Nov. 20, 1879] 



NATURE 



73 



machine are then passed across the intervening air, when it is 

 found that the level rises at the negative and falls at the positive 

 pole. There is, therefore, apparently an actual transport in the 

 direction conventionally agreed upon as the direction of the 

 current. M. Gernez is inclined to attribute this phenomenon to 

 an electrical transport of the liquids along the moistened surfaces 

 of the tubes. Pure alcohol distils over thus at a rate three times 

 as great as that of water, but a mixture of alcohol and water in 

 equal parts at a less rate than pure water. The rapidity of the 

 distillation is increased by the addition of any soluble salt or of a 

 few drops of sulphuric acid or of ammonia solution. No appreci- 

 able amount of distillation takes place with bisulphide of carbon, 

 tetrachloride of carbon, or with turpentine. M. Gernez, however, 

 docs not think that there is any assignable relation between the 

 conductivity of a liquid and its rate of electro-convective evapora- 

 tion ; nor docs he think that there is any necessary connection 

 between this phenomenon and that discovered by Porret of the 

 electric endosmose of liquids across diaphragms of various kinds. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 ' At the last meeting of the Russian Geographical Society, in 

 the section of Physical Geography, M. Rylcke communicated 

 the results of his precise measurements on the levels of the Baltic 

 and of the Black Sea. These measurements were begun in 1S77, 

 by order of the General Staff, according to the resolutions of the 

 Brussels Congress. Accurate measurements in the ports of the 

 Baltic have proved undoubtedly that the level of the sea at 

 Cronstadt is, by nearly two feet, higher than at Reval, and that 

 its height decreases regularly from north to south, this conclusion 

 being fully supported by Prussian measurements at Memel and 

 at Kiel. For a comparison of the level of the Baltic with that 

 of the Black Sea the nece-sary computations are not yet advanced 

 enough to yield trustworthy results. 



In his last paper on the Agomes Islands (Isveslia, 1S79, P- 37) 

 M. Miclucho-Maclay says that here he happened to determine 

 the dimensions of the heads only of fourteen men, and that the 

 so-called "index of the breadth " varied from 69/6 to 81*3 ; it 

 was thus nearly the same as on the Taui Islands (7o"5 to 84-5), 

 where the traveller has done no less than 119 measurements, 

 and does not much differ from what was seen of the Papuans of 

 New Guinea, whose " index " varies from 62*0 to 86'4. Accord- 

 ing to this wide variation of the "indexes," M. Maclay affirms 

 that we have no right to describe the heads of Melanesians as 

 well as those of the Papuans as dolichocephalic, but rather as 

 mezocephalic ; and that the form of the head must not be con- 

 sidered as a proof of a race-distinction between Negritoes and 

 Papuans, as both Melanesians and Papuans display an obvious 

 tendency to brachycephalism, whilst this last was formerly con- 

 sidered as a distinctive feature of the Papuans from the natives 

 of the Philippine Islands. He considers also that within the 

 same races we shall always find both forms of heads, and that a 

 true classification of human races cannot be established on this 

 sole feature ; it must be based on a thorough study of the whole 

 of the comparative anatomy. A few measurements on living 

 subjects, however accurate, cannot give the necessary solid bases 

 for a scientific classification. 



According to a telegram received in Paris from Sierra 

 Leone, two Frenchmen, MM. Zvveifel and Moustier, have at 

 length discovered the sources of the River Niger, a feat which 

 has hitherto bafiled all explorers. The party appear to have 

 been recently instructed by their employer, M. Yerminck, of 

 Marseilles, to explore the Niger for both scientific and commer- 

 cial purposes ; and accordingly, starting from Sierra Leone and 

 follow ing the course of the Kohelle, they reached the foot of 

 the Kong Mountains. By adroit treatment of the hostile tribes 

 at this point, where foreigners had always been refused passage, 

 they were allowed to pass the mountains and explore the three 

 streams which, uniting after a short distance, form the River 

 Niger. 



Before concluding his recent explorations in South America, 

 Dr. Crevaux made two attempts to ascend the 19a or Putumayo 

 tributary of the Amazon. Having failed the first time, he as- 

 cended the main stream to Tabatinga, on the frontier of Peru 

 and Brazil, and then returned to Para. He there obtained means 

 to enable him to carry out his original intention, and at the 

 second attempt succeeded in ascending the lea to Cnembe, to 

 the north of Cotopaxi, on the frontier of Bolivia and Ecuador. 

 Starting from this place on May 16, Dr. Crevaux reached the 



foot of the Andes in eight days. Thence c intinuing his route 

 towards the north, he arrived at the sources of the Japura after 

 sixteen hours' march. After experiencing great hardships, and 

 hostility on the part of the natives, he reached the Amazon again 

 on July 9, arriving at Para on July 24. He has brought back 

 with him much information interesting alike from a geographical 

 and ethnographical point of view, as well as a collection of 

 plants, which are expected to pr.>ve useful as medicines. 



In publishing an interesting letter from its special correspon- 

 dent with the Russian expedition against the Tekke Turkomans, 

 .ues that the " nature of the ground along the 

 course of the Attrek from the Caspian Sea has never been accu- 

 rately described from personal observation." Without wishing to 

 undervalue this and other letters from the same source, we may 

 be permuted to point out that the ground had been previously 

 examined by a party under General Llomakin, and that Sir 

 Henry Kawlinson, in his paper on the " koad to Merv," read 

 before the Geographical Society on January 27, quoted at length 

 from Russian newspapers a description of this very route by a 

 member of the expedition. A summary of the letters, giving an 

 account of this expedition, which had been addressed to the 

 Moscow Cazdle, also appeared iu Nature, vol. xix. p. 271. 



A letter from Herr Hildebrandt, dated Nossibe (Mada- 

 gascar), states that he has visited Beravi, where the unfortunate 

 traveller, Dr. Chr. Rutenburg, was murdered some time ago. 

 Hildebrandt erected a stone monument on the spot ; the body, 

 however, could not be found, in spite of the most assiduous 

 inquiries, the murderers having thrown it into a mountain 

 torrent. Hildebrandt has photographed the spot, and sends a 

 copy to Bremen, accompanied by the last diary and steno- 

 graphical notes of Rutenburg. 



The Geographical Society of Algiers has nominated for its 

 president M. MacCarthy, an explorer of the Algerian Sahara, 

 who is settled in Algiers, and has been app nnted librarian of the 

 National Library of Algiers. This Society has been divided into 

 three sections: Political Geography, Economical Geography, and 

 Physical Geography. 



The Belgian African Society has received letters from Zanzi- 

 bar, according to which MM. Popelin and Van der Heuvel had 

 arrived at Mpwapwa on August 15 and atChunyu on September 

 2. They were to leave the latter place on September 3, and to 

 penetrate into the Ugogo district. At Mpwapwa they met the 

 elephant caravan led by Carter. Each elephant carried about 

 iocwt. The march was performed most satisfactorily. In the 

 districts where the tsetse flies abound, the animals were often 

 covered by them without feeling any the worse for it. Only one 

 elephant died through change of nourishment, the whole caravan 

 being fed with what the country offered. M. Dutalis, who 

 suffered from a severe attack of fever, has returned to Europe. 



The Geographical Society of Munich has conferred the title 

 of Honorary Members upon Prof. Nordenskjdld, Dr. Joseph 

 Chavanne (Vienna), and Dr. Emil Holub (Prague). The recep- 

 tion of the latter upon his return to Prague was most enthusiastic. 

 He had been absent for over seven years. The Vienna Geo- 

 graphical Society has elected the following gentlemen as Honorary 

 Members : — Prof. Ujfalvy (Paris), General Kanffmann (Tashkend), 

 Dr. E. Holub (Prague), and Prof. Arendts (Munich). The last- 

 named gentleman has also been nominated Corresponding 

 Member of the Paris Society for commercial geography. 



A general " Geographentag " will be called at Berlin 

 during the summer of 1880. Its special object will be the con- 

 sideration of plans for the formation of a great German 

 " Gcsellschaft fur Erdkunde." The idea is not a new one, but 

 projects for the new General Society have already been mooted 

 upon several occasions. At the recent Karl Ritter celebration 

 at Berlin, a "commission" was appointed and charged with the 

 working out of certain preliminaries referring to the subject. 

 The commission is formed of Dr. Nachtigal (Berlin), Prof. 

 Neumayer (Hamburg), Prof. Bruhns (Leipzig), Prof. Rein (Mar- 

 burg), and Dr. Roth (Dresden) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 



INTELLIGENCE 



Oxford. — In a congregation held on Tuesday, November 18, 



the amendments to the proposed statute to confer degrees in 



natural science were taken into consideration. The proposed 



statute made Greek an optional subject in the natural science 



