Feb. 



18S4J 



NA TURE 



j89 



have resolved to exhibit, in a pavilion which is being erected for 

 them, their appliances for the supply, fihration, &c., of water, 

 together with diagrams showing the various processes and locali- 

 ties ; and a powerful Sub-Committee, under the active chairman- 

 ship of Col. Sir Francis Bolton, has been formed to carry out 

 this branch of the Exhibition. The Water Companies: have also 

 determined to put up in the grounds a large fountain, which will 

 be illuminated at night by electricity. It is impossible, as yet, 

 to give any definite information with regard to foreign countries ; 

 but, so far as one can judge at present, Belgium, China, and 

 India will be the be*t represented. 



According to information received in St. Petersburg every- 

 thing is well with the Russian Meteorological Expedition winter- 

 ing at Cape Sagasta at the mouth of the Lena. Every preparation 

 was made last autumn for the wintering — the second one — the 

 Governor of Yakutsk having provisioned the station most plenti- 

 fully. During the previous winter — 18S2-83— the cold was 

 rarely before January 40° C. below zero, but in January and 

 February the thermometer frequently fell lower. The greatest 

 cold occurred on February 9, when it fell to 52'3°C. below zero. 

 In March even the cold was 40° in the night and 19° in the day. 

 One of the members of the expedition. Dr. Bunge, has forwarded 

 to St. Petersburg some valuable reports on the fauna in and 

 about the mouth of the Lena. 



The Academy of Sciences has received a requisition from M. 

 Ferry to appoint three delegates to the Internatijnal Commission 

 which is to meet at Washington on October i next in order to 

 determine the choice of a first meridian. It is the first time that 

 places have been offered to the Academy on a diplomatic com- 

 mission. 



Prof. Hull, who has returned with his party, brings with 

 hiin, it is stated, materials for the construction of a geological 

 map of the Holy Land very much in advance of anything which 

 could hitherto be attempted. He is reported to have traced the 

 ancient margin of the Gulfs of Suez and Akaba to a height of 

 200 feet above their present level, so that, according to Prof 

 Hull, the whole country has been submerged to that extent, and 

 has been gradually rising. As one result of this rise, the Pro- 

 fessor is of opinion that at the lime of the E.xodus there was a 

 continuous connection of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. 

 As regards the Dead Sea, Prof. Hull believes he has discovered 

 that it formerly stood at an elevation of 1400 feet above its 

 present level — that is to .say, 150 feet above the level of the 

 Mediterranean. The history of this gradual lowering of the 

 waters will form a special feature in Prof. Hull's forthcoming 

 report. He believes he has also found evidences of a chain 

 of ancient lakes in the Sinaitic district, and of another 

 chain in the centre of the Wady Arabah, not far from the 

 watershed. The great line of the depression of the Wady 

 Arabah and the Jordan Valley has been traced to a dis- 

 tance of more than a hundred miles. The materials for work- 

 ing out a CO iiplete theory of the origin of this remarkable 

 depression are stated to be now available. They are bound to 

 differ in many details from the one furnished by Lortet, whose 

 patient observations have hitherto been received with respect. 

 The terraces of the Jordan have been examined, the most im- 

 portant one being 600 feet above the present surface of the Dead 

 Sea. The relation of the terraces to the surrounding hills and 

 valleys shows, according to Prof. Hull, that these features had 

 already been formed before the waters had reached their former 

 'evel. . Sections have been carried east and west across the 

 Arabah and Jordan Valley. Two traverses of Palestine have 

 also been made from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. Prof, 

 Hull has in hand, besides his scientific report, a popular account 

 of his journey, which will first appear in the Transactions of the 



society. Captain Kitchener's map-work is in the hands of Mr. 

 Armstrong, who was for many years on the survey of Western 

 Palestine. He has himself been ordered on service up the Nile ; 

 but it is hoped that his absence will not retard the publication of 

 a new and very interesting piece of geographical work. 



We have received the following communication from the Royal 

 Victoria Coffee Hall : — " By the kindness of the Gilchrist 

 Trustees the Committee of the Royal Victoria Coffee Hall, 

 Waterloo Road, have been enabled to arrange another series of 

 Penny Science Lectures on Tuesday evening-, as follows : — 

 March 4, Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., on Ancient English 

 Dragons; u, Wm. Lant Carpenter, B.Sc, F.C.S., on Air, 

 and why we Breathe (with experiments) ; 18, P. H. Carpenter, 

 M.A., D.Sc, on Fossils, and what they teach us ; 25, Edward 

 Clodd, on the Working-Man 100,000 Years Ago. April I, 

 E. B. Knobel, F.R.A.S., F.G.S., Hon.Sec.R.A.S., on the 

 Planets ; 8, J. W. Groves, on the Dangers and Safeguards of 

 Beauty in Animals. All the lectures will be illustrated by 

 means of the oxyhydrogen lantern. If any of your readers can 

 distribute handbills among working people, or cause window 

 bills to be displayed in suitable situations, we shall be grateful 

 for their help, and beg they will conmunicate with the Honorary 

 Secretary. The difficulty of making anything known in this 

 crowded, busy London is acknowledged on all hands, but it is 

 believed that if these lectures could be made known in the right 

 quarters, people would come long distances to hear them." 



It appears from the report of Drs. Brouardel, Segond, 

 Descout, and Magnin, who conducted the autopsy of Tourguenief, 

 that the brain of this eminent Russian author weighed 2012 

 grms. This extraordinai-y weight, which is only known to have 

 been exceeded in the case of Rudolphi, is inexplicable, for 

 Tourguenief, although tall, was not of exceptionally high stature. 

 The brain is said to have been remarkably symmetrical, and dis- 

 tinguished by the extreme amplitude of the convolutions. Ac- 

 cording to generally accepted views, however, symmetry of the 

 circon volutions is not a favourable cerebral characteristic. 



An Anthropological Society has been founded at Bordeaux 

 with Dr. Azam as president, and Dr. Testut as vice-president ; 

 both being members of the Faculty of Medicine of Bordeaux. 



A SPECIAL commission has been established by the French 

 Government to investigate the several processes proposed as a 

 cure for phylloxera. It was stated officially at the last meeting 

 of this body that every suggestion had proved abortive. 



King Oscar of Sweden has personally conferred upon Mr. 

 Carl Bock the Order of St. Olaf. 



"In our issue of December 14," Science states, "we pub- 

 lished an article on 'The Signal-Service and Standard Time,' 

 criticising the action of the chief signal-officer in not adopting 

 the new standards of time at signal-service stations. We have 

 since learned that our criticism was not well founded, as the 

 information upon which it was based gave an inco nplete idea of 

 the position of the service in this matter. It is true that the 

 observers of the service are still governed by the local times of 

 their respective stations ; but this is only a temporary arrange- 

 ment, and will be changed as soon as possible. The reason of 

 the delay is this : the international observation, which is taken 

 at many stations of observation throughout the whole world, is 

 made at 7 a.m., Washington time. It is proposed to make 

 this observation eight minutes earlier, or at 7 a.m. of the time of 

 the 75th meridian, which is exactly Greenwich noon ; but, 

 before this change can be made, the cooperating weather- 

 services and numerous independent observers must first be 

 notified, and their consent obtained. Correspondence has 

 already been begun, and a circular letter sent to all who CO- 



