ae? 
NATURE 
(JUNE 1, 1899 
be expected from the fact that in this locality there is practically 
only one tide in the day. This tidal stream prevails to the 
bottom with variations of strength. Somewhere about 75 
fathoms below the surface is the dividing line between the two 
permanent currents, but there were not sufficient observations 
to determine the exact depth with any precision. 
In the current number of the Psychological Review, Prof. 
Wesley Mills points out that in investigating the psychology of 
animals, care must be taken to observe them under conditions as 
nearly approaching their normal surroundings as possible. He 
maintains that to place a cat in a box, as has been done, and 
then to expect it to act naturally, is about as reasonable as to 
enclose a living man in a coffin, lower him, against his will, into 
the earth, and attempt to deduce normal psychology from his 
conduct. Besides, the highest animals should be compared 
with the lowest human beings before maintaining that there is 
an essential difference between the respective mental lives of 
animals and the human race. 
A SERIES of instructive experiments on young chicks have 
been made by Dr. Edward Thorndike. About sixty chicks of 
all ages were studied, and some remarkable instances of in- 
stinctive muscular coordination and emotional reaction were 
observed. A four days’ chick will jump down a distance 
eight times his own height without hurting himself. Thrown 
into a pond, he will make straight for the shore, while an adult 
hen would float about aimlessly. For the first four or five days 
there is no fear of strange objects or sounds, such as the sight of 
aman ora hawk’s cry. Instinct does not always lead to the 
same reaction. A loud sound may make one chick run, another 
crouch, another give the danger call, and another do nothing 
whatever. 
Av Montgomery, Alabama, the daily forecasts of the U.S. 
Weather Bureau are shown on all street letter-boxes. The 
postman who collects the letters also fixes the forecast cards in 
position, so that the morning predictions of weather become 
known throughout the city by about 1 p.m. of the date of issue. 
THE Mitteilungen aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten con- 
tains a valuable contribution to our knowledge of the Har- 
mattan winds in the form of three short papers by competent 
observers in Togoland, and a discussion of the material by Dr. 
von Danckelmann. The investigation leads to the conclusion 
that the Harmattan, strictly so called, is a strengthening of the 
general north to south movement of the atmosphere prevalent 
in the western Sudan between October and April, caused by 
special modifications in the distribution of pressure which are 
not yet fully explained. The excessive dryness of the air, and 
its dustiness, are due to the origin of the current in the regions 
north of the bend of the Niger ; and it is shown that the wind 
may penetrate into coast districts normally exposed to the in- 
fluence of the moist sea breeze. The characteristic low morning 
temperatures are probably due to excessive radiation, but the 
point requires further elucidation. 
WE have received the seventh annual report of the Sonnblick 
Society, for the year 1898, containing the meteorological observ- 
ations on the summit of the Sonnblick mountain, lat. 47° 3’ N., 
long. 12° 57’ E., altitude 10,191 feet, and also at two inter- 
mediate stations, respectively nearly 4000 and 3000 feet above 
the sea. The observations have been carried on with great care 
and regularity, and the observatory on the summit is now under 
the entire management of the Austrian Meteorological Society. 
The difficulty of carrying on the work of this important station 
may be gauged from the following results for the year. The 
mean annual temperature was 22°°3, the absolute maximum 
46°°4, and the minimum minus 13°°7. Fog occurred on 250 
NO. 1544, VOL. 60] 
days, and rain (or snow) on 200 days. The report also contains 
useful detailed information respecting the mineral products of 
the neighbourhood, and particulars relating to the high observ- 
atories in the Alps. 
Tue Central Physical Observatory of St. Petersburg has 
recently published its Azsals for the year 1897, consisting 
of two large quarto volumes. The first part contains the 
meteorological and magnetic observations made at the stations 
of the First Order, and the extraordinary observations at 
stations of the Second and Third Orders ; for several stations, 
observations are published for every hour. The second part 
contains the meteorological observations of the Second Order 
stations, arranged according to the international scheme, and gives 
the observations made three times a day, and results for eighty- 
two stations, and a 7éseé of the monthly and annual means for 
661 stations. Each set of observations is preceded bya detailed 
introduction, giving particulars of the methods employed and 
of the instruments used. In accordance with the decision of 
the Meteorological Conference at Paris in 1896, a useful list is 
added of all the periodical publications appearing in Russia 
which contain meteorological observations. The Director of 
the Meteorological Service is General M. Rykatcheff, Member 
of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg. 
Dr. KEILHACK contributes a short paper on the hydrography 
of north-western Germany to the Verhand/ungen of the Berlin 
Geographical Society. The relation of the later glacial deposits 
to the existing valleys and lakes is discussed, and a map shows 
the supposed successive positions of the inland ice, and the 
courses of the longitudinal valleys associated with each phase of 
its movement. 
WE have received No. 3 of the ‘‘ Current Papers” published 
by Mr. H.C. Russell in the Proceedings of the Royal Society 
of New South Wales, along with which is a chart showing the 
tracks of floats between September 1896 and September 1898. 
The additional information confirms the result stated in the 
second paper, that the rate of drift increases with latitude south 
of 30° S. One float gave an average rate of 12°4 miles per day 
in latitude 47°"16 S. 
CHARLES WACHSMUTH (of Burlington, Iowa), who died in 
1896, had for forty years zealously studied the fossil Crinoidea 
of the older rocks of North America, being assisted during the 
latter half of the period by Mr. Frank Springer. The labours 
of the two on “The North American Crénoédea camerata” have 
been published in an important monograph containing 838 pp. 
and 83 plates; and this work has now been subjected to an 
elaborate criticism by Mr. F. A. Bather, of the British Museum 
(Natural History), who has reprinted his series of articles, 
which were published in the Geological Magazine (1898-99). 
These critical ‘essays form an important contribution to the 
study of the Crinoidea, and they are appropriately accompanied 
by a portrait and brief biography of Wachsmuth. 
Mr. ArNotpd HacGur, in his presidential address to the 
Geological Society of Washington (February 1899), took as his 
subject the ‘‘ Early Tertiary Volcanoes of the Absaroka Range.” 
This range extends along the east side of the Yellowstone Park, 
in the State of Wyoming, and several of the higher peaks and 
the long western spurs slope gradually towards the Park, and 
lie within its borders. The Absarokas present a high plateau, 
ranging from 10,000 to over 12,000 feet above sea-level, and 
composed of agglomerates, tuffs, and lava fiows, based upon 
Archzean and Palaeozoic rocks, and including masses of intrusive 
igneous rock, The volcanic materials constitute the bulk of the 
mountains, and they were ejected from numerous vents and 
fissures at several successive epochs, mainly in the following 
order : early acid breccia, early basic breccia, early basalt sheets, 
