persal of mammalian groups, and how profoundly even the present discoveries have modified our conceptions of the past history of the mammalia and of the globe in general.

After a careful study of the volume before us, we have found no occasion for a single word of hostile criticism. The author knows his subject from every possible point of view in a most thorough manner, and has treated it in a thoroughly philosophic way from first to last, while the introduction is written in a style that will appeal to the general reader as well as to the specialist. It is, perhaps, not too much to say that it is the most important contribution to mammalian palæontology that has ever appeared within our own recollection on this side of the Atlantic, and if the twentieth century were to no other work on mammals-either recent or fossil-it would still have a vast achievement to its credit. R. L.

see

quences of the failure of water were disastrous, and the fire, started by the earthquake, was able to spread unchecked.

Apart from the loss of buildings and lives, San Francisco has lost its most important libraries and scientific collections; the Bancroft library of books and manuscripts relating to the history of the Pacific coast has been saved, as have most of the type-specimens of plants in the collection of the Academy of Sciences, but that is practically all. On the other hand, the Lick Observatory and the University of California have escaped damage, and the working part of the LelandStanford University has escaped the complete destruction which has been the fate of the memorial buildings of that institution.

The area over which the earthquake did serious damage was confined to a narrow strip of country extending from the town of Ukiah, on the Russian river, to the town of Salinas, near Monterey Bay. Beyond these limits the country is sparsely settled and may have been vigorously shaken without the fact being reported, but the limits indicated lie about 205 miles apart, or 125 miles north and 80 miles south of San Francisco; within this strip the damage was very capriciously distributed, and died out rapidly to the east and westwards; at Berkeley town many buildings were ruined, but the University of California

escaped; San Jose was partly ruined, and most of the buildings of the Stanford University, at Palo Alta, were destroyed, but the Lick Observatory, about fifteen miles to the eastward, was uninjured, nor is any serious injury reported from the towns on the coast. These peculiarities in the distribution of the earthquake damage are explained in an article on the probable cause of the San Francisco earthquake by Mr. Frederick Leslie Ransome, published in the May number of the National Geographic Magazine. The article is illustrated by a very clear structural map of the San Francisco peninsula, and an equally clear description of the structural conditions of the region. Probably nowhere in the world have greater displacements taken place in geologically recent times than this district has witnessed; strata of Quaternary age have here been compressed, contorted, and lifted from 1500 to 2000 feet, and right through the peninsula run three nearly parallel faults, two of which, the Pilarcitos and San Andreas faults, are marked by lines of pools and lakes, proving the recent date of the disturbance to which they owe their origin. The third fault, known as the San Bruno fault, is the most important of the three; it has a throw of more than 7000 feet near San Francisco, and has been traced, with more or less certainty, from Point Arenas, 100 miles to the north-west, through Southern California, where it is known as the "earthquake crack," almost to the Gulf of California. A movement along this fault, and others parallel to it, appear to have been the cause of the earthquake, or at any rate of the curious localisation of damage noticed above. The San Bruno fault passes close to the Stanford University and to the city of San Jose, and crosses the main line of water-supply from the Crystal Springs reservoir to the city of San Francisco; it is, presumably, along this fault that the displacement reported in the newspapers took place. There are indications,

be done from the telegraphic reports of the daily papers, and one of the most striking facts which stand out is the wonderfully small amount of damage done in San Francisco by the earthquake proper. This does not seem to have exceeded the sixth or seventh degree of the Rossi-Forel scale, and the damage to buildings was practically confined to the overthrow of chimneys and of buildings which were either old and badly constructed, or of a design which rendered them especially liable to earthquake damage. The Scientific American of May 12 contains a view of the business part of the city, taken after the earthquake, but before the spread of the fire, in which the buildings show little signs of damage, beyond the overthrow of some of the chimney stacks. Where the city was built on made ground settlements and disturbances of ground level led to fractures of the water-mains, but it is not clear from the accounts which have reached us whether there was not also an interruption of the main conduit at some point between the city and the source of supply. Whatever the cause, the conse

100, of another fault running along the eastern margin of the bay through Santa Rosa and north-westwards along the valley of the Russian river past Ukiah, which may have been concerned in the violence of the earthquake at those places.

Two other articles in the same magazine deal with the times at which the disturbance was recorded by seismographs. From them we gather that the shock was recorded on a self-registering seismograph in the University of California at 5h. 12m, 38s. a.m. Pacific time, equivalent to th. 12m. 38s. p.m. Greenwich time. The seismograph of the United States Weather Bureau at Washington, 2435 miles distant from San Francisco, recorded the commencement at 8h. 19m. 20s. eastern time, corresponding to 1h. 19m. 20s. Greenwich time, and the seismographs of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey at Sitka, Alaska, and Chelten

FIG. 2.-Map of the San Francisco Peninsula. From the model by Prof. A. C. Lawson. The principal faults are indicated by heavy black lines. From the National Geographic Magazine. ham, Maryland, also recorded the shock, commencing at 1h. 16m. 56s. and 1h. 19m. 24s. respectively, the distances from San Francisco being 1455 and 2450 miles. The magnetographs at these two places and at Baldwin, Kansas, were also affected by the passage of the earthquake waves, the times corresponding approximately with those of the arrival of the principal, or third, phase of the disturbance.

successful ever held. The local fund now reaches more than 3000l., and the greater part having been already paid up, the fund has been closed. The various committees are meeting regularly, secure good attendance, and the greatest interest and enthusiasm prevails. One of the local secretaries, Mr. Dale, having died, Mr. Henry Craven, who has succeeded him in the office of town clerk, has been appointed his successor.

The following is an epitome of the general attractions included in the programme :—

Wednesday, August 1.-The Lady Mayoress (Mrs. R. H. Vernon Wragge) will be "At Home " at the Mansion House from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. to receive foreign visitors, members, associates, and lady ticket-holders. President's address in the exhibition buildings at 8.30 p.m.

Thursday, August 2.-The Sheriff of York and Mrs. Bentley will give a garden-party at their residence, Fulford Grange, to all ticket-holders, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Conversazione in the exhibition buildings, by invitation of the executive committee, at 8 p.m. Music will be provided in the museum gardens, which communicate with the building and will be illuminated.

Friday, August 3.-Messrs. Rowntree and Co. will give a garden-party at their works, Haxby Road, to all ticketholders, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The works will also be open. Discourse on volcanoes, by Dr. Tempest Anderson, in the exhibition buildings at 8.30 p.m.

Saturday, August 4.-The Archbishop of York and Mrs. MacLagan will give a garden-party at the Palace, Bishopthorpe. Evening lecture to the operative classes by Prof. Silvanus Thompson, F.R.S., on the manufacture of light. The president, Prof. Ray Lankester, will take the chair. Sunday, August 5.-Special service in the Minster. Monday, August 6.-The council of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society will give a garden-party in the museum grounds, to all ticket-holders, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. They have also intimated that the museum and grounds will be open daily to all members and ticket-holders who wish for a quiet resting-place. The president of the society, Dr. Tempest Anderson, will entertain to tea those who attend each afternoon. Discourse on the electrical signs of life, and their abolition by chloroform, by Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S., in the exhibition buildings, at 8.30 p.m.

Tuesday, August 7.-The Dean of York and the Canon in Residence will give a garden-party, to all members and ticket-holders, in the Deanery and residentiary grounds, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Conversazione in the exhibition buildings, by invitation of the executive committee, at 8 p.m. Music will be provided in the museum gardens, which will be illuminated.

Wednesday, August 8.-Meeting of general committee to receive the report of the committee of recommendations, I p.m. Concluding general meeting, in the Guildhall, at

2.30 p.m.

It is understood that a large number of important papers has been already promised, and it will be noticed that an unusually attractive series of gardenparties and receptions has been provided. In fact, the number offered has been so large that several very eligible offers of hospitality have had to be reluctantly declined. Practically all the principal residents in York and the neighbourhood have invited members of the association for the time of the meet

ing, besides a large number of private friends, who will swell the lists of members and associates attending.

The proposed excursion to Norway at the close of the meeting has fallen through, as little interest or support seemed forthcoming. The excursions will therefore be confined to Saturday, August 4, and the following have been definitely fixed :

:

Scarborough and Whitby, stopping at Castle Howard.The Mayor of Scarborough has intimated that he will be "At Home to a limited number of those taking part in the excursion. Permission has been granted to view the Marine Drive, and the members and associates will be

part of Baron Osten Sacken's entomological work consisted in working up the Diptera of North America in close collaboration with Dr. H. Loew. This work had for its main object the compilation of a ratalogue of North American Diptera of which a first edition was published as early as 1858 by the Smithsonian Institution. It was superseded by a far more complete second catalogue published twenty years later. A great deal of further time was taken up with the self-imposed and, at times, somewhat tedious task of editing and translating Loew's monographs, and, in addition, important papers were published on the Tipulidæ, Tabanidæ, Cecidomyidæ, and Cynipidæ. Between 1871 and 1873 some time was spent in Europe, and in 1876 an expedition was made to California the results of which were published under the title "Western Diptera" in the Bulletin of the U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey. Eleven new genera and 137 new species were described.

In 1877 Baron Osten Sacken came to Europe, and took up his abode at Heidelberg The present writer first met him there in the summer of 1877, and, being greatly interested in entomology as a hobby, a close friendship sprang up, which soon became a friendship for life. In the years which followed and which constituted the third period of his entomological career, Baron Osten Sacken published numerous critical papers on Diptera, and increased the number of his published writings from 53 to 179. In 1881 he published "An Essay on Comparative Chæototaxy,' in which it was shown for the first time that the arrangement of the bristles on the bodies of Diptera afforded a valuable aid to their classification. In 1892 he published one of his most important papers, on the characteristics of the three divisions of Diptera, Nemocera vera, Nemocera anomala, and Eremochæta, in which two important innovations were introduced, one referring to the preservation of the distinction between the Brachycera and Nemocera, the other to the grouping of the families of Diptera into larger groups, for which he subsequently adopted Comstock's name of "Superfamilies.

The "Bugonia" superstition of the ancients regarding the production of bees from the carcases of dead animals found a ready explanation at Baron Osten Sacken's hands in the close resemblance to a bee of the common drone-fly, Eristalis tenax, the larvæ of which five in putrescent matter. In the paper, first published in commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Italian Entomological Society in 1893, and afterwards amplified and printed at Heidelberg, Baron Osten Sacken traces in detail the history of the Bugonia in different ages and nations.

His last important task was to publish a "Record of My Life-work in Entomology," which he comcluded in 1904, to quote his own words, "at the age

of seventy-six, in good health, and with unimpaired

evesight."

Baron Osten Sacken took great delight in everything connected with mathematics, especially historical points, and the present writer has an early recollection of a question he proposed relating to the conchoid of Nicomedes. In his later years he made a collection of photographs of paintings of the great masters, and it gave him pleasure to arrange and classify them with the same systematic attention to minute detail that he had so successfully brought to bear on the classification of the Diptera. In his manner of living he was equally methodical, and this spirit is shown in the publication of his "Record." His interest in the work of others won for him many friends, who will greatly miss him. He has given us an excellent example of what can be done by a man

who cultivates some branch of science for its own sake, and who is not debarred by pressure of professional duties from making the study his life-work. For such workers, biological rather than physical subjects in many cases offer the most promising field. G. H. BRYAN.

NOTES.

PROF. G. VON NEUMAYER, who celebrates his eightieth birthday to-day, will receive the congratulations of many meteorologists and other scientific workers. Nearly a year ago the first part of a third revised edition of instruc

tions and notes on scientific observations for travellers,

edited by him under the title "Anleitung zu wissenschaftlichen Beobachtungen auf Reisen," was published, and the last part appeared very opportunely a few days ago. The work has been brought up to date, and is of such a comprehensive nature that justice cannot be done to it in a hurried notice, but we hope to deal with this important contribution to scientific literature in a future issue.

MR. W. DE FONVIELLE informs us that Mr. W. Wellman

and his balloon-the United States have left Paris for Spitsbergen by way of Antwerp, where the balloon was shipped to Tromsö, and from there to Magdalena Bay, lat. 79° 40' N. (Danes Island). The last part of the voyage will be executed on board the Fritjof, a steamer put at the disposal of the explorer by the American Government. Mr. Wellman hopes to be in Tromsö before June 25, and at Danes Island on July 1. There he will find everything ready for the inflation of his large balloon, measuring 6300 cubic metres, and having a gross lifting power of 7000 kilograms. The necessary preparation will be made by Major Hearsey, of the U.S. Weather Bureau, who left Paris a month ago in order to erect at Danes Island a shelter where the balloon may be housed during the preliminary experiments, which are expected to occupy the whole of July. It is only in August that the departure for the Pole is to take place, if the experiments have proved satisfactory and have been concluded. Mr. Wellman is travelling with Mr. Collardeau, a French chemist, and Mr. Hervieux, a French aeronaut, who is to be the pilot of the polar balloon. In addition to Mr. Wellman, the balloon will have on board Major Hearsey, Mr. Hervieux, and two Norwegian sailors who assisted him in his two previous explorations. A wireless telegraphy system will be established between the two stations of Tromsö and Danes Island. A meteorological station will also be established at the same places, supplied with a captive balloon for obtaining records of the temperature, humidity, direction and force of the wind in the free atmosphere. So for the first time since telegraphy (wire) meteorologists will have at their disposal observations of utilised in meteorology, American and European the weather in the neighbourhood of the North Pole as well as from tropical stations.

was

THE second of the two annual conversaziones of the Royal Society was held as we went to press last night.

MR. W. R. COOPER has accepted the position of editor of the Electrician in succession to Mr. F. C. Raphael, who will retire on June 30.

IT is stated by the British Medical Journal that the institute for the experimental investigation of cancer at Heidelberg is now complete. Prof. Czerny is the director; Dr. von Dungern has been appointed head of the scientific department, and Dr. von Wasielewski head of the department of parasitological research.

WE learn from Science that Mr. George Eastman, of Rochester, N.Y., has subscribed 200l. annually for the next three years to enable the continuance of research work in photography at the Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago. The investigations will be carried on by Mr. R. James Wallace, photophysicist at the observatory.

THE death is announced, in his eightieth year, of M. Edouard Piette, the distinguished archæologist. M. Piette was well known for his discoveries of prehistoric remains, among which may be mentioned those in the caverns of Mas d'Azil (Ariège) and of Brassempouy (Landes). Before his death M. Piette presented his invaluable collections to the Museum of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

H.M. THE QUEEN has extended her patronage to the "Country in Town Exhibition which will be opened by H.R.H. Princess Christian in the Whitechapel Art Gallery on July 5. The exhibition will be open until July 19, and as admission will be free, contributions are invited towards the necessary expenses. All communications should be made to the honorary secretary, Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, at Toynbee Hall, Whitechapel, E.

THE Times correspondent reports that Dr. Calmette and M. Guérin, of the Pasteur Institute, Lille, have communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences the results of experiments on protective inoculation against tuberculosis. Having found that dead tubercle bacilli are carried from the digestive tract to distant parts of the body, they made experiments in order to ascertain the immunising

effect of dead tubercle bacilli administered in this manner. Young animals, heifers and kids were given by the mouth two doses, with a forty-five days' interval between, of 5 and 25 centigrams of dead tubercle bacilli (or even living bacilli of feeble virulence). A subsequent lethal dose of virulent tubercle bacilli proved innocuous to the animals treated in this way, showing that the dead bacilli had produced an immunity against the living virulent bacilli. Dr. Calmette and M. Guérin conclude that young cattle can be vaccinated by intestinal absorption of bacilli modified by heat, and that this method of vaccination is entirely without danger.

THE Council of the Society of Arts has awarded the society's silver medal to the following readers of papers during the session just completed :-Mr. W. F. Mitchell, The commerce and industries of Japan; Dr. William Arthur Aikin, Aspects of voice development; Mr. Leon Gaster, Progress in electric lighting; Mr. Walter Garstang, The fisheries of the North Sea; Captain G. S. C. Swinton, London traffic; Mr. Bernard B. Redwood, Motor boats; Mr. J. B. Millett, Submarine signalling; Prof. Thomas Oliver, Bridge building by means of caissons; Mr. Clayton Beadle, Watermarking; Sir James A. Bourdillon, K.C.S.I., The partition of Bengal; Dr. George A. Grierson, The languages of India; Colonel Sir Arthur Henry McMahon, K.C.I.E., Seistan; the Hon. Rodolphe Lemieux, K.C., French Canada; the Hon. J. G. Jenkins, Social conditions in Australia; Mr. Louis N. Parker, Historical pageants; Mr. H. Yates Thompson, Illuminated manuscripts; and Mr. Harry Powell, Cut glass.

THE death of Herr Eduard von Hartmann is announced from Berlin. Born in 1842, he was intended for a military career, but retired from service in 1865 owing to a malady of the knee which made him a cripple for life. He received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Rostock University in 1867, and two years later published "The

Philosophy of the Unconscious," the work on which his reputation chiefly rests. A very voluminous writer-his works contain upwards of 12,000 pages-he published. among other writings, "Phenomenology of Ethical Consciousness" in 1879, "The Religious Consciousness of Mankind in the Stages of its Development" in 1881, and The Religion of the Spirit" in 1882. About three or four years ago there appeared "Die Weltanschuung der modernen Physik," one of the most important of his later works. His system was an amalgamation of Schopenhauer's doctrine of will with the metaphysic of Hegel, and the "Unconscious" which formed his first principle was but another name of the absolute of the German metaphysicians. According to von Hartmann," writes one authority, "the Unconscious is the absolute principle active in all things, the force which is operative in the inorganic, organic and mental alike, yet not revealed in consciousness. It is the unity of unconscious presentation and will, of the logical (idea) and the alogical (will). The Unconscious exists independently of space, time and individual existence, timeless before the being of the world. For us it is unconscious, in itself it is super-conscious." The Schopenhauerian side of von Hartmann appealed to the prevailing pessimism of the time, but he himself was no pessimist; full of vigorous ethical feeling, and a strong opponent of the prophets of the Weltschmerz, he contributed not a little to the discussion of political and social subjects.

THE Society of German Engineers, which with its world, celebrated on June 11-14 the completion of the 20,000 members is now the largest technical society in the fiftieth year of its existence. The opening ceremony was held in the Reichstag building in Berlin, under the presidency of Dr. A. Slaby. Congratulatory addresses were delivered by the Prussian Home Secretary, the Prussian Minister of Education, the Oberbürgermeister of Berlin, and the rector of the Berlin Technical School, as well as by numerous representatives of kindred societies in Germany and other countries, Mr. Bennett Brough (Iron and Steel Institute) speaking for the British societies and Prof. K. E. Hilgard (American Society of Civil Engineers) for the American. The proceedings terminated with a lecture by Dr. W. von Oechelhaeuser on technical work past and present, in which he compared the engineering works of the ancients with those of modern times, and endeavoured to forecast what the future of engineering would be. On June 12 a lecture was given by Dr. A. Riedler, on the development and present importance of the steam turbine; and on June 13 papers were read by Prof. Muthmann, on methods of dealing with atmospheric nitrogen; and by Dr. Hoffmann, on the utilisation of power in mines and metallurgical works. Throughout the week an elaborate programme of visits, excursions, and social functions was arranged for the 1231 members and 464 ladies who took part in the meeting. The German Emperor honoured the society by accepting the Grashof gold medal, and by conferring decorations on the president and other prominent members. An interesting history of the society is given in Engineering of June 8. The growth of the society has certainly been remarkable. It was founded in 1856 at Alexisbad, in the Hartz, by twentythree young engineers. Friedrich Euler was elected the first president, and Franz Grashof the first secretary and editor, the work of the society being carried on in the secretary's private study. The society now has a stately house of its own and a staff of forty-seven officials. Its weekly journal last year cost 26,1621. for publishing and 64251. for postage.