July 20, ign] 



NATURE 



89 



The whole of the eastern coast of Australia is a geo- 

 graphical unit, and is due to a series of step faults. Mr. 

 Andrews accepts this coast as constructed on the Pacific 

 type. He holds that Australia was uplifted at the end of 

 the Tertiary, and the resultant plateau has since been 

 deeplv dissected by the formation of the canyons. For the 

 period of the uplift he proposes the name of the Kosciusko 

 Period after the highest part of the plateau. His paper 

 includes a valuable list of the fault scarps and sunken areas 

 in eastern Australia. 



A recent number of The Geographical Journal (vol. 

 xxxvi., pp. 537-553) includes a valuable paper by Messrs. 

 A. E. Kitson and E. O. Thiele on the geography of the 

 Upper Waitaki basin in New Zealand, illustrated by a 

 of beautiful photographs. The authors describe the 

 structure of this country in some detail, and with especial 

 reference to its glaciation. In opposition to Haast's view, 

 that the country was a plateau dissected by glacial action, 

 they claim that the great valleys were all formed in 

 pre-glacial times. From the authors' summary of the 

 rei ent literature on the glacial geology of this part of New 

 Zealand, it appears to be now generally accepted that the 

 glaciers have only modified valleys which were pre-glacinl 

 in origin. The authors conclude that the lakes, valleys, 

 and fiords originated along radial fractures. Their work 

 throws considerable doubt upon the existence of the ice 

 sheet, which is supposed by some authors to have covered 

 most of the South Island of New Zealand. The three 

 great lakes of the Waitaki basin are shown to be moraine 

 dammed. 



The Board of Education has issued the reports for the 

 year iqio (price qd.) on the Geological Survey, the Geo- 

 logical Museum in Jermyn Street, the Science Museum at 

 South Kensington, and the work of the Solar Physics 

 Committee. The activity of all these bodies represents an 

 important contribution by the State to scientific education. 

 We note that, among many practical questions considered 

 by the Survey, building stones are to be placed on the 

 roof at Jermyn Street for comparative tests of the effect 

 of the London atmosphere. We have also received three 

 recent publications of the Geological Survey from the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Mr. Strahan 

 describes the geological model of Ingleborough and dis- 

 trict, now in the museum at Jermyn Street. This pamph- 

 let (price 4<J.) is beautifully illustrated by a geological map 

 and a photograph of the model before colouring, and will 

 appeal to teachers of geography. Dr. B. N. Peach pro- 

 vides another educational pamphlet in his " Description of 

 Arthur's Seat Volcano " (price 6d.), which includes a 

 geological map showing the relation of the mass to the 

 city of Edinburgh. Messrs. Reid. Barrow, and Dewey 

 have written the explanation of the colour-printed sheets 

 335 and 336 of the English map (price is. 6d. each), the 

 memoir being on the country around Padstow and Camel- 

 ford (price zs. 3d.). The petrography is of interest, 

 especially in connection with the pillow-lavas, and the 

 district includes old workings for stream-tin, pits in china- 

 clay, and the great quarry of Delabole in slate of Devonian 

 age. A quarto palaeontological memoir by Mr. T. Thomas 

 deals with the British Carboniferous Orthothetinas (price 

 2s.), and is accompanied by a fine plate by Mr. Brock. 



Tin: officiating director-general of Indian observatories 

 (Mr. J. H. Field) has issued a memorandum, dated June S, 

 on the conditions prevailing before the advance of the 

 south-west monsoon of 191 1. The monsoon rainfall in 

 India is known 10 be affected by many external conditions, 

 and among those believed to be the most important 31 e 

 NO. 2177, VOL. 87] 



the barometric pressure in South America and the Indian 

 Ocean and the snowfall in North-west India, &c. After 

 examining these conditions on the plan adopted by Dr. 

 Walker, it is estimated that the total rainfall for the period 

 June-September will not differ from the normal by more 

 than about 5 per cent., a defect being more likely than an 

 excess. 



The results of rain and river observations made in New 

 South Wales during 1903-8 have been published by the 

 Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology. These include all 

 available rainfall totals from 2298 stations, with monthly 

 maps and notes for each of those years. In addition to 

 the rain maps and tables for the above period, the records 

 are given for all previous years. These values have been 

 included in an average map for all stations for which 

 means of not less than fifteen years were available ; some 

 of the results of this map were referred to in Nature of 

 September 22, 1910. The list of heavy daily rainfalls pre- 

 viously published by the late Government astronomer has 

 also been brought up to date. 



The Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft of Leipzig has 

 issued a small pamphlet on " Radiumnormalmasse und 

 deren Vervendung bei radioaktiven Messungen," by Prof. 

 Rutherford. It deals with the necessity of producing an 

 international standard of radium, which has arisen owing 

 to the differences recently discovered between the standards 

 used in different countries. For the comparison of standards 

 it suggests a compensation method, depending on the use 

 of a constant source of radiation like uranium oxide and 

 of the inverse square law. For small standards, such as 

 are used in the determination of the radium content of 

 rock specimens, solutions of radium salts containing cne 

 millionth of a milligram of radium per cubic centimetre are 

 suggested. The conclusions as to the establishment of the 

 radium standard arrived at by the Brussels conference last 

 year are reproduced. They have already been given in 

 these columns (October 6, 1910, vol. lxxxiv., p. 430). 



The Revue General des Sciences for June 30 contains the 

 annual revue of astronomy for the year 1910 by M. P. 

 Puiseux, of the Paris Observatory. It is divided into 

 sections, which are devoted to planets and comets, ».he sira, 

 the stars and nebulae respectively. In the first section, the 

 work of Cowell and Crommelin on Halley's comets, of 

 Eddington on the theories of formation of the tails of 

 comets, of Backlund on Encke's comet, and of Lowell, 

 Campbell, and Albrecht on the markings of Mars, all 

 receive attention. The section on the sun is devoted mainly 

 to the work of Hale and of Deslandres on the constitution 

 of sun spots ; that on the stars to the spectroscopic work 

 which has been done in order to determine the motions in 

 the line of sight of a greater number of stars, and so 

 provide means of testing more accurately the theories of 

 Kapteyn and of Eddington that there exist two lines of 

 main drift in their proper motions. 



It is difficult for anyone with normal colour-sense to 

 appreciate the mental picture of a colour-blind person. An 

 interesting experiment for illustrating what is seen by 

 people with a defective red sensation — the commonest form 

 of colour-blindness — has been devised by Mr. C. R. Gibson. 

 The device consists of a pair of spectacles with plane signal- 

 green glasses and a series of coloured wools. When the 

 glasses are put on, of course, no red rays can enter the 

 wearer's eyes, so he is in the position of a person who 

 cannot distinguish red as a colour. He will thus match 

 scarlet wool with black, yellow with green, pink with light 

 blue, or crimson with dark blue, and will see any coloured 

 object as the majority of colour-blind people see them. The 



