Nov. 25, 1S80] 



NA TURE 



83 



6 inches aperture and \\ feet focal length, and the 

 mounting is a striking change from what we are usually 

 accustomed to see. The great point to be attained by it 

 is to carry the telescope equatorially and allow it to move 

 on a declination axis in such a manner that the eye-end 

 remains stationary while sweeping the heavens. It will 

 be seen from the plate which, by the kindness of Dr. 

 Carl, we are able to reproduce, that the declination axis 

 is carried above the polar axis somewhat in the usual 

 way, but that the telescope, instead of being carried by 

 its middle at the end of the declination axis, is carried 

 by a frame, o, so that the eyepiece is in the prolongation 

 of that axis, and also in the prolongation of the polar 

 axis, so that it remains stationary, while the object-glass 

 sweeps in all directions. The handles I) and x, within 

 easy reach of the observer, enable him to give the requi- 

 site motion to the telescope without the change of position 

 necessary with an ordinary instrument. The telescope is 

 balanced on the declination axis F by the counter-weight 

 Q, and the excess of weight on one side of the polar axis 

 is balanced by the counter-weights Q Q o. 



Herr Schneider proposes to mount telescopes of much 

 greater size, say 30 or 40 feet long, in the same manner. 



NOTES 



M. Milne-Edwards having completed the publication of his 

 great work on "Physiclogie Comparee," a subscription has been 

 opened by M. Duma?, the Perpetual Secretary of the Academy 

 of Sciences, for the purpose of presenting the veteran zoologist 

 with a gold medal. Subscriptions are to be sent to M. Maindrou 

 at the Secretariat of the Academy of Sciences, or to M. Victor 

 Masson, publisher, Boulevard St. Germain, Paris. M. Milne- 

 Edwards's great work is composed of fourteen large octavo 

 ■volumes — the first four of which are out of print — of 500 pages 

 ■each ; the publication be^an in 1S57, and has been accomplished 

 by twenty-three years of continual work. It includes all the 

 lectures whicli have been delivered by M. Milne-Edwards at the 

 Museum of Natural History during that lengthened period, and 

 could not have been accomplished if the author had not had the 

 advantage of the immense scientific resources accumulated in that 

 establishment during the last two centuries for the study of 

 nature. 



A Vienna correspondent sends us the following data regard- 

 ing the Agram earthquake : — The damp ejected matter of the 

 mud-volcano at Resnica near Agram was found to contain no 

 elementary sulphur nor sulphuretted hydrogen, but it contained 

 sulphur metals decomposable by acids, and earthy carbonates, 

 along with organic substances of a humus nature. The chief con- 

 stituent of it is fine sand with water, and it comes from no great 

 depth. The mud-volcano at Sevete, near Agram, also ejects 

 ■{z m. high) chiefly a clayey-sandy mud, which maybe thrown up 

 by movements of the ground water. The Gratz geologist, Peters 

 ■(writing in the Ta^aposl), characterises the Agram earthquake 

 of November 9 to 14 as one of the most normal which could be 

 observed in that region. The movement kept exactly the 

 direction of south-south-west, and was thus precisely at right 

 angles to the chief direction of the Eastern Alps. The entire 

 breadth of the territory affected appears to be indicated by the 

 towns of Klagenfurt (Carinthia) and Szegedin (Hungary). Since 

 the formation of the Alps, and so through a long series of geo- 

 logical periods, all subterranean movements in this region of 

 Central Europe have been in this one direction (as Siiss first 

 showed). For some months past movements have been per 

 ceived to be in progress in various localities. That Agran 

 should be affected as it has been is explained by an inspection of 

 the geological map. Not very far north from that town rises 

 a remarkable block of greenstone surrounded by cldorite schist, 

 limestone and other layers. A not very broad baud of recent 



Tertiary deposits separates the low ground from that mountain 

 block, which thus forms a comparatively fixed point in the 

 system. Every movement coming from south-south-west propa- 

 gated by these strata must impinge horizontally on the green 

 stone block, and cause a greater or less curvature of the strata, 

 which manifests itself most where tlie lower ground remains free 

 from Tertiary deposits. Unfortunately for Agram the strongest 

 movement was directed precisely against that mountain block, 

 and so upon the town before it. The whole phenomenon has 

 nothing to do with volcanic processes. The repetition of the 

 shocks is easily explained by the reaction from curvature of the 

 strata not occurring all at once. In opposition to Peters, the 

 astronomer and meteorologist, Rudolph Falb of Gratz, holds 

 the Agram earthquake to be volcanic, and connected with the 

 strong attraction of subterranean lava by the moon. They seem- 

 to have continued at more or less frequent intervals during the 

 past week. 



In several parts of the Tyrol (Hall, Thanr, Rum, Innsbruck) 

 an earthquake-shock was experienced on the 14th inst. about 

 9.15 a.m., and on the same day there was a considerable shock 

 (lasting 20 sec.) in Bavaria, at Partenkirchen and Mittenwald 

 about S p.m. Dr. Franz Woehner has been delegated by the 

 Vienna Academy to Croatia to report on the phenomena. 



A CYCLONE accompanied by earthquake shocks is reported to 

 have occurred at Sitka in Alaska on October 25, causing much 

 devastation. 



J UST after the death of its founder, Dr. Broca, the w ell-known 

 RiViic d' Anthmpoliigic evAtXf^A on its tenth year. His successor 

 in the direction of the Rcvuc, Dr. Topinard, issues a prospectus 

 intimating that it will be continued with renewed energy on the 

 lines laid down by its founder. The Revue embraces all the 

 varied departments of anthropology, and its editor has the 

 collabor.ition of the most eminent workers in the varied depart- 

 ments in France. Broca left a gi'eat number of anthropological 

 papers in various stages of completeness, and these are to he 

 published in successive numbers of the Revue, which deserves 

 every encouragement. 



The laboratory of M. Lacazcs Duthiers at the Sorbonne has 

 been opened this year again for experiments in zoology. In 

 the summer it w ill be transferred to the coast station in 

 Britanny. 



The Paris Museum of Natural History being situated in a 

 somewhat out-of-way place, is rather deserted by the students, 

 and great efforts are made to render the cour;e of lectures which 

 are delivered there unusually attractive. M. Fremy, Lecturer 

 on Chemistry, will speak on the great discoveries in chemistry 

 made almost simultaneously in Paris and in London about a centm-y 

 ago, and will perform all the original experiments, some of them 

 with the very instruments which were used by the discoverers. 



A VERY interesting acquisition has just been made by the 

 botanical department of the British Museum. In 17S3-4 John 

 Millar made a series of water-colour drawings for the Earl of 

 Bute, showing the " leaves, stalks, and ramifications of plants, 

 for the purpose of ascertaining their several species." They are 

 bound in five volumes, with an elaborately flourished title page, 

 and fill 928 octavo pages. The museum has purchased the 

 drawings. 



The seismograph on Mount Vesuvius is said to indicate great 

 subterranean dynaadsm. Streams of lava continue to flow down 

 the north-west side cf the cone, and are increasing both in 

 volume and number. "The Vesuvian eruption," the Times 

 correspondent states, "has entered on a phase of greatly increased 

 activity. The news reached us on Saturday, but, as i' appeared 

 only in those papers whicli are directly inteies'ed in the Funicular 



