Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/244

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��— A Mr. Loretii of Baden lias invented a new com- pound projectile tor infaniry rifles, wlilch consists of a il«el case vlch a core of lead. In the experimenls m»de the projectile penetrated three mlllimetreB o[ iron, twenty-seven ceulimetres of heeth^wood. and forty centimetres of flrwnod; In >ll,67.3 centimetres, placed at a distance of thirty paces from the muzzle (if the rifle. The projectile was nuchanged in shape, and the lend core remained firm.

— Dr. Everest, vi\in crossed llie Yukon Portage last siiinmer, reports from Fort Reliance, Yukon River, his safe arrival there July 2'J, 1884. He found mi- ners on the river seventy-five miles above Fort Sel- kirk, who reported very rich washings on a bar in the river, the gold-dust being very fine and scaly. He intended to ascend the White River last autumn, and, if possible, tn cross to the Copper River this spring, and descend to lis mouth. The country seemed to him to resemble northern Idaho, with roll- ing hills densely wooded with larch and poplar and willows along the river-banks, and luxuriant herl>age.

— A course of public lectures has been commenced at ^tnn Diego, Cal., under the auspices of the Society of natural history, the proceeds to go toward a build- ing-fund. The first waa delivered by Mrs. Elizabeth Surr, lately of London; and the second by Dr. Frank Cowan, during the stay of the surveying steamer Carliie P. Patterson, on which Dr. Cowan was n guest during its voyage from the east, on the way to Alaska, where it is to be stationed.

— In a recent bulletin of the Geological society of France, OehlerC gives the result of an important study of certain Imperfectly known types of Devonian brachiopods long since described by D'Orbigny, and which are fully illustrated. The memoir places on a sound basis the section of Rhynchonella named Uncinulus by Bayie, while Uncinullna of the same author is shown to be untenable. The paper Is iiar- licuiarly important as a contribution to our hnuwl- edge of the Phynchonellidae.

— Dr. Theodore Stein has succeeded in obtaining photographs of the larynx. The throat and larynx are illuminated by an incandescent electrical lamp, cooled by Nllie's system of cooling by water. A small mirror reflects the image on a geiatiue-hromide plate in a camem-obscura, and a photograph is ob- tained showing the organs in health or disease, thus removing all risks of laryngeal diseases l>ylnliating ihu breath.

— C. F, iin Thurm, the German explorer of British (Juians, has undertaken a new expedition into the interior of this colony, in order to climb Mount lioraimu. At a height of 5,000 feet above the sca- level he found a veritable garden of orchids; and, still more wonderful, on his way thither he found a tribe of Indians conducting a Cliristian service with- out a missionary among them.

— A cable despatch was received March 7, at the Harvard college observatory, from Dr. Kriieger of Kiel, announcing the discovery of a new planet of the eleventh magnitude by Borelly on March 6^.3650

��Greenwich mean time; right ascension. II h. 6in, 13.5a.; declination, -HT^e'll": dallymotion, -*S». in right aacension, - 8' In declination.

— The fonrtii course of free scientific lectures given by the Cincinnati society of natural hisiary was concluded on March 0. The attendance, i spite of the weatlier. has been excellent. Among the lectures were ' Water-crystallisation,' by Prof. Wliliaui L. Dudley; 'Ancient vegetation of the earth,' by Prof. Jos. F. James; and 'Dialoma,' bj Ex-Gov. Jacob D. Cox.

— The council of the Royal meteorological eoc was announced to bold at the Institntion of i engijieers, on the evenings of March IS and ill. an exlilhition of sunshine-recorders and solar and ter- restrial radiation instruments. The society will alio exhibit any tiew meteorological apparatus inTenlnt or first constructed during the past year, as we" photographs and drawings possessing meteorological

— Mr. Eugan Himly, in the PfiotogTiiphic n Jan. 2. 1835, describe.'; an apparatus to avoid the bril- liant glare of an artificial light hi photography. He conceals the light in a case from which the rays are thrown out by reflectors. This diffuser is mounted upon a rail on the ceiling, and can be slowly moved along this during the exposure, thus giving to all sides of the picture an equal brightness.

— At the meeting of the Gesellschaft fiir erdkundf in Berlin. Jan. 3. Dr. Steinmann read a paper on his journeys in southern Patagonia. In 1S82 he went as geological assistant to the fourth German expedition to Punia Arenas, mainly with the object of studying thesouthcni cordilleras. What struck him particu- larly here was the extraordinary difference in the plant forms to those of the southern cordilleras. While on the western slopes vegetntion Is rich in forms, the ctlraate of the steppes reigns on the eastern side. From a geological point of view, the southern point of America is extremely simple in its build, but it is of a different character on the east and west. On the east, chalk formations occur almost entirely; while on the west, where there are innumerable Islands, there is nothing but granite and crystalline rocks. Allhougii the configuration of the coast bad l>een studied thoroughly by the English, Dr. Steinmnnn thinks that many Important questions have still to be sellled; for instance, whetljer Laguna Blanco, lying to the north-east of the aetttemenl Kyralog Water, has an outlet to the west. Ultimately, the lecturer reached the laguna of the third settlement of Santa Craz, of which It may with certainly be said that it was connected, until recently, with the Pacilic Ocean. It may also be concluded that at that time the main- land was much more cut up by channels and water- ways than it is now. In May. 1S83, Dr. Steinmann visited, In the company of Fuegian seal-hunters, the islands south of the Straits of Magellan, including Tierra del Fuego. Ultimately, he made his way from the southern point of America to Bolivia, and here continued Ills investigations.

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