412 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VIII, No. 196 



ment that the life of Charles Darwin, by his son, 

 which will be published before Christmas, will 

 contain an autobiographical chapter dealing 

 chiefly with the great naturalist's religious 

 opinions. 



— Mr. William Saunders of London, Ontario, 

 has been appointed chief du-ector of the Dominion 

 experimental farms of Canada, and has in con- 

 sequence given up the editorship of the Canadian 

 entomologist, a monthly journal which he has 

 conducted for many years. The former editor. 

 Rev. C. J. S. Bethune of Port Hope, will succeed 

 him. 



— An international railway exposition and con- 

 gress will be held in Paris from May to October, 

 ls87. when a railway jubilee of the fiftieth anni- 

 versary of railroads in France will be celebrated. 

 John W. Weston, editor of the American engineer, 

 Chicago, has been appointed commissioner-gen- 

 eral for the United States. 



— Lieut. -Col. W. T. McLeod sends us a brief 

 account of the weather of two summers as ob- 

 served by him at Nassau on the Bahamas. It 

 would seem from the frequency of heavy rains, 

 thunderstorms, and tropical cyclones, to be quite 

 unlike the mild winter climate of the islands that 

 invalids seek to enjoy. The following descrip- 

 tion of a passing cyclone reveals the character- 

 istic reversal of its central winds : ' On Thurs- 

 day, Aug. 19, 1886, at 9 a.m., the barometer be- 

 gan to fall, and continued to do so gradually up 

 to 12 o'clock noon on Sunday, Aug. 22. From 

 this hour it fell rapiilly up to 4 a.m. on Monday, 

 to the extent of 7-10 of an inch. The barometer 

 remained steady for half an hour, and then rose 

 as rapidlv to its previous height. During this 

 depression a severe gale raged. At about 6 p.m. 

 the sun went down in a yellowish patch, with a 

 purple haze. The cloud-masses were blown out 

 into rain-film. The rain fell and the wind blew 

 in gusts from the east, and continued to blow from 

 east to south-south-east, up to 3 45 a.m. on Aug. 

 23, with increasing force. A lull occurred, and, 

 as the barometer shot upwards, the wind shifted 

 and blew furiously from west-south-west from 

 4.30 a.m. up to 7.30 A M. During this gale several 

 lives were lost and schooners wrecked. Light- 

 ning accompanied the gale. 



— At a meeting on Oct. 19, of the committee of 

 the subscribers to the British school of archeology 

 at Athens, according to Nature, Professor Jebb 

 said the school had been erected and paid for, Mr. 

 F. C. Penrose had been appointed director, and a 

 provisional income of £400 a year for three years 

 had been raised, but additional funds were re- 

 quired. Prof. C. T. Newton, in urging the im- 



portance of having a great school of archeology, 

 suggested that there should ultimately be raised a 

 special fund for the payment of the travelling ex- 

 penses of the students at Athens. On the motion 

 of Professor Jebb, a managing committee was 

 appointed. 



— Messrs. Whittaker & Co. have issued a book 

 by Mr. William Anderson, ''On the conversion of 

 heat into work, a practical hand-book on heat- 

 engines." 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 



*:,* Correspondents are requested to be as brief as possible. The 

 writer's name is in all cases required as proof of good faith. 



The deepest fresh-water lake in America. 



In the issue of your journal of the 27th of August 

 are contained some remarks on Crater Lake in Oregon, 

 and its remarkable depth. The perusal of these re- 

 marks leads me to say a few words with regard to 

 another lake in the extreme eastern portion of the 

 continent, which, though far from approaching that 

 mentioned, has nevertheless a depth, as well as some 

 other features, which are quite exceptional. I refer 

 to Lake Temisconata in the Province of Quebec. 



This lake is situated very near the axis of the 

 divide between the waters of the St. Lawrence and 

 those of the St. John, its outlet by the Madawaska 

 River forming one of the main tributaries of the latter 

 stream. Its total length is twenty-eight miles, about 

 eighteen of this having a general direction a little 

 east of south ; while the remainder, forming the more 

 jiortherly position, trends to the north-east nearly at 

 a right angle with the former. The breadth varies 

 from one to three miles. Throughout its length 

 and on both sides, the land is usually high, forming 

 numerous ridges and i^romontories projecting into 

 the lake, but just at the angle referred to one of 

 these, known as Mount Wissick or Mount Essex, 

 rises almost precipitously to a height of 550 feet, 

 while the opjjosite shore is here quite low. The 

 height of the lake above tide-water is, by aneroid, 

 about 400 feet ; the distance of the upper end from 

 the St. Lawrence being thirty miles, while the length 

 of its actual discharge, byway of the Madawaska and 

 St. John to the Bay of Fundy, is 288 miles. 



Having had occasion to spend some time about the 

 lake during the last summer in connection with the 

 work of the Canadian geological survey, and having 

 heard incredible stories as to its de^jth, means were 

 taken to ascertain the truth by a number of sound- 

 ings at points which seemed to promise the best re- 

 sults. Of these, three, taken near the foot of the 

 lake, gave a depth varying from 215 to 225 feet ; 

 farther north a dejDth of 410 feet was reached ; and 

 midway between Mount Wissick and old Fort Ingalls, 

 500 feet. It seems j^robable, however, from the 

 statements of reliable jDarties, that even this depth is 

 at some places considerably exceeded. 



In the case of Crater Lake, if one may judge from 

 its name, its depth is no more than one might expect 

 from the conditions of its origin ; but in the case of 

 Lake Temisconata there is absolutely nothing of a 

 volcanic character, and the whole depression is evi- 

 dently the result of simple erosion. That that erosion 



