October 15, 1886.1 



SCIENCE^ 



34a 



and invented by him, he could determine the 

 velocity of currents iiTespective of their direction. 

 This instrument showed himthat intheBosphorus 

 and Dardanelles the velocity decreased from a 

 little below the surface, became at a certain 

 depth, and then increased again. As the surface 

 current is from the Black Sea to the Sea of Mar- 

 mora, and from the latter to the Mediterranean, 

 the lower currents must be in the opposite direc- 

 tion ; i.e., bringing the Salter and warmer water 

 of the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. This was 

 also proved by determinations of specific gravity 

 of the water, which considerably increased once 

 the lower current was reached : for example, five 

 miles from the Black Sea, in the Bosphorus, at 20 

 fathoms depth, the specific gravity was 1.0146 ; at 

 23 fathoms, 1.0225. In the Black Sea, in the 

 vicinity of the Bosphorus, he found water with a 

 temperature above 11° C, even at the depth of 

 140 fathoms ; and 10.5° at 260 fathoms. The ob- 

 servations of Professor Lapschine off the east coast 

 of the Black Sea (latitude 43°- 44^°) give a tem- 

 perature of 10° at 200 fathoms, and 8° at 490 

 fathoms. O. E. 



St. Petersburg, Sept. 25. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Alert returned to Halifax Oct. 10, after 

 an absence of nearly four months. This was the 

 final trip of the Alert to the Hudson's Bay re- 

 gion, all the observmg stations being dismantled, 

 and the observers, their instruments, and other 

 property brought back to Halifax. She sailed 

 from Halifax on June 24, and proceeded direct 

 to Nachvak station. On arrival off the station, 

 the ice was so thick that the steamer could not get 

 in to the coast. She then pushed on to the 

 entrance to the straits, and, after encountering 

 much trouble from ice, a clear entrance was found 

 near the north side. No ice was encountered 

 again until North Bluff was reached, and in mak- 

 ing from that point to Diggs seven or eight days 

 were occupied. At Diggs the Alert remained a 

 couple of days, making repairs and receiving a 

 general overhauling. During this time the pro- 

 peller, from which a blade had been lost in the 

 ice, was fixed. On the fourth day the expedition 

 was continued to Churchill, that point being 

 reached at the end of July. Churchill harbor was 

 surveyed, and was found to be a splendid harbor- 

 ing-place, with not less than twenty-four feet of 

 water at dead low spring tide. York Factory was 

 reached two days after leaving Churchill, the 

 length of the trip being occasioned by delays by a 

 thick fog. Here a reconnaissance survey was 

 made of the estuary of the Nelson River. The 



water was so shoal at such a distance from land, 

 that a vessel could be in only five fathoms of 

 water, and at the same time land could not be 

 sighted from her deck. The roadstead affords a 

 very unsafe anchorage, and the channel of the 

 river is narrow and tortuous. From this place 

 the steamer returned to Churchill, and then pro- 

 ceeded over to the west coast of the bay and 

 Marble Mountain, arriving at the latter place in 

 the middle of August. After observations on 

 the west side of the bay and island, a deter- 

 mination was made of the position of Cape 

 Southampton, and it was found that the cape is 

 placed on the charts six or seven miles too far 

 south and east. On arriving back at Diggs Island, 

 an inner channel, apparently affording a mode of 

 access clear through to the bay, was discovered. 

 From Diggs Island the Alert went to Nottingham, 

 and thence to North Bluff and Stupart's Bay. At 

 the latter a party was sent to make a general ob- 

 servation of Prince of Wales Sound. Observer 

 Payne, who was stationed here, reported finding 

 some relics of very ancient guns. Tliere were 

 four altogether, two of them about the size of 

 nine-pounders of the present day, the other two 

 the size of the four or six pounders. They are of 

 cast iron which is covei-ed with rust ; and so old 

 are they, that the year- marks have rusted out, and 

 it is impossible to estimate their age. The two 

 smaller guns were brought home, the others being 

 left behind. Inquiries concerning the guns were 

 made among the Eskimo, but they could tell noth- 

 ing whatever about them. They were undoubted- 

 ly some of the very earliest attempts at cast-iron 

 ordnance. The steamer left Stupart's Bay in the 

 middle of September for Port Burvrell. On the 

 way north from Port Burwell, soundings were 

 taken, and the water to the east and south of Cape 

 Chidley found to be very shoal. One bank, where 

 there is less than one hundred fathoms all over it, 

 extends seventy-five miles into the sea ; while in 

 the centre of the straits, between the Buttons 

 and Cape Best, there is a depth of over two hun- 

 dred and fifty fathoms. Returning to Nachvak, 

 the station that could not be reached before, the 

 observers were taken on board, and the Alert was 

 headed homeward. The returned observers are 

 all in excellent health, and all save one fared 

 excellently during their exile. At most places 

 game of various kinds was so plentiful that the 

 men rarely tasted the salted or preserved beef. 



— Triibner & Co. announce for the coming sea- 

 son, 'Luck or cunning, as the main means of 

 organic modification,' by Samuel Butler ; ' The 

 life and works of Giordano Bruno ; ' ' The pre- 

 history of the north,' by the late J. J. A. Worsaae 

 (translated, with a brief memoir of the author, by 



