Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/487

May 20, 1885.] issued contains reviews of physics of the earth, by; Zoppritz; geographic meteorology, by Hann; Euro- pean geodesy, by Oppolzer; geography of plants by Drude, of animals by Scb mania; nnil elbiioluglcal invesligation, by Gerland. Il is as [i [dispensable as the eailier volumes Ui those who wish the broailer view of lliese couiprehetisive Biibjeuts.

— The following teiiipcraturea and epeciSc gravities of Burfnce water lu [ho Mis.-iB»1ppi River were taken □n March I and 2, IStU, from the South Pass to Uie mouth of the river, by the officers of the U. S. fisb- commii-sioD steamer Albatross. From T p.K. of March I, to 3 a.H. of M«rcb 2, the course of the ship was S.E. I E., with a. speed of B.'2 knots.

��— Capt. Magee of the schooner Henry Waddlngton reports that he passed close to a white whale un Mart-h 1, in latitude 27" 3' north, lonijllude 75" 30" west. This poBJtIoa off the Bahamas Is unusual, as the while whale is usnally found in northern waters. The portion of the whale seen was entirely white, and about thirty feet long.

— Dr. Klein has been experimenting with chlo- rine as an air-disinfectant, especially in respect to swine disease, this tieini; easily conveyed by the air. He experimented with two pig» — one healthy, the other diseased — couBnedln the same stable, and in an atmosphere Impregnated with as much chlorine as the animals could endure without evincing dUcomforL The healthy pig remained well for as long a time as Bis hours, for live aucces.->lre days, provided the air in the compartment was maintained well-fumigated with chlorine gas; two good fuinlgailous, up to a marked pungency In the six hours, being required. One good fumigation would effectually disinfect acomportment in which a diseased pig had been.

— A new map of north-western Afghanistan, on the larger and more convenient scale of ten miles to the inch, has been Issued by the English war office.

— The increase in the price of boxwood for loom- shuttles has directed attention to the possibility of producing some cheaper material equally suitable. It has been found that compressed teak will answer

��the purpose; and a powerful hydraulic preis Las just been completed by Sir Joseph Wljilworth of Man- chester, Kjig., fur Mr. Hubert Pickles of liurnby. to be usi'cj in compressin;: this class of limber for the manufacture of loom-shuttles.

— Baron MiklouhoMaclay writes to Nature from the biological station near Sydney, Australia, that he has found the temperature of the body of Kchidna hy^itrix lo he (aver.ige of three ohiervatlons) iS" C., and that of Ornlthorhynclius paradoxus (two ob- servations) 24.8° C. These temperatures present a special interest, comparintc them with Uie mean tem- perature of the bo<ly of mammalia in general, which is (after Dr. J. Davy's observations of thirty-one dif- ferent species) 38 4" C.

— The hjdrographlcal researches in Davis Strait, ■ays Scandiniivia, further corroborate the evidence that there exists In this place a warm undercurrent; for It was found that the highest temperature, when the depth is more than a couple of hundri'd fathoms, is nearest the bottom. The results of the haulings atid scrapings, extending lo a depth of three hundred fathoms. In Davis and Disco Bays, were many varie- ties of lower auimak, a few of which were new spe- cies. Davis Strait is a favorite ground fur deep-sea dredging; for on the 2Sth of June, 164^, Henry God- rey, a member of the Sir John Franklin exppdillon, obtained in Davis Siralt, from the depth of three hundred fathoms, a capital haul, — Motlusca, Ci'us- Ucea, Asterida, etc.

— Dr. Leonard Weber published In the EUktro- tfchii'mehe zelUehrift a paper on the eslimatlun of the Illiunlnation which a light of any given strength would give upon a Uble, or on a wall, or any other object which it might be desired to Illuminate; his point hehiK lo consider not only the intent^ity of the source of light, but also the position in which the light should be placed to render It available to the hIgheKl degree.

— Woeikof of St. Petersburg contributes to the Geneva ArckiBBM dee tciencex a sample chapter In French from his recent work in Rus-ian on clima- tology, describing the supply and discharge of the rivers and lakes of Russia. The most characteristic examples of river-discharge of the Ru-<sian type in- clude such rivers as the Volga, Kama, and Moskva, which rise to high flood regularly once a year In April or May, wlien the winter snowfall melltt and flows away. The Moskva, which has been carefully gauged in recent years, dlschai^ed 03,000,000 cubic metres in the twenty-five days from April 1(1 lo May JO: during the rest of the year, the total discharge was only 88,000,000. The Neva, a lacustrine river, is, of course, much more r^ular In lis flow: it carries out about one-eleventli of the volume of I^ake Ladoga every year. Evaporation on the Caspian is estimated at a Utile over a metre a year, but fine exactness Is not claimed for this resulL

— The lung series of experiments made during last Biimtner and autumn at the South Foreland Ugbt, England, to lest the respective merits of oil, gas, and electricity, for lighthouse iUtunlnatlon, will shortly be