174 
NATURE 
regret that in the discussion which followed the paper 
no one pointed out the serious nature of this enormous 
drain and the urgent necessity of an inquiry to ascer- 
tain what effect it is having on the numbers of the 
whales. On the face of it, no species appears likely 
to be capable of holding its own against such 
tremendous slaughter for any length of time. 
Tue threatened extinction of the sandal tree 
(Santalum album), which occurs over a limited area in 
India and is practically absent elsewhere, and the 
great economic value of sandalwood oil, have led to 
many attempts to extend its area by plantings and 
sowings, but these have been rarely successful, owing 
to the fact that, although the sandal is a root para- 
site, absolutely dependent upon other plants for its 
nourishment, it has in most cases been treated like 
other trees in the methods adopted for its propagation. 
M. Rama Rao has just published (Indian Forest 
Records, ii., 4) an elaborate account of the host- 
plants of the sandal, in which he describes the rela- 
tions between the roots of this tree and those of 
more than 250 species found growing in association 
with it. Of this number no fewer than 150 species 
are actually host-plants attacked by the roots of 
sandal, and the author believes that further investiga- 
tion will result in additions to this remarkable census. 
Apparently evergreen plants are better hosts than 
deciduous species; sandal plants growing on evergreen 
hosts themselves remain evergreen, while those on 
deciduous hosts actually become deciduous; and there 
is a marked tendency for the sandal to become 
deciduous in very dry localities, where the plants 
associated with it are few and are deciduous. 
A SEVERE earthquake was felt in South Africa on 
February 20 at 3.4 p.m., especially in the south- 
western portion of the Orange River Colony. The 
shock is remarkable for the large area over which it 
was strong enough to damage buildings. This area, 
so far as can be judged from the numerous accounts 
published in The Cape Times, is about 150 miles in 
diameter, and contains more than 17,000 square miles. 
In Kimberley and Bloemfontein, a few houses were 
injured, but the epicentre of the earthquake lies 
about 50 miles to the south-east of Kimberley, -in 
the neighbourhood of Koffyfontein, Jagersfontein, 
and Fauresmith, at which places, also, most of the 
after-shocks were felt. Although many buildings 
were demolished and the ground fissured in this dis- 
trict, the earthquake was not one of very great 
intensity, though unusually strong for the South 
African colonies. It was felt, however, over a very 
wide area, from Paarl (480 miles to the south-west 
of the epicentre) to Mafeking (250 miles to the north), 
Johannesburg (290 miles), and Durban (360 miles to 
the east). The disturbed area must therefore have 
contained about half a million square miles. 
Tue last Bulletin (vol. iv., No. 3, 1912, Tokyo) of 
the Imperial Earthquake Investigation Committee 
consists of Prof. Omori’s third paper on the applica- 
tions of the seismograph to the measurement of the 
vibrations of railway carriages. The recent experi- 
ments were made in a new imperial carriage and a 
first-class carriage, both six-wheel bogie-cars, and 
NO. 2216, VOL. 89] 
| needle-inclinometer is reported. 
[Aprit 18, 1912 
weighing 36 and 27-3 tons respectively. The trains 
containing these carriages were similarly made up 
and run along the same course with approximately 
the same velocities. The records in the two carriages 
in the same portions of the course were so similar 
that individual vibrations could be identified, especi- 
ally in the lateral-vibration curves. The intensity of 
the vertical vibrations in the imperial carriage was 
| 40 per cent. less, and of the lateral vibrations 26 per 
cent. less, than in the other. Under ordinary condi- 
tions, the maximum acceleration recorded in the 
imperial carriage amounted to 1100 mm. per second 
per second for the lateral vibrations and to 2000 mm. 
per second per second for the vertical vibrations, the 
latter being nearly as great as that experienced at 
Nagoya during the great Japanese earthquake of 
1891. The vertical vibrations in the same carriage 
were practically unaffected when the train entered on 
a curve of from 20 to 60 chains radius, but the 
lateral vibrations, though unchanged when the 
| velocity ranged from 25 to 30 miles an hour, were 
; nearly double as large as on a straight road when 
the velocity was as low as 15, or as high as 40, miles 
an hour. 
Tue report of the work of the Prussian Meteor- 
ological Institute in 1911, issued by Prof. G. Hell- 
mann, states that the existing materials are so great 
that it was thought advisable to devote as much 
time as possible to. the deduction and publication of 
results, rather than to take up fresh observations. 
The report contains several interesting and useful 
short discussions, to one or two of which we hope 
to refer later on. The arrears in the discussion of 
magnetic observations have been brought up to date. 
A curious incident relating to the uncertainty of the 
Four needles had 
_ been in use, three of which gave concordant results, 
and the fourth very discordant values, and its use 
was given up; but some years later it was discovered 
that the discarded needle was the one which had 
given correct results. At the end of 1911 the meteor- 
| ological stations numbered 201, exclusive of a very 
| The Potsdam, 
large number of rainfall and thunderstorm stations. 
Brocken, and Schneekoppe observa- 
tories are entirely maintained by the institute. 
pleasing to note that his Majesty the Emperor confers 
from time to time special honours on both officials 
and observers of long standing. 
In the Trans. Roy. Soc. of Canada (vol. v., sec. iii., 
1899) Dr. W. Bell Dawson gave illustrations of some 
remarkable sea-seiches, or secondary tidal undula- 
tions, which occurred in the estuary of the St. 
Lawrence. He remarked that they seem to be con- 
nected with stormy weather. The subject is resumed 
in a paper jointly by Mr. Kétaré6 Honda and Dr. 
Dawson, published in the Science Reports of the 
Tohoku Imperial University, vol. i., No. 1, p. 61 
(1912), in which they discuss the periods of the 
Canadian seiches, showing that they conform to the 
Japanese theory. The authors are of opinion that the 
seiches are due to meteorological causes. In the 
Proceedings of the Tokyo Mathematico-physical 
Society for February, p. 196, Mr. Honda traces the 
It is. 
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