376 
drift, the result showing north-westerly course, the ship heeling 
over, and being heavily pressed by ice most of the time. The 
mental strain was heavy on some of us. The result of the drift 
during the last five months was 4o miles by tidal movement of 
ice; very rapid drift the last six months. Soundings pretty 
even—18 fathoms near Wrangel Land, which often visible 75 
miles distant. The greatest depth was 80 fathoms; averace 
depth, 35; bottom, blue mud; shrimps plentiful; meteoric 
specimens got from bottom; surface water temperature, 20° 
above zero. The extremes of temperature of air were—cold, 
58° below zero (Fahrenheit) ; heat, about 44° above. During 
the first winter the mean temperature was 33° below zero, second 
winter 39° below. During first summer mean temperature was 
40° above zero, The heaviest gale showed a velocity of 50 miles 
an hour, but such gales were not frequent. Barometric and 
thermometric fluctuations were not great. There were disturb- 
ances of the needle coincident with the auroras. Telephone (?) 
wires were broken by the ice movements. Winter’s growth of 
ice was 8 feet. The heaviest ice seen was 23 feet thick. During 
the first week of the retreat from the Heanmetfe we drifted back 
27 miles more than we could advance. The snow was nearly 
knee-deep. The naturalist’s notes were saved, but the photo- 
graphic collection was lost with the ship. Lieut. Chipp’s 2000 
auroral observations were also lost.” Thus it would seem that 
the Feannette, like the 7egetthoff, was caught in the ice soon after 
she entered on her task, and was drifted about in it for many 
months. The islands discovered are doubtless part of the Arctic 
archipelago which surrounds the Polar area, and of which 
Franz-Josef Land, the New Siberian Islands, &c., are outliers. 
The full record of scientific observations promises to be of some 
value. 
WE understand that the Admiralty are unwilling to send a 
national expedition in search of Mr. Leigh Smith and the Zira 
Expedition, but haye at the same time expressed their readiness 
to propose a grant of 5000/. towards the expense of a private 
expedition. 
Dr. SCHWEINFURTH is said to have had a letter from the 
Marchese Antinori, telling him that he has heard in Shoa of the 
existence of a race of pigmies to the south-east of Kaffa. They 
are called Dakos by the Kaffa people, and Jukis by the Gallas. 
From their reported position it is thought probable that they 
belong to the same race as the Akkas. 
M. JosEPH MartTIN has on exhibition at the French Geogra- 
-phical Society a collection of photographs, maps, mineralogical 
specimens, &c., which he has made during a long sojourn in 
Siberia, where he has been engaged in examining gold, silver, 
and other mines. During his journey he traversed the Ural, 
where he was chiefly occupied at the Beresofski gold-mine-, 
visiting also several mines of precious stones, iron, &c. He 
next went to the Ob, where he examined the mountains round 
Tomsk, afterwards visiting the gold and silver mines in the Altai. 
Having visited the Upper Yenisei, he made a geological examin- 
ation of the Baikal region, and then descended the Lena to the 
mouth of the Aldan, up which he went for some distance. He 
also visited the Olekma and Vitim rivers, where gold-mines are 
being worked, and then made some mineralogical researches in 
the Stanovoi Mountains. He visited the Transbaikal region 
and a part of Mongolia, and then followed the Chinese frontier 
from Kiachta to Vladivostock, after which he spent some time 
in mineralogical investigations on the Amur and the Ussuri, and 
in other parts of Russia, and Chinese Manchuria. M. Martin 
intends in April to start on a journey of exploration in the 
Kamchatka peninsula. 
TueE Depot de la Guerre at Paris has just published the first 
four sheets of a map of Africa, which, when finished, is to con- 
sist of sixty sheets. This map has been prepared by Capt. 
Lannoy. 
In a paper which he has read before the French Geographical 
Society, Col. Veniukof, the well-known Russian traveller, esti- 
mates that a third of Asia, as well as a thirtieth part of Europe, 
still remains to be explored. 
THE Lisbon Geographical Society has founded a section in 
the Azores. 
DuRInG the past year the agents of the London Missionary 
Society in New Guinea have paid some attention to the pre- 
viously unknown Maiva district, lying some distance to the west 
of Port Meresby. In June the Rey. James Chalmers started a 
second time to visit the region, landing at Miria’s village on the 
NATURE 
; resistance of selenium. 
[ Feb. 16, 1882 
Maiva coast. After going to several villages on the coast and 
in the interior, he determined to visit Madu, the chief of Motu 
Lavao. Starting from the bight, he ascended a large creek 
with dense mangrove on both banks—a veritable bed of fever— 
and then walked through the deserted village of Paitana to 
Motu Lavao, the path leading through a narrow tract of good 
country, with dense swamps on both sides. The village was 
found to be large, with clean and well-kept houses, but situated 
in a most unhealtby locality. At the end of July Mr. Chalmers 
again re-visited the Maiva district, in company with the Rev. 
W. G. Lawes and his wife. 
THE Society which was formed at Milan for the commercial 
exploration of Africa, has already examined the Barka plateau, 
and founded two stations at Bengazi and Derna, and this year it 
proposes to send agents to accompany an Arab caravan from 
the Mediterranean to Wadai, across the desert, and through the 
oases of Anjila, Jalo, Kufra, and Wanianga. The Society also 
hopes to obtain the necessary firmans from Constantinople to 
enable it to establish an agricultural colony to the east of the 
Barka plateau, and if possible, an attempt will even be made to 
explore the routes leading from Abyssinia towards Assab, the 
Italian settlement on the Red Sea. 
PHYSICAL NOTES 
M. PLANTE. has found that the long process of “forming” 
his accumulators is shortened if they are warmed during 
charging. The temperature best for this purpose is between 
7o° and 80°, at which limit the opposing electromotive force 
is somewhat less than when cold, and the resistance a great deal 
less. He does not find it advantageous to exceed this limit. We 
venture to suggest that the reason is that at boiling-point the 
oxygen and hydrogen are evolved in normal conditions, no ozone 
being produced. ‘The electromotive force of oxygen against 
hydrogen is less than that of peroxide of lead against metallic 
lead, and far less than that of ozone against “nascent” 
hydrogen. 
Pror. ANDREA NACCARI has re-examined the question of the 
unequal heating of the electrodes of a Holtz’s induction machine 
by the passage of sparks. After carefully tabulating his results, 
he comes to the conclusion that in every case the negative 
electrode is less heated than the positive ; that the heat deve- 
loped in the spark is not affected by the nature of the meials of 
the electrodes ; that with a constant striking-distance between 
the ends of the electrodes the heating effect in each electrode'is 
proportional to the quantity of electricity that passes in unit time ; 
and that the quantity of heat thus developed by the passage of 
the electricity between the electrodes is very considerable. 
PrRoF, MANFREDO BELLATI and Dr. R. Romanese have 
investigated the rapidity with which l'ght modifies the electric 
The question has a practical bearing 
upon the construction of the photophone, since, if the time 
required to produce this change were considerable, the most 
rapidly vibrating sounds would become confused or inaudible in 
transmitting them. When light falling on a selenium cell was 
interrupted 1250 times per second, the resistance was practically 
the same as with a far less rayid interruption giving equal 
average illumination, All the experiments of these gentlemen 
led to the result that selenium behaves sensibly, as if the varia- 
tion of resistance by the incidence of light were effected 
instantaneously. 
M. LippMANN has applied his capillary electrometer to the 
study of the electric conductivity of shellac, gutta-percha, tur- 
pentine, petroleum, and other bodies, which, though insulators, 
when cold, begin to conduct as their temperature is raised. This 
subject was investigated in 1875 by Sir W. Thomson and hy 
Mr. (afterwards Professor) Perry, more particularly in the one 
case of hot glass. In M. Lippmann’s experiments a battery of 
one to forty voltaic cells was placed in a circuit in which the 
capillary electrometer was included, and in which the substance 
to be examined was interposed between two platinum plates. At 
ordinary temperatures the electrometer gave no indication, but 
moved forward as the temperature was raised to 100°C, As 
the temperature fell, the substances examined resumed their 
former state as insulators. A paper on the same subject has, 
we observe, been recently communicated by Mr. T. Gray to the 
Royal Society. 
M. H. Durour has made an interesting observation of no 
small importance in the theory of gaseous absorption of radiant 
