92 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLI. No. 1046 



He was killed in an assault on September 10 

 at Ippecourt. Both of the secretaries, Dr. E. 

 Jeannel and Dr. Maurice Eoyer, were at the 

 front but in good health. 



We learn from The Observatory that it is 

 proposed to recommence the publication of the 

 Gazette Astronomique, formerly issued by the 

 Astronomical Society of Antwerp. The occu- 

 pation of that town by the Germans occasioned 

 the temporary suspension of the Gazette. A 

 number of English astronomers, on the initia- 

 tive of Mrs. Fiammetta Wilson, of Bexley 

 Heath, have promised to aid by pecuniary as- 

 sistance and literary contributions. It is in- 

 tended to issue the Gazette monthly unless 

 funds and the material for printing should 

 justify publication at shorter intervals. The 

 minimum subscription will be five shillings, 

 but those who are able and willing to aid more 

 generously may subscribe half a guinea or a 

 guinea as a more effective means of carrying 

 out the idea of their Belgian comrades. The 

 Gazette will be published in French and Eng- 

 lish, and will be devoted to general astronom- 

 ical subjects. It is hoped that the first num- 

 ber of the new issue will be ready early in 

 January. Subscriptions and correspondence 

 should be addressed to Eelix de Roy, hon. sec., 

 29 Stamford St., London, S.E. 



Dr. George D. Hubbard, head of the de- 

 partment of geology at Oberlin College, has 

 issued a bulletin covering the work of the 

 Oberlin Geological Survey during the sura- 

 mer. From June 25 to August 14, Dr. Hub- 

 bard conducted a field survey in geology at 

 Glen Lyn, Virginia. The party consisted of 

 Professor and Mrs. Hubbard and nine stu- 

 dents, eight men and one woman. Three of 

 the students were graduates; seven were Ober- 

 lin men; one came from the University of 

 Cincinnati, and one from Houghton Semi- 

 nary, New York. The work consisted of the 

 making of a topographic map by means of 

 transit and plane-table, and the making of a 

 geologic map of about 40 square miles of hilly 

 country, partly in the folded strata of the 

 Appalachians and partly in the dissected Alle- 

 gheny plateau of nearly horizontal strata. A 

 large collection of rocks and fossils was made; 



among the latter were several species of crin- 

 oids hitherto unknown in the Mississippian 

 rocks of this locality. These collections are 

 now being prepared and mounted for the 

 Oberlin Geological Museum. 



With a view to prolonging the original sur- 

 vey of the Palestine Exploration Fund to the 

 Egyptian frontier, and so connecting it with 

 recent work of the Egyptian Survey Depart- 

 ment, a survey has been carried out under the 

 auspices of the same fund by parties headed 

 by Captain S. F. Newcombe, R.E. In a re- 

 port, written at Akaba in February of this 

 year and printed in the July number of the 

 Quarterly Statement of the Fund,' of which we 

 learn from the Scottish Geographical Journal, 

 Captain Newcombe describes the general pro- 

 gram of the survey, and the progress of the 

 work to date, while a postscript written in 

 June records the return of the party to this 

 country after completing its labors. The area 

 in question was but imperfectly known, and 

 the results are of some interest apart from 

 their purely cartographical value. Five parties 

 were engaged in the work, and the map was 

 made on the scale of 1 : 125,000, roughly con- 

 toured at 100-feet intervals. A triangulation 

 was effected, the fixed points of the Siani 

 boundary determined by the Egyptian survey 

 being carried further east, while in the north 

 a chain of triangles was carried across to con- 

 nect with the original Palestine survey. In 

 the south it was possible to save time and ex- 

 pense by observing large triangles, the exte- 

 rior points — Mount Hor and Jebel Taba — 

 being observed from two mutually visible fixed 

 points over 40 miles apart on the Egyptian 

 frontier, and a framework thus supplied into 

 which subsidiary points could be easily fitted. 

 The main difficulties encountered were con- 

 cerned with transport, and the procuring of 

 guides and supplies, with a certain amount of 

 hostility on the part of the Arabs, but these 

 were on the whole successfully overcome. A 

 small area near Akaba had to be left unsur- 

 veyed owing to the unwillingness of the Turk- 

 ish authorities to give the required permis- 

 sion. This was, however, mapped by Major 

 Kitchener in 1883. The summit of Mount Hor 



