44 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 80. 



■deep valleys and entirely change the aspect 

 of the country. The lakes all stand lower 

 than their ancient shore lines ; many small 

 basins of to-day having formerly united in 

 large confluent water bodies. This narra- 

 tive, like many of its class, indicates great 

 courage and endurance on the part of the 

 explorers, but abounds with personal inci- 

 dents rather than with geographical matter. 

 {London Geogr. Journal, May.) 



DANGER FROM THUNDERSTORMS IN ARABIA. 



An excursion of twelve years ago in 

 Oman, southeast Arabia, lately described 

 by S. B. Miles, gives once again an impres- 

 sive picture of the immediate independence 

 of desert tribes on the wadies or water 

 courses, which determine the place of all 

 the villages and of nearly all the roads. A 

 canyon, six miles long and 1,000 to 1,500 

 deep, between neighboring valleys, was 

 luckily passed through a day before a heavy 

 thunder storm ; less fortunate travellers are 

 not unfrequently overwhelmed in it by the 

 sudden rise of the stream, from which there 

 is no escape. " The huge walls of rock 

 give the appearance as if the mountain 

 range had been suddenly split in twain 

 from the base to the summit by some con- 

 vulsion of nature." If a real, convulsively 

 split canyon is some day found, what an 

 agreeable change it will be to read : " The 

 huge walls of the fissure formed by this con- 

 vulsion of nature look just like the walls of 

 ordinary gorges that have been slowly cut 

 down by streams." (London Geogr. Journ., 

 May.) 



HILL ON CENTRAL AMERICA AND ANTILLES. 



The May number of the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine has an article by E. T. 

 Hill on the geographic relation of the three 

 Americas, North, Central and South, con- 

 tending that the North American cordil- 

 leras terminate with the line of Mexican 

 volcanoes west of Vera Cruz, that the Andes 



terminate south of the Isthmus of Panama, 

 and that Central America is to be asso- 

 ciated with the transverse deformations of 

 the Antilles ; the latter lying on lines of 

 east-west corrugations " which have per- 

 sisted without continental connection or 

 union with each other since their origin." 

 Thus interpreted, these islands belong to a 

 class that should be welcomed by the phys- 

 iographer as desiderata, long ago deduced 

 as possibilities, and prepared for in his 

 scheme of classification, but of rare occur- 

 rence on this small earth during the brief 

 epoch in which we know it. 



W. M. Davis. 

 , Haevaed Univeesity. 



CURRENT NOTES ON 3IETE0R0L0QY. 



INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF HYDROLOGY 



AND CLIMATOLOGY. 



The Fourth Session of the International 

 Congress of Hydrology, Climatology and 

 Geology will be held at Clermont-Ferrand 

 from September 28 to October 4 of this year. 

 Scientific societies in all parts of the world 

 are invited to take part in this Congress. 

 The French railroad companies have re- 

 duced their fares 50% for those who attend 

 the meeting, and the Comjyagnie Generale 

 Transatlantique has given a reduction of 30% 

 to those who travel by its steamers. Among 

 the meteorologists who have charge of the 

 meeting are Angot, Teisserenc de Bort and 

 Plumandon. The list of questions to be 

 considered in the section on climatology is 

 the following : Meteorological observations, 

 their part in the study of climates ; What 

 is meant by mountain climate ? ; Investiga- 

 tion on the proper means of determining 

 the degree of clearness of the sky, of its 

 color, and of these influences in hygiene ; 

 The prevalence of winds in certain regions, 

 and their influence on sanitary conditions. 

 Membership in the Congress costs 20 francs, 

 and subscriptions may be sent to M. Doin, 

 8 Eue de I'Odeon, Paris. 



