136 



NA TURE 



[June i i, 1896 



being many countries where not regular organisation exists for 

 the study of these disturbances. We are therefore glad to draw 

 attention to a circular issued by I'rof. tlerland, of Strassburg, 

 and signed by nearly all the leading seismologists. Starting 

 from Japan, which jjossesses the most complete organisation for 

 the study of earthquakes, they suggest a number of stations at 

 which it is desirable that observations should be made. These 

 stations are distributed as uniformly as possible over the 

 earth's surface, and the following places are indicated as 

 especially suitable : — Shanghai, Hongkong, Calcutta, Sydney, 

 Rome, Tacubaya (Mexico), Port Natal, Cape of Good Hope, 

 Santiago (Chili), and Rio de Janeiro. The horizontal pendulum 

 of von Rebeur-Paschwitz is, in the first place, recommended for 

 adoption. As a necessary supplement, it is proposed to form a 

 centre for the collection and pubHcation of reports on the earth- 

 quakes of the whole world. These are to be issued as supple- 

 ments to Gerland's " Beitrage zur Geophysik." They will con- 

 tain accounts of all earthquakes strong enough to damage well- 

 built houses, and will give in each case the most exact details 

 that can be obtained with reference to the jjosition of the 

 epicentre and the time-records at places adjoining it. Lists 

 are also to be published of all earthquake pulsations registered 

 by the horizontal and other pendulums. The scheme, for which 

 we are chiefly indebted to the late Dr. E. von Rebeur-Paschwitz, 

 can hardly fail to add greatly to our knowledge of earth- 

 quakes and their nature, even if it should have to be carried out 

 on a scale less extensive than that now planned. 



An interesting series of experiments on the transparency of 

 liquids is described by M. W. Spring in the Bulletin of the 

 Royal Academy of Belgium. The first of M. Spring's papers 

 deals with the colours of the alcohols as compared with water. 

 None of the alcohols observed were colourless when the thick- 

 ness of fluid was 26 metres ; methyl alcohol appeared greenish 

 blue, ethyl alcohol the same, but of a less warm colour, and 

 amyl alcohol greenish yellow. The pure blue colour observed 

 in water becomes thus modified by the admixture of more and 

 more yellow as we pass from one term of the homologous series 

 of compounds to the next. The absorbing powers of the various 

 liquids for ordinary light were also observed, and it was found 

 that these formed a descending series, the simplest substance, 

 water, offering the greatest resistance to the passage of light 

 seen by the eye. In a second contribution, the same writer 

 discusses the temperature at which the connection currents begin 

 to produce opacity in a column of water of given length. Where 

 the length is 26 metres the smallest difference of temperature 

 that will suffice is about o°'57, and is comparable with that 

 which doubtless exists in lakes and seas. The author concludes 

 that we have here an explanation of the varied colours so often 

 seen on water. These result from the differences of temperature 

 caused by sunshine, on the one hand, and by the cooling action 

 of wind blowing on the surface, on the other. 



In Nature of June 4, reference was made to a report from 

 Missouri bearing on the question, " Do Rontgen rays exercise 

 any influence on bacteria ? " This question forms the title of a 

 paper by Prof. G. Sormani (Roidkonti del Reale Istitttto 

 Lombardo), in which are described experiments made on sixteen 

 different species of bacteria, both in cultures and when inoculated 

 into living animals. As a result of these experiments, the author 

 has to admit that Rontgen rays do not exercise any sensible 

 action on the cultural and pathogenic properties of the bacteria 

 on which he has experimented. 



M. CASPAR SCHMITZ {Bulletin de I'AcadJmie Koyale de 

 Bi'lgiguc) describes, with diagrams, a fine group of thirty-two 

 upright tree trunks which were discovered in November last on 

 the top of the coal-bearing strata in the Liege basin. There 

 are two theories to account for the existence of these trunks 

 NO. 1389, VOL. 54] 



viz. growth on the spot, or transportation from a distance ; and 

 from the evidence derived from careful examination of the 

 surroundings, M. Schmitz appears, however, to incline to thr 

 latter theory. 



The Deutsche Seewarte has issued the tentli yearly series of 

 Daily Synoptic Weather Charts for the North Atlantic Ocean, 

 prepared in conjunction with the Danish Meteorological Insti- 

 tute. The charts are drawn for each morning from December i, 

 1890, to November 30, 1891, and embrace a lai^e portion of the 

 adjoining continents of Europe and America. The explanatory- 

 text, issued in separate quarterly parts, shows ( I ) the paths of all 

 barometric minima, or areas of low pressure, with indications ol 

 the intensity of the depressions ; (2) the positions and the 

 changes of locality of the barometric maxima, or areas of high 

 pressure; (3) the mean position of the isobar of 765 mm. 

 (30'i inches) for certain definite periods. We have before 

 expressed our opinion that the value of this and similar laborious 

 undertakings for the purpose of investigating the laws which 

 underlie our weather changes, most of which reach us from the 

 Atlantic, can hardly be over-estimated. 



The Ilydrographic Office of the United States continues the 

 publication and wide distribution of its monthly Pilot Charts for 

 the North Pacific Ocean. These charts contain much informa- 

 tion of especial value to seamen, and show the mean average 

 conditions of atmospheric pressure, winds and storms, the posi- 

 tions of areas of high and low barometer, and the principal 

 sailing routes over that ocean. The chart for May last contains- 

 the track and log of the American schooner Aida, which recently- 

 made the passage from Shanghai to Port Townsend, Washing- 

 ton State, in the remarkably short period of twenty-seven days. 

 This passage is an excellent example of what may be accom- 

 plished by a captain who takes advantage of existing meteor- 

 ological conditions and of the information afforded by the Pilot 

 Charts. In the case in point the conditions were certainly 

 favourable, but not exceptionally so. 



Limits of space prevent us from reviewing, or even enum- 

 erating, the whole of the articles in several bulky volumes, 

 recently received ; all we can do is to direct attention to their 

 publication. The annual of the Bergen Museum — " Bergen's- 

 Museums Aarbog " — for 1S94-95 contains numerous papers one 

 physical and natural science, archa;ology and history, printed in 

 Norsk, German, and French. Among the subjects of the papers- 

 are : — Results of cross-fertilisation of fishes, the systematic 

 ennumeration of the marine polyzoa of Norway, the geology of 

 the glacier of Hardanger, tlie geology and archneology of the 

 plateau of Hardanger, ichthyological notices, foraminifera 

 collected near Bergen during 1894, the decomposition of albu- 

 minoids in the human organism, echinoderm fauna in the 

 western fiords, mosses of the Sandefiord region, a certain 

 differential equation, and alga; of the western coast of Norway. 

 The volume also contains reports of the collections and work of 

 the Museum during 1894 and 1S95. The " Sitz. der konigl. 

 bohmischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaffen at Prague," for 

 1895, comes to us in two volumes, each filled with papers of 

 scientific value, and many well illustrated. There are altogether 

 fifty-three papers and forty-five plates. Unfortunately for 

 scientific readers having only a limited acquaintance with foreign 

 languages, many of the papers are printed in Chech. Among the 

 subjects dealt with are the Arachnida of Bohemia and Moravia, 

 by Prof. .-\. Nosek ; the chalk formation in the neighbourhood 

 of Ripu, by Prof. V. Zahalka ; the palx-ontology of the older 

 paljeozoic formations in Central Bohemia, by Dr. F. Katzer ; 

 new descriptions of Tubellaria, by Prof. F. Vejdovski ; anemo- 

 meter observations at Prague, by Dr. J. Frejlach ; a contribu- 

 tion to the electromagnetic theory of light, by Prof. F. 

 Kolaeek ; monograph of the fossil flora of Rossitz, Moravia, by 



