448 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. VI., No. 146. 



part of the book, however, is devoted to a descrip- 

 tion of Tunis and neighboring towns. Of course 

 whatever a Frenchman writes about such a recent 

 acquisition as Tunis must be received with cau- 

 tion, and much that is here said about the Roman 

 ruins is probably exaggerated. The old Phoeni- 

 cian Carthage has entirely disappeared, and of the 

 Roman town but little remains. Utica, too, is 

 no more to be seen, and, in fact, the province of 

 Carthage — once the granary of imperial Rome — is 

 little more than a desert. Still as our author 

 says : " Although there is scarcely a vestige of 

 Carthage remaining, its site alone attracts the 

 tourist to the top of the ancient Brysa." In con- 

 clusion, it may not be amiss to point out that the 

 • traveller who designs visiting Tunis for the sake 

 of viewing eastern barbarism would better bestir 

 himself, as the French are reported to be improv- 

 ing the place in the true Parisian fashion. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



A DISCUSSION of the hydrographic observations 

 made on the expedition of 1883 to Greenland seas 

 has been published by Nordenskiold and Hamberg 

 in the Proceedings of the Royal geographical 

 society. There are numerous water sections ; and 

 the discussion is of much value and interest for 

 the hydrographer, but too extensive to summarize 

 here. 



During the past summer. Captain David Gray, 

 the well-known whaler and explorer, visited the 

 east coast of Greenland at a high latitude. The 

 floes extended this year very far west from Spitz- 

 bergen, at least 180 miles at Prince Charles Fore- 

 land. In latitude 74° the edge was in longitude 

 14° W.; and in latitude 71°, in 16° W. In August 

 he sailed along the coast from Shannon Island to 

 the entrance of Scoresby Sound, a distance of three 

 hundred miles, sometimes in sight of the land- 

 water, and sometimes farther off. On the Liver- 

 pool coast he passed between the land-ice, but 

 foimd no whales. The land-ice was sufficiently 

 open for a steamer to have forced her way through 

 it, which is very rarely the case so early in the 

 season. 



The Danish expedition to east Greenland has re- 

 turned to Copenhagen after an absence of twenty- 

 nine months. The latitude reached was 66° 8', 

 about forty miles farther north than Nordenskiold's 

 vessel attained in 1883. There have been no casual- 

 ties, and the health of the party is excellent. Many 

 photographs and interesting ethnological objects 

 were brought back. Lieutenant Holm, command- 

 ing, considers that it is now settled beyond a doubt 

 that no early Scandinavian remains occur on the 

 east coast. 



' Island, land und leute, geschichte, litteratur 

 und sprache,' by Dr. Ph. Schweitzer, has been 

 published by W. Friedrich in Leipzig. There has 

 been no complete work on Iceland in the German 

 language hitherto ; but the present one does not 

 seem in aU respects satisfactory, and parts of it are 

 characterized as unscientific and fanciful by Ger- 

 man critics. 



A very useful and complete atlas of Russia has 

 been prepared by J. PoddubnVi, and published by 

 A. Deubner, St. Petersburg, under the title of a 

 ' Russian school atlas,' at the small price of one 

 ruble. It would seem to be far more than an 

 ordinary school atlas in the sense commonly un- 

 derstood, and to be well worthy a place in the 

 library of all interested in geography ; being full 

 of maps showing meteorology, distribution of 

 races, religions, etc., and many diagrams. 



J. Hughes and F. Dunsmuir have returned to 

 Juneau, Alaska, from the head waters of the 

 Yukon. They descended the Lewis branch to the 

 Salmon River, which was ascended to its head 

 waters. Good placers were found on the bars. 

 Some twenty prospectors will remain in the re- 

 gion all winter. They were said to average seven 

 or eight dollars a day per man in gold dust. These 

 diggings are mostly in British territory. 



News from the whaling fleet to Nov. 3 states 

 that one hundred and seventy-four whales had 

 been taken. No further casualties are reported, 

 and the vessels are beginning to arrive at San 

 Francisco. 



Lieutenant Allen and party of the Copper River 

 expedition, now returned, are said to be seriously 

 affected by scurvy, due to their privations. 



The revenue cutter Bear, formerly of the Greely 

 relief expedition, has sailed from New York for 

 the western coast, where she will be employed in 

 Alaskan waters on revenue duties, and to assist 

 disabled vessels of the whaling fleet during the 

 season. She will hardly reach San Francisco before 

 February, 1886. 



Lieutenant Greely is in Scotland, the guest of 

 Lord Roseberry, and is to deliver an address before 

 the Scottish geographical society Nov. 19. His. 

 health is said to be improving. 



Dr. Stejneger of the national museum has an 

 illustrated article on the Commander Islands, con- 

 taining much of interest, in the last number of the 

 Deutsche geographische blatter. 



ASTRONOMICAL NOTES. 



Spectral analysis of atmospheric elements. — 

 M. Janssen announces {Comptes rendus, ci. 649) 

 that he has taken up the special study of the ab- 

 sorption spectra of gases, mostly those composing 



