140 



NATURE 



[Dec. ii, 1879 



double charges were fired, each successive charge being increased 

 in length. No sign & flaw or damage could be perceived. A 

 similar result attendgpl experiments with an airspace between 

 the powder charge .^nd the base of the projectile. But when 

 shall we have a gunjer like Froude to abolish experiments on 

 the scale of 12 incllesfj* a foot ? The navy now build a paraffin 

 boat for a fen- shiljpj^ instead of a real one costing a quarter of 

 a million to exjWKent with. What will the experiments, 

 including the burstrng of the gun, co.-t? If smaller experiments 

 cannot be devised, no one has a right to say that Palliser's 

 experiments on a smaller scale teach us nothing. 



We are glad to see that decisive action has been taken on the 

 side of the United States for the acquisition of the ground in the 

 neighbourhood of Niagara Falls as an International Park, and 

 so preserve visitors from the innumerable annoyances to which 

 they are at present subject. At a meeting of the Board of Com- 

 missioners of the New York State Survey, on November 20, 

 Director Gardner, of the Survey, presented conclusions arrived 

 at by the board at its meeting in Niagara last September, illus- 

 trated with maps, diagrams, &c. The plan proposed is to take 

 a strip along the American bank, varying from 100 to 600 feet 

 in width, extending two miles from the new suspension bridge 

 to the head of the rapids, and plant it with trees, to shut out 

 from view the ugly bazaars, manufactoiies, booths, and hotels 

 which destroy the natural scenery of the banks. The plan also 

 involves the purchase of Goat and Bath Islands, which, the 

 Commission has reason to believe, can be bought. The proposed 

 park will extend to and include Canal Street, in the village, 

 over which the State now has jurisdiction. Director Gardner 

 places the total amount required to secure all the property needed 

 at Soo.ooo dols. The Commissioners thought the estimate too 

 low. A report recommending that the State shall purchase the 

 property will be prepared by Messrs. Dorsheimer, Stent, and 

 Barnard. It is the unanimous opinion of the Commission that 

 New York should proceed to reclaim her side of Niagara with- 

 out reference to what Canada may do. One map, shown by 

 Director Gardner, indicated that the recession of the Falls since 

 1S42, when a trigonometrical survey was made, has been some- 

 thing over 100 feet. 



French meteorologists have observed a curious analogy 

 between the present season and the severe winter 17SS-17S9. 

 This winter was observed and described by Cotte, one of the 

 most celebrated French meteorologists. The frosty weather set 

 in on November 25, and ended on January 13. On December 

 25 intervened a partial thaw. The end of January and February 

 were relatively genial, and the frosty weather again set in on 

 March 4, and kept on up to the end of the month. Frost was 

 so intense that wine was congealed in cellars. The thickness of 

 ice on the Seine was iS inches, and the breaking of the ice 

 happened only on January 20. Note was carefully taken of the 

 minima observed in a large number of Continental cities. It 

 was observed that the minimum of temperature happened in 

 Germany on December 18, in France on the 31st, and in Russia 

 only on January 5. During frosty weather the wind was almost 

 always blowing from north-east with clear sky. Sometimes it 

 was blowing from south, but then snow was falling, sometimes 

 with great abundance. 



The quantity of snow which fell in Paris during the day of 

 December 4 and the ensuing night, according to a calculation 

 made by a member of the Municipal Council, amounts to 

 245,000,000 cubic feet for the interior of the fortifications. It 

 has been estimated that the expense for removing by handwork 

 and carting this immense quantity of snow, would be about 

 Sco,ooo francs. 



The dates of the freezing of the Neva have been carefully 

 observed from 1703. It has never frozen sooner than in I So;, 



on October 16, nor later than in 1740, when it froze on December 

 2S. This year the date is November 15 ; the mean date is 

 November 13. 



Some curious statistics of gas-lighting in Paris have been 

 published recently. The greatest duration of public lighting is 

 14b. 30m., and smallest sh..25m. The cost of gas for public 

 and private establishments is 2,000,000/., about one found per 

 head for each inhabitant of Paris. The total consumption of 

 gas is 6,500,000,000 cubic feet. In 1880 the Paris Municipality 

 intends to enlarge its lighting expenses by 16,000/., and 8,000/. 

 for establishing new gas-lamps. No provision appears to be 

 made for electricity. 



The excavations at Olympia under the auspices of the German 

 Government have been resumed this winter with a force of 100 

 workmen. A statue of Nemesis, and heads of Titus, of a 

 kneeling infant, and of Paionios' Nike have already been un- 

 earthed this season. The total number of works of art thus far 

 excavated is sixty-seven, consisting of forty-one figures and 

 twenty-six heads. 



We regret to have to record the death of Madame Louis 

 Figuier, the w ife of the well-known author of so many popular 

 works in science. Madame Figuier has written a number of 

 plays, and has been a fellow- worker with her husband in the 

 publication of his "Theatre Scientifique," which has appeared 

 quite recently anonymously. 



Dr. II. Trimen, who leaves England to assume his appoint- 

 ment in Ceylon in January, is succeeded in the editorship of the 

 fournal of Botany by Mr. James Britten, F.L.S., of the Botanical 

 Department of the British Museum. 



A Meteorological station has been opened at Prato, thus 

 connecting Fiesole and Florence with Pescia and Lucca. 



Telegraphic communication between Paris and other cities of 

 France and the Continent has been almost interrupted by snow^ 

 It is only in Germany that the telegraphic service has continued 

 almost unimpeded, owing to the establishment of subterranean 

 communications. 



Messrs. Sampson Low and Co. are about to publish Dr. 

 August Weismann's "Studies in the Theory of Descent," with a 

 prefatory notice by Charles Darwin, F.R.S., translated and 

 edited, with notes, by Raphael Meldola. Part I. — On the 

 Seasonal Dimorphism of Butterflies (with two coloured plates). 

 Part II. — On the Origin of the Markings of Caterpillars; On 

 Phyletic Parallelism in Metamorphic Species (with six coloured 

 plates). Part III. — On the Transformation of the Mexican 

 Axolotl into Amblystoma ; On the Mechanical Conception of 

 Nature. The German text, we are informed, has been carefully 

 reviseffcmd brought down to date by the author, under whose 

 supervision the chromo lithographic plates have been accurately 

 re-drawn and engraved. 



We understand that Mr. Anderson's long-promised work on 

 Lightning Conductors w ill now be issued in a few days. Messrs. 

 Spon, of Charing Cross, are the publishers. 



The well-known Boulak Museum at Cairo has been under- 

 going repairs, and the fine collection was deposited in a neigh- 

 bouring warehouse under what seemed proper guardianship. 

 But, the Times correspondent writes, robbers the other day 

 broke in through the roof, and they must have been robbers of 

 a certain rank of intellect, for some 80 or 100 scarabees of great 

 value pecuniarily, and impossible to replace, as they related to 

 the early dynasties, were abstracted, although they were things 

 of no apparent worth to an ignorant person. 



A correspondent of the North China Herald understands 

 that the director of the magnetic and meteorological observatory 



