290 Chronicles of Science. [April,. 



by them, and as their work approaches completion more is found for 

 them. The opportunity of having men who have had considerable 

 experience in the trigonometrical survey of England in such localities 

 is not to be passed over, and it is worth while expending a little addi- 

 tional money, which will surely be forthcoming for such an object, in 

 procuring data from which accurate deductions may be made. Not 

 only from religious and antiquarian motives must much interest be ex- 

 cited as regards such measurements, but natural science may expect 

 some accessions of knowledge from the survey of the Valley of the 

 Jordan and Dead Sea. 



Mount iEtna, after a repose of thirty years, has commenced an 

 eruption at some distance from its main crater. As yet but little 

 damage has been done, but a very fertile district is threatened. Some 

 lives have been lost through the explosion of water in the cisterns over 

 which the lava has passed, and thus sealed before its heat has pene- 

 trated sufficiently to convert the contents into steam. The mountain 

 gave warning of a coming eruption during a whole month beforehand, 

 by a dense cloud of smoke which overhung it, the weather in the 

 meantime becoming remarkably warm. The eruption, which began on 

 the 31st of January, runs down the eastern side in three principal 

 streams, which separate into several branches as they proceed. Amongst 

 other points threatened is the famous chestnut-tree " of the hundred 

 horsemen." It is rather remarkable that the neighbouring volcano of 

 Vesuvius has also manifested disturbance about the same time. On 

 the 9th of February a cone was raised, red-hot stones were thrown 

 out, and shocks were produced which were felt in Naples. It is seldom 

 that two of these safety-valves of under-ground disturbances exhibit 

 activity at the same time. Probably, however, this disturbance at 

 Vesuvius is only a reflex of the occurrences at iEtna, and not to be 

 accounted a distinct eruption. 



The Royal Geographical Society. 



Since our last notice of the proceedings of this Society a very 

 interesting paper has been read by Mr. J. G. Taylor, " Notes on a 

 Visit to the Sources of the Tigris, with an Account of Ancient Ee- 

 mains found in their Neighbourhood." An exploration of countries so 

 near Diarbekr and Kars scarcely promised to be a highly interesting 

 subject, but Mr. Taylor observed two matters which have not been re- 

 marked on previously. Sir H. Rawlinson, previous to the departure 

 of this traveller for the neighbourhood of the Upper Tigris, suggested 

 that he should look in a certain locality for Assyrian remains, which 

 Tiglath Pileser I. (about B.C. 1110) stated, in his records of his reign, 

 that he had erected by the side of an inscription by a former king, 

 who had laid waste the same country in bygone generations. Such 

 memorials were entirely unknown to the inhabitants of the country, 

 but, after a little perseverance on the part of Mr. Taylor, were dis- 

 covered by him on the site indicated. This affords a remarkable con- 

 firmation of the truth of the interpretation put upon the cuneiform 



