July 23, 1874] 



NATURE 



231 



M. DoURNEAU DUPRE, a French explorer of the Sahara, has 

 been killed by marauders on the way from Ghadames to Rhat. 

 Frencli colonists are making great progress in opening through 

 the desert a road to Senegal by Timbuctoo and Niger ; but 

 Algerian refugees are their most determined opponents. The 

 prospect of introducing water from tlie Mediterranean into the 

 Chott has created a sensation in the colony and is very likely 

 to lead to new efforts in desert exploration. 



M. DE Lesseps' scheme for making an inland sea in Algeria 

 seems to have excited great alarm in some of the French jour- 

 nals. It is feared that the resulting evaporation will have a bad 

 effect on the climate of France, one journal going so far as to 

 suggest a return of the glacial epoch I 



We have just received the first two parts of a new monograph 

 on the TrochilidiV or Humming Buds, by M. E. Mulsant, the 

 well-known colcopterist," and the late M. E. "Verreaux. 



The second series of the superb work "On the Butterflies of 

 North America," by Mr. William H. Edwards, has just been 

 commenced with the appearance of Part I. and with the pro- 

 mise of even greater beauty and excellence than the one recently 

 closed. The illustrations, as in the preceding series, were 

 drawn by Miss Mary Peart, who has made a specialty of 

 this branch of art, and coloured at the establishment of Mrs. 

 Bowen, of Philadelphia. The work bears the imprint of Hurd 

 and Houghton, New York. 



We understand that Lieut. Cameron's journal, giving an 

 account of his journey from Unyanyembe to Ujiji, has arrived in 

 this country. He passed over anew route, to the south of that 

 traversed by Capt. Burton, and north of Stanley's ; and has 

 thrown much light on the geography of the southern half of the 

 Malagarazi drainage area. He has obtained several latitudes, 

 and took a series of hypEometiical observations ; but his most 

 important work has been the final settling of the questions re- 

 specting the height of lake Tanganyika above the sea ; and the 

 latitude and longitude of Ujiji. Lieut. Cameron has recovered, 

 at Ujiji, a most important map drawn by Dr. Livingstone, of 

 the unknown country between Mikindany and Lake Nyassa, 

 without which the record of the great explorer's discoveries 

 would be very incomplete. Lieut. Cameron found the country 

 between Unyanyembe and Ujiji in a more dangerous and un- 

 settled state than ever. Mirambo and an independent body of 

 runaway slaves were in complete possession of the route ; and, 

 though they would not molest an English officer, no Arab 

 ciravan or body of negroes could have passed. The insurgents 

 attack and drive back all such parties, and the people would 

 destroy all their food rather than give' it to' them. Lieut. 

 Cameron's labours, first in his gallant attempts to succour 

 Livingstone, then in furnishing aid to the explorer's servants, 

 who brought down his body and effects, and finally in pressing 

 onwards, in the face of great dangers and privations, to recover 

 the journal and map at Ujiji, are deserving of the admiration of 

 his countrymen. He is now on the verge of new discoveries, 

 and resolved to achieve them ; and we trust there will be a 

 liberal response to the appeal for funds. Subscriptions to the 

 Cameron Expedition Fund are received by Messrs. Ransom and 

 Co., I, Pall Mall East. 



In a paper in Petermann's MitthcUuni;i:n (Heft vii. 1S74) by 

 Dr. Joseph Chavannc, of Vienna, on '• The Arctic Continent 

 and Polar Sea," the author deduces the following conclusions 

 from the data furnished by recent expeditions, and which he 

 carefully discusses : — i. The long [axis of the arctic land-mass 

 (which probably consists of an island archipelago separated by 

 narrow arms of the sea, perhaps only fjords) crosses the mathe- 

 matical pole ; it thus bends round Greenland, north of Shannon 

 Island, not towards the north-west, but runs across to 82° or 83" 



N. lat. in a northerly direction, proceeding thence towards 

 N.N.E. or N. E. 2. The coast of this arctic continent is conse- 

 quently to be found between 25° and 170° E. long, in a mean 

 N. lat. of S4' and 85', the west coast between go° and 170° W. 

 long, in a latitude from 86° to 80". 3. Robeson Channel, which 

 widens suddenly north of 82" 16' N. lat., still widening, bends 

 sharply in 84° N. lat. to the west ; Smith Sound, therefore, is 

 freely and continuously connected with Behring Strait. Grin- 

 nell Land is an island which probably extends to 95° W. long., 

 south of which the Parry Islands fill up the sea west of Jones's 

 Sound. 4. The sea between the coast of the arctic polar land 

 and the'north coast of America is traversed by an arm of the 

 warm drift-current of the Kuro Siwo, which pierces Behring 

 Strait, and thus at certain times and in certain places is free of 

 ice, allowing the warm current to reach Smith .Sound. 5. The 

 Gulf Stream gliding between Bear Island and Novaya Zemlya 

 to the north-east washes the north coast of the Asiatic continent, 

 and is united east of the New .Siberia Islands with the west arm 

 of the drift current of the Kuro Siwo. On the other hand, the 

 arm of the Gulf Stream, which proceeds from the west coast of 

 Spitzbergen to the North, dips, north of the Seven Islands, 

 under the polar current, comes again to the surface in a 

 higher latitude, and washes the coast of the arctic polar 

 land, the climate of which, therefore, is under the influence 

 of a temporarily open polar sea ; hence both the forma- 

 tion of perpetual ice, as well as excessive extreme of cold, 

 is manifestly impossible. 6. The mean elevation of the polar 

 land above the sea diminishes towards the pole. 7. The sea 

 between Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya to Behring Strait is 

 even in \vinter sometimes free of ice, and may be navigated in 

 summer and autumn. 8. The most likely routes to the pole 

 are: — first, the sea between Spitzbergen and Novaya Zemlya ; 

 and second, the sea north of Behring Strait along the co^sl of 

 the unknown polar land. 



A NEW geological survey of the State of Pennsylvania has 

 been ordered, and the bill providing for it has passed the Legis- 

 lature and has received the signature of the Governor. Money 

 for three years has been voted. Prof. J. P. Lesley, of the Uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania, has been appointed Geologist-in-Chief. 



The programme of arrangements for the thirty-first annual 

 meeting of the British Archaeological Association is just out. 

 The meeting will be held at Bristol in the week between Aug. 4 

 and II, under the presidency of Mr. K. D. Hodgson, M.P. 

 Excursions will be made to various places of interest in the sur- 

 rounding district. Among the papers to be read at the evening 

 meetings are the following : — On unpublished historical docu- 

 ments at Bristol, by W. de Gray Birch, Hon. Pala:ographer ; 

 and On the records of Merchant Adventurers, by Mr. J. de 

 Haviland. 



We learn from the Report of the Radcliffe Observer that tha 

 number of transits observed from July I, 1S73, to July i, 1874, 

 is 3,093 ; and the number of zenith-distances, 4,101. Tha num- 

 ber of stars observed in the same interval is 1,585. Coggia's 

 comet has been observed four times on the meridian and four 

 times with the helionieter. With the heliometer, in addition to 

 a small selected list of double stars which have been observed as 

 usual, a series of ten nie.\sures of the equatorial and polar dia- 

 meters of Jupiter has been made, and the diameter of Uranus has 

 been measured several times. These observations have been 

 made chiefly by Mr. Bellamy. The volume containing the re- 

 sults of observations for 1S71 is complete and ready for distribu- 

 tion. This volume contains a catalogue of 1,331 stars :— 97 

 observations of the sun, 51 observations of the moon, 25 of 

 Mercury, 18 of Venus, and 14 of Mars; a catalogue of 21 double 

 stars, of which several have been observed repeatedly ; I r measures 

 of the equatorial and polar diameters of Mars, with the deduced 



