A7ig. 29, 1872] 



NATURE 



NOTES 



The work of the French Afsocialion, whic'>, as we have already 

 announced, meets at Bordeaux fro:u the 5lh to the 13th September, 

 comprehends — 1st, At h a-it two general meetings ; 2n 1, Meetings 

 of divisi'ins and lectures ; 3rd, Scientific excursions ; 4th, Public 

 lectures. Of tlie last there will be four, the first of which wis 

 to have been by the late lamented M. Delaunay, on "The Con- 

 stitution of the Sun ;" his place will probably be filled by M. 

 Cornu. The second public lecture is to be by M. Broca on 

 " The Troglodytes of Lis Eysics ;" the third by M. Levasseur on 

 "Commercial Geography;" and the fourth by Lieutenant F. 

 Garnier, on " The Voyage of the Ciimfvd^e and the Political 

 and Commercial nVi' of France in the extreme East." There 

 are to be seven excursions in all, one to the mouth of the Gironde 

 for the purpose of observing the clianges in the coast-line ; 

 another to the pre-historic remains and bone caverns of /.es 

 Eysii-s ; the sixtlx is to Medoc for the purpose of visiting the 

 great vineyards of Chdteau-Margot and Chateau-Montrose. 



The International Congress of Scientific Archreology was 

 opened at Brussels on August 22, with an attendance of 600 men 

 of science of various nalionalitie-, including Prof. Owen and 

 M. Virchow. After being entertained to luncheon in the Hotel 

 de Ville, the sn^'in/.! adjourned to tlie Ducal Palace, where, at 

 two o'clock the Congress was opened under the presidency of 

 M. d'Omalius d'llalloy, the Belgian senator and eminent geolo- 

 gist, who will soon be a non.igenarian. The opening address 

 was given by M. Dupont, the distinguished director of the 

 Brus^els Natural History Museum, wh ) gave a summary of the 

 results of the researches relative to pre-historic times in Belgium. 

 Tlie Executive Committee, under the, 'presidency of M. d'Omalius 

 d'Halloy, was then constituted. The Belgian vice-presidents 

 are MM. Hagemars, van Eeneden, and Baron de 'Wi^ The 

 vice-presidents for foreign countries are M. Virchow, for Ger- 

 many ; M. de Quatrefages, for France ; Mr. Franks, of the 

 Briti.sh Museum, for England ; M. Nilsson, for Sweden ; M. 

 Steenstrup, for Denmark ; and M. Conestabile, for Italy. M. 

 Dupont, of the Belgian Museum, was installed as secretary- 

 general. The excellent club known as the CivvA- Aiiis/ii//u- cl 

 Litihaii-c- has thrown open its hospitable doors to the members 

 of the Congress. On Saturday, Aug. 24, an excursion under 

 the auspices of the Congress took place to the valley of the 

 River Lesse, a tributary of the Meuse, which it joins not far 

 from Dinant. The purpose of the excursion was to inspect the 

 prehistoric remains which abound in the numerous caverns that 

 exist along the banks of the Lesse. M. Dupont acted the part 

 of guide, and his disquisitions at each particular spot of interest 

 were followed by lively discussions among the geologists present. 

 On returning across the Le=se from inspecting the Trou dc la 

 Nauldtc, one of the over-crowded boats had its balance dis- 

 turbed and went down, happily with no worse result to the 

 passengers than a thorough drenching. Among those on board 

 was Mr. Franks, of the British Museum, who, with another 

 gentleman, gallantly rescued Mme. Roycr, Mr. Darwin's French 

 translator. At Sunday's meeting it was decided to hold the 

 meetings of the Congress biennially instead of annually. On 

 Monday, 26ih, an excursion was made to Mesvin and Spiennes. 

 The latter place is supposed to have been a manufactory of 

 flint implements, the ground visited being thickly covered with 

 flint splinters and unfinished flints. After luncheon the railway 

 cutting at Mesvin was visited, where some lively discussion 

 ensued, the party subsequently inspecting some pirs from which 

 the flint for making tools had been extracted. 



The Govcrnmen; of New South Wales, following the le.ad of 

 Europe and the United States, has introduced the system of 

 telegraphing the anticipations of the weather, and has established 



certain staUons on the coast for indicating the nature of any ex- 

 pected storm by means of signal masts. These signal masts 

 support two yards, crossing each other at right angles in the 

 direction of file cardinal points of tire compass. A violent squall 

 is to be represented by a conspicuous diamond-shaped signal ; a 

 heavy sea by a drum ; a gale with clear weather is indicated by 

 a diamond-shaped signal over a drum ; and one with thick 

 weather and rain by the same signal under a drum. The 

 direction in which the wind is blowing is indicated by the parti- 

 cular yard-arm between which and the mast-head the geometrical 

 signal is suspended. Galei.that are general over a large portion 

 of the coast are indicated without the mast-head flag':, by the 

 geometrical figures. 



We learn that Professor Nordenskjold, the originator and 

 leader (under the direction of the Royal Swedish Academy) of 

 the Swedish North Polar Expedition, contemplated since 1S61 

 arrived on the 17th of last month at Tromso, in Northern Nor- 

 way, and sailed away aga in in the iron steamer PolJiem on the 

 2ist. Before leaving that port for the far north he sent a letter 

 to Mr, Oscar Dickson, merchant, of Gothenburg (thanks to 

 whose energetic and liberal support the expedition was enabled 

 to start this year), giving a short description of the means at his 

 disposal. The plan of the expedition is that of wintering on 

 the northernmost islets of Spitzbergen (the Seven Isles), whence 

 by the aid of reindeer sledges an over-ice journey northward 

 will be attempted. The processor is accompanied by two 

 pliysicians, a naturalist, an Italian naval officer, a first mate, two 

 engineers, ten picked seamen, and four Lapps for ati ending the 

 reindeer, from forty to fifty of which, with 3000 sacks of rein- 

 deer moss and other necessaries for vpintering in the Arctic 

 regions, have been taken by another (hired; steamer, the \OnI;cI 

 Adam, to the intended winter quarters. Tlie Swedish Govern- 

 ment has placed the brig GUuiaii at the professor's disposal till 

 the beginning of winter. This vessel has also started from 

 Tromso, having on board a house, in which the exploring party 

 is to winter in the Seven Isles ; she will return to Tromso, and 

 hence take back a second cargo, consisting of coals The ex- 

 pedition is in aldition furnishei with 15451b. of paraffin, to 

 serve as lighting and cooking material on the sledge journey. 

 The house contains six living rooms, one of which is to be used 

 as a workshop, a kitchen, pantry, bath-room, and frost- proof 

 cellar. The expedition has also taken from Stockholm three 

 " observation sheds." It is amply provisioned for two years, 

 and well supplied with warm winter clothes, among which are 

 complete suits of Lappish clothing for every person in the ex- 

 pediaon. On the sledge journey, among t other things, rum, 

 paraffin, sleeping bag-;, tents of tarpaulin, a large sleeping car- 

 pet, &c., will be taken. Three boats, weighing respectively 

 30olb., 200lb., and 1501b., and specially adapted for ice travel- 

 ling, wi'.h sledges, had been shipped at Copenhagen. To .assist 

 the Laplanders in the management and supervision of the rein- 

 deer, they have with t'nem five reindeer dogs. Three live pigs 

 form also part of the provisions. Finally, the expedition is 

 well provided with all necessary s.ienlific instruments. 



Prof. C. H. F. Peters, of Hamilton College, U.S., has dis- 

 covered two more new planets of 11 '5 and 12 magnitude re- 

 spectively, provisionally numbered 123 and t22. 



The International Statistical Congress has opened at St. 

 Petersburg its eighth session since it started its work in 1S53, and 

 is divided into five sections : the first on questions connected 

 wi.h the census of the population, the second on the movement 

 of the people, the third on industry, the fourth on postal rela- 

 tions and commerce, the fi!"ih on criminal statistics. Tiie Con- 

 gress is well attended by representatives of all countries, with a 

 good sprinkling of English members. Dr. Farr, Mr. Hammick, 



