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the description of the much more modern one located at Rodah.

The nilometer, or "mikyas," on the island of Rodah now visible, is stated to have replaced one which was brought thither from Memphis at some unrecorded date. Makreezee in 1417, according to Ebers, saw the remains of the older nilometer.

The present mikyas is within a covered vault or chamber, the roof being supported on simple wooden pillars. In a quadrangular tank communicating with the river by a canal is an octagon pillar on which the Arabic measurements are inscribed. These consist of the pic (variously called ell or cubit) = 0'54 metre, which is divided into twenty-four kirats, in consequence of the rise of the river bed in relatively recent times, the_nilometer is submerged at high Nile to a depth of two cubits.

The rise of the Nile can now be carefully studied, as gauges are distributed along the river. We have the Aswân gauge from 1869, the Armant gauge from 1887, the Suhag gauge from 1889, and the Asyût gauge from 1882. The distances of these gauges from Aswân are as follows:

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Great vagueness arises in there being no very obvious distinction between the gauge readings reached in summer and that from which the rise is continuous. There are apparently rainfalls in the end of spring of sufficient power to raise the Nile visibly in summer, just as muddy rises have been seen in winter to pass down the valley, leaving a muddy mark on the rocks at Aswân and Manfalût. Independently of the actual gauge-reading of the rise, there are facts about it which strike every beholder. At the commencement of the rise we have the green water. This occurs in June, but varies in date as much as the top of the flood varies.

From the fact that modern observations show that the very beginning of the rise, and the first flush, second flush, and final retirement vary, it seems evident that the ancient Egyptians could not have had any fixed zero-gauge or time for the real physical fact of the rise, but must have either deduced from a series of observations a mean period of commencement, or a mean arrival of the red water, or a mean rising up to a certain gauge.

First to deal with the green water. Generally when the rise of an inch or two is reported from the nilometer at Rodah, the waters lose the little of clearness and freshness they still possessed. The green colour is the lustre less hue of brackish water within the tropics, and only the finer class of modern filter can render such water clear. The colour is really due to algæ.

Happily, the continuance of this state of the water seldom exceeds three or four days. The sufferings of those who are compelled to drink it in this state, from vesicary disease, even in this short interval, are very severe. The inhabitants of the cities generally provide against it by Nile-water stored in reservoirs and tanks.

Col. Ross, R.E., noticed in 1887 and in 1890, when, owing to the slow retreat of the Nile, the irrigation officers

had to hold back many basins in the Gizah province and also in 1888, when the water remained long stagnan: that the basin-water got green-showed the alga an smelt marshy, just as the June green water does.

Hence it has been argued that as the Nile-water in the bed of the stream-even in very slow-flowing back-wate -does not become green, the greenness must be pr duced by an almost absolute stagnation of the water. W know of great marshes up above Gondokoro, and hent it is thought that the green water of summer, which comes on suddenly, is this marsh-water being pushed out by the new water from behind, and that is why it heralds the rise. No one has so far minutely observed the gradua intrusion of the green water.

The rise of the river proceeds rapidly, and the wate gradually becomes more turbid. Ten or twelve days however, elapse before the development of the last an most extraordinary of all the appearances of the Nile thus described by Mr. Osborn 1:" It was at the end of to my own sensations-a long and very sultry nigh that I raised myself from the sofa upon which I had t vain been endeavouring to sleep, on the deck of a Nile boat that lay becalmed off Benisoueff, a town of Middle Egypt.

The sun was just showing the upper limb of his dis over the eastern mountains. I was surprised to see the when his rays fell upon the water, a deep ruddy reflection was given back. The depth of the tint increased con tinually as a larger portion of his light fell upon the water, and before he had entirely cleared the top of the hill it presented the perfect appearance or a river < blood. Suspecting some delusion, I rose up hastily, and looking over the side of the boat saw there the confirma tion of my first impression. The entire body of the wate was opaque and of a deep red colour, bearing a close resemblance to blood than to any other natural pr duction to which it could be compared. I now perceived that during the night the river had visibly risen seve inches. While I was gazing at this great sight, the Ara came round me to explain that it was the Red Nile. T redness and opacity of the water, in this extraordinar condition of the river, are subject to constant variations On some days, when the rise of the river has not exceeded an inch or two, its waters return to a state of semi-trans parency, though during the entire period of the h Nile they never lose the deep red tinge which cannot b separated from them. It is not, however, like the gree admixture, at all deleterious; the Nile water is neve more wholesome or more deliciously refreshing than da ing the overflow. There are other days when the rise of river is much more rapid, and then the quantity of m that is suspended in the water exceeds, in Upper Egy that which I have seen in any other river. On more th one occasion I could perceive that it visibly interiere with the flow of the stream. A glassful of it in this stay was allowed to remain still for a short time. The upg portion of it was perfectly opaque and the colour of bio A sediment of black mud occupied about one quarter the glass. A considerable portion of this is deposite before the river reaches Middle and Lower Egypt never observed the Nile water in this condition there, a indeed no consecutive observations exist of the redder of the water. It is quite clear that the reddening ca come from the White Nile, but must be the first flood the Blue Nile and the Atbara coming down."

Rate of Rise of the Nile.-The rate in flood is dan from Wady Halfa to Aswân and six days from Asw Rodah (941 kilometres). In very high Niles this haps accelerated to five days. In the early flood ris from, say, one cubit Aswân to six cubits, where there -" many dry sandbanks, and the spreading out of the is considerable, and there is an absence of overlapp =

1 Monumental Egypt," chapter i.

flushes from behind, the rate goes up to fifteen days. There is a very great difference in time and rate between Green and Red Nile. The rise is 45 ft. at Aswân, 38 at Thebes, and 25 at Cairo.

From the data obtained at the gauges named which have been kindly forwarded to me by Mr. Garstin, the U.S. of State of the Public Works Department of Egypt, I have ascertained that the average time taken by the flood to travel now between Thebes and Memphis is about nine days. Although the river bed is now higher than formerly, the land around Thebes, according to Budge, having been raised about nine feet in the last 1700 years, still the same elevation has taken place at Memphis, so that no difference in the velocity of the stream would be produced by this cause.

The great difficulty experienced in understanding the statements generally made concerning the Nile-rise arises from the fact that the maximum flood is as a rule registered in Cairo upwards of 40 days after the maxi

num of Aswân.

For the following account of how this is brought about I am indebted to the kindness of Col. Ross, R. E. :"The behaviour of the flood at the Aswân gauge is as ollows: Between August 20 and 30 a good average rauge of 16 cubits is often reached, and between August 27 and September 3 there is often a drop of about 30 entimetres. The August rise is supposed to be mostly lue to the Blue Nile and Atbara River. Between Septemer 1 and 8 the irrigation officers generally look for a naximum flood-gauge of the year at Aswân. This is supposed to be the first flush of the White Nile. In the niddle of September there are generally two small flushes, out the last twenty days of September are generally disinctly lower than that of the first week. The final flush

of the Nile is seldom later than the 21st to 25th September. "All this water does not merely go down the Nile; it loods the different basins. The opening of these basins begins from the south to the north. This operation is enerally performed between the 29th September and the 2nd October. The great Central Egypt basins are not onnected with the Nile for purposes of discharge into he river between Asyût and near Wasta, or a distance of = 305 kil.

95-90 kilometres

The country in the middle or Central Egypt is broad, nd thus there is an enormous quantity of water poured bout the 20th October, which seriously raises the Nile t Cairo, and in a good average year will bring the Cairo auge (at Rodah) up to the maximum of the year on or bout October 22, and hence it is that the guide books ay the Nile is at its highest in the end of October.

ut of these basins into the lower reaches of the river

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A gauge of 16 cubits at Aswân while the basins are eing filled does not give more than 21 cubits at Rodah Cairo), but as the basins with a 16 gauge will fill by the oth September, it follows that a 16 to 16 cubit gauge at swân will not give a constant Cairo gauge, as the great lass of water passes by the basins and reaches Cairo. lence we have frequently the paradox of a steady or alling gauge at Aswân showing a steady rise at Cairo. "If the gauge at Aswân keeps above 16 cubits to near he end of September, the basin-emptying is much etarded, as the emptying at each successive basin fills e Nile above the 16 cubit level; hence the lower halves f the chains of basins do not flow off, and thus when e great Middle Egypt basins are discharged, they do ot raise the Nile so much as they do when the last alf of September Nile is below 16 at Aswân.

"In years like 1887 and 1892, which differ from each ther only in date of maximum gauge at Aswân, the ver, having filled the basins in 15 to 20 days instead f in 25 to 30 days, comes down to Cairo in so largely Icreased a volume that a really dangerous gauge of 25 ubits at Cairo is maintained for over a fortnight (the

average October gauge in Cairo is about 23 cubits), and from September 10 to October 25 the river remains from 24 cubits to 25 cubits, and the Middle Egypt basins discharge so slowly that the opening day is hardly traceable on the Cairo gauge.

"In the 1878 flood, which was the most disastrous flood possible, the river rose in the most abnormal fashion, and on October 3 attained 18 cubits at Aswân. This breached the Delta, and in addition so delayed the Upper Egypt basins emptying from the reason before given that the wheat was sown too late, and got badly scorched by the hot winds of March and April." " J. NORMAN LOCKYER.

THE LANDSLIP AT SANDGATE.

THE causes of landslips are in general so well known defined on geological principles that when on Monday, and the localities which are liable to them so clearly March 6, the public were startled by the news of a landslip at Sandgate, the probability would be that geologists who knew the district would be by no means surprised, more particularly as the locality of the catastrophe is in books, and the town itself gives its name to a subdivision the midst of a typical section shown in many of the text

of the Cretaceous rocks.

pected, and since it has happened conjectures as to its The event, however, does not appear to have been excause have been numerous; but the true explanation has been wanting.

the country about Sandgate are the Folkestone beds, the The series of rocks which, in descending order, form Sandgate beds, the Hythe beds, and the Atherfield clay. for the presence of clays, as the probable origin of a landAmongst these it is natural to look in the first instance slip, though very loose sands have also been known to give way. The Folkestone beds are for the most part sand and they are bound together by bands of grit. Moreover, they are above the affected area. The Hythe beds are likewise characterised by bands of hard limestone, separated by calcareous sands. There are left the Atherfield clay, whose nature is indicated by its name, and the Sandgate beds.

The most recent description of these is that of W. Topley, International, 1888, in which they are briefly characterised F.R.S., in the Comptes Rendus of the Congrès Géologique (P.. 257), as Argiles vertes et sables." The same Woodward in 1887) is somewhat different, but in his writer's description of them in 1883 (quoted also by H. B.

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dark clayey sand and clay, the total thickness being given Geology of the Weald," 1875, they are said to consist of as 80 ft. In his more detailed description, however, Mr. F. G. H. Price divides these 80 ft. into four parts, the lowest 20 ft. being all "clayey beds" (Proc. Geol. Assoc., vol. iv. p. 554). In a still earlier account by Prof. Morris (l.c. vol. ii. p. 41) we have the following interesting statement: "The dark-greenish sub-argillaceous sands, known as the Sandgate beds, rise on the shore at a short distance west of Folkestone. The low undercliff which skirts the shore from Folkestone nearly to Hythe owes its origin to the presence of these beds, which from their retention of water and slight coherency of structure have caused the frequent subsidence of the beds above."

It would appear, then, that there are two possible sources of the slipping-the Atherfield clay and the clayey bands of the Sandgate beds, and thus much was indicated at once by Mr. F. W. Rudler (Daily Graphic, March 8).

On a personal examination of the area the whole history of the subsidence becomes clear enough.

At

The modern Egyptians still hold to the old months for irrigation. 7 Tuba January 15 is commencement of wheat irrigation; 30 Misra is the ing the bridges September 8 in Upper Egypt. last safe date for sowing maize in the Delta; 1st Tut is the date of regulat-

Sandgate itself neither the Atherfield clay nor the Sandgate beds are well exposed, but on the seashore between there and Folkestone we meet with the white-weathering massive limestone of the Hythe beds at Mill Point, and to the west of it. They are here dipping east at a moderate angle, and if this dip is continued, as the beds rise to the west, there would be room for the 60 feet of them which are seen at Hythe, between their probable outcrop in the lower part of the Enbrook Valley and lowwater mark, opposite its debouchure. It must be here, if anywhere, that the recorded appearance of Atherfield clay occurs for the state of things above described must here be terminated by a fault, as will be presently explained, and nowhere else along the coast till Sandgate is entirely passed can this clay occur within 40 yards seaward of low-water. On the east side of Enbrook, however, there is no landslip, and the actual landslip is thus shown to have nothing to do with the Atherfield clay.

Above the strong bands of Hythe limestone, however, west of Mill Point, are seen about 20 feet of soft, crumbling clay, occupying the base of the low cliff and becoming sandier above, as described by Mr. Price, and it is easily seen that the bottom of the Enbrook Valley is excavated in clay. The same clay is admirably seen on the other side of Sandgate, in the first cutting beyond Hythe Station on the branch line from Sandling Junction, so

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spring, which may indicate the line of another fault; it may be that all this is only a surface slip; but, in an case, Folkestone beds occupy the actual surface.

The strike faults thus indicated are only what we mig expect if the strata broke, as they so often do, duri their upheaval. It is plain that such faults will rathe complicate the surface exposure of the clayey rocks which overlie the Hythe limestone. Now, if we allow some 12: feet for the Sandgate beds, so as to include in the title 2 that portion of the series above the clay band at the base. which is not strengthened by the occurrence of indurated bands, and draw, from the purely geological considerations detailed above, the boundary of their surface ex posure, which will not be an entirely simple one, it r actly coincides with the boundary of the disturbed area Thus the upper boundary commences just beyond the town on the west, and runs very nearly along the line of the most westerly fault, till the latter has Folkestone beds on both sides of it; it then changes direction, and runs parallel to the outcrop of the Hythe beds on the foreshore. sloping down to a point above West Lawn, that is, to the probable position of the second fault; it is then throw back along the probable line of that fault. It then again changes its direction and runs at first parallel to the second outcrop of the Hythe limestone, afterwards sloping down rapidly to the shore, so as to follow what

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that though it is not now well exposed in Sandgate itself, we may be sure that it forms a continuous band immediately above the Hythe limestone.

Now, continuing to examine the coast below Sandgate on the west side of Enbrook we find an outcrop of Hythe limestone nearly opposite Farleigh House. Here also it has a dip towards the east; but it has also an abnormally high dip-perhaps 10'-inshore; such a dip in itself indicates a dislocation in the neighbourhood, but independently of this, the position of this band at the same level as that at Mill Point, while both bands dip, proves that there is a fault between the two, probably along_the Enbrook Valley, with a downthrow on the west. This brings down the clay band at the base of the Sandgate beds to the sea level immediately to the east of the limestone above mentioned, and further on, to the east of the coastguard station, the sandy beds of the Folkestone series, which may, however, have slipped.

Going further west, we find the same band of Hythe limestone exposed on the sloping shore, having a similar easterly dip; but not so great an inshore dip, which, unless this were a lower band of Hythe limestone (which other observations negative), proves a second fault between these two, with a downthrow also to the west, but of smaller amount. Further west again, and just beyond the town, the sandy Folkestone beds are found at a lower level than they should be if the stratification were regular, and in the slight valley intervening there is a

would be probably the line of outcrop of the first hard band in the possibly slipped mass of the Folkestone beds The conclusion from this seems inevitable. The wh disturbance is due to a motion of soft Sandgate bed where they are unprotected by the overlying hard bands the Folkestone beds.

The nature of the motion can be determined by an examination of its upper, and particularly of its lower lim The greatest amount of visible disturbance has takes place along the upper limit; here the ground is seen have slipped downwards and forwards. This might be caused by the collapse of an underground hollow if such a thing were possible, but the loose sandy and clayey nature of the rocks would not admit of such a hollow being formed, and the thick clay band at the base would effectually shield the Hythe limestones from chemica erosion. The lower limit, however, shows very plain's that the motion has been a simple slip in a south-east east-south-east direction. In the first place the wester band of Hythe limestone on the foreshore which ab against a concrete groin is absolutely unmoved, and the sea-wall above is quite intact (which is a second proof it, after what has been said above, any further proof we: needed, that the Atherfield clay has nothing whatever? do with the matter). In the second place, immediate to the east of this outcrop, the sea-wall has bulged f ward by about three feet, as shown by the next, woode groin, and near low-water mark the overlying clay is s

to be bulged up, so as to form a mound on the foreshore, which is being rapidly destroyed by the sea; while further east, opposite the end of Wellington Terrace, the overlying more sandy clays are also seen bulged up. Along the main road also, in front of West Lawn, on the western side of the supposed fault, the surface has been squeezed up. On the eastern side of this fault, further cracks, indicating a forward motion, are seen at the entrance to Encombe grounds; and, finally, the Coast Guard houses and the wall in front bulge forward at least three feet, and probably more, and the two sides of the street opposite have been squeezed together.

Thus the whole disturbance has been caused by the slipping downwards of the overlying soft beds over the inclined plane formed by the basement band of clay which rests on the Hythe limestone as a firm foundation, the direction of motion having been somewhat modified by the resisting mass of rock which lies to the east, and by the natural tendency of the sliding mass to take the shortest course to a lower level.

It is thus seen that the circumstances of the locality exactly fulfil the usual geological conditions for a landslip-i.e. a sloping bed of clay, which is liable to become slippery, and whose dip is towards the lower surface level where the overlying rocks find no support. Hence it may safely be said that any geologist, whose attention had been specially directed to the question, could have predicted that such an occurrence was extremely likely, sooner or later, to happen. There is, however, one necessary condition, which does not depend on the lie of the strata and the form of the ground, and that is that the clay should become slippery. This condition will probably account for the fact that in the area to the east of the Enbrook fault where all the other conditions are satisfied, .e. in the neighbourhood of Radnor Cliff, no landslip has occurred. Clay is of course rendered slippery by the access of water. Now water will easily find its way through sandy strata, and there are sandy beds even in the lower portion till we come to the band of clay itself. As this is equally true in both localities the only difference can be in the amount of

water.

Now there is a natural tendency for water to run down the dip slope of the strata, especially when there are hard bands as in the Folkestone beds, so that in this case most of the water will come from the west, and this source is cut off from the Radnor Cliff side by the Enbrook Valley, to the east of which there is little or no gathering ground; but to the west and north-west of the disturbed area there is a wide expanse of high ground, mostly rising 100 feet above the level of the Sandgate beds, and the water which falls on this finds its easiest outlet into these beds. They are therefore exactly in a position to get waterlogged, and that they are so is shown by the numerous springs that may be seen along the upper limit of the disturbed area.

The above considerations show that this area always has been and always will be liable to landslips. The lie of the beds which produces this liability cannot be altered by human agency, but the liability may be reduced to a minimum by a suitable system of drainage, which shall prevent the access of so large a body of water to so dangerous an area.

In the meantime the inhabitants of Sandgate may congratulate themselves that the shoreward dip of the beds and fault which breaks their continuity have reduced the result of the slip to a minimum, and rendered possible the remarkable circumstance that, though it happened in an area covered with houses, not a single house has been actually thrown down-not a single life lost.

As to the immediate cause of the occurrence, it is perhaps scarcely necessary to look for it. The landslip must necessarily have occurred at some time or another, and the conditions must for a long time have been gradually

accumulating, by the constant access of water and the | wearing action of the sea. If, however, the free discharge of the water from the beds has been in any way interfered with by the stoppage of wells, or the construction of imperforate sea-walls--this would doubtless tend to the acceleration of the catastrophe ; and an exceptionally wet season, like that we have recently experienced, might suffice to determine it. It would be scarcely necessary to add, except that the idea has been mentioned in the House, that the blowing up of the Benvenue and the Calypso could have absolutely nothing to do with it in the first place, because the scene of the explosions was to the west of the disturbed area, and cut off from it by the massive Hythe beds, which are absolutely undisturbedto say nothing of the Atherfield clay at sea which must necessarily intervene; secondly, because such a cause could not require several months to operate; and, lastly, because a vibration would rather tend to cause such beds to settle than to slip. J. F. BLAKE.

NOTES.

PROF. VIRCHOW will'deliver the Croonian Lecture this afternoon, and in the evening he will be entertained at the public dinner which is to be given in his honour at the Hôtel Métropole. It may at the same time be noted that an important scientific work, in three volumes, has just been issued by the Berlin publisher, August Hirschwald, in memory of the celebration of Prof. Virchow's seventieth birthday. The work is entitled "Internationale Beiträge zur Wissenschaftlichen Medicin," and among the contributors to it are Sir James Paget, Sir Joseph Lister, and other English writers.

A MOVEMENT has been started for the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the illustrious Russian mathematician, Lobatcheffsky, who was described by the late Prof. Clifford as "the Copernicus of geometry." He was born on October 10, 1793. It is proposed that honour shall be done to his memory at the Imperial University of Kasan, with which he was for many years connected as a professor and as rector. The Physico-Mathematical Society of the University, which has taken the matter in hand, hopes to be able either to establish a prize with Lobatcheffsky's name for researches in mathematics, or to erect a bust of the great investigator in the University buildings. If the funds suffice, both of these things will be done. Subscriptions should be sent to the Physico-Mathematical Society, Kasan.

THE German Congress of Naturalists and Physicians, which is to meet this year at Nürnberg. was postponed last year on account of the outbreak of cholera,

PROF. W. C. ROBERTS-AUSTEN, F. R. S., chemist and assayer Royal College of Surgeons, have been elected members of the to the Royal Mint, and Mr. Thomas Bryant, President of the Athenæum Club, under the provisions of the rule by which the Committee is empowered to elect annually nine persons "of distinguished eminence in science, literature, the arts, or for public services."

THE half-yearly general meeting of the Scottish Meteorological Society was held at Edinburgh on Monday, March 13. The council of the society submitted its report, and the following papers were read :-On the temperatures of Lochs Lochy and Ness as affected by the wind, by Dr. Murray; mean temperature of London from 1763 to 1892, by Dr. Buchan; hygrometric researches at the Ben Nevis Observatories, by A. J. Herbertson.

WE understand that an enormous iron meteorite weighing nearly one ton (2044 lbs.) has just been received by Mr. J. R.

Gregory, of Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, from the same locality as the one described by him in NATURE in November last; it is 4 feet 2 inches long by 2 feet 3 inches wide and 20 inches thick. It comes from Youndegin in Western Australia.

THE secretary of the Physical Society asks us to say that in the report of the Society's annual general meeting (NATURE, March 2, p. 429) the name of Mr. J. T. Hurst was wrongly included in the list of members lost by death.

ATTENTION is called in the North Atlantic Pilot Chart to the fact that the great astronomical event of the month of April -the eclipse of the sun on April 16-will have certain features of special interest to the science of marine meteorology. Masters of vessels and observers who may be within the limits of the visibility of this eclipse are earnestly requested to make reports of their observations. The chart shows graphically the path of the total eclipse, the northern limit of visibility, and curves showing at what places the eclipse begins at 1 hour, 2 hours, and 3 hours, and when it ends at 3 hours, 4 hours, and 5 hours, Greenwich mean time, April 16. It is pointed out that there are observations which any one can make, and that these may prove to be of great interest and value. The following are particularly desired: (1) any changes in the clouds accompanying changes of temperature during the eclipse; (2) reading of the barometer every half hour from 11.30 to 5.30 G. M. T., while in the path of total eclipse; (3) temperature of the air, both wet and dry bulb, during the same interval; (4) any peculiar appearance of light during the eclipse; (5) the altitude and azimuth of any faint comet that may be detected during the eclipse.

THE weather during the latter part of last week was exceptionally fine over England, the daily maxima being frequently above 60°, and reaching 66° in the midland counties on Sunday, a temperature which is nearly 20° above the mean maximum for the time of year. The nights, however, were very cold, owing to the radiation under a clear sky; in some localities the readings on the grass were as low as 23° to 25°, and little, if any, above freezing in the shade. These conditions were occasioned by the distribution of atmospheric pressure, there being a welldefined anticyclone over the southern parts of England and over part of the continent. But in Scotland and Ireland the weather was much less settled; low-pressure areas lay off the north of Scotland, causing gales and occasional rainfall, while hail occurred at Wick on Friday. At the beginning of the present week the barometer fell decidedly, the anticyclone moved to the eastward, and the type of weather underwent a complete change, fog becoming prevalent at many places in the southern parts of the kingdom, and on Tuesday a new depression reached the north of Scotland, accompanied by rainy and unsettled weather generally. The official report for the week ending the 11th instant showed that bright sunshine was more prevalent than it has been for many weeks, and that it exceeded the average amount in all districts; also that there was a great deficiency in the amount of rainfall in all districts, except in the north of Scotland.

Das Wetter for February contains some particulars respecting the extraordinarily high barometer readings during January. At the commencement of that month the isobar between Lapland and Finland indicated the unusual height of 309 inches, which increased to 31'1 on the 3rd. On this day the centre of high pressure was in the vicinity of the White Sea, the reading at Archangel being 312 inches, and at Kargopol, on the Onega, 313 inches. Such high readings in those parts in winter are the more noteworthy, owing to the frequent passage of depressions over the north of Europe during that season. Subsequently the high pressure area shifted to Eastern Siberia, where

high readings are more usual. On January 12 the pressure at Irkutsk exceeded 31'5 inches, and on the next day it reached 317. According to Dr. Hann, such a high reading had only been recorded once before, viz. on December 16, 1877, at Semipalatinsk. But on the morning of January 14, the reading at Irkutsk, reduced to sea level and corrected for gravity, attained the unprecedented height of 31.8 inches. So far as it is known this is the highest reading that has ever been recorded on the globe. These high pressures were also accompanied by very low temperatures. On January 14 the thermometer at Irkutsk fell to minus 51° 3, or about 40° below the mean for the time of year. In the north of Sweden the thermometer fell to minus 76°, or 38° below the freezing point of mercury.

SOME shocks of earthquake have lately been felt at Quetta. Two occurred on February 13 at 9.50 p.m., and another shock on the 14th at about 3 a.m. These shocks caused a considerable scare, and many people rushed out of doors, the condition of many houses in Quetta being anything but safe. The Pioneer Mail says that several houses have since fallen at Quetta, and a number of people have been injured, and two killed thereby.

DR. D. D. CUNNINGHAM is carrying on a series of microscopical investigations into the Indian potato blight. Elaborate experiments are also being made in the practical treatment of the crop and of diseased soils. The results, according to the Pioneer Mail, are expected to be important, and will be made public in due course.

It appears from the Ceylon Census Report for 1891 that the bulk of the population of the island live by agriculture. The proportion of the agricultural class to the general population is in Ceylon 705; in India 64'09; in England and Wales 15:44Next in order of number comes the industrial class, which in cludes something less than one-sixth, and after it the commercial class, holding one-twentieth. The Ceylon Observer notes as remarkable the fact that in the Southern Province there is a larger Sinhalese industrial population than in any other province—a result, it is supposed, attributable to the large number of people engaged in utilising the products of the cocoa-nut tree, with a certain number of workers in jewellery, tortoise-shell, &c.

Two Akka girls, who were rescued from Arab capturers by Dr. Stuhlmann and his companions, have been brought to Europe, and will remain in Germany for some months. In the summer they will be taken back to Africa, where they will be placed in some mission house, or otherwise provided for. They are supposed to be between seventeen and twenty years of age. A correspondent of the Daily News, who saw them at Naples, says they are well proportioned, and as tall as a boy of eight years of age. Their behaviour is "infantile, wild, and shy, but without timidity." One of them was always cross, bending her head, and glaring from beneath frowning brows; while the other often laughed joyously, was pleased with bead bracelets and other trinkets given to her, and expressed by a queer sniff of her flat nose her appreciation of some chocolate bonbons. After making a capital dinner on rice and meat," they greatly enjoyed the sunshine in a pretty garden, where they gradually grew more confident, and finally allowed themselves to be photographed arm-in-arm with the little son of their hostess.

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The coquettish one shook with laughter, and seemed to guess that a process was going on flattering to her vanity, while the cross one still looked gloomy and suspicious. They showed neither wonder nor admiration of the people and things around them in the artistically furnished house and tasteful garden; their eyes, though large and lustrous, have less expression than the ugly eyes of a monkey." These interesting representatives of one of the pygmy races of the world are to be presented to various scientific societies in Berlin.

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