584 



NA TURE 



[April 17, 1884 



lias been felt. It is worthy of record that on two occasions, viz. 

 in i860 and 1865, the shocks were perceived on the south side 

 of the fjord, the districts on the northern coast being wholly 

 nndisturbed. 



The last number of the Transactions of Ine Siismological 

 Society of Japan (Yokohama, 1884) contains various papers on 

 seismology. The first is by Prof. Milne, on earth pulsations ; 

 ihe next is by Mr. Alexander, on the interpretation of a diagram 

 described by a particular form of earthquake instrument. The 

 oliject of the writer is to calculate not only the maximum velo- 

 city, but also the maximum rate at which the velocity changes, 

 "which is a measure of the effect which an earthquake exerts 

 in overturning and fracturing bodies placed on the earth's sur- 

 face." Prof. Ewing describes the construction of a pendulum 

 which shall be without a tendency to swing when the point from 

 which it is suspended suffers displacement. Mr. Gergens gives 

 u note on ripple-like marks found on the surface of an iron 

 casting supposed to have been shaken while solidifying, which 

 marks are picturesquely described as "a note in a congealed 

 earthquake." The remainder of the volume is occupied by 

 suggestions for new types of seismographs, a list of earthquakes 

 in Tokio, and a report on systematic earthquake observations. 



A CORRESPONDENT in Naturm has drawn attention to the 

 great differences of climate observable last winter between 

 Christiania and Stavanger. While in the former place there 

 was a depth of from ten to twelve inches of ice during the 

 month of January, vegetation had never been wholly arrested in 

 the latter region at the same period. The grass plots in the 

 various gardens at and near Stavanger were as green as in sum- 

 mer : daisies, snowdrops, pansies, violets, and primroses had 

 their blossoms well set ; peonies had appeared above the ground, 

 and many roses had thi-own out vigorous shoots. The thermo- 

 uieter fell only once in January to freezing point. 



MM. MiGNON AND TOUARD, who established the refrigerating 

 service at the Paris morgue, have made experiments with their 

 system on hams infected by trichinte, and are stated to have 

 proved that these are rendered wholly innocuous by exposure 

 during an hour to a cold of - 20° C. It will be proposed for the 

 protection of consumers from trichinosis to render exposure obli- 

 gatory in the case of importations from America or Germany. 



The great work of lighting the Paris Opera by incandescent 

 light has already begun. The whole house will require 6000 

 lamps ; at present 400 lamps ai'e used. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Pig-tailed Monkey {Ma'acus nemestrinns 9 ) 

 from Java, presented by Dr. IJenthall ; a Weeper Capuchin 

 ( Cebus capucinus ¥ ) from Brazil, presented by Miss Vincent ; a 

 Short-eared Owl {Asio brachyotiis), British, presented by Mr. 

 (Jscar Burrows ; a Smooth Snake (Corondla hevis), a Common 

 Viper ( V'ipcra beius), a Common Snake ( Tropidonotus natrix ), 

 a Slow-worm (An«uis fragilis) from Hampshire, presented by 

 Mr. W. H. B. Pain ; an Alligator [Alligator mississippiensis) 

 from the Mississippi ; a Horrid Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) 

 from Florida, presented by Mr. A. Begg ; a Philantomba Ante- 

 lope [Ciphalophus maxiuelli) i\om South Africa, deposited ; a 

 Moose (Alces inachlis) from North America, two Mute Swans 

 (Cygniis olor), European, a Common Viper (Vipera berus), 

 British, purchased ; six Long-fronted Gerbillcs [Geibillus lont^i- 

 f'rons), born in the Gardens. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 



We much regret to learn of the death, at Loanda, on March 

 17, of Dr. Paul Pogge, the successful African explorer. Dr. 

 Pogge, since 1880, was the companion of Lieut. Wissmann in the 

 exploration of the region inland from the Portuguese possessions. 



and around the kingdom of Muata Janvo. He accompanied 

 Wissmann as far as Nyangwe in the journey of the latter across 

 Africa, and in May 1882 set out to return to the station at 

 Mukenge. Doubtless the hardships to which he has been subject, 

 combined with fever, have told on Dr. Pogge's health. In 1874 

 he was a member of the German African Expedition which was 

 sent out to explore the same region, and with only native com- 

 panions succeeded in penetrating as far as the capital of Muati 

 Janvo. 



The announcement that Mr. Stanley intends to proceed from 

 the Middle Congo north-east to the Mombuttu country, partly, 

 no doubt, to settle the question of the course of the Aruwimi, 

 the great north-east tributary of the Congo, renders Dr. Junker's 

 discoveries in the Welle region of special interest. In the map 

 sent home and published in the new number of Petermann s 

 Mitthdlungtn we find in the northern part the Welle, after 

 receiving the Gadda, proceeding west-north-west, and on the 

 north it is joined by the Mbriiole, and not much further westwards 

 by the Gurba — both considerable rivers rising in the southern A'- 

 Sandeh kingdom. After taking up the waters of the Gurba, the 

 Welle curves sharply round, at first southwards, making many 

 windings in its course, and describing a large semicircle round 

 the land of A-Madi, a semicircle variegated by a series of 

 islands. Later on it resumes its west and west-north-west direc- 

 tion. With the exception of the two larger tributaries from the 

 north just mentioned, the Welle along the whole extent of the 

 sketch receives no considerable waters either from north or 

 south. As far as the southern territory is concerned, this fact is 

 explained by the circumstance that the most important tributary 

 of the Welle-Makua, the Bomokandi or Majo (Nemajo of 

 Schweinfurth) flows in an extremely long course from east to 

 west and north-west, approximately parallel to the Welle Hut, 

 an interval of hardly two days' journey. Further to the west, 

 however, it discharges into the Welle River. The Bomokandi, 

 showing almost half the breadth of the Welle, rises far in the 

 east, and may also have its source in the mountainous country 

 bordering the Albert Nyanza in the west. In consequence of 

 1 this approach to each other of the two streams, no other tribu- 

 taries are developed in the long tongue-shaped peninsula formed 

 by the junction of the Welle and Bomokandi. Except innumer- 

 able little rivulets, few rivers of any size run either north- 

 wards to the Welle or southwards to the Bomokandi from the 

 plateau of this peninsula. It is otherwise, however, with 

 the rivers discharging into the Bomokandi from the south. The 

 watershed whence flow its southern tributaries lying considerably 

 further to the south, there is ample scope here for the formation 

 of larger accessory streams. Proceeding from ' west to east, we 

 come upon three rivers of almost equal rank with the Mbriiole 

 and the Giirba — the Makongo, Pokko, and Telli. A river no 

 longer paying tribute to the Bomokandi, but discharging further 

 to the west directly into the Welle, is, according to information, 

 the Mbe'lima, the source of which is not far from that of the 

 Makongo to the east. With these partly indirect tributaries 

 to the Welle through the medium of the Bomokandi and 

 the direct tributary, the Mbe'lima, the river-system of the Welle 

 to the south comes to an end. Further south, and flowing from 

 east to west, is the Nawa, belonging, according to information 

 received, to a more southern river-system, forming indeed a 

 northern tributary to the Nepoko. Dr. Junker made his way 

 south to the Nepoko, four days' journey from the Bomokandi, 

 and reached it in the middle of its course, where it holds the same 

 longitude with the Bomokandi. He evidently travelled a long 

 way from the region in which lie the sources of the Nepoko, the 

 Bomokandi, and the Kibuli, that is, the Kibbi (Welle) — rivers 

 which collectively descend from the mountain and table-lands 

 west of Albert Nyanza ; the water-parting must be sought in a line 

 running approximately from south-south-west to north-north-east. 

 That the Nepoko, from the point at which he met it, and where 

 probably it describes a northern curve, bends in its further couree 

 in an approximately south-west direction, may be inferred from 

 the fact that though indeed known in the western territories, it 

 is yet transferred far to the south beyond the Nawa, which rises 

 in the west, not far from his line of route to the Nepoko. In 

 the region between Bomokandi and Nepoko traversed by Dr. 

 Junker, the watershed of the two river-systems is hardly per- 

 ceptible, yet the country of the Ne'poko tributaries from the north 

 is highly characteristic. Instead of the high trees which every- 

 where else clothe the banks of the streams, you here meet broad, 

 flat, treeless swamps. A floating vegetation, very like the Ssett 

 in the Nile, forms a bridge by which to cross these swamps. 



