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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XVII. No 434 



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DISCOVERY OF A FRESH-WATEE LAKE NEAR THE SEA 

 OF ARAL. 



According to information conveyed to the Geographical Soci- 

 ety of Paris by M. Edouard Blanc, and printed in the May num- 

 ber of the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Lon- 

 don, an interesting discovery of a fresh-water lake to the south- 

 west of the Sea of Aral has been made by Col. Koslowski, of the 

 Russian geographical service of Turkestan. Up to a compara- 

 tively recent date the Sea of Aral was represented on the maps as 

 forming at its south-west corner a deep, narrow gulf (named 

 Aibu-ghir), extending far into the land, and bordering on the 

 south-east the greatTJs't-Urt plateau. The Russian military expe- 

 dition to Khiva (1872-3). in its march round the south-west and 

 south of the Sea of Aral, found no such arm of the sea, and since 

 then the Gulf of Aibu-ghir has practically disappeared from the 

 maps. In the map which accompanies Baron Kaulbars' work on 

 the delta of the Aniu-daria, the so-called Gulf of Aibu-ghir is 

 shown merely as a depression, without water, and its form and 

 position are only vaguely indicated. Recent surveys effected by 

 Col. Koslowski have revealed the existence of a fresh-water lake, 

 occupying very nearly the position formerly assigned to the Gulf 

 of Aibu-ghir, hut differing in its form. This lake is quite dis- 

 tinct from Lake Sari Kamish, which lies to the south of the table- 

 land of ihe Ust-Urt, and has recently been the subject of a special 

 exploration by Gen. Glukhovskoi. Unlike the Sari-Kamish de- 

 pression, which, except at times of great overflows of the Oxus, 

 is mostly dry, Lake Aibu-ghir has a permanent supply of water, 

 being fed by a fresh-water stream flowing into it from the north- 

 east, which, although not in direct communication with any 

 branch of the Amu-daria, drains the marshes formed by the over- 

 flowing of that river. The probable explanation of the formation 

 of this lake is, according to M. Blanc, that it is part of the former 

 great Aralian basin, which has become isolated in consequence of 

 the general and progressive desiccation which has taken place in 

 all this region. The elimination of the salt from its waters might 

 be due to the formation of salines, although no salt-beds under 

 the sand round the shores of the lake have yet been discovered; 

 or it might be supposed that at some recent epoch, during a great 

 overflow of the Oxus, the lake basin was tilled with fresh water, 

 the salt water being driven back into the Sea of Aral, and that at 

 the same time a bar was formed by the alluvium brought down 

 by the river, which would prevent the salt water flowing back 

 again into the lake. The map of Col. Koslowski also fixes defini- 

 tively the contour of the south-eastern escarpment of the Ust-Urt 

 plateau and the topography of the country to the south west of 

 the Sea of Aral. 



IMMORTALITY IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN DYNAMICS." 



The hypothesis in reference to the re-grouping of atoms, in ac- 

 cordance with the calculus of permutations, which I announced in 

 conclusion of my lecture on " Geological and Cosmical Problems," 

 before the Franklin Institute, on November 17, 1890, is not en- 

 tirely new, and I am bound to say that in at least one of its aspects 

 it was advanced more than a hundred years ago by the great Ger- 

 man philosopher Leibnitz, at a time when the sciences of chem- 

 istry and physics were not sufficiently advanced to warrant such 

 a speculation. In the light of modem dynamics, however, it de- 

 serves our closest attention, for if it can be shown that matter is 

 composed of ultimate particles, call them atoms, centres of force, 

 or what we like, which are indestructible and in a state of con- 

 tinual vibration, I do not see how we can escape the conclusions 

 which are forced upon us by this hypothesis. Some of the points 

 which I am now about to discuss are new, and I am not aware that 

 this entire subject has ever been presented in the manner in which 

 I now propose to deal with it. 



According to the nebular hypothesis our earth, like all the rest 

 of the planets, once existed in the shape of a gas-ring, which wa& 

 thrown ofif or became detached from the sun during its process of 

 condensation. This ring could not retain its form : it necessarily 

 went to pieces, and these afterwards collected into a single gas- 

 globe, or spherical mass, which kept on pursuing its course around 

 the great central body. The gaseous globe radiated an enormous 

 amount of heat, it grew denser and denser, while its diameter 

 diminished; it underwent an end]e.ss series of metaphorpboses, 

 until it finally became the earth as we kaow it, the planet which 

 has given us birth. So far all this is nothing new. 



Now, even if the nebular hypothesis should prove erroneous, the 

 conclusions which I am now about to present will remain in force, 

 for the same ultimate conclusions can be drawn from every other 

 world-hypothesis which has, as yet, been advanced. 



Every particle of our earth, every object, every substance which 

 we now have upon or in our earth, must have already existed in 

 that gaseous ring or primitive gas-globe : no matter in what form or 

 condition, it was there. In that gas-globe were the particles which, 

 after countless ages, became united and roamed the great Missis- 

 sippi valley in the shape of a mastodon; in that globe of gas were 

 the atoms of carbon which now constitute the table on which I 

 am writing these lines; in that immense rotating sphere wer& 

 the substances which are now united in the body of my humble 

 self. 



Could we but follow, in a few days or hours, the changes, the 

 transformations, the endless pilgrimages, which the atoms and 

 molecules of the substances had to undergo during those aeons be- 

 fore they became united so as to form, for instance, a human body, 

 what marvels would we behold ? The particles of hydrogen, car- 

 bon, phosphorus, etc., of which my body is composed, what a 

 history might they not tell ? In how many other bodies of the 

 human species, of animals, plants, and inorganic compounds may 

 they not already have existed, separated, united, differently 

 grouped or arranged ? What may they not already have gone 

 through and experienced ? 



If King Solomon, wise king though he was, really pronounced, 

 or was the first to pronounce, the opinion that there is nothing 

 new under the sun, he could not possibly have been aware of the 

 enormous significance which attaches to this idea in the light of 

 modern science. Why should not the dust of Caesar which is now^ 

 filling a bung-hole, why shovild not those atoms and molecules 

 which two thousand years ago were united in the body of Csesar, — 

 why should they not, after endless transformations, endless 

 changes, endless transitions, become again united in precisely the 

 same manner; in other words, why should not the same Csesar of 

 whom we read in ancient history, reappear at a given time : in 

 short, why should not every thing now existing be compelled to 

 undergo the same cycle of changes, and reappear, not once, but an 

 infinite number of times? It would be very strange if such were 

 not the case. The following will illustrate this. 



Supposing we were to take six dice, such as are used in the 



J Addendum to a paper on " The Limits of Scientific Inquiry " read before the 

 Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Nov. 17, 1890, by Dr. H. Hansoldt of Columbia 

 College. 



