February 12, 1886 ] 



SCIENCE. 



139 



Two very wonderful engineering works have 

 just been brought to a conclusion, both of the 

 same character, — tunnels under rivers. The 

 smaller, but the one of more interest to Ameri- 

 cans probably, is that under the Mersey, between 

 Liverpool and Birkenhead, which was opened a 

 few days ago by the Prince of Wales. On the 

 morning preceding the opening, trains passed 

 from James Street station on the Liverpool side, 

 to Hamilton Square station on the Birkenhead 

 side, in three minutes and a half. From the spot 

 in the centre, where the mayors of Liverpool and 

 Birkenhead many months ago shook hands over a 

 piece of red tape, the tunnel extends two hundred 

 and fifty vards in each direction in a perfectly 

 straight line. The Severn tunnel is a much more 

 gigantic work. As the river estuary is more than two 

 miles wide, and from seventy to eighty feet deep, 

 the subaqueous tunnel itself, and its approaches, 

 extend to four miles in length. It has been con- 

 structed solely by the Great western railway com- 

 pany, at a total cost of nearly nine million dollars 

 (£1,750,000), and its purpose is to facilitate the 

 transfer of coal from the South Wales coal-field to 

 Southampton, and other places in the south and 

 west of England. Recently coal raised at Aber- 

 dare in the morning, was shipped at Southampton 

 (on mail steamers, etc.) in the evening. The tun- 

 nel is not yet opened for passenger traffic. The 

 greatest difficulty in its construction ; arose from 

 the intrusion of water, not from the Severn alone, 

 but from springs in the Pennant grit and other 

 geological strata, two or three miles away. The 

 source of this water, in the early days of the tun- 

 nel construction (1877-78) was first shown by the 

 present writer. 



The scientiiic relief fund, which is held in trust 

 by the president and council of the Royal society, 

 is likely to receive a very welcome addition to its 

 resources from Sir William Armstrong. The ex- 

 istence of the fund dates from 1859, and is in great 

 measure due to the exertions of the late Mr. Gas- 

 siot. The interest is applied to the relief, under 

 certain conditions, of such scientific men or their 

 families as may from time to time require assist- 

 ance. Since January, 1861, when the first grant 

 was made, about £4,600 have been distributed in 

 nearly one hundred grants. The present amount 

 of the trust is £7,000, and Sir William Armstrong 

 is very anxious to see it raised to £20,000. He 

 therefore proposes himself to give half the sum 

 required, provided that the fellows, with the 

 assistants, if necessary, of other friends of science 

 outside of the society, will raise the remaining 

 £6,500. Several contributions towards this end 

 have already been promised, and it is hoped that 

 there will be no difficulty in making up the sum 



required, as the present income of the fund is by 

 no means equal to the demands upon it. W. 



London, Jan. 24. 



NOTES AND NEWS. 



The recent unusual cold weather in Florida, 

 which caused so much injury to fruit-trees, is 

 said to have destroyed in some places large num- 

 bers of fish in the shallow waters, benumbing 

 them, and permitting them to be cast on the 

 beaches in windrows. 



— Dr. J. W. McLaughlin, president of the Texas 

 state microscopical society, claims to have dis- 

 covered sphero-bacteria in that peculiar southern 

 disease known as dengue, or 'break-bone' fever, 

 and further to have isolated and cultivated them. 



— It is interesting to note, that, at a recent 

 meeting of the Royal geographical society, Ad- 

 miral Sir Leopold McClintock said that ' ' it was a 

 companion of Major Greely, the late lamented 

 Lieut. Lockwood, who had made the nearest ap- 

 proach to the north pole yet accomplished." 



— We call attention to a new map of the Kon- 

 go, corrected up to October, 1885, that has just 

 been issued by Letts, Son, & Co., of London. The 

 topography is laid down in great detail, the scale 

 being 45 miles to the inch. 



— The German parliament has again appropri- 

 ated 30,000 marks, or about $7,500, to assist Dr. 

 Dohrn's zoological institution at Naples. 



— The New York Herald of Feb. 5 states that 

 M. de Jousselin, commander of the steamship St. 

 Laurent, reports observing on his last easterly 

 voyage a magnificent aurora borealis far out on 

 the ocean. The St. Laurent was at the time in 

 latitude 44° 20' north, longitude 57° 3' west. The 

 brilliant phenomenon extended from west-north- 

 west almost to north-east, the luminous rays, 

 white and red, mounting up to about seventy 

 degrees above the horizon, and stars of the first 

 magnitude were visible tlirough the blue rays. 

 The observations show that the aurora occurred 

 in connection with a cloud-covered sky and in the 

 rear of a storm which had a short time previously 

 passed the steamer. 



— The progress of psychical research has been 

 most marked in England, but has not failed to 

 attract attention in Germany, France, and the 

 United States. A journal especially devoted to the 

 historical and experimental ' ' begriindung der 

 ubersinnlichen Weltanschauung auf monistischer 

 grundlage," has been established in Germany. 

 The journal is called Sphinx, and will be issued 

 monthly by L. Femau of Leipzig. Dr. T. U. 



