430 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 145. 



plays with the electric light and the fountains, 

 under Col. Sir Francis Bolton, still attract large 

 crowds. 



At a recent ' Gilchrist trust ' lecture in Greenock, 

 by Mr. William Lant Carpenter on the telephone, 

 transmitters were placed on the lecture-table, and 

 a party of ladies in the office of the Glasgow 

 herald, twenty-five miles away, heard nearly the 

 whole of the lecture. 



In a district of London known as the Borough, 

 and inhabited by a similar population to that in the 

 Bowery, New York, a large theatre has recently 

 been taken, mainly at the cost of the Duke of 

 Westminster and Mr. Samuel Morley, and has been 

 converted into a temperance music hall. For 

 three or four years, on one night a week, for seven 

 or eight months in the year, popular lectures on 

 science are delivered, in which many very eminent 

 men take an interest. Sir John Lubbock will lec- 

 ture there on Nov. 3, upon ants. Temperance meet- 

 ings, ballad concerts, and * variety entertain- 

 ments ' occupy other nights in the week, and the 

 managers are constantly receiving remarkable 

 testimony to the good done by ' the Vic,' or Royal 

 Victoria coffee-hall. W. 



London, Oct. 31. 



ST. PETERSBURG LETTER. 



The meteorological conditions of the last sum- 

 mer have attracted general attention in Russia. 

 It is but too common to hear of the coldest or 

 hottest season remembered by the oldest inhabit- 

 ant ; but the heat of the end of June, and of the 

 whole of July, in the greater part of European 

 Russia, was truly exceptional. In St. Petersburg 

 the mean temperature of July was 21°. 2 C, — the 

 highest since the observations began (1743), with 

 the exception of July, 1757. In Moscow the mean 

 temperature of July was 22°. 5 C. — the highest in 

 the seventy-five years' observations, except July, 

 1826, when it was 0°.l higher. But as the mean 

 of the present July is from observations outside 

 the city, while in 1826 the observations were 

 made in the city, it is probable this July was 

 hotter. The heat was especially remarkable for 

 its unabated continuance. It seems that long- 

 continued anticyclones existed in the north and 

 north-east of Russia, and thus warm and dry south 

 and south-east winds were prevaihng. A very 

 great scarcity of water followed, especially in the 

 south, where already the spring months had been 

 dry. Lakes, ponds, and weUs dried up, and some 

 villages were obliged to sell all their cattle for 

 want of water ; and that for drinking pm-poses 

 had to be brought from many miles away. In the 

 north and centre of Russia many swamps dried up 



entirely, and, ia July and August, forest and peat 

 fires occurred in many parts of the country. The 

 large rivers were exceedingly low, and navigation 

 seriously impeded ; so that on the Volga there 

 was low water as far down as Stavropol, below 

 Simbirsk, while formerly it was not observed lower 

 down than the mouth of the Kama. 



From the beginning of August in some parts of 

 the south, and later on in other parts of Russia, 

 heavy and protracted rains followed, seriously 

 damaging the harvest, and interrupting the build- 

 ing of the railroad from Ekaterinburg to Tjumen, 

 in Siberia. 



The first general meeting of the geographical 

 society this season was held on the 14th of Octo- 

 ber, and the following news was communicated 

 by the secretary : two additional government 

 grants had been received by the society; five 

 thousand rubles for the classification of the col- 

 lection and publication of the travels of the de- 

 ceased zoologist, Sjevertzof, and two thousand 

 rubles for the collection of the music of the songs 

 of the people. The first expedition, to start ia 

 1886, will consist of the musician, Dutsch, and the 

 secretary of the ethnographical section, and will 

 visit the northern part of Russia, where the old folk- 

 lore has been better preserved, owing to the absence 

 of railroads and great cities. A thousand rubles 

 have been bequeathed by the deceased member, 

 Prince N. M. Galitzin, for geographical exploration. 

 The proposed exiDedition to the glaciers of the 

 Chang-Tengri, in the Thian-Shan, for which the 

 society had granted an allowance, was postponed 

 till 1886. 



Besides the Iswestia (transactions), the following 

 volumes of the memoirs have been issued, or are 

 in preparation : vol. xiv., on general geography, 

 containing Dr. Sperck's ' Russia of the far east.* 

 This is a general description of the Amur country, 

 including topography, climate, fauna, flora, eth- 

 nography, etc. The most interesting part is that 

 on the colonization. The author has long resided 

 in the country. Vol. xv., part i., will also soon be 

 issued. It will contain the results of the Siberian 

 levelhng. This is certaily the most important level- 

 ling yet made, from its extent as well as from the 

 importance of the results arrived at, bearing on the 

 geography of Asia, the climate, etc. Part ii. of 

 the same volume is issued. It contains A. Woei- 

 kof's paper, ' On a covering of snow, its influence 

 on climate and weather.' Vol. xvi. is in print, and 

 consists of a description of Lapland by Dr. Buch- 

 arow, formerly Russian consul at Hammerf est, the 

 fruit of extensive travels in the country. 



The branches of the geographical society are 

 generally late with their reports, so that they have 

 but just sent in those for 1884. From the East 



