April 29, 1 886] 



NA TURE 



611 



2877. Switzerland— Santis, Appenzell, 2500. Gieat Britain — 

 Ben Nevis, 1418. Germany— Brocken, Harz, 1141 ; Wendel- 

 stein, South Bavaria, i860. Austria— Schafberg, near Ischl, 

 1776; Hoch-Obir, Carinthia, 2047; Sonnenbliclc, Salzburg, 

 3103. These heights are taken from the sea-level. 



For the first time the Government of the Straits Settlements 

 has published in the official Gazette a separate meteorological 

 report on the result of observations taken in the three settlements 

 — Singapore, Malacca, and Penang — comprising atmospheric 

 pressure, temperature, wind, rainfall, &c. The statistics, which 

 are edited by Dr. Rowell, embrace the year 1885. Carefully 

 compiled tables of observations and four charts are attached to 

 the report. 



At a recent meeting of the Russian Archaeological Society, 

 Prince Putiatin reported his impoitant discovery near the 

 Bologne railway station (half way from St. Petersburg to 

 Moscow) of an image of the constellation of Ursa Major 

 engraved on a grindstone of the Stone period. A similar dis- 

 covery, as is Inown, had already been made near Weimar in 

 Germany. 



The sixteenth annual report of the Wellington College 

 Natural Science Society is satisfactory as showing that the 

 society is pursuing its useful work with much success. A con- 

 siderable number of lectures on various scientific topics were 

 delivered during the session, one of them being by Prof. Flower, 

 and the usual phenological and meteorological reports are added. 

 The value of such societies as these in connection with our public 

 schools is obvious, and it is only to be wished that the list of 

 school natural history associations were a much longer one. At 

 present, we believe, there are only nine in all — Wellington, 

 Winchester, Cheltenham, Marlborough, Clifton, Rugby, Dul- 

 wich, Haileybui-y, and King Edward's, Birmingham. Neither 

 Eton nor Harrow, it will be noticed, is on the list, although 

 both are favourably situated for the purpose. 



A CORRESPONDENT at Gorebridge writes to the Scotiman : — 

 On Thursday week (April 8), at twenty minutes past twelve, 

 a slight shock of earthquake was felt in this 1 icality. The low 

 rumbling and vibration were felt by your correspondent quite 

 plainly, though at first I did not put it down to its real cause. 

 Afterwards I found that the miners employed in Lord Lothian's 

 Newbattle pits, about a mile to the westward, had been alarmed 

 by loud explosions and vibi-ation of the strata in which they were 

 employed. In East Bryans pit, a mile further to the north-east, 

 the miners had a like experience, being also of the belief that 

 an explosion had occurred in the workings. In the villages of 

 Cowdengrange and Newtongrange the shock was felt most dis- 

 tinctly, houses and furniture appearing to oscillate, and the 

 crockery in some instances falling from the shelves. The phe- 

 nomenon lasted for about five seconds, travelling from east to 

 west, but appears to have been confined to the low range known 

 .as the Roman Camp. About half-past twelve on Sunday morn- 

 ing a shock of earthquake was distinctly felt in Comrie and 

 neighbourhood, as well as in St. Fillans district. Several of the 

 inhabitants state that they were awakened by the peculiar tremor, 

 and that there was a dull heavy sound at the time of the shock, 

 resembling distant thunder. The vibration apparently passed 

 from the north-west towards the south or south-east. 



The last number of Prof. Caporali's Nuova Scicitza, which 

 continues to attract general attention on the Continent, is of a 

 somewhat iconoclastic chai-acter. After dealing with the in- 

 herent ditftculties and contradictions of Prof. Sergi's materialistic 

 doctrines, it proceeds to attack with its customary vigour and 

 learning the modern school of metaphysicians, who study the 

 mental and outward phenomena of nature from the subjective 

 instead of the objective stand-point. Kant himself is not spared, 



and it is argued that, were his views accepted regarding tlie 

 . negative character of the concept of space, all progress in positive 

 science would be arrested. No induction could be made from 

 the known to the unknown, because nothing would ever be 

 known with certainty, not even the very ground on which we 

 stand. The followers of these idealistic theories are compared 

 to mariners navigating a shoreless ocean, and ingulfed at last 

 in a sea of phenomenalism and pure scepticism. Crude mate- 

 rialism and idealism being thus both set aside. Prof. Caporali 

 returris to his own theory of the universe, which aims at a com- 

 plete reconciliation of the psychic and mechanical views of 

 material and biological evolution from the atom to the last out- 

 come in the human intellect. 



The French Minister of Commerce has decided, subject to the 

 approval of scientific men and specialists, to erect, either at the 

 entrance, or at some other part of the Paris Exhibition, the 

 gigantic metallic tower invented by M. Eiffel, the mechanical 

 engineer. It will be 300 metres in height, and entirely con- 

 structed of iron. It will rest on five pillars, forming four immense 

 arcades, lofty enough to exceed in height the towers of Notre 

 Dame. On the summit of the tower will be erected an electric 

 lighthouse, and a terrace to which visitors will be admitted. 

 The tower is expected not only to be an extraordinary source of 

 attraction to the building, but to render important services to 

 science. It is suggested that meteorological and astronomical 

 observations will be made at the summit under entirely novel 

 conditions. An electric signal, placed on the summit of the 

 tower, may be seen in clear weather at Dijon — a fact which will 

 give the erection great importance in connection with military 

 signalling and national defence. 



An interesting account of the latest information concerning 

 the former bed of the Amu-Daria River was recently given by 

 Baron Kaulbars before the Russian Geographical Society. He 

 ascribes the alteration of the course of the river between Kilik 

 and the Khiva oasis principally to the terrace-like character of 

 the locality along which it runs ; and, secondly, to the softness 

 of the strata of the bed at the point where the river leaves the 

 mountains. The strata are washed off, and their remains 

 precipitated on a slightly inclined slope of the Chardjui oasis, 

 producing periodical inundations. Consequently, reeds are 

 growing, and lakes are formed along the bed of the river as the 

 course of the water filtering through the reeds becomes slower 

 and slower. Finally, the lakes, increasing in size and number, 

 reach the edge of the terrace, overflow it, and open a new 

 course for the river along another slope. 



With reference to a communication which recently appeared 

 in Nature respecting a Fishery Board for England, and the re- 

 mark that there is no Fishery Board in Norway, a correspondent 

 writes that, though there is no Fishery Board in Norway, there 

 is a General Inspector of Fisheries, Prof. A. Landmark, and 

 that the Government have just appointed a Board consisting of 

 three members, who shall be practical men, knowing the best 

 markets, &c., which would be of benefit to the Norwegian 

 fisheries. We ought to add that the reports and suggestions 

 recently issued by the Norwegian Inspector of Fisheries contain 

 many valuable hints respecting the salmon- and trout-fishing in 

 Norway, and the Inspector seems fully alive to the necessity of 

 enacting as stringent fisliery laws for Norway as those in force 

 in this country. 



In the year 1S82-83 the Norwegian Inspector of Fisheries 

 imported at the public expense a parcel of ova of the American 

 trout {Snlmofoiitinalis), with a view to introduce this fish into 

 Norwegian waters, and the result has been so satisfactor)' that 

 last autumn one of the hatching establishments near Christiania 

 had some 30,000 young fish to offer for sale, which were then 

 about two and a half years old. The result appears to have 



