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SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Sept. 28, 1 888. 



Classification. It was decided that the proposals of 

 Messrs. Hildebrandsson and Abercromby were not ripe 

 enough to be recommended for general adoption. Meteor- 

 ological Information from Travellers. — On the motion of 

 Dr. Hann, certain rules were laid down, to be recom- 

 mended to all geographical societies, etc., as to the con- 

 ditions which must be observed in order to render 

 published records of meteorological observations of any 

 real service to meteorology. These relate to instruments 

 and their corrections, exposure, methods of calculations, 

 etc. 



Electrical Phenomenon. — A curious electrical phe- 

 nomenon observed from the Danish steamer Constantin in 

 the North Sea in February last, and its effect upon the 

 vessel's compass, has been the subject of research by a 

 Danish physicist, Herr Neergaard, from which we gather 

 the following : — On February ioth, at 5.30 a.m., when 160 

 geographical miles off the Tyne, and steering E. | N., the 

 weather being cloudy and variable with alternate calms 

 and strong gusts of wind, the officers on watch observed 

 two great clouds, whence flashes of lightning proceeded 

 from time to time, approach each other, one coming 

 from the N.E. and the other from S.W. Presently 

 the clouds commingled, when a terrible clap of 

 thunder rent the air, and a shock was felt on board 

 the vessel so severe that all those on their legs below 

 and on deck were thrown down, whilst the captain 

 rushed on deck thinking that a collision had occurred. 

 Simultaneously the vessel seemed to float in a sea of 

 red fire and enveloped in red flames, whilst all pro- 

 truding objects on board became tipped with a brilliant 

 light. In a couple of minutes the red sheen disappeared, 

 but for a long while afterward a strong smell of sulphur 

 was experienced on board. The vessel was at the time 

 steering straight on the clouds in question, and must 

 have received the terrible electrical discharge full on the 

 stem. However, all went well till the Scaw was 

 reached, when it was found that through the phenome- 

 non the ship's compass showed a deviation of 1 deg., 

 but when approaching Copenhagen on the following day 

 it was discovered that the deviation had really been 

 altered from 6 '5 degs. west to 3 degs. east. It is need- 

 less to point out the serious consequences such a devia- 

 tion would undoubtedly have entailed at night. 



The Public Health. — The Registrar-General's return 

 for the week ending September 15th shows that 

 the deaths registered during that period in 28 great 

 towns of England and Wales corresponded to an 

 annual rate of 17*7 per 1,000 of their aggregate popula- 

 tion, which is estimated at 9,398,273 persons in the 

 middle of this year. The 6 healthiest places were 

 Oldham, Wolverhampton, Leicester, Hull, Sunderland, 

 and Bristol. In London, 2,488 births and 1,331 deaths 

 were registered. Allowance made for increase of 

 population, the births were 217, and the deaths 77, 

 below the average numbers in the corresponding weeks 

 of the last 10 years. The annual death-rate per 1,000 

 from all causes, which had been 1 7*5, 16 4, and i6'o in the 

 three preceding weeks, rose again last week to i6'2. 

 During the n weeks ending on Saturday last the death- 

 rate averaged i6'2 per 1,000, and was 3 - 8 below the 

 mean rate in the corresponding periods of the ten years 

 1878-87. The 1,331 deaths included 27 from measles, 

 24 from scarlet fever, 18 from diphtheria, 31 from 

 whooping-cough, 12 from enteric fever, 1 from ill- 



defined form of continued fever, 122 from diarrhoea and 

 dysentery, and 1 from choleraic diarrhoea ; thus 236 

 deaths were referred to these diseases, being 19 below 

 the corrected average weekly number. No death from 

 small-pox was registered, the corrected average being 

 6 ; no small-pox patients were under treatment in the 

 Metropolitan Asylum Hospitals, and only 1 in the 

 Highgate Smallpox Hospital, on Saturday last. In 

 Greater London, 3,285 births and 1,671 deaths were 

 registered, corresponding to annual rates of 31-0 and 

 15-8 per 1,000 of the estimated population. In the 

 Outer Ring 34 deaths from diarrhcea, seven from diph- 

 theria, and five from "fever" were registered. Of the 

 fatal cases of diarrhcea, 8 occurred in West Ham, 

 and 3 in Richmond sub-districts. The 7 deaths 

 from diphtheria included 2 in Croydon sub-district. 



The Faro of Maracaibo. — Something like an intel- 

 ligible explanation of the singular phenomenon which 

 has been known since the conquest of South America 

 as the Faro of Maracaibo is volunteered by Consul 

 Plumacher in a recent report from that interesting 

 quarter of the globe. The phenomenon consists of 

 constant lightning without thunder, which has been 

 observed from time to time by travellers, southwards 

 from the bar at the entrance of the lake. Several 

 theories have been put forward to explain the strange 

 occurrence, and Codazzi, in his geography, supposes it 

 to be caused by the vapours arising from the hot water 

 swamps, situated about a league to the east of the mouth 

 of the Escalante river, at the southern extremity of the 

 lake. Consul Plumacher, however, ascribes the Faro to 

 the immense amount of inflammable gas given off by the 

 flows and deposits of petroleum. Writing on the infor- 

 mation of some explorers who have visited the place in 

 search of balsam copaibo, and who call it the Infernito, or 

 little hell, the consul furnishes a description of this 

 unknown but exceedingly rich region. A verj' large 

 portion of the department of Colon, situated between the 

 rivers Santa Anna, Zulia, and the Sierra of the Colum- 

 bian frontier, is an uninhabited forest, very rich in 

 asphalte and petroleum. Near the Rio de Oro, at the 

 foot of the Sierra, there is a very curious phenomenon, 

 consisting of a horizontal cave, which constantly ejects, 

 in the form of large globules, a thick bitumen. These 

 globules explode at the mouth of the cave with a noise 

 sufficient to be heard at a considerable distance, and the 

 bitumen, forming a slow current, falls finally into a large 

 deposit of the same substance near the river bank. At 

 a distance of little more than four miles from the con- 

 fluence of the rivers Tara and Sardinete there is a 

 mound of sand, from twenty-five to thirty feet in height, 

 with an area of about 8,000 square feet. On its surface 

 are a multitude of cylindrical holes of different sizes, 

 which eject streams of hot water and petroleum with 

 great violence, causing a noise equal to that produced by 

 two or three steamers blowing off simultaneously. For 

 a long distance from the site of this phenomenon the 

 ground is covered or impregnated with petroleum, and 

 it is stated that from one only of these streams of 

 petroleum a receptacle of the capacity of four gallons 

 was filled in one minute. For one hour this would give 

 a flow of 240 gallons, or 5,760 gallons in twenty-four 

 hours. It is from this discharge that the gas, which 

 Consul Plumacher considers to be the origin of the Faro 

 of Maracaibo, issues. 



