56 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. Vir. No. 159. 



To those with whom he was associated in 

 work, or who were otherwise privileged to 

 know him intimately, his prolonged but 

 splendidly heroic struggle with a fatal dis- 

 ease, together with the uniformly high 

 standard of performance which that strug- 

 gle did not sensibly affect, will ever remain 

 an inspiring example of the best of human 



qualities. 



T. C. M. 



CURRENT NOTES ON PSYSIOGRAPHY. 

 MILNE ON SUBOCEANIC CHANGES. 



This topic, already noted in Science 

 (September 3, 1897), receives further de- 

 tails (London Geog. Journ., X., 1897, 259- 

 289), which will well repay study. Their 

 practical importance may be inferred from 

 the expense — half a million sterling — 

 of fifteen cable repairs necessitated by 

 submarine disturbances. Their specific 

 character appears in the items pf place and 

 date, as well as in the photographic illus- 

 trations of torn cables, gathered by the 

 author with much care from usually inac- 

 cessible sources. Their novelty is illus- 

 trated in such items as the following : " The 

 Bilbao cable broke down periodically, usu- 

 ally in March during or after a heavy north- 

 west gale, at a point about thirty miles off 

 shore ; when repaired, it was invariably 

 found that three or four miles of cable had 

 been buried. This is attributed to a strong 

 submarine current, caused by the piling up 

 of surface water by the wind ; the under 

 current crossing the drowned prolongation 

 of a river valley with steep walls, which, 

 when undercut, fell in masses." Again: "The 

 military and naval reserves were called out 

 in Australia, in 1888, when the simultaneous 

 interruption of two cables cut off communi- 

 cation with the rest of the world for nine- 

 teen days and gave rise to the fear that war 

 had broken out in Europe." The physio- 

 graphical interest of the article comes frorn 

 the constant association of cable fractures 



with the steeper slopes of continental mar- 

 gins where the submarine contours are not 

 only irregular but variable ; this being in 

 strong contrast to the undisturbed condition 

 of cables in deep water on a soft level bot- 

 tom, of which Kipling says : 



There is no sound, no eclio of sound, in the deserts 



of the deep, 

 Or the great gray level plains of ooze where the shell- 



harred cables creep. 



Near the continents, slopes of 1 in 7, or 

 even 1 in 3 are discovered. Changes of 

 depth amounting to 100 or 200 fathoms are 

 determined by soundings before and after 

 cable fractures in regions of disturbance. 



In conclusion, Milne makes two sugges- 

 tions : First, that he would be glad to re- 

 ceive (at Shide Hill House, Newpoi-t, Isle 

 of Wight, England) details regarding cable 

 interruptions in any part of the world ; sec- 

 ond, that seismographs, similar to the one 

 he has on the Isle of "Wight, should be in- 

 stalled in various countries, their cost being 

 about £50 ; this suggestion being adopted 

 by the British Association, whose circular 

 on the subject may be obtained from their 

 Seismological Committee (Burlington 

 House, London, "W.). 



hatcher's EXPLORATIONS IN PATAGONIA. 



Primarily with the object of collecting 

 fossil mammals, Princeton University sent 

 J. B. Hatcher to Patagonia in January, 1896. 

 He returned in July, 1897, and after 

 leaving reports on his geological and geo- 

 graphical results {American Journal of Science 

 and National Geographical Magazine for No- 

 vember) he has gone out on a second expe- 

 dition. The geographical description gives 

 an excellent picture of the Patagonian 

 pampas. They consist of a heavy series of 

 fresh- water (continental) deposits, deeply 

 cut by west-east valleys and strewn over 

 with drift from the Andes, morainic near 

 the mountains and water-washed farther 

 east. The terraces, by which succes- 



