350 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XIV. No. 355 



— The regulation of the Danube, a work of much importance to 

 the people of south-eastern Europe, has at length been commenced. 

 The firstTDlasts were fired at the Iron Gate early in September, in 

 the presence of the Hungarian minister of public works. 



— M. Herman Fol reports to the Academie des Sciences the re- 

 sult of the researches that he has been making in the depths of the 

 Mediterranean during the summer months, his object having been 

 to certify how far daylight penetrates. His operations have been 

 carried on in water of remarkable clearness between Corsica and 

 the shores of the Alpes-Maritimes, at a distance of eighteen geo- 

 graphical miles from the nearest land. M. Fol used gelatino- 

 bromide plates exposed during ten minutes, whereby he has found 

 the limit of daylight in those waters to be at a depth of 1,518 feet 

 (465 metres). This is 327 feet short of the limit assigned to day- 

 light in the Mediterranean by the Germans, Chun and Petersen, 

 some years ago. 



— The official list of awards at the Paris Exposition states that 

 there have been given one grand prize to the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity ; one grand prize and one gold medal to Professor Rowland 

 for his photographic map of the solar spectrum, published by the 

 university ; one gold medal and one silver medal to the Publication 

 Agency of the university. The exhibit of the university at Paris 

 consisted of sets of the several journals, etc., issued there. A 

 silver medal was also awarded for the map of the solar spectrum 

 at the photographic e.xhibition in Berlin this summer. 



— At the International Congress of Chemists in Paris this sum- 

 mer, it was decided to appoint a commission to consider the sub- 

 ject of chemical nomenclature. The commission consists of 

 Messrs. Berthelot, Friedel, Gautier, Schiitzenberger, Grimaux, 

 Jungfleisch, Fauconnier, Combes, Behal, Bouveault (France); 

 Graebe (Switzerland) ; Alexeieff, Beilstein (Russia) ; Baeyer, Noel- 

 ting (Germany) ; Lieben (Austria- Hungary) ; Franchimont (Hol- 

 land) ; Paterno (Italy) ; Armstrong (England) ; Istrate (Roumania) ; 

 Ira Remsen (United States) ; Calderon (Spain) ; Bonkowski Bey 

 (Turkey) ; Cleve (Sweden) ; Mourgues (Chili)."i 



— In the new quarterly statement issued on behalf of the 

 Palestine Exploration Fund, it is stated that Dr. Torrance of the 

 Scottish Mission has undertaken to conduct a series of meteoro- 

 logical observations at Tiberias for the fund. Should Dr. Torrance 

 be able to carry out this undertaking, the observations will, with 

 those made at Sarona (now being published by Mr. Glaisher) and 

 those made by Dr. Chaplin at Jerusalem (and reported in the 

 quarterly statement for 1S83), as Natui-e points out, place the 

 society after a few years in the possession of materials for a fairly 

 complete account of the meteorology of Palestine. Tiberias is 

 682 feet below the level of the Mediterranean ; and the society 

 hopes that, as no regular series of meteorological observations has 

 ever been made in such a depressed situation, the results may be 

 exceptionally interesting. ' As the neighborhood of Jericho is be- 

 coming to some extent a place of residence for Europeans, the 

 society trusts that opportunity may before long present itself for 

 meteorological observations there also. 



— The Archseological Society of Northern Wisconsin is an or- 

 ganization formed for scientific purposes. Its chief object is to 

 collect, arrange, and disseminate facts and material (abundantly 

 scattered over northern Wisconsin) relating to the peoples and 

 tribes who have successively occupied the territory in past times. 

 Every year new facts are disclosed ; implements of iron, copper, 

 stone, and clay are unearthed from mounds and graves that go 

 into private hands, and are lost for any public or practical good to 

 which they ought to be diverted. The great mineralogical re- 

 sources of this region, and its geological features, afford a vast field 

 for investigation. The co-operation of all persons interested in 

 these and kindred subjects is solicited by the society ; and contri- 

 butions of articles sent to the president. Rev. George Gibson 

 (Neenah, Wis.), the secretary, Frank Tilton (Green Bay), or to Mr. 

 F. H. Thurston (Oconto), will be duly acknowledged. 



— Th^ Colonies and India states that a discovery has recently 

 been made on a Fiji plantation which will probably prove extremely 

 valuable in all tropical countries where the cultivation of bananas is 



regarded as a settled industry. The banana-disease had for some 

 time been causing much havoc on a plantation on Vanua Levu, and 

 it appears that the discovery of an antidote was due to an accidental 

 occurrence. On a flat near the seashore there was a patch of 

 bananas much diseased, and some time ago the sea swept into it, 

 and remained on it for about an hour. All the plants were killed 

 as far as the standing stems were concerned ; but vigorous young 

 shoots came up freely from the roots, and were not only quite free 

 from disease, but soon began to bear much larger bunches of fruit 

 than the parent plants ever did. Upon noting this effect, the 

 planters determined to try the experiment upon a number of badly 

 diseased plants which the sea had not reached. They cut down 

 the diseased plants, and, having stirred the ground about them, 

 poured from one to four buckets of sea-water over each. The re- 

 sult was, that, while the parent stems withered, vigorous young 

 shoots came freely away, without a sign of disease. 



— Mr. George F. Kunz, in charge of the Tiffany exhibit at the 

 Paris Exposition, has received from the ministre de I'instruction 

 publique des beaux arts, for his work in connection with the subject 

 of precious stones, the decoration known as Toflficier d'Acad^mie, 

 with the right to the purple ribbon known as the " Palm of the 

 Academy." He sailed for New York, Nov. 16. 



— The French have long been seeking an expeditious means of 

 communication with the southern provinces of China. The Cham- 

 ber of Commerce Journal o{ Aug. 5, l88g, reports a discovery 

 which promises to gratify their wishes to some extent. The Mar- 

 quis de Mores has studied the basin of the Canton River, and in 

 the course of his inquiries he heard that caravans from Yunnan, 

 Sze-Chuen, and other provinces, were in the habit of meeting at 

 Pose, on the Son-ki-kong, a tributary of the Canton River, and a 

 very short distance from the Tong-king frontier. On reaching the 

 Son-ki-kong, accompanied by MM. Thorel and Van Driesche, the 

 Marquis de Mores found that it was a navigable river more than 

 two hundred and seventy yards wide. This river might be placed 

 in direct communication with French territory by a railway about 

 one hundred and twenty-five miles in length. At present the trade 

 of the western provinces of China passes through Canton, and is 

 attended with great difificulty and enormous expense ; and the time 

 of transport is sixty to eighty days. It is estimated that this new 

 route would save sixty days on an average, so that Tong-king 

 would have every prospect of becoming the outlet for the trade of 

 the whole of western China. The Red River, which has hitherto 

 been looked upon as the only route into China, has a rapid fall, and 

 ends in a muddy delta which affords no good anchorage. How- 

 ever, according to Petermann's Mitteilungen (vol. xxxv. No. 9), 

 a steamer has ascended the river to Laokai on the frontier of Yun- 

 nan. The Marquis de Mores found colza, maize, buckwheat, and 

 chestnuts near the river Son-ki-kong. Tobacco, silk, and indigo 

 also are cultivated in small quantities, and their cultivation would 

 probably be much extended if the country were rendered secure 

 from robbers. The exploring party returned to Langson, and 

 thence to Tien-Yen on. the coast, a distance of ninety-three miles. 

 The last part of their journey (thirty-seven miles) was performed on 

 the river Son-Tien-Yen, — the only river in Tong-king which yields 

 pure drinking-water, and does not form a muddy estuary. The 

 favorable geographical position of Upper Burmah in regard to 

 Yunnan, however, has not escaped the attention of the British 

 Government ; and in this connection it is interesting to note, as 

 pointed out by the Deutsche Rundschau (September, 18S9), that 

 " by the opening of the Tungu-Mandalay line, the latter town has 

 been brought into railway communication with the port of Ran- 

 goon, which has now acquired considerable importance. The rail- 

 way is to be continued to Bhamo, so that Yunnan and the adjacent 

 provinces of the Chinese Empire will thus be connected with the 

 sea by a much more convenient means of transport than at present 

 exists on their eastern side. Rangoon, and indeed Burmah alto- 

 gether, vi^ill derive much benefit from this line." 



— Professor T. H. Lewis, the well-known archaeologist of St- 

 Paul, recently obtained a relic of antiquity from Mr. Andrew Wiest 

 of Blakeley, Minn. The relic in question is a small clay cup five 

 inches in diameter and three and one-half inches in depth. The 

 top, or mouth, is four inches in diameter, with a notched rim. The 



