118 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VL, No. 131. 



eruptions in the various volcanoes on the island. In 

 addition to the slight changes accompanying the fre- 

 quent earthquakes, there are evidences of a recent 

 extensive rising of the whole coast. In hills of a 

 greenish sandy clay, there are layers of the remains 

 of marine animals now inhabiting the shallow waters. 

 These layers are at various heights, from one hundred 

 to four hundred feet above sea-level. Another proof 

 that the coast is still rising is the existence of numer- 

 ous reefs of dead corals, which are left quite dry at 

 each low tide. 



— Dr. J. J. Weyrauch of Stuttgart has published 

 (Leipzig, Teubner) a lecture on the history of the 

 conservation of energy, which he delivered at Stutt- 

 gart in March of this year. In a series of appendices 

 he has brought together a large number of references 

 to the literature of the subject. 



— The British steamship Venetian, Capt. Traut, 

 reports that on July 16, in 43° 08' north, 51° 25' west, 

 they sighted a very large iceberg two hundred feet 

 out of water, five hundred feet long, and four hun- 

 dred feet wide. As it was very clear at the time, and 

 the vessel to windward of the berg (wind UKjderate 

 from the southward), Gapt. Traut experimented with 

 the thermometer, to see if the ice had any influence 

 on the temperature of the water. To his surprise, he 

 found that there was no appreciable difference, the 

 thermometer standing at about 57° for several miles 

 on either side of the berg and close to it. He steamed 

 alongside the berg, about eight hundred feet from it, 

 and still the temperature remained the same. 



— Miss Alice Lamb, a student of Professor Hol- 

 den's at the Washburn observatory, publishes in the 

 July number of the Sidereal messenger a critical dis- 

 cussion of the Willets Point latitude observations, 

 which appear to show a decrease in the latitude of 

 that place during the last five years. By selecting 

 the best-determined stars, and by rejecting the obser- 

 vations with one of the instruments, and the work 

 of some observers whose probable errors are about 

 twice as large as the probable errors of those whose 

 work is retained, she concludes that " there is per- 

 haps strong reason to attribute the systematic change 

 of latitude" to errors of observation, as Gen. Abbot 

 has suggested. 



— According to a paper read by Herr Mohr before 

 the Magdeburg district association of the society of 

 German engineers, the deepest bore-hole in existence 

 is that bored for coal, near the village of Schladebach, 

 on the railway between Corbetha and Leipzig. The 

 total depth of this bore-hole, which has been driven 

 with a hollow diamond-pointed rock-drill and water 

 flushing, is 4,559 feet. Its diameter at the bottom is 

 1.872 inches, and at the surface 11 inches. Boring 

 operations have been carried on for three years and 

 a half, and a sum of $25,000 has been spent in reach- 

 ing the depth attained. The temperature in the 

 lower portion of the bore-hole was found to be 48° C, 

 equal to 118.4° F. 



— In Lord Aberdare's address at the annual meeting 

 of the Royal geographical society of London already 

 referred to, he stated that the continuous prosecution 



of marine surveys in different quarters of the globe 

 had been well maintained during the past year. The 

 two home surveying vessels have been employed, one 

 on the west, and the other on the east, coast of Great 

 Britain. On foreign surveys, sixty oflftcers and five 

 hundred men have been employed in four steamships 

 of war and five other smaller vessels. These ships 

 have been at work in Newfoundland, the Bahama 

 Islands, Magellan Straits, South Africa, Red Sea, 

 Malay Peninsula, coasts of China and Corea, north- 

 west coast of Australia, and amongst the Pacific 

 Islands. The most important additions to our 

 hydrographical knowledge are as follows : The sur- 

 vey of the Little Bahama Bank will be shortly 

 finished, and the same may be said of the southern 

 shore of Newfoundland. The survey of the main 

 strait of Magellan, to which reference was made in 

 the last address, was completed early in the year. 

 Many useful additions have been made to ports and 

 salient parts of the coast of south-east Africa. In 

 the Red Sea the intricate approaches to Suakin 

 have been well laid down. On the west coast of the 

 Malay Peninsula, Penang harbor has been resur- 

 veyed, and the positions of the islands lying to the 

 north-west, and forming the eastern boundary of the 

 ordinary route of vessels to Malacca Strait, have been 

 accurately determined. The unknown western shores 

 of Korea, south of the approach to Soul, for two 

 degrees of latitude, have been explored, and the main 

 features of this island-studded shore laid down. 

 New rivers and harbors have been entered, notably 

 the large river Yun-san-gang, at the entrance to 

 which stands the considerable town of Mokfo. 

 There appears, however, to be little chance of imme- 

 diate trade with Korea, in consequence of the absence 

 of any valuable products, and the scanty needs of 

 the population. The southern approach to Ilaitan 

 Strait on the Chinese coast, much used by British 

 trade, has been recharted. On the difficult shoies 

 of western Australia such progress has been made 

 as the small means at the disposal of the surveyors 

 has permitted. In the Solomon Islands the Bougain- 

 ville Strait has been charted. This channel will in 

 future be most probably a highway for trafiic between 

 eastern Australia and Japan. Many additions have 

 also been made to the charts of various groups of 

 other Pacific islands. The survey of the coasts of 

 India, carried on by officers of the Royal navy and 

 India marine, has been actively progressing. Surveys 

 of Rangoon, Cheduba, and other ports in the Bay 

 of Bengal, as well as harbors on the west coast of 

 Hindustan, have been made. A resurvey of the great 

 Canadian lakes has been commenced in Georgian 

 Bay. 



— Ill Beloochistan, there are days when the air is so 

 filled with sandy dust that the sun is obscured, and 

 the particles of sand penetrate every thing. This is 

 especially the case when there is no wind. The whirl- 

 winds of sand are also common in this region. Dur- 

 ing a calm day, when not a breath of wind is felt, one 

 can notice these columns rise and grow, and, begin- 

 ning to rotate, travel forward across the country. 

 They often attain considerable velocity, then decrease 



