Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/52

 [Vol.. v.. Si), im.

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��— The dean of Clonfert ha* In Ihe press a work on ' Tbe general principlei of the structure of langu^e.' Trtibner la the publisher. The work contafos gram* tnatlcal sketches, dran-n up with great miniitenesa, of about a hundred atid twenty languages, African. American, Oceanic. Aaiatlc, and European.

— The latest part (loroa vi. 2, : of the bnlletin ot the NatlonHl academ; of sciences in Cordoba, Ar- gentine Itepublii.', has been received. It contains two geological papers, — the Rut by Floreniino Ani- eghino, on a series of geologieal and paleontological excursions made in the proriTic« o[ Buenos Aires; and the second by AcJolEo Doeriiig, on certain arte- sian borings in the Argentine Republic.

— Under the title of ' La rage ct les expSrlencia do M. Pasteur,' Gaslon Percheran has published an excellent little treatise ou hydrophobia (ParU, Fliwln- Dldot]. The work gives briefly a clear acconnt of all ibat is known of the malady, with the latest discov- eries of Pasteur respecting the protective vacci- nation of dogs against rabies, and the confirmatory report of the commission appointed by the French government to control the test experiments. The description of the primary symptoms of the malady in dogs is interesting, and may be useful. The Ireatisi' is written In a popular style.

— The HlMlrirle xeitunrj give* an account ot the exploring of the mysterious little river, Beka, whieb rises in the Carrntbian Alps, disappears, and emerges aj;aln in Istria as the Timavo, flnally flowing Intn the Bay of Monfalcone. An exploring parly from (he village of St. CanElan last March enti^red the grotto into which the river liisappcars. For sixty yards the bonis went along a narrow channel bnr- itei-cil by walls n liiuidred metres high; then a cavern was reached, where the party was obliged to land, as the current was loo strong for the boat. They fol- lowed the left bank of the stream along the rocks iinl.ll it was only four metres broad, when they crossed it on a plank, then followed the right hank until they came to the sixth subterranean watcrtall. The magnesium light showed calm water below this. Four explorers started again on the Uth of November, and reached a seventh waterfall.

— ' Danger-lines and river-floods ot 18H2 ' is the lilli; of Signal-service note xv., by U. A. Haxen, jimlor professor Inlheofflceof the chief slgnal-olflcer. The height at which floods become dangerous Is given forforty-seven cities, arranged aliihabetlcally. This Is supplemented by special notes descriptive of the con- ditions of danger at these stations. In Hccordancc with these measures, warnings can be issiieil as the rivers rise. The excessive Moods of 18S-J in the Mis- sissippi basin are referred to an unusually CRi-ly spring. causing a rapid melilng of snow, coniblneil with ex- cessive rainfall, which caused simultaneous high water in both Ihe Ohio and Mississippi rivur<. The progress •if the flood-wave crest down stream i<i found to oc- cupy from three to eight days (mean, live and seven- tenihs) between Cincinnati and Cairo, and from eleven to tweniy.four (mean, sixteen and eight-tenths) from Cincinnati to Vlcksburg. In general, the hlgfier the

��the longer is the time of movement. The has been made In the flooded district, that, "If the rlTer-banks were now as heavily wooded as in the great flood of 18^, the water would hare risen ten feet higherin 1883 tlian it did." To this Professor Ilaeen answers, that the same hoavfty wooded con- dition of the banks farther up stream would have held back the water, retarded the supply, and thus i-cdiiced the height by distributing the flood over a longer period. The value of properly lost In the floods ot 1SS2 in Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas. and Louisiana, is roughly estimated at nine and a half millions: the loss of life was a hundred and forly-eighl.

— The city of Providence, being embarrassed about the disposal of its sewage at the head of a Hdal bay, sent two of its engineers to Europe last summer to Investigate the various processes practically employed there to accomplish the desired end. The resulting report has been recently issued in an octavo volume of a hundred and fitly pages, with many plates and maps. It coulaliis recommendations lo the effect that 'intercepting sewers' should be built so aa to calch Ihe sewage jusl before il flows into the nat- ural channels of drainage, and that 11 should he Uiu^ carried to Field's Point, on the west bank of Provi- dence River, near the southern limit of the city; that It should there he treated by chemicals in euch ■ man- ner OS to clarify it by precipitation of suspended mai- ler; and that the clarlQed eflDuenl should be emptied into deep water off the point. The estlmateil cost of this arrangement is over three and a half million dol- | lars. The re|>ort contains much material of Interest; , and Appendix A, on 'sewerage systems and sewage disposal.' which makes Ihe grealASt part of the vol- ume, la a valuable historical and practical statement lit the question.

— According to a telegram from Calcutta, Mr. Uriesbach, the geologist with the Afghan boundary commission, describes the route between Gnetla and the Helmund as presenting features very similar lo those in the Pishln valley and Candahar: namely, a system of precipitous, deeply eroded ridges, ex- tending from north and south lo norUi-east and ' south-west. Extensive posl-tertiary deposits flll the intervening valleys. The south-west extreroily of the Ghascarband range la composed of sandstone shales and grits of the Flysch facles ot eocene rocks. A series of low hills and valleys stretches tjctween Canj- pai and Nushlii, which, from their composition, ap- pear to be merely continuations of the Eojah Amran range, but near Galiahah the formation is distinctly younger, Ibc epoch being mostly trap rock, which in l>laces bursts through Ihe cretaceous limestone over- lying it, and locally converts it Into white marble.

— The steamship British Prince reports that n Dec. 23, in latitude 4° 46' north, longitude 66° wesl (about four hundred miles east of New Tork), from two A.u. to half-past Ave a.u., she had steady St. Elmo lights at yard-arms and mast-heads. The weather was overcast, dark, and gloomy, with toi^ rents of rain, vivid lightning, and peals ot thunder.

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