Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/423

 5.1

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��Zambezi and the coast south ot Lake Bangwoolo, and ft H to be o( a pure); scientific character.

— The German bark Ceylon reports that April 10, 111 latitude 31° north, longitude Tl° west, she was struck by a wnter-spoul, carrying away main and mizzen masts close to the deck, killing the firctolBccr. and Beriously injuring Capt. Newman. During the earl; part of the night, two distant thunder-slorms crossed the sky. All sail was (uried except reefed lower topsails. Near midnight a low cloud was ob- served about five degrees above the horizon. The remainder ot the sky was clear. The ship was head- ing north-north-west, and a gentle breeze was blowing from Bouth-wesL Suddeliiy, through the darkness,

something that at first seemed

a ship wna seen quite near,

bearing west - north - west.

Then all crouched to the deck,

for a water-spout was close

aboard. The wind struck the

bow with hurricane force,

while at the wheel aft it he- came a dead calm. The vessel

was thrown over to starboard

until the tower yard-arms al- most touched the water. Her

head was forced round from

north -north- west to south- south-east, and the sails torn

into ribbons. Then, as the

wind came rotind to starboard,

the vessel righted and went

over lo port, until the rail was

under water In almost an in- stant. The main and mizzen

masts were whipped out of

her, and Ihe men thrown

across the deck, killing the

male. Then suddenly it be- came calm, and the vessel

righted. The captain thinks

it all occurred within two or

three minutes. During the

time Ujey were in the inQu-

ence ot the water-spout, there

was a great deal of St. Ehno's

fire on all the ironwork ot Ihe "*■" ""'

— A brief paper by J. A. Ockerson of St. Loufs,

on the earlier floods of the lower Mississippi, in the Journal of the Association of engineering societies for January last, and a discu'Slon of It by R. E. McMalh, furnish some interesting statements about the great river. The conclusion is readied by the first-named author, that, on account of the relation that must exist between mean flood height and the altitude of the flood plain, it is possible to conclude from the eqiulity of height ot the actual and long- abandoned river-banks that there has been no percep- tible change in the mean flood height for at least two centuries, and hence that the culting-away of our

��marks that the exceptional floods may now be higher than formerly without signiticantly affecting the mean height of floods. The old river-banks alluded to are now seen enclosing the crescent-shaped lakes, so characteristic ot rivers that shift their course lu alluvial plains; and these are well Illustrated in a plate, here copied in part (the main stream Is left un- shaded), constructed from manuscript maps ot the government surveys of 1832 and 188.S, of which we are glad to have even this small glimpse. Lake Bruin was cut off before the river was known to navigators; Lake St. Joseph was abandoned probably before 1700, and In the change the river-course was shortened twenty miles or more; Palmyra Lake was

���I centuries, and forests has no regime ot the

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��formed by the Davis cut-off In 1867; it la nineteen miles around, while the neck was less than a mile wide. The slope of the flood plain away from the immediate river-banks, caused by the quick deposit of much sediment near the main channel during overflows, is sometimes very marked. It generally gives a lateral descent of from one to ten feet in a mile, and in an extreme case the fall was 13 feet in ed7, The bluffs enclosing the river-bottom are shown on the east, but are not Included on the west.

— In the report of the International commission ot the Suez Canal, says the Electrteal rrvlea. attention is drawn to the important question of night naviga- tion in the canal by means of the electric light. This subject is said to be under serious consideration, ex-

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