5i8 



NA TURE 



[September 24, 189b 



lies directly to the south of Hecla. In this district, fifty-five 

 badly-built farmhouses were destroyed, but no lives were lost. 

 Occasional tremors were felt during the following days, but 

 none of any severity until the night of September 5, when there 

 was another violent shock. In this the epicentre was displaced 

 to the west, Rangarvalla Syssel was but little affected, and most 

 damage was done in Ames Syssel. Here more than one hundred 

 farmhouses were destroyed or seriously damaged, and two persons 

 were killed. Four hours later another stron^j shock was felt, 

 and since then there have been frequent tremors, but none of 

 sufficient strength to do further damage. No eruption has taken 

 place, and no signs of an incipient eruption are visible. The 

 Great Cieyser, being at some distance from the epicentre, showed 

 little change except a temporary increase of energy. But in 

 several other places hot springs had dried up, while at one or 

 two points fresh boiling springs have made their appearance. 



AccORDlNi; to mail advices from Rejkjavik, received on 

 September 21 in Copenhagen, two fresh shocks of earthquake 

 occurred in the south-west of Iceland on the night of the 6th, 

 and at one place an old couple were killed by the loof of their 

 house falling in. It is stated that 155 farm.steads were destroyed 

 during the recent earthquakes. To the fund that is being raised 

 in Denmark for the victims, the Tsar has subscribed 4000 

 kronen, and the Dowager Empress of Russia 3000, while 

 donations of 2000 and 1000 kronen have been given by the 

 King and (Jueeii of Denmark. 



The Atheiiitum states that a new Alpine meteorological 

 station, corresponding to that on the summit of the Siintis, is to 

 be erected on the Rochers de Naye. President Rufify and Prof. 

 Hagenbach-Bischoff, of Bale, members of the Swiss Federal 

 Meteorological Commission, are at present searching for a 

 suitable site for the erection of the building. 



With reference to the note appearing in these columns of 

 September 3, respecting the finding of gold in Newfoundland, a 

 telegram from St. John's announces that an analysis from a 

 London firm shows that the bed-rock under the quartz yields 

 8 dwts. 12 grs. of gold per ton, while the quartz itself yields 

 3 ozs. per ton. The bed-rock is said to be of unlimited extent, 

 and only one vein of quartz has yet been worked. 



Mr. Gkorge J. Gould, of New York, has recently returned 

 from a tour in Arctic waters in his private yacht. He has de- 

 cided, it is said, on an elaborate and systematic scheme of 

 exploration, which includes the building of a permanent depot 

 at some point always accessible during the season of navigation, 

 and the sending of supplies to it every year. A cordon of depots 

 will be established at points further north from year to year, and 

 will be permanently equipped and maintained till the Pole has 

 been reached. 



Our .-Vmerican correspondent, writing on September II, s.ays 

 that elaborate experiments in' aerial locomotion are in pro- 

 gress at Dune Park, Northern Indiana, near Lake Michigan, 

 under the direction of Mr. Octave Chanute. The experiments 

 began two months ago. Since then the machines have been 

 reconstructed. Mr. A. M. Hering is assisting Mr. Chanute, and 

 has invented a regulator which is attached to the apparatus. 

 Beginning about September i, about seventy-five flights 

 have been made without a bruise or a break. A distance of 

 300 feet has been covered, at the height of about 30 feet from 

 the ground, with less jar and shock than a ride in a rubber-tyred 

 carriage. Two men carry the apparatus up the sand-hill. 

 About 35 feet up, the machine is lifted, and Mr. Heving fits 

 himself under it, and allows the wind to raise it. His 

 arms fall o\er the bars provided. He makes two or three 

 quick steps towards the lake, and the machine soars from 

 the ground and darts through the air with a velocity de- 

 NO. 1404, VOL. 54] 



.scribed as rivalling that of an express tr.ain. The motion 

 is horizontal, without any swaying motion. To stop the 

 machine, the operator moves his body enough to tilt the ap- 

 paratus slightly upwards in front, when it coasts gradually 

 and slowly to the ground. The experiments of September 10 

 were considered unusually favourable, because made under some- 

 what adverse conditions. In a strong wind, the aeroplane soared 

 suddenly and unexpectedly, carrying with it four operators who 

 were holding the ropes, and lifting them 100 feet into the air. 

 The combined weight of the four brouglit it down again soon 

 without accident ; whilst the performance of the machine in 

 this emergency was peculiarly gratifying to the inventor. The 

 apparatus is modelled after the general form of an albatross, but 

 has seven wings. A very elaborate machine, constructed on 

 a different principle by iNIr. Paul, was to be tested on Septem- 

 ber 1 1, if favourable conditions prevailed, and some extraordinary 

 results were anticipated. This machine has four corners which 

 rest upon a chute, the upper end of which is 90 feet from the 

 ground, and the lower end 77 feet above the lake level. 



We learn from Science that the ironwork of the dome of 

 the Verkes Observatory is in position, and the lenses, now 

 in the hands of Mr. Alvan Clark, will, it is hoped, be ready to 

 be moved before the coming winter. The dome is no feet 

 high, 90 feet in diameter, and weighs 200 tons. 



Sir William Herschel's system of identifying persons by 

 thumb-marks has been introduced experimentally into Bengal. 

 The chief object of the measure appears to be to identify Govern- 

 ment pensioners, and to make it impossiljle for persons to 

 impersonate them. 



AccOKniN'G to the Lancet, a new medical journal is likely to 

 be started in Scotland in the coming year. A committee on the 

 subject has been formed by members of the profession, and has 

 been for some short time actively engaged in making inquiries 

 as to the probable success of the proposed journal, and discussing 

 arrangements. What the proposed arrangements and scope of 

 the enterprise are, have not yet transpired. 



A NEW journal, entitled Revista Trinieslral Micrograjica, is 

 to be published, under the editorship of Prof. S. Ramon Y. 

 Cajal, of Madrid. 



Dr. R. H. TR.\Qu.-iiR will deliver the Swiney course of 

 lectures on "The Geological History of Vertebrate Animals,'' 

 in the Lecture Theatre of the South Kensington Museum, on 

 Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, beginning Monday, 

 October 5, and ending Friday, October 30. There will be 

 twelve lectures in all, and admission will be free. 



The lecture arrangements at the Royal \'icti)ria Hall, Waterloo 

 Bridge Road, for the month of October are as follows : — 

 October 13, "Arabia," by Mr. Theodore Bent; October 20, 

 " Chronicles of a Clay Clift'," by Mr. VV. H. Shrubsole ; October 

 27, "The Great Barrier Reef of Australia," by Mr. R. Kerr. 



Ofkicks for the identification of criminals under the Bertillon 

 system have been established in Ceylon, at Colombo, Kandy, 

 Galle, Kurunegala, and Ratnapura. The authorities, however, 

 seem to have some dilficulty in finding constables sufiiciently 

 accurate and delicate in their touch, and of enough education to 

 undertake the work. Of those put into training only a limited 

 number eventually qualify. In the recently imblished adminis- 

 trative report, mention is made of the following curious effect of 

 the system. A number of habitual criminals of Colombo, who 

 object to being identified, have left the town. 



An international exhibition will, as was briclly announced 

 in Nature of August 13, be held in Brisbane in 1897. The 

 Government of Queensland has granted its oliicial patronage to 



