailan- 

 thus (Attaciis cynthia) Silk-Moths, also freshly-hatched ones of 

 the Marbled White Butterfly (Ar^e galatea) and Scarlet Tiger 

 Moth {Callimorpha dominula). Among-t the aquatic forms 



