458 
NAL ORE 
[JuLy 4, 1912 
in the neighbourhood of M. Rosso, a few days before 
the eruption ceased. The temperatures, in parts 
where the lava was still red, ranged from 795° to a 
maximum of 940° C. 
Tue last great eruption of Etna began on Septem- 
ber 10, 1911, and, notwithstanding the extraordinary 
energy of the outburst, came to an abrupt end in 
thirteen days. The subterranean activity, however, 
continued in other forms, and Prof. A. Riccd, in a 
recent paper (Boll. della Soc. Sismol. Ital., vol. xvi., 
1912, pp. 9-38), describes as successors of the eruption 
the Fondo Macchia earthquake of October 15, the 
Maltese earthquake of September 30, and a series of 
earthquakes recorded at Mineo from October 17 to 
the end of December. Of these, the most interesting 
is the earthquake of Fondo Macchia, a village lying 
to the east of Etna. Though the disturbed area of 
this earthquake is only twenty-four miles long and 
eleven miles wide, it caused considerable damage to 
villages (resulting in twelve deaths) within a narrow 
band, four miles long and about a third of a mile 
wide, running from Fondo Macchia towards the 
S.S.E. Precisely the same district was the seat of a 
similar disastrous earthquake on July 19, 1865, when 
seventy-four persons were killed; and it is interesting 
to notice that this earthquake occurred eighty-eight 
days after the close of a violent eruption of Etna, 
while the recent shock occurred twenty-two days after 
the end of the last eruption. 
Mr. WarrREN SmitH, head of the Department of 
Geology in the Bureau of Science which the American 
Government has established in the Philippines, has 
issued a report upon the mineral developments during 
the year 1910. The most valuable mineral products 
of the Archipelago are gold, coal, and iron, which 
yielded a total value of about 250,000 dollars. The 
remaining non-metallic minerals, including gravel, 
sand, lime, clay, and rough andesite, which is crushed 
for use as concrete, contributed a total yield of more 
than three times that value. The coal is of Miocene 
or Oligocene age, as it is overlain by a limestone 
containing the Lepidocyclina insulaenatalis of Chap- 
man. Gold has been found in many provinces, and 
the chief yield has been from the alluvial deposits. 
One-of the most interesting chapters in the report is 
Mr. Fanning’s account of the goldfield of the Para- 
cale-Mambulao district, which yielded more than half 
the total gold supply of the Philippines. There are 
indications of oil in the Philippines, but though the 
ground has been prospected, no very definite results 
were obtained during the year. 
Tue meteorological charts of the North Atlantic and 
Mediterranean for July, issued by authority of the 
Meteorological Committee, contain much useful in- 
formation respecting North Atlantic ice. The earliest 
trustworthy date on which ice of any kind was 
observed each year from 1903 to 1911, and subse- 
quently reported to the Meteorological Office, was 
March 6, February 9, January 18, January 2, February 
2, January 1, January 24, March 2, and January 28 
respectively. Drifting ice may be observed almost 
anywhere in mid-ocean north of 30° N.; and north of 
35° N., about as far east as longitude 10° W. and 
NO. voL. 89] 
ks 
2207). 
| side resort near Haarlem. 
| of 39 square metres, and comprises six rooms on two 
about as far west as longitude 75°. A tabular state- 
ment shows that both icebergs and field ice were 
further south in 1912 than in any other year of the 
period 1901-12; icebergs, 38° 21! N., in May, and field 
ice, 40° o! N., in April. The first berg of 1912 was 
passed on January 7 in 46° N., 53° W., but ice has 
been present since January 28, 1911; since the middle 
of February reports of both icebergs and field ice have 
been numerous. The loftiest bergs this season were 
sighted from the Carmania about 423° N., 493° W., 
on April 10; some were 4oo ft. high and half a mile 
long. The chart issued by the Deutsche Seewarte 
also contains special notices relating to ice in the 
Atlantic. 
A BRIEF account of the national parks created by the 
United States Government is given in The Popular 
Science Monthly for June by Mr. Laurence F. 
Schmeckebier. Probably the best known to English 
people are the Yellowstone, the Yosemite, and the 
Colorado Grand Canyon, but a large number of other 
reserves and national monuments are here detailed. 
For the administration of these a Government depart- 
ment exists, the officials of which have devoted much 
voluntary overtime labour to their efficient adminis- 
tration. One of their latest enterprises has been the 
publication of illustrative guides dealing with the 
natural curiosities and describing their scientific points 
of interest in popular language. 
Tue report on electrons in metals prepared by Dr. 
L. Amaduzzi, of Bologna, for the Italian Physical 
Society and the Italian Society for the Advancement 
of Science, has been amplified by the author, and 
now appears as one of the volumes of the series 
“Attualita Scientifiche.”’ In this form it serves as a 
suitable continuation of: the author’s volume on the 
ionisation and electrical conduction in gases in the same 
series. It gives a clear account of the theories of 
Drude and of Lorentz on the thermal and electrical 
conductivities of metals, and shows how the electrons 
with adequate speeds may escape from a metal into 
the surrounding gas and so constitute the ‘‘ thermionic 
current” of Richardson. Langevin’s theory of mag- 
netism and Weiss’s extension of it to ferro-magnetic 
substances are treated at some length, and the Hall 
and other similar effects touched upon. The volume 
concludes with a short account of the part played by 
electrons in the modern theory of radiation. It is 
easy to read throughout, even with a very modest 
knowledge of Italian, and as the information it con- 
tains has not been collected together in any English 
book, Dr. Amaduzzi’s pamphlet will be welcome to 
many physicists in this country who wish to keep 
abreast of modern theory. 
The Builder for June 28 gives reproductions from 
photographs of a house constructed in one piece by 
pouring concrete into a single mould previously 
erected. This house—the first of its kind—has been 
cast on the Small-Harms system at Santpoort, a sea- 
The house covers an area 
floors. The cost is given at 1441. The flat roof, the 
floors, and the stairs are of slabs fixed in place while 
