174 



NATURE \D(x. 31, 1874 



tlie whole of the winter on the tup of the I'io du iMiJi, 

 one of the highest summits of the Pyrenees. It is curious to 

 notice that at the same moment, Dec. lo, 10.30 P.M., a similar 

 shock was felt in America, round Winchester, on the Washington 

 heights, alongside the banks of the Hudson. Are these two 

 commotions related to each other ? 



The weather has lately been so dreadfully boisterous in the 

 Tyrenean ranges that the Meteorological Observatory situated 

 near the crest of one of the peaks has been almost demolished, 

 Gen. Wansouty and his two friends being obliged to leave the 

 place on the iSth at daybreak. They managed to reach on the 

 same day at midnight, after sixteen hours travelling in the snow, 

 a small inn at Grisp, where they received every attention and 

 were quite safe. 



The advices from the south are unanimous in slating that un- 

 precedented masses of snow have fallen, not only in the Pyrenees 

 and the Alps, but also in Spain, where they have put a stop to 

 Ihc warlike operations. On Thursday, Dec. 24, a thaw occurred 

 in Paris, as well as in London and many other places, with an 

 unprecedented rapidity. 



The number of railway accidents which befell English travellers 

 on Christmas-eve has created quite a sensation in France. It is 

 worthy of notice that in that country there is a regular slafi of 

 accomplished engineers, duly qualified by previous instruction, 

 and paid by the Government to inspect the several lines and 

 ascertain whether all proper measures for security have been 

 taken by the companies. Nothing is left to haphazard, but 

 everything is subject to a close and severe examination. The 

 consequence is, that allhough the traffic on certain French lines 

 is not less than on some of the main English ones, the accidents 

 are less frequent and not attended with such disastrous results. 



In reference to the fact that German plants were found in 

 French soil after the German invasion, we may state that a simi- 

 lar phenomenon has been observed before. Lepidiitm draba was 

 introduced into England by the English troops who failed in the 

 atlempt to land on Walcheren in iSog. The gain from the herb 

 was probably greater than the loss from the war. In 1S14 many 

 plants from the Don became acclimatised in the Rhone valley 

 and vicinity of Paris. The most notable improvement on record 

 of any spontaneous flora is perhaps the addition to the Alsatian 

 grasses by the introduction of Algerian species. These plants, 

 although coming from a warm climate, have secured a firm fuot- 

 ing in their new home, and rendered fertile a number of places 

 which had remained up to that time barren and fruitless. 



On Dec. 23, the French Geographical Society, under the pre- 

 s'.dency of Admiral La Ronciere le Nourry, held its annual dinner. 

 Toasts were drunk w'ith enthusiasm to the union of nations by 

 science, and to the crew and officers of the Challenger. 



At the last meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, M. de 

 Lesseps announced the capture of a female shark in the Suez 

 Canal, containing in its abdomen (?) twelve young sharks, all 

 living, and varying in length from twenty to twelve centimetres. 

 This fact, adds M. de Lesseps, tends to show that the shaik is 

 truly viviparous. 



A FEW days ago the French Government received fronr Belgium 

 four hundred carrier pigeons presented by a columbophile of that 

 country. These animals will be sent to the acclimatisation gar- 

 dens, where a central dove-house is to be erected for the Ministiy 

 of War. 



In the printed book department of the British Museum, constant 

 complaints have been made for years by the einployis regarding 

 the injurious effect of the atmosphere on their health. Quite 

 recently JNIr. Warren, head of the transcribing department, has 



died, apparently from no other cause th:in the poisonous effect 

 of the foul air he was compelled to breathe for many hours every 

 day. His frequent complaints were listened to with apathy by 

 his superiors, and notwithstanding the medical testimony by 

 which he was backed, no attempt was made to remedy the evil. 

 Mr. Warren's is a very hard case. He was only thirty-eight 

 years of age, and leaves a widow and two young children, 

 besides others who were dependent on him for the means of life. 

 He had been in the Museum for twenty years, was a most effi- 

 cient employe, and a general favourite. We hope the attempt 

 which is being made to get a pension for his widow from the 

 Civil List will be successful. He, however, has not been the 

 only sufferer. The young men in his roonr are all more or less 

 affected, some of them being under medical care. We certainly 

 think that an investigation ought to be made into the justice of 

 the frequeirt complaints as to the bad ventilation of many 

 parts of the Museum, not even excepting the spacious reading- 

 room. It is even said that had it not been for this cause, the 

 accomplished Emanuel Deutsch might yet have been aniong us. 

 Indeed, it is hinted that the entire management of the printed 

 book department requires looking into ; the public money being 

 by no means spent there to the best advantage. 



A VERY interesting letter appears in Monday's Times from a 

 correspondent on board the C/ialleugey, describing the voyage 

 from Cape York to Hong Kong. Details are given of visits to 

 several islands in the Malay Archipelago, in which collections of 

 animals and plants were made. The results so far are said to be 

 very satisfactory, and the Challenger has arrived in port with 

 every store bottle and case in the ship filled up. With regard to 

 the temperature of these eastenr seas visited by the Challenger, 

 the Times coirespondent says: — "They are, in fact, a chain of 

 sunken lakes or basins, each surrounded and cut off from the 

 neighbouring waters by a shallower rim or border. The water, 

 down to a depth equal to that on the border, is able to circulate 

 freely, and gradually cools as we descend ; but the whole mass 

 below, having no means of communicating with the outer waters, 

 remains at the same temperature as that of the water flowing 

 over the fioor of the rim ; or, in other words, the icy-cold water 

 travelling north along the floor of the ocean from the Antarctic 

 Seas, which is found in all the deep open channels, cannot 

 obtain admission through or over the surrounding rim. Thus, 

 we can now, affirm with certainty that the sea immediately east 

 of Torres Straits, although having a depth of 2,450 fathoms, is 

 surrounded by an elevated rim, having no deeper water over any 

 part of it than 1,300 fathoms, all the water below that deplli 

 being at a steady temperature of 35". The Banda Sea, which is 

 2,Soo fathoms deep, is cut off at a depth of goo fathoms ; the 

 Celebes Sea, which is 2,600 fathoms deep, is cut off at a depth 

 of 700 fathoms; the Sulu Sea, which is 2,550 fathoms deep, is 

 cut off at a depth of only 400 fathoms, all the water below that 

 depth being at a temperature of 50°. On the other hand, we 

 find that the Molucca passage is open to at least the depth of 

 1,200 fathoms, and the China Sea to 1,050 fathoms, the greatest 

 depth yet obtained in them." 



The following is a list of the Council elected at the recent 

 anniversary meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers : — 

 President, Thomas Elliot Harrison. Vice-presidents — William 

 Henry Barlow, F.R..S., John Frederick Bateman, F.K.S., 

 George Willoughby Hemans,'and George Robert Stephenson. 

 Members — James Abeinethy, Sir William George Armstrong, 

 C.B., F.R.S., Sir Joseph William Bazalgette, C.B., George 

 Berkley, Frederick Joseph Bramwell, F.1\..S., George Barclay 

 Bruce, James Brunlees, Sir John Coode, William Pole, F. R. .S., 

 Charles William Siemens, D.CL., F.R.S., Sir Joseph Whit- 

 worth, Bart, F. R.S., and Edward Woods. Associates — Major 

 J. M. Bateman-Champain, R.E., John Head, and Col. Charles 

 Pasley, K.E. 



