Apkil 20, 1883.] 



SCIENCE. 



315 



axes of least expansion are parallel to the direction of 

 pressure will grow at the expense of the neighboring 

 crystals, whose axes of greatest expansion are most 

 nearly parallel to tlie pressure. Hence only certain 

 crystals grow ; the others decrease and disappear: as 

 a result, all the former should have their axes paral- 

 lel to one anotlier, and to tlie average greatest press- 

 ure when they arrive at the lower end of the glacier. 

 The author found tliirteen out of fourteen samples 

 taken from the grotto at the foot of the Rhone gla- 

 cier to have their axes vertical; others have policed 

 the same predominance of vertical crystals "at the 

 lower end of the Grindelwald and tlie Aletsch glaciers. 

 It is possible that both these modes of growth occur 

 together. To determine this and other long-lasting 

 mysteries of glacial phenomena, many more obser- 

 vations are needed on the internal temperature and 

 constitution of glacial ice. — ( Verh. naturf. gesellsch. 

 Basel, 1882, vii. 192; Arch. sc. phys. nat., 1882, viii. 

 343.) w. M. D. [658 



GEOGRAPHY. 



(South AmeHca.) 

 Eastern Patagonia. — The records have lately 

 been found of an expedition into eastern Patagonia, 

 between lats. 43° and 47°, made in 1877 by the late 

 H. Dnrnford, an English ornithologist, who died in 

 South America in 1878. Durnford was accompanied 

 by Messrs. Griffiths and Jones from the Welsh colo- 

 ny near the moulh of the river Chupat (Chubut of 

 Moreno), and made a distance of about three hun- 

 dred miles to tlie south-west before turning back. 

 Important observations were made on the position 

 and size of several rivers — Sengel, Sengellen, and 

 Chupat — and lakes, — Colguape (Coluhuape) and an- 

 other equally large (later named Lake Musters by 

 Moreno), — besides many smaller salt lagoons, all 

 shallow, and apparently much decreased from their 

 former extent. The country was very monotoiious, 

 showing nearly everywhere the same barren steril- 

 ity, occasionally relieved by a lagoon or gully 

 containing water. Bare hills and slopes of sandy 

 marl, and volcanic rocks of varied shape and color, 

 from pale brick-red to black, formed the general sur- 

 face. Sometimes the traveller's way led across de- 

 posits of soft, yielding dust, and again over hard, 

 unbroken rock. The animal and plant life, wherever 

 found, was stunted and dwarfed. Evidence of for- 

 mer marine submergence was found on the table- 

 land in well-rounded pebbles, gigantic oyster-shells, 

 and numerous fragments of smaller shells. The 

 rivers are now sunk in many places several hundi'ed 

 feet below the plain, and flow between steep banks. 

 Numerous cairns containing Indian skeletons were 

 found on hilltops. They are carefully built of stone, 

 the blocks often being of a considerable size. The 

 route followed by Durnford's party was like that 

 taken by Moyano in 1880. — {Proc. roy. geogr. soc, 

 1883,84.) w. M. D. [659 



Rio Pilcomayo. — A brief note furnished by Mar- 

 guin, a member of Fontana's expedition in search of 

 Crevaux, sliows the Pilcomayo to be one of those 

 newly establislied rivers on a very flat surface, with 

 but little descent to its base-level of drainage. The 

 exploration reached lat. 24° 40' about one hundred 

 miles from Asuncion, on the Paraguay; and, especially 

 in the upper half of this distance, the river meandered 

 very irregularly through a low forest-covered coun- 

 try, often interrupted by lagoons. Its banks were 

 naturally raised about twelve feet by deposits of sand 

 in five-inch strata, separated by thin layers of vegeta- 

 ble origin ; and at time of flood the waters were thus 

 divided into three parallel courses. As the water of 



the main channel subsided, the overflow drained 

 back through breaches in the banks, having tempo- 

 rarily the appearance of aflluents. The channel was 

 often interrupted with snags, and bore signs of fre- 

 quently changing its position to avoid the bars formed 

 about them. The several neighboring streams (Rio del 

 Fuego, Aguaray-Guazu, mboicae, Confuso del Sur), 

 by which part of the Pilcomayo may have once been 

 discharged into the Paraguay, are regarded as its for- 

 mer channels abandoned by these changes. Marguin 

 recalls Padre Patiiio, who attempted to ascend the 

 river in 1721, but was forced back by the Indians on 

 approaching lat. 23°; Van Nivel and Acha's attempt 

 from Bolivia in 1844, which failed to pass a great la- 

 goon at some point farther up stream than Patiflo's 

 goal; and, finally, Crevaux' party, which more near- 

 ly attained success than any of the others. — {Comptes 

 rendus soc. geogr. Paris, 1883, 60. ) w. M. D. [660 

 Antioquia. — The narrative of a journey through 

 this north-western province of Colombia, by Fr. v. 

 Schenck, gives an entertaining account of its inhabit- 

 ants and their condition. On the way inland from 

 the northern seacoast, Schenck found the navigation 

 of the Magdalena a difficult undertaking, from its 

 numerous sandbars, and sliifting, entangled channels. 

 Below Magangue its valley is fairly cultivated; but 

 farther up stream the forest wilderness is hardly 

 broken for a long distance, and the towns named on 

 the maps are represented by a few huts occupied by 

 negroes and cliinos, who supply the river-steamers 

 with wood. This region is very warm and unhealthy. 

 The ruins of a few chapels remain from the early 

 times of Spanish occupation, but they have been long 

 abandoned by the priests. Farther south, where the 

 river forms the eastern boundary of Antioquia, wliich 

 Schenck regards as the best province of the country, 

 there is more clearing; the people are industrious, 

 and of a much better morality than those of Spanish 

 descent generally are, so that the traveller calls them 

 Puritans. The road from Nare (about 150 met. elev. ), 

 on the Magdalena, westward to Medellln (1,480 inet.), 

 crosses two ranges that rise to 2,220 and 2,530 metres. 

 An interesting description is given of Medellin, where 

 the author found a curious mixture of civilized com- 

 forts with the makeshifts of an isolated region. An 

 excursion was made northward, over a plateau, to the 

 gold district of Santa Rosa de Oros, and beyond to 

 the falls of the Guadalupe (lat. 6° 46' N.),— the 

 highest (250 met.) in Colombia, surpassing those of 

 Tequendama (139 met.), near Bogota, in the sur- 

 rounding scenery as well as in height. The falls of 

 the Guadalupe have also the advantage of being well 

 seen from a neighboring point of view, wliere the 

 stream is in sight from its upper placid flow, past the 

 rapids to the cataract, which glides over a sloping, 

 rooky surface to the gorge below. The climate of An- 

 tioquia is considered healthy, except in the low, warm 

 valleys. In January and February the air is cool, and 

 the sky clear. There are two rainy seasons, — in the 

 north, from March to June, and from August to No- 

 vember; and in the south, from March to May, and 

 from September to November. The rainfall thus 

 seems to depend on the solar culmination ; and the dry 

 season, on the occupation of the country by the trade- 

 winds. —(Peienn. miit/i., 1883.) w. M. D. [661 



BOTANY. 



Cryptogams. 

 The rot in European grape-vines.— Professor 

 Millardet of Bordeaux, in a paper entitled ' Pourridie 

 et Phylloxera,' explains how the attacks of the well- 

 known Phylloxera destroy the grape-vines in France. 



