38 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 101. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



A novel, event transpired at Boston last Wednes- 

 day, in the celebration, by Dr. B. Joy Jeffries and 

 his friends, of the centennial of the first balloon voy- 

 age ever made across the English Channel, which 

 was undertaken by his grandfather, Dr. John Jef- 

 fries, on Jan. 7, 17S5. In this connection, Dr. Jeffries 

 has happily printed, in the current number of the 

 Magazine of American history, the original diary of 

 Dr. John Jeffries, illustrated by three excellent por- 

 traits, one representing him as taking his voyage. 

 The account of the trip is exceedingly interesting, 

 and told in very simple language. But many per- 

 sons would doubtless be mire attracted by the naive 

 account of his reception in Paris, and the honors 

 which he received during his six weeks' residence 

 there. It gives a vivid picture of society, at the time, 

 in that gay capital. 



— A party of German explorers, consisting of Dr. 

 Karl von den Steinen, Wilhelm von den Steinen, and 

 Otto Klaus, has just reached Rio de Janeiro, after a 

 journey of five months through the least-known part 

 of Brazil. Starting from Cuyaba, capital of the prov- 

 ince of Matto Grosso, in May, these gentlemen went 

 by land to one of the head waters of the Xiiigii, — to 

 which they gave the name of Batovy, in honor of the 

 president of Matto Grosso, who furnished an escort, 

 and in other ways aided the expedition, — and, em- 

 barking upon this stream in bark canoes made for the 

 purpose, reached the mouth of the Xingii in Octo- 

 ber. The journey was rendered dangerous by the 

 innumerable rapids of the liver, and by numerous 

 tribes of Indians who had never before seen a white 

 man, but was safely accomplished without a single 

 serious accident. The results promise to be of great 

 geographical and ethnological interest. The Xingii, 

 which is thus added to the small number of Brazilian 

 rivers that have been accurately explored and mapped, 

 has been the least known of all the great rivers of 

 the empire; and its valley has become the centre of 

 the unknown Indian country from the driving-in 

 of the more intractable tribes by the advance of civil- 

 ization along the Tocantins, Tapajos, and Upper 

 Paraguay. Its lower course was explored in 1842 by 

 Prince Adelbert of Prussia, to a point above the great 

 bend ; but the upper course has only been known from 

 the somewhat vague accounts of missionaries and 

 traders of colonial times, which have, until recently, 

 been overlooked by Brazilian geographers. Repre- 

 sented with tolerable accuracy on the earlier maps, 

 it has, during the last thirty or forty years, been a sort 

 of geographical shuttlecock, each succeeding map in- 

 troducing some erroneous correction. An important 

 stream, the Paranatinga, an affluent of the Sao Manoel, 

 branch of the Tapajos, or perhaps the upper course of 

 that river, was first transferred to the Xingii. When 

 this mistake was discovered, through a consultation of 

 ancient documents, another was committed by taking 

 three or four degrees from the length of the Xingii 

 on the supposition that there was not room for its 

 source near the parallel of 15° south, between the 

 Paranatinga and the Araguaya. The present ex- 



plorers report that the river flows through a fine 

 country very abundant in rubber, but that it is too 

 much obstructed by rapids to become a commercial 

 highway. 



— Agricultural experiments continue at Houghton 

 farm (Mountainville, Orange county, N.Y.), on the 

 general plan adopted in 1879, but with some ex- 

 tension and modifications. In the line of agricul- 

 ture proper, the chief work is the comprehensive 

 study of the Indian-corn plant, and experiments in 

 rotation of crops, as inaugurated by Dr. M. Miles. 

 Ten acres are devoted to this branch. One report has 

 been published, and another is in preparation. The 

 experiment-orchard planted by Professor Penhallow, 

 and covering three acres, is doing finely, and promises 

 results of value to horticultural interests. Meteoro- 

 logical observations are carried on, — atmospheric, 

 surface, and subterranean temperatures receiving es- 

 pecial attention, — and an annual report is printed. 

 In this department, instruments have been lately in- 

 stalled to secure continuous records. It is so difficult 

 to thoroughly provide for animal experiments, that 

 these have been undertaken only in a somewhat 

 desultory way. Miscellaneous investigations, all re- 

 lated to practical farming, are carried on as time and 

 circumstances permit. It is understood that Mr. 

 Valentine is in search of the right man, with scientific 

 training, faculty for original research, and taste for 

 farm-life, to take the immediate charge of the experi- 

 ment department at Houghton farm. The time of 

 Major Alvord, general manager, is so occupied, that 

 he can only give the work of this department a gen- 

 eral supervision. 



— W. Koppen, editor of the Meteor ologische zeit- 

 schrift, has published, according to Petermanri 1 s mit- 

 theilungen, a chart of the zones of temperature from a 

 new point of view, having taken as a divisional mark 

 the length of the hot seasons according to their real 

 relations, without reducing them to an ideal average. 

 The tropical zone embraces those regions in which all 

 the months are hot, that is, have a temperature of 

 30° C; the subtropical, those in which, during from 

 four to eleven months, the mercury reaches that point. 

 The temperate zone, with from four to twelve months 

 in which the ruling temperature is from 10° C. to 

 20° C, he divided into regions which are marked by a 

 uniformly temperate climate, those in which the sum- 

 mers are hot, and those with a moderate summer and 

 cold winter. The frigid zone contains only regions 

 with but from one to four months of moderate tem- 

 perature; the polar circles, those where in no month 

 does the mercury reach 10° C. In addition, there is 

 shown on the chart the boundary of the northern 

 ice-field, the isothermal line of 10° C, and the bound- 

 ary of the four months' cold (under 20° C. ) In the 

 accompanying explanation, Mr. Koppen points out 

 the influence of temperature upon the organic world, 

 — shows that the boundaries taken by him very often 

 agree with those of distribution of animal and plant 

 life. 



— Dr. Lacerda of Rio Janeiro, who has for some 

 years been investigating the subject of snake-bites, 

 now states that the poison of other snakes does not 



