Apkil 17, 1914] 



SCIENCE 



577 



change from existing conditions, apparently a 

 highly desirable result. Edgar T. Wherry 

 National Mtiseum, 

 Washington, D. C. 



the wellesley fire 



To THE Editor op Science: The article of 

 Professor Caroline B. Thompson entitled 

 " The Wellesley Fire " stated that " the more 

 important losses to physics are lantern slides, 

 a collection of crystals, a unique collection of 

 Nicol prisms. . . ." The lantern slides, al- 

 though a useful adjunct to the apparatus, rep- 

 resented an inconsiderable part of the total 

 loss. It is true that it will be difficult to 

 duplicate the larger crystal sections and that 

 the Nichol prisms, although by no means 

 forming a " unique collection," were unusually 

 good for a college of liberal arts as indeed was 

 the entire equipment. 



In a loss amounting in the aggregate to 

 many thousands of dollars it is idle to enumer- 

 ate particular items, but it may be noted that 

 the department was especially fortunate in 

 its equipment for the study of advanced optics 

 and electricity. The apparatus included a 

 commercial photometer, a large optical bench 

 for the study of interference and diffraction 

 effects, a Michelson interferometer, Lummer 

 plate spectroscope, polariscopes, polarizing 

 microscopes, Frick polarimeter, apparatus for 

 the Zeeman effect, etc. Recently considerable 

 time had been devoted to developing an ex- 

 perimental lecture course in " Electric Oscilla- 

 tions." To bring the equipment again to the 

 same degree of efficiency will be the work of 

 years. Louise Sherwood McDowell 



Wellesley College 



SCIENTIFIC BOOKS 

 Across Unknown South America. By Henry 



Savage-Landor. Two volumes. Boston, 



Little, Brown & Company. 1913. Pp. 



xxiii-|-37Y and xviH-439, illustrated. 



A map given at the end of the first volume 

 shows that the author traveled extensively in 

 various parts of South America, but it is not 

 clear which part of that continent he regards 

 as unknown. From Rio he went to S. Paulo, 

 and thence to Araguary in western Minas by 



railway. From there to the city of Goyaz he 

 traveled a much used road. From Goyaz he 

 went westward on the road leading to Cuyaba. 

 That road is not only much traveled and well 

 known, but is shown on most maps of Brazil, 

 such as Stieler's hand atlas and Baron Homem 

 de Mello's atlases of Brazil, 1882 and 1909. 

 There is even a telegraph line connecting the 

 city of Goyaz with the city of Cuyaba. 

 Francis de Castelnau made the trip in 1844, 

 and his account of it is given in detail in the 

 second volume of his " Expedition dans les 

 parties centrales de I'Amerique du Sud," pages 

 218-282. 



At Capim Branco, near Cuyaba, the author 

 abandoned the main road and struck out 

 across country by compass. The various dis- 

 agreeable experiences off the main road were 

 such as one would naturally expect, whether 

 traveling in the interior of Brazil or in the 

 interior of Pennsylvania. Little wonder that 

 his men objected. This wandering about 

 through the woods seems to have been regarded 

 as exploration of an unknown region, though 

 it is to be noted that he found farmers living 

 there, and that the names of the streams were 

 known to his companions. 



After a few days in this " unknown " region 

 he came out in the road leading from Rosario 

 to Diamantino, and near the latter place took 

 a canoe, without the necessary outfit, and 

 descended the Arinos and Tapajos. 



Here again he seems to regard the region 

 as unknown. But the Arinos and Tapajos, in 

 spite of their many and difficult falls and 

 rapids, have been navigated constantly for 

 more than a hundred and fifty years. Father 

 Ayres de Cazal in his " Corografia Brazilica," 

 published at Rio in 1817, says (Vol. I., p. 261) 

 that in 1747 Captain Joao de Souza descended 

 to Para by way of Rios Arinos, Tapajos and 

 Maranhao, and returned by way of the 

 Madeira with canoes laden with European 



Dr. Mello Moraes in his " Corografia his- 

 torica do Imperio do Brasil," Rio, 1859, 486, 

 speaks of the voyage of Joao de Souza in 1747, 

 but adds that Leonardo de Oliveira descended 

 that river in August, 1742. 



