May 15, 1885.] 



SCIENCE, 



411 



Enara is level, and forms a depression between the 

 plateau of Finmark and the highlands of Russian 

 Lapland. This, in a political point of view, is impor- 

 tant; since it permits of comparatively easy com- 

 munication between Finland and the coast of the 

 Northern Ocean. There are excellent ports on this 

 shore never obstructed by ice, but hitherto useless 

 for want of communications with the interior. In 

 the near future, the railway, which has already 

 reached Uleaborg, will be completed to the northern 

 coast, and Russia will be able to utilize a part of her 

 possessions, at present little better than a wilderness. 



— Yan Braani Morris, Dutch resident at Ternate, 

 has recently made some interesting discoveries on the 

 northern coast of New Guinea, which he visited offi- 

 cially for the purpose of familiarizing the natives 

 with the Dutch flag, and arranging a peace between 

 several contending tribes. After determining the 

 longitude of Mapia, it was found that Stephen Island 

 of the charts has no existence. The coast near 

 Walckenaer Bay was visited; and several rivers of 

 considerable size, as well as a large lagoon, were found, 

 which were before unknown. The population, call- 

 ing themselves Bongos, were numerous and friendly, 

 living in houses built on piles in the water. Cocoa- 

 nuts were so abundant that two hundred and fifty 

 could be purchased for twelve cents ; and large quan- 

 tities of kopra are made. Subsequently the Amber- 

 no River was visited, and ascended sixty miles or 

 more with a depth of six fathoms, with a fathom less 

 in the channel over the bar. In latitude 2° 20' south, 

 the river emerges from the mountains; and here were 

 shoals beyond which the party did not go. The cur- 

 rent was extremely rapid. The male inhabitants of 

 its banks were timid but friendly: the women always 

 took refuge in the forest. They call the stream 

 'Mamberan' (or great river). It has never been 

 ascended by civilized man; and it is claimed that 

 the results of Van Braam Morris's explorations are 

 more important to geography than any work done in 

 this region during the century, and only second in 

 New Guinea to the work of Albertis. 



— Messrs. Charles Scribner's sons published, May 

 1, the book of Stepniak, the nihilist writer, author 

 of ' Underground Russia,' entitled ' Russia under the 

 tzars.' The timeliness of its publication is a matter 

 of accident, as the author and translator have been 

 for some time superintending its passage through the 

 press in London; but it is particularly welcome at 

 a moment when universal attention is fixed upon its 

 subject. 



Within a week of the publication of Messrs. 



Scribner's authorized edition of ' The Russians at the 

 gates of Herat,' they were obliged to print nine thou- 

 sand copies to supply the demand, and another edition 

 of three thousand has just been put on the press. 



— Reports from Japan state, says Nature, that 

 grave fears were entertained of an outbreak of the 

 long quiescent volcano Fujiyama, and that officials 

 had been sent to investigate the matter. The people 

 living in the neighborhood believed an eruption to be 

 imminent, because, while the snow on the mountain 



had begun to melt two months before the usual time, 

 all the wells at the fort became dry, and difficulty 

 was experienced in procuring water. The phenome- 

 non is considered the more remarkable from the fact 

 that the winter has been unusually cold, and that the 

 surface of the snow remains hard, the part nearest 

 the ground being the first to give way. 



— The council of the New-England meteorological 

 society has deemed it advisable to select a new sub- 

 ject for special study during the summer season of 

 1885, and has chosen thunder-storms as offering at 

 once the greatest number of features easily observed, 

 and promising in return the most interesting results. 

 The desired observations will be divided into several 

 classes, in order to bring the work within the reach 

 of all who are willing to take a share in it. Observa- 

 tions are to be taken through the summer whenever 

 a thunder-storm can be seen or heard. Besides these, 

 special observations of wind, temperature, etc., are 

 desired on the Saturdays of June (June 6, 13, 20, 27), 

 at intervals from noon to nine o'clock p.m., whether 

 a thunder-storm is in progress or not. Saturdays are 

 chosen with special reference to securing assistance 

 from the scholars in our many schools. Instructions, 

 and blanks for records, will be sent on application to 

 W. M. Davis, Cambridge, Mass. 



— Yol. i. of the Transactions of the scientific as- 

 sociation of Meriden, Conn., which has just been 

 printed by the association, appears as a tribute to 

 the memory of a deceased member, Miss Emily J. 

 Leonard, whose catalogue of Meriden plants, left in- 

 complete at her death, occupies the principal part of 

 the pamphlet. Although the plant names have in a 

 few cases served as stumbling-blocks in the way of 

 the editors, the list, which includes 749 phenogams 

 and pteridophytes, is very creditably presented. 



— Nature reports that the National fish-culture as- 

 sociation of England has transferred another large 

 consignment of white-fish fry to the lakes in the Isle 

 of Mull in order to further their acclimatization to 

 the waters of this country. Hitherto many experi- 

 ments have been tried in this direction, but with no 

 success. The American government is rendering 

 valuable assistance in effecting their propagation, 

 and are watching the result of the endeavors now 

 making with keen interest. 



— The French government has granted the use of 

 the Palace of Industry, in the Champs Elysees, for 

 the purpose of holding the Great industrial exhibi- 

 tion (Exposition du travail), which will remain open 

 from the 23d of July until the 23d of November, 1885. 



— The collections and library of the New-Orleans 

 academy of sciences have been removed to rooms fur- 

 nished by the Tulane university. It is hoped that 

 some additional vigor may be imparted to the acad- 

 emy by the presence of the scientific men visiting the 

 exhibition. E. T. Merrick, ex-chief-justice of Loui- 

 siana, is president. 



— Systematic observations of auroras have been 

 made at the Engineer station, Willet's Point, N.Y.. 

 under the direction of Gen. H. L. Abbot since 1870. 



