August 3, 191 1] 



NATURE 



149 



of these waterfalls is that of Milford Water, and is 

 shown in Fig. I. This, moreover, is only the first 

 fall ol the stream from a level of about 160 feet above 

 the sea; below it is a canon, in which are three 

 smaller falls before the stream reaches the beach. 

 Fig. -• is a side view oi the same fall from below, 

 showing the synclinal flexure of the rocks at this 

 point, and the manner in which the stream turns at 

 right angles along the syncline. After going for 132 

 yards to the south it again turns west across the 

 strike of the rocks, a curious and interesting instance 

 of the relation of stream channels to rock structure. 



Pari ii. of the book dials with some features of 

 special geological interest, these being the marine 

 erosion of folded rocks, sea-dissected valleys, and the 

 evolution of coastal waterfalls. The author points 

 out that the usual text-book explanation of bays and 

 promontories along a sea-coast is not always the true 

 one. They do not always coincide with the outcrops 

 of softer and harder rocks. Some of the irregularities 

 of the Devon coast seem to be due to the influence 

 of previously existing physiographic features, the bays 

 coinciding with the sites of valleys and the promon- 



st Fall of Milford Water and the synclinal fold, lookii 

 From " The Coast Scenery of North Devon." 



tories with the dividing watershed ridges. Others 

 are due to the influence of the flexures, and he finds 

 that the anticlines are more stable under the action 

 of sea erosion than are the synclines, while on land 

 under the action of subaerial agencies the reverse is 

 the case. 



Mr. Arber has certainlv succeeded in showing how 

 many points of interest there are along this piece of 

 coast-line, both for the geological student and for the 

 intelligent tourist. A. J. J.-B. 



NOTES. 

 The present summer is establishing a record for its high 

 temperatures, and in many places for its persistent drought. 

 At Greenwich the mean temperature for July was 68-3°, 

 which is 4.6° above the average for the past sixty years. 

 The mean of the day temperatures was 81°, and of the 

 night temperatures 55-5°. There were nineteen days during 

 the month with the shade temperature above 8o°, and three 

 dav- above 90°. This is the greatest number of days in 

 July above 8o° since 1868, and the third highest number 

 NO. 2179. VOL. 87] 



since 1841 . The highest shade temperature during tfo 

 month at Greenwich was 95-6° on July 22, and thi only 

 two instances oi a higher temperature at any period of the 

 year are .17-1° on July 15, 1881, and 96-6° on Jul) 22, 1868. 

 There were seven days after July 20 with the thermometer 

 in lie sun's rays about 150 , and on July 22 the black bulb 

 thermometer registered ibi°. The duration of sunshine for 

 the month was 331 hours, which is nearly too hours more 

 than the averagi . No rain was measured until July 24. the 

 period of drought being the longest in Jul) since 1887. The 

 aggregate rainfall for the month was 02(1 inch, which fell 

 on three days. This is the driest July sin,, 1864, and there 

 is no other July so dry since 1S41. At Hath, July was 

 absolutely rainless. The reports received by the Meteoro- 

 logical Office give the following additional high tempera- 

 tures : — On July 21 the thermometer registered 90° both 

 at Oxford and Margate, on July 22 04" at Margate, on 

 July 29 93 at Bath and 91 at Oxford. The type of 

 weather was anticyclonic almost continuously throughout 

 the month, and the region of high barometer readings 



ext led ever a large part of western Europe, when 



tionally high temperatures occurred almost through- 

 out the month. At Rochefort the thermometer 

 registered 93° on July 6, at Lorient 95° on July 7, 

 97° on July 8, and 99° on July 9. On July 14 the 

 temperature at Rochefort was 100 , and at Stock- 

 holm 95°. Paris had a temperature of 96° on July 

 22 and 23, Frankfurt 100° on July 23. From 

 July 24 to 29 several stations in France and Belgium 

 had temperatures from 93° to 98' Somi exception- 

 ally severe thunderstorms occurred during the 

 month; on July 28 i-i inches of rain fell in fifteen 

 minutes at South Kensington, and on July 29 

 2-14 inches fell in 2J hours at Kilkenny. 



For the moment the remarkable archaeological 



discoveries in Corfu have thrown other work in the 



eastern .Egean into the shade. But in various parts 



of this area, in the Greek mainland and islands, 



much progress has been made, the results of which 



are described in an interesting article in The Times 



of July 31. The Greek Archaeological Society has 



restored the Propylaea on the Athenian Acropolis ; 



repairs have been carried out at Mycenae ; and the 



museum at Olympia has been converted into a safe 



receptacle for its treasures. The French Mission at 



Delos has unearthed images of Egyptian and Syrian 



gods which illustrate the adoption of foreign cults 



into the religion of Greece ; and some progress has been 



I made at the island of Levkas (Santa Maura), which Dr. 



: Ddrpfeld believes to be the Homeric Ithaca. The British 



' School has been at work on the Menelaion, the tomb of 



Menelaus and Helen at Sparta. Phylakopi, in Melos, the 



seat of an early trade in weapons of obsidian, has yielded 



some good vases imported from Crete. An appeal is now 



made for help towards the explorations in Macedonia, 



conducted by Messrs. A. J. B. Wace and M. Thompson, 



where important results in the examination of prehistoric, 



classical, Byzantine, and mediaeval antiquities may lie 



confidently expected. 



Prof. Czermak, of the Briinn High School, who died on 

 July 11 at the age of seventy-seven years, left, says the 

 I Revue Scientifique, a million crowns to the Vienna 

 Academy of Sciences. 



It is announced in The Times that M. Ernest Mercadier, 



1 formerly director of studies at the Ecole Polytechnique, 



died on July 27 in his seventy-sixth year. M. Mercadier 



entered the French telegraph service in 1859, and held the 



