358 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IX., No. 219 



colony of the lower Chubut {Deutsche geogr. Bldtt., 



1887, No. 1). 



Australasia. 



Admiral von Schlelnitz, governor of the Ger- 

 man possessions in New Guinea, is continuing his 

 explorations on the coasts of New Guinea and the 

 neighboring islands. In October, 1886, he ex- 

 plored the coasts of Huon Gulf, where he found 

 several navigable rivers. The coast consists of 

 archaic and metamorphic rocks. In November 

 the coast from Iris Point to Cape della Torre was 

 surveyed. The results of these observations have 

 been published in the Nachrichten aus Kaiser- 

 Wilhelm-Land imd dem Bismarck Archipel, 1887, 

 Nos. 1 and 2. 



Mr.Vogan, the curator of the Auckland museum, 

 intends to cross south-eastern New Guinea from 

 Freshwater Bay to Huon Gulf as soon as the rainy 

 season is over {Proc. Boy. geogr. soc, April, 1887). 



Oceans. 



The methods and results of Lieut. J. E. Pills- 

 bury 's researches on deep-sea currents in the Straits 

 of Florida (Appendix 14, Coast and geod. surv. 

 report for 1885) are very interesting. They were 

 carried out on the steamer Blake, at five stations 

 between Gun Key and Cape Florida. By an in- 

 genious arrangement, Pillsbury contrived to an- 

 chor at a depth of almost five hundred fathoms, 

 and was thus enabled to measure the currents by 

 a revolving meter. For a description of the 

 apparatus we refer to the original paper. As the 

 time allotted to the work was not long enough to 

 make exhaustive researches, and the state of the 

 weather was frequently too bad for anchoring in 

 deep water, the observations are rather irregular. 

 The results are very valuable, and we are glad 

 to learn that the researches will be continued. 

 The strength of the current is influenced by the 

 tides ; and the principal maximum, which occurs 

 about four hours before the meridian passage 

 of the moon, is very distinct. The fluctuations 

 of the curve are so irregular, however, that it is 

 hardly possible to plot the observations for deter- 

 mining the axis of the current and its strength in 

 various depths. It appears that the greatest in- 

 tensity of the surface current is near the west 

 shore, while the current at a depth of a hundred 

 and thirty fathoms is strongest in the middle of 

 the strait. 



Lieut. A. de Gueydon has constructed an ap- 

 paratus similar to that used by Lieutenant Pills- 

 bury, but far more complicated, which he has 

 tested by measuring the currents of the Bosporus. 

 It is described in the Bevue maritime et coloniale, 

 November, 1886. The results of his observations 



confirm those obtained by Makarof {vide Science^ 

 ix. 301). He found during calms and prevailing 

 north-easterly winds a surface current of ninety 

 feet depth setting from the Black Sea to the Sea 

 of Marmora. At Constantinople a smaller arm 

 branches off, which sweeps along the south side 

 of the Golden Horn, and forms an eddy, returning 

 on the north side, and again reaching the Bosporus 

 at Top Hane. This current reaches to thebottom.^ 

 Sudden changes in its velocity are very frequent. 

 Under the main surface current, Gueydon found 

 the well-known undercurrent running from the 

 Sea of Marmora to the Black Sea. 



In the Annalen der Hydrographie, 1887, No. 3, 

 G. Karsten discusses the observations on the ice 

 of the harbor of Kiel, the most important station 

 of the German marine in the Baltic. During the 

 thirty-eight years over which the observations ex- 

 tend, the harbor was frozen up seventeen times, 

 the mean duration of the ice-sheet being thirty- 

 four days ; the maximum, seventy-one days. The 

 ice forms most frequently in January. In the be- 

 ginning of winter the warm concentrated water 

 of the German Ocean, which enters the Baltic,^ 

 delays the formation of ice, though the tempera- 

 ture of the air may be low. As soon as an east- 

 erly wind sets in and carries less concentrated 

 cold water of the Baltic into the bay, an ice-sheet 

 is formed. 



General. , 



The publication of the Zeitschrift fur wissen- 

 schaftliche Geographie, which was discontinued 

 some time ago, has been resumed by Dr. J. L 

 Kettler. The first number for 1887 contains,, 

 among other papers, an article by O. Kriimmel on 

 surface temperatures of the ocean, and one by H.. 

 Reiter on the Antarctic question. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 

 The chemist of the Massachusetts state board 

 of health has recently analyzed a large number of so- 

 called temperance-drinks, and has found that all of 

 them contain alcohol, one of them containing as 

 much as 44.3 per cent. Several of them contain 

 more than 40 per cent, and a very large proportion 

 more than 20 per cent. One of these is said by 

 its manufacturer to be "a purely vegetable ex- 

 tract, stimulus to the body without intoxicating." 

 ' ' Inebriates struggling to reform will find its tonic 

 and sustaining influence on the nervous system a 

 great help to their efforts." This preparation was 

 found to contain 41.6 per cent of alcohol. 



— The Boston Medical and surgical journal con- 

 tains the history of six cases of poisoning from 

 the arsenical wall-paper of a single room, extend- 



