80 <ii:o<inAriiir mis( ellaxea 



enclosure, wiiicli is peculiarly sensitive to all the phenomena of the surround- 

 ing country, and also to the slightest disturbance from the sea. The observa- 

 tory will thus have a maritime as well as a meteorological value. 



Thk project of maintaining the level of Lake Erie near its high-water stage 

 during tiie navigation season by constructing a dam across Niagara River be- 

 low Bufi'alo harl^(n' is reported by the Deep Water Ways Commission as practi- 

 cable and desirable. Thus the water lost by evaporation in summer could be 

 partially replaced by accumulating the surplus water during the closed season 

 and releasing it when most necessary in the open season. The best location for 

 a tlam is, acconlingto the board, at the foot of the lake, just below Buffalo harbor, 

 A canal with a lock is provicied on the American side around the end of the 

 dam and the rapids at the head of the river. The cost of the regulating works 

 is estimated at .i;7!ttj,02o, and of the lock and canal at ^2,o25,9t)7. The changes 

 would raise the low-water stage about three feet in Lake Erie, two feet in Lake 

 8t Clair, and one foot in Lake Huron. 



TiiK U. S. Commercial Agent at Vla<livostock, Mr liichanl T. Greener, reports 

 that it is proposed to tmn the military port of Vladivostock into a commercial 

 port, making it the principal terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Port 

 Arthur will then become the chief military port of eastern Sil)eria. Talienwan, 

 whii'li has Iteen renamed " Dalny," will be the commercial port, and an "open" 

 one, of the I'echili (iulf. Every elfoit will be made to make it an im])ortant 

 trade center. The plans of streets, government buildings, etc., are already form- 

 ulated anil will be |)ut in execution, while the construction of the various lines 

 of railroa<I is also being pushed to completion. The plan of the Russian gov- 

 ernnu'Mt to form an eastern .Asiatic steamshii) company to open comnumication 

 betwet-n Port .\rthur, the >Linchurian Railroail, Vladivostock, and other ports 

 of till- Far East is now arranged. The service between Vladivostock and Port 

 Arthur will soon be begun. 



TuK Mdiiiial of Tides now being prei)ared in the Coast and (ieodetic Survey 

 Ollice by Dr R. A. Harris will discu.ss, among other subjects, the tidal theory. So 

 far as the study of the tidal oscillations in the great oceanic basins has progressed, 

 it tends to show that the dominating tides of most localities owe their origin to 

 one of two methods of generation. The first is that implied in the corrected 

 equilibrium theory, and pertains to rather small and well enclosed bodies of 

 water ; the second, and far more important, method is that implied in stationary 

 o.scillations whose free periods approximately coincide with the periods of the 

 tidal forces. As an e.\ample of these oscillating areas may be cited the region 

 lying south of the Maine coast, from Nantucket to the southern end of Nova 

 Scotia. Following a line, somewhat convex, toward the south, joining these 

 two points, there ajipears to be a small tidal disturbance, probablv not more 

 than two feet, whereas along the entire New England coast, north of Nantucket, 

 the tides are in the neighborhood of from eight to ten feet. Moreover, on this 

 noilal line just mentioned, running from Nantucket to Nova Scotia, the currents 

 are well pronounced, so that it appears that we have here an area which oscil- 

 lates about the nodal line as an axis, thus producing high water at jiractically 

 the same time along the New England coast. 



