River and the town of Khotan, was expected, and has probably arrived before this, via Aksu and Karakol, at Semirechinsk, the authorities of which district had received a call for forty camels to carry the collections made by the party.

Return of Lieutenant Allen-Lieutenant Allen, of the Copper River expedition to Alaska, has arrived in Washington, where he will prepare his report.

Cameroons district, West Africa. Rogozinski writes of the Cameroons district, West Africa, and especially of the elevated region or hill district, which has a relatively good climate when compared with that of the lowlands adjacent. The diurnal variation of temperature is rather large. At Likumbé, 2,500 feet above the sea, the morning temperature was 65° F.; at noon, 88°.5; and at evening, about 73.0. At the coast, for the same hours, it was 79.0, 84°.0, and 80°.0, respectively. Often on the mountains during the night the cold was quite sensible, the thermometer falling to 60°, and rising at mid-day to 87 or 88°. The principal languages of the hill country are the Bakwiri or Bakwillé, Bamboko, Isubu, and a jargon spoken at the coast. This is the most northern outpost of the Bantu family on the west. The dialects are all nearly related to the Dwalla, spoken on the Cameroons River. The villages are not composed of associated huts, as might be supposed. Generally the cabins are scattered through the chaparral, not more than two together. A certain number form a clan or group, with a chief and several elders as the government. The men are hunters, and gather palm-oil and rubber: all else is left to the women and children. They do not give their confidence easily, but when once given it is easy to guide them. Their game does not include the elephant, common in that vicinity, and rarely the leopard. The women gather plantains, ignamas, nuts, palm-oil, etc., which constitute their chief sources of subsistence. The little plantations are managed by the women and children. The soil is extremely fertile and productive. The real richness of this land is for agriculture. The houses are built of canes, and covered with mats. The domestic animals, including pigs, sheep, goats, and fowls, have free access, so that they are far from clean. Snakes, iguanas, and the small meagre dog of the country, are eaten. Slavery does not exist, but polygamy is allowed. The people are quiet, except for vendettas, which are the source of many small conflicts and most of their ills.

ments of trade-routes between Bolivia and the Argentine Confederation,- an object of much importance to both countries, and to commerce in general. The emperor of Brazil is also very much interested in any thing tending to improve communication between the interior countries. Thouar accepted an escort of twenty-five men with equipment, and left Buenos Ayres, July 31, accompanied by Lieut. Felix Guerber and Pilot Wilfrid Gillibert. They were about to enter the north Chaco, to trace its unknown portion and complete the charts, when last heard from. Just as they started, Thouar was informed that a party. under Ernest Haugge, engineer, of German birth, and a Bolivian escort, engaged in studying the route between the Sucre and the upper Paraguay rivers, had disappeared in the Chaco, having been carried off by the indomitable Tobas.

Colonization in the Argentine Republic. Colonization in the Argentine Republic seems more flourishing than in other parts of South America. Some five to twenty colonies have been established in the Santa Fé district, occupying about 95 square leagues, which a few years ago were given over to the Indians. To-day they are cultivated by 1,359 families. A railway leaves Santa Fé, and traverses this region; another is projected from Rosario. The soil is of great fertility, and but little more than energy and good will are needed to acquire here, if not a fortune, at least ease and comfort. The district of Santa Fé has received 88 colonies during the last 30 years, and now has over 110,000 inhabitants.

An island lost, and another found. The rock known as the Monk (Munken, Monaco, etc.), six kilometres southward from Suderö, Faroe Islands, has succumbed to the elements. This rock, some seventy feet high, and from certain points of view sufficiently resembling a cowled figure, was described by the earliest writers on the Faroes, and has served as an important landmark for navigators for hundreds of years. A dangerous reef, nearly covered at high water, alone remains to mark its former position. In contrast to above is the important communication recently received by the Merchants' exchange of San Francisco from our consul at Apia, Samoa, announcing the upheaval of a new island in the track of vessels from California. This island was estimated by the officers of the steamer Janet Nicol as two hundred and fifty feet high, and two miles long north by west and south by east. The steamer approached to about a mile and a half from the crater, bearing west by compass. No bottom was found here at one hundred fathoms, but reefs extend from the extremities of the island, about a mile and a half in either direction. The locality

in a general way is off the Celebrass shoal, about forty miles from the Tonga Islands, toward the Fiji Islands. Its position is approximately in latitude 20° 28' south, and longitude 175° 21' west from Greenwich. Further details are expected by another steamer. The island was photographed by the British consul to Samoa, who was a passen

ger.

ASTRONOMICAL NOTES.

Harvard college observatory.- Professor Pickering's annual report was presented to the visiting committee on Dec. 3, and shows most gratifying progress in the work, in spite of the serious curtailment of the income of the observatory during the past year. The fifteen-inch equatorial is still devoted largely to photometry; and, besides a large amount of routine work accomplished, a series of observations of the temporary star which recently appeared in the nebula of Andromeda was obtained. Professor Rogers's excellent work with the meridian circle continues, and the reduction of his zone is nearly ready for the press. The meridian photometer also has been in active operation. By the aid of the Bache fund an important investigation has been undertaken in stellar photography, which has already been referred to (Science, vi. 443). Mr. Chandler's work with his almucantar we have noticed from time to time, and we look forward with much interest to the publication of a detailed description and theory of the instrument, which it is understood he has prepared. The telegraphic distribution of important astronomical discoveries, for which this observatory is the American centre, has been successfully continued under the supervision of Mr. Ritchie.

The Lick observatory.-The Clarks have made wonderfully rapid progress with the crown-glass disk of the immense three-foot lens for the Lick observatory. The work of grinding was begun on the crown-disk about two months ago, and already they are able to set up the lens for examination by artificial light. The flint-disk has been practically ready for some time, and, with continued favorable progress, they hope to finish the objective by the autumn of 1886. It has not yet been decided who is to make the mounting for the instrument, or the dome which is to cover it. We notice that the thirty-inch objective for the Nice observatory has just been finished by the Henry brothers, and that it has been sent to M. Gautier, who has charge of the construction of the equatorial; the whole to be mounted at Nice in April, 1886.

of Nov. 27, as it had dwindled to comparatively insignificant proportions when our twilight came on. From various places in England and on the continent, where the sky was clear on the 27th, come reports of brilliant showers, sometimes too rapid for counting, and in many cases exceeding sixty per minute for a single observer. They were also very bright, and left trains continuing visible in some cases as long as 30s, and frequently appeared almost simultaneously in bunches of five, eight, or ten. These were all early in the evening for European longitudes, and we shall have to wait for reports from farther east, in Arabia or India, perhaps even from Dr. Doberck at Hongkong, before we can be sure that we have heard of the maximum activity of the shower. This seems to have been well heralded in advance. The earliest observations thus far reported are by Mr. Barnard of Nashville, Tenn., who observed twenty or thirty meteors from the Biela radiant during an interval of two or three hours of clear sky on the evening of Nov. 25; and both he, and Mr. Denning of Bristol, England, counted them at the rate of one hundred or more per hour on the evening of the 26th. On the 27th none of the comets in this country appear to have exceeded two hundred or three hundred per hour for a single observer, and Mr. Denning reports that those of the 28th were very small and insignificant in a clear sky at Bristol.

New star in Orion.-A complete set of observations of the new star discovered by Mr. J. E. Gore, an English astronomer, on Dec. 13, was obtained at Harvard college observatory on Dec. 16, - the very evening on which the despatch was received from Lord Crawford, - settling the non-identity of the star with D.M.+ 20°, 1172, the star named in the despatch. A meridian circle observation by Professor Rogers gave for the position of the nova R.A. 5h 49m 4s.25: Dec. + 20° 9′ 15′′.6. Professor Pickering's photometric measures made the magnitude 6.2, and the spectroscope showed the existence of bright bands. Two excellent photographs fixing the position of the star with reference to neighboring stars were obtained, and one photograph of the spectrum. The indications are suggestive of the new star being a long-period variable, and there was a slight suspicion of a diminution in magnitude during the first six or seven hours it was under observation.

METEOROLOGICAL NOTES.

An unusual tornado. - The Alabama weatherservice report for November describes the tornadoes that occurred on the 6th of that month. At Decatur the storm is reported to have come

from the south-east, a very unusual direction for tornadoes. The report concludes with a wellemphasized note.

Meteorology in New England. — The Bulletin of the New England meteorological society for the same month is based on reports from 136 observers. The precipitation is found to be 0.96 inch more than the average for ten or more Novembers at 31 stations, and the temperature is 2.5 above the average. Storms on the 1-3d, 5-9th, and 22-29th, were the chief disturbances of the month. Wind-velocities by anemometer record are given for thirteen stations. Blue Hill had a maximum velocity of 65 miles an hour from the south-east during the storm of the 25-26th, with a total run of 15,389 miles for the month. The Eastport, Boston, and Block Island records for the same are 45 and 8,513, 46 and 9,338, 47 and 13,344, respectively. The tides during the last of the three storms were very high, owing to the concurrence of strong easterly winds, with the time of new moon and the moon's nearest approach to the earth. An increase in the number of stations around Brattleborough, Vt., is noticeable on the map.

Prediction of tornadoes. A lecture on Tornado study' was recently delivered before the Franklin institute in Philadelphia by Lieut. J. P. Finley of the signal office. Probably no one in the country is more conversant with the facts and features of tornado occurrence than Lieutenant Finley, who has made a special study of these destructive storms for a number of years past. Their peculiar characteristics were described, and an account was given of the fifteen hundred volunteer tornado reporters who observe and report on these storms in all parts of the country, according to a plan devised by Lieutenant Finley. It was also announced that predictions of tornadoes are now attempted successfully, although they are not yet published. A dangerous attitude of weather conditions for the eastern middle states was recognized in the morning of Aug. 3 last, and in the afternoon tornadoes occurred at Philadelphia and thereabout.

Cold waves. -A signal-service note, xxiii., is a preliminary study of Cold waves and their progress,' by Lieut. T. A. Woodruff. They are found to follow an area of low, and to precede an area of high pressure, but their cause is not considered. Within our territory they nearly always appear first at Helena, Montana, and it is concluded that "they have their origin in the vast regions of ice and snow near the arctic circle far to the north of our stations." It is possible that records from the British north-west territory might disprove this conclusion; for in the winter, when

the cold waves are most frequent, it is not always the polar regions that are coldest. The waves are found to move in different ways: 1°, directly eastward, over the great lakes and across New England, not being felt south of the Ohio valley ; 2°, south-easterly, covering the entire country in their progress; 3°, southerly, from Montana and Dakota to Texas, thence through the Gulf states, and finally north-eastward over the Atlantic states, such waves being sometimes felt at St. Louis and Shreveport before reaching St. Paul and Chicago. The number of waves belonging to the three classes during the first six months of the years 1881 to 1884 was 22, 47, and 19. The second class thus appears more frequently than the other two combined. Fifty per cent of the waves appeared simultaneously at Bismarck and Helena. They generally reach Omaha eight to sixteen hours after their appearance at Helena, the distance being 880 miles; St. Louis, 24 to 32 hours, distance 1,030 miles; Galveston, 24 to 40 hours, distance, 1,600 miles; Nashville, the same; Buffalo, 24 to 48 hours, distance 1,750 miles; Washington, 32 to 56 hours, distance 1,953 miles. The difficulty in the prediction of the waves is the same that embarrasses the prediction of stormcentre tracks, for the former follow the latter. There has as yet been no tabulation published by the signal office of the conditions attending the early appearance of areas of low pressure, which afterwards take different directions in crossing the country. A special description is given in the note of the cold wave of March 18, 1883, in which the fall of temperature in twenty-four hours was generally 20° to 40° over the country. The most marked falls of temperature follow well-developed storms, and accompany an area of abnormally high pressure.

NOTES AND NEWS.

UNDER the will of the late Henry N. Johnson, and by the death of his widow in February, 1885, the Academy of natural sciences of Philadelphia, named as residuary legatee, has come into the possession of his entire estate, valued at $51,761.40. The present annual income from the productive portion, less taxes and water-rent, is $1,434.82.

- In many respects this is a golden age for children. This is true in the matter of schoolbooks no less than in children's literature. In the new eclectic series of geographies,' Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co. have attempted to make the elementary study of geography attractive to children, and presumably with success. Their 'Complete geography' is excellent in its fulness,

An atlas of Japan, in seven sheets, is announced by Justus Perthes. Each sheet will be on a scale of 1: 1,000,000, and the atlas will be accompanied by a sketch-map on a scale of 1: 7,500,000. Four of the sheets have already appeared, and the others will be issued during the coming year.

-The new balloon constructed by the Meudon aeronauts will be directed, says Nature, by a steam-engine, as advocated by M. Henry Giffard. Electricity will be quite given up, owing to its want of power for continuous action. From the reports to be published in the next number of the Comptes rendus, it appears that a velocity of six metres per second was obtained.

Mr. Gaurel, at whose sole expense the late expedition to the Kara Sea, under Lieutenant Hovgaard, was undertaken, intends, provided his enterprise be seconded by the government, to send his steamer Dymphna next summer on an expedition, under an officer of the Danish royal navy, to the east coast of Greenland to explore and lay down the coast-line between 66 .08, the farthest northward point attained by Captain Hohn's expedition, and 70 .

On examination of the extensive series of stellar photographs obtained at the Harvard college observatory, it appears that on Nov. 7, 1885, a photograph was taken of the region in which the new star is now visible. The star does not

appear upon this photograph, which shows that at that time it must have been at least half a magnitude fainter than at present.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

What has the coast survey done for science? THE contributions of the coast survey to general scientific knowledge in America may be said to begin with the year 1844, when Prof. Alexander Dallas Bache succeeded to the superintendency, on the death of Mr. Hassler, in December, 1843.

Mr. Hassler had given all the active energies of his life to a successful inauguration of a work of which few but himself realized the extent, or had any idea of what was implied in a 'survey of the coast of the United States; and he came from Europe to this country at the beginning of the present century, when our country was still barely recognized among nations, and its few and ablest men were too much engaged in meeting and solving the practical problems of existence for the nation generally, and for themselves individually.

The number of men at that time who had made their mark as original investigators and thinkers in the different branches of astronomy, chemistry, mathematics, and physics, were so few that they might be counted upon the fingers. A few of the associates of the illustrious Franklin, among them Rittenhouse, Ellicott, and some others of the American philosophical society of Philadelphia, were joined by others from abroad men like Priestly and Gallatin in correspondence with men of like pursuits in England, France, and Germany, and were slowly and quietly laying the foundation for the building-up of a spirit of scholarship and physical inquiry, which rapidly developed after peace came finally to the country, in 1845, producing such men as Bowditch, Nicollet, and many others.

--

Mr. Hassler came to this country accredited as a man of learning and ability by the French academy. Being a native of Switzerland, he became intimate with his countryman, the eminent statesman Albert Gallatin, who was at that time secretary of the treasury under President Jefferson. The President had himself been given greatly to philosophic studies, and had, while resident in France, been the companion and friend of many of the most eminent men of science in that country.

It was through Mr. Gallatin's active and powerful aid that the idea originated by Mr. Hassler, of a great general survey of the coast of the United States,' was brought to Mr. Jefferson's notice, and his powerful aid secured in obtaining the passage of the act of February, 1807, which is still the legal basis of its existence.

Obstacles of various sorts arose in the way of carrying the act into execution. Chief among them was the war of 1812-15 and its consequent debt, crippling the means of the nation. Started in 1816, it was shortly after transferred to the navy, where it languished until, in 1834, it was re-transferred to the treasury department, where it has ever since remained.

The principle of organization adopted (and still adhered to, so far as practicable) was carried forward by Mr. Hassler under many difficulties, which were brought to the notice of congress, and resulted in the reference of the whole subject to a committee of

investigation, of which the late Hon. Caleb Cushing was one of the principal members. The result was "legislation creating a mixed board, from the coast survey, army, and navy, which adopted the plan of re-organization," in 1843. This. on approval of President John Tyler, had the force of law, and under it the survey has been conducted. The following extract from the report of the superintendent for the year 1849 describes the practical working of the system:

"The re-organization of the coast survey, under legislative authority," in 1843, embodied all the experience obtained up to that date, both of trials which had succeeded, and of others which had failed: it confirmed and gave the force of law to the union in our corps, which has gradually grown up, of civilians, officers of the army, and officers of the navy, serving under a neutral department, under which alone they could be united; namely, that having control of matters relating to commerce and navigation. It is easy to see, that, without a permanent (civil) nucleus for such a work, the objects and aims must be wavering and unsteady, the methods wanting in uniformity from year to year and from party to party, and the results heterogeneous in kind and in form. Confusion and waste would result from such an organization, and the survey would in time be abandoned. The scientific parts of such a work require diligent study and devotion to mathematical and physical science, to grasp them in their various bearings; and it is not too much to say. that, unless such a work came up to the demands of science and the scientific men of the country, it could not long stand. That the theoretical knowledge acquired at the military academy should be reduced to practice in the survey by those officers of the army who have an inclination to similar pursuits, to its advantage as well as their own, will readily be seen; and, up to the point where details would interfere with the duties of the arm to which the officer belongs, congress has conferred upon the work a right to seek his services. The war department judges whether they can be properly granted or not.

The law of 1843 very properly limited the services of the officers of the navy to the hydrographic parts of the work, the portions which have a professional bearing, and towards which the inclination of a nautical man may turn with professional pride. Experience has fully shown the advantages of this organization in general. The tendency resulting from the variable elements (the army and navy) is nevertheless, at times, to lessen the results produced by the necessity for turning aside from actual work to give instruction, and from the loss of the experience acquired at the expense of the survey by the removal of officers caused, no doubt, by the exigencies of their proper service, and yet reacting severely upon the survey. The experience and knowledge of Humphreys, Johnston, and Prince, of the army, and of Davis, Patterson, and Porter, of the navy, cannot readily be replaced: a detail may be filled, but the knowledge immediately available is not supplied."

Mr. Hassler died in December, 1843, just as this system went into operation. He had never realized the enormous advance which the country had made in every department of industry and learning in the thirty six years which had gone by since the passage of the law of 1807. To his mind we had then to look abroad not only for all appliances for scientific research, but also for the men to use them. The late

Mr. Thomas McDonnell, so long in the coast survey, informed me, that, so late as 1836 and 1837, he was the only man in Mr. Hassler's party who habitually spoke the English language. But in that period Bowditch had risen to the zenith of his reputation; men like Peirce, Henry, Bache, Walker, Morse, and many others, had come forward, and placed American science upon the enduring basis which has ever since been maintained and extended.

From among these eminent men, Professor Bache was selected, by almost unanimous consent of the learning of the country, to succeed Mr. Hassler at the head of a work then recognized as the greatest, as it was almost the only, scientific work of the country. The pressure upon President Tyler for his appointment was so great that he was obliged to yield to it, although he was opposed by the then secretary of the treasury, Hon. John C. Spencer, who preferred another person, but who soon recognized the remarkable fitness for his position shown by the new superintendent, and in less than six months became his firm friend and supporter.

From this time forward the work of the coast survey was rapidly extended; its increased usefulness was recognized by congress by steadily increasing appropriations, as the work was extended to all parts of the coast. Between 1844 and 1849, or in the short period of five years, the extent of the coast line of the United States was doubled by the addition of Texas, and the Pacific coast from San Diego to Vancouver. But such was the elasticity of the wise method of organization formulated in 1843, that the work expanded to meet the calls upon it, and surveying parties were upon the shores of Texas in 1847, and in California in 1849. The history of the work from that time forward, and during and since the civil war, has been one of which every man connected with it has reason to be proud. It has been foremost in every matter connected with the interests it has had in charge. It has won the approbation, freely and officially expressed, of every enlightened government of the civilized world.

In 1872, for the first time, its work was extended to the interior, and it was recognized by law as the 'coast and geodetic survey.' Other scientific works have been authorized, and some of them have appeared to come in conflict with the duties assigned to it, and seeming to belong to it. With these it has sought or shown no conflict, but has freely rendered to them every possible aid in its power. This is not the place to discuss or further allude to these points. The historical resume here given, of the early inception and progress of the work under its most renowned chief, has been necessary to a proper understanding of the matters now to be brought forward in answer to the question asked me, What has the coast survey done for science?' to which I now attempt a reply.

Longitude.

In 1844 the difference of longitude between any point in Europe and any point on this continent was uncertain. Then, as now, the meridian of the Royal astronomical observatory at Greenwich, England, was the reference-point from which longitude was reckoned by English-speaking nations.

One of the first matters taken up by Professor Bache was to obtain a correct difference of longitude between Greenwich and some central point in the United States connected with the survey of the coast.