JuLY 10, 1902] 
NATURE 
255 
WE regret to learn of the death of the Abbé Maze, on June 
17, at the age of sixty-six years. He had been for many years 
one of the editors of our contemporary, Cosmos ; his first con- 
nection with that journal was as meteorologist after the Franco- 
Prussian War of 1870-1, and he was for some time secretary of 
the French Meteorological Society. About twenty years ago 
he undertook a laborious investigation into the periodicity of 
rainfall, which he has left uncompleted ; it is said that he had 
established a double period of 6, and 6 x 7, or 42 years, 
for the recurrence of similar general phenomena. He was also 
engaged for many years on a history of the thermometer, and 
has left in manuscript a large amount of valuable information 
upon this subject, collected from every available source, and 
which we hope will eventually be brought to light. 
THE Morning, the auxiliary ship of the National Antarctic 
Expedition, sailed yesterday for Lyttelton, New Zealand, ex 
route to the Antarctic regions, where it is intended to meet the 
Discovery with supplies, and to render any other services 
which may be required. From an article in the Z?mes we 
learn that while the main object of the Morning is to act 
as tender to the Discovery, still she is well equipped with 
scientific instruments of various kinds, some of which have 
been supplied by the Admiralty, including survey instruments, 
a large photographic equipment, sounding gear, and apparatus 
for collecting at least the surface fauna of the ocean. Constant 
meteorological observations will be taken, and in other respects 
as far as possible the staff on board the Morning will do its best 
to supplement the work of the Dzscovery. The captain of the 
Morning and commander of the relief expedition is Mr. William 
Colbeck, who was one of the staff of the Southern Cross 
Antarctic Expedition, on which he took the observations and 
drew the charts. 
ACCORDING to a recent paragraph in the 77zmes, the arrange- 
ments for the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, under the 
leadership of Mr. W. S. Bruce, are making satisfactory pro- 
gress. The Norwegian whaler Hek/a, which Mr. Bruce 
recently purchased for the expedition, is to be renamed the 
Scotia. The ship is now being reconstructed on the Clyde, at 
Troon, by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, under the guidance 
of Mr. G. L. Watson, the well-known yacht designer. The 
Scotia is a barque-rigged auxiliary screw steamer of about 400 
tons register. New deckhouses are being built, a larger one 
aft and a smaller one forward divided into a laboratory and 
cook’s galley. A second laboratory and dark room is to be fitted 
between decks. The ship is being specially fitted to carry on 
oceanographical research, both physical and biological. Two 
drums, each containing 6000 fathoms of cable, for trawling in 
the deepest parts of the Southern and Antarctic Oceans, are 
being taken. Mr. Bruce intends to follow the track of Wed- 
dell and to explore the Ross deep, working eastwards from the 
Falkland Islands, 
A NUMBER of papers dealing with various aspects of the 
recent eruptions in the West Indies appear in the current issues 
of the geographical and other scientific journals. A short article 
on ‘‘ Martinique und sein Vulkanismus,” in the June number 
of Petermann’s Mitteilungen, by Dr. Emil Deckert, is accom- 
panied by an excellent map of the island. Dr. Michel-Levy, 
director of the geological survey of France, contributes a paper 
on the Mont Pelée eruptions, with some admirable geomorpho- 
logical diagrams, to the Revue générale des Sciences. In the 
Geographical Journal for July Mr. E. André describes a visit 
to St. Vincent, and some excellent photographs are reproduced, 
while Mr. H. N. Dickson gives a narrative of events, advancing 
the view that the destruction of St. Pierre was caused by a 
tornado originating in the hot gases issuing from the crater of 
Mont Pelée. A paper on the Windward Isles, by Dr. J. W. 
NO. 1706, VOL. 66] 
Spencer, appears opportunely in the 7yansactions of the Cana- 
dian Institute ; it is illustrated by a number of plates and six 
valuable charts showing the contour of the sea-bottom. 
THE fate of M. Andrée is still a subject of speculation. A 
Reuter telegram from Winnipeg states that the Rev. Mr. 
Fairies, an Anglican missionary among the Eskimos within the 
Arctic Circle, has arrived there and repeats the story, which 
was brought two years ago by an Eskimo to Port Churchill, 
that a band of natives found M. Andrée and party 300 miles to 
the north of Port Churchill. On approaching them M. Andrée 
fired a gun. The natives interpreted this as a hostile act and 
set upon the explorers and killed them. The Hudson Bay 
Company offered a large reward to the messenger to bring some 
relic. He departed, but neverreturned. Mr. Fairies described 
an instrument resembling a telescope, which was taken from 
the outfit and carried with other loot to the Arctic Circle by 
the Eskimos. 
THE seventeenth annual meeting of the Photographic Con- 
vention of Great Britain was opened at Cambridge on Monday, 
when Sir Robert Ball, the new president, delivered an address 
on astronomical photography. 
THE Brazilian Minister and the staff of the Brazilian Legation 
will attend the meeting of the Aéronautical Society to be held 
on Thursday next, July 17. The following papers will be 
read :—‘* The ‘ Peace’ Balloon of the late Senhor Augusto 
Severo,” by Dr. Carlos Sampaio and Mr. Eric Stuart Bruce ; 
**Balloon Ascents in Thunderstorms,” by the Rev. J. M. Bacon; 
‘© Performance of the Bristol War Balloon during the South 
African War,” by Captain H. B. Jones, R.E.; and ‘‘ The 
Cycala Flying Machine,” by Dr. Charles Zimmerman. 
Tue Sydney correspondent of the Daz/y Maz/ reports that 
the drought has become intensified in Queensland and in parts 
of New South Wales, while there has been rain elsewhere. 
The New South Wales rainfall for June on the coast to the 
south of Sydney is 95 per cent. below the average of the 
corresponding month in past years. In the immediate neigh- 
bourhood of Sydney the deficiency is 91 per cent., on the 
Hunter River $5 per cent., on the North Coast 93 per cent., on 
the Darling River $4 per cent., and between the Darling, the 
Lachlan and the Bogan Rivers 87 per cent. 
A FEW examples of the practical application of scientific 
education in Germany are given in the /ourza/ of the Society 
of Arts. The sugar industry is the first illustration of the progress 
of industry through science. In 1840, 154,000 tons of beet- 
root were crushed, from which 8000 tons of raw sugar were 
produced, showing about 54 per cent. of raw sugar extracted 
from the root. Twenty years later, 1,500,000 tons were treated, 
which produced 128,000 tons of sugar, or about 8 per cent. 
Last year about 12,000,000 tons were crushed, which pro- 
duced 1,500,000 tons of raw sugar, raising the percentage to 13. 
This advance is due entirely to scientific treatment. The pro- 
duction of dry colours, chemicals and dyes in Germany shows 
a corresponding increase in production and dividend-paying 
capacity. The great increase of earning capacity is due largely 
to the constant labour of trained men, who by application of 
their technical knowledge have so cheapened production that 
they have succeeded in getting this trade out of the hands 
which previously controlled it. A great advance has also been 
made in the scientific instrument industry. The value of the 
exports from Germany of scientific instruments in the year 
1898 was about 250,000/,—three times what it was in 1888—and 
the work gave employment to 14,000 people. These are a few 
of the many instances showing the close connection between the 
scientific education of the German people and their commercial 
prosperity. 
