292 
carrying capacity of 56 kilogrammes per day. 
This, he says, shows that the imperviousness of 
the balloon had not been essentially increased 
Since last year. Besides this daily escape, vari- 
ous circumstances led to a certain loss of gas in 
the ascent itself, necessitating a corresponding 
sacrifice of ballast. After making allowance 
for these losses of gas, and taking into considera- 
tion the fact that in the ascent part of the drag- 
ropes were lost and that the balloon at once rose 
to a height of 15,000 ft. to 25,000 ft., which was 
more than had been reckoned upon, Dr. Ek- 
holm comes to the following conclusions: The 
longest time for which the balloon would remain 
in the air would be from 22 to 24 days, and less 
if mountains exceeding the height attained at 
the start had to be crossed. As the duration 
of the projected voyage may be estimated in 
ordinary conditions as regards wind at 24 days, 
remarkable good fortune would be necessary 
for success. 
LIEUTENANTS VANNUTELLI AND CATERNI, 
the surviving officers of the Bottego expedition, 
haye sent in a report to the Italian Geographical 
Society, which is summarized in a dispatch to 
the London Times. The expedition set out 
on February 2, 1895, from Sancurar, and after 
touching Vollamo visited Pogadesen(?), and 
arrived on June 1, 1896, at Omo. In conse- 
quence of continuous fighting with the warlike 
tribes inhabiting these regions, the members of 
the expedition were obliged to spend the months 
of July and August, 1896, on the shores of Lake 
Rudolf. At this point Dr. Sacchi left the expe- 
dition, taking with him some valuable mineral- 
ogical and zoological collections and proceeded 
to Lugh. The main expedition proceeded up 
to the Ethiopian plateau, stopping at Sajo, 
whence a letter was forwarded to the Galla 
chief Degiasmac. In consequence of the friend- 
ly assurances given by the latter, the expedition 
continued its forward march, arriving on March 
16th of the present year in the neighborhood of 
Gabo. ‘The chief, notwithstanding his friendly 
assurances, behaved treacherously and caused 
the party to be surrounded, so that they had no 
course left but to attempt to cut their way out. 
Of the 86 members of the expedition, 66, in- 
cluding its leader, were killed, the survivors 
being taken prisoners and haying many hard- 
SCIENCE. 
[N.S. Von. VI. No. 138. 
ships to endure. On June 6th last the captives 
were sent by order of the Emperor Menelik to 
Shoa, where they arrived on June 22d and were 
handed over to Major Nerazzini. The docu- 
ments belonging to the expedition were saved, 
only the collections intrusted to Dr. Sacchi 
having been lost. It is thought probable that 
the latter was killed. 
THE British Society of Inspectors of Weights 
and Measures recently held its annual general 
meeting in London. The total membership 
of the Society is now upwards of three hun- 
dred, and sixty cities and towns were rep- 
resented at the meeting. Sir Henry Roscoe, 
the Vice-President, made an address on the 
subject of the metric system of weights 
and measures. He reminded the members 
that he was the Chairman of the Select Com- 
mittee of the House of Commons, appointed 
two sessions ago, to report on the question of 
how far it was desirable to alter our system of 
weights and measures and adopt the metric 
system, which, he said, was almost universal 
throughout civilized, and to some extent un- 
civilized countries. He joined with the 
members of the Society in the hope that 
the bill would soon pass into law. It 
did not do all that they had hoped for, 
but they must, he thought, accept it as an 
installment. Sir John Hutton reported that of 
one and three-quarter million scales examined in 
London, one-third had proved defective. The 
members of the Society visited the Victorian Ex- 
hibition of the Crystal Palace, where a Section 
of Weights and Measures had been organized 
by the Society, and subsequently went to Paris 
to view the standards and appliances of the 
French government at the Bureau central. 
Tue Berlin Town Council has decided to ap- 
point a municipal ‘ hydrologist’ for the hygienic 
supervision of the water supply of the city. 
Sicnor CESARESCO writes to the London 
Times asking for the suppression of the export 
of quails and small birds from Italy to England. 
It is said that millions are sent to England from 
Egypt and from the south of Italy, part of 
which are caught in defiance of such protective 
laws as exist, while the rest are netted in the 
spring and autumn and are kept in more or less 
