general unhealthiness experienced there having practically disappeared; since 1857 the rainfall has diminished one-half and the island is now an ordinarily healthy one.

Botanical and conchological collections are treated of separately in an appendix. Mr. Edgar A. Smith, of the British Museum, states that the shells from Tanganyika indicate that "the lake was formerly an inland sea, whose waters have gradually freshened, many of the species having all the appearance of modified marine forms. Nyassa has apparently no connection with the formation of this lake, as it presents a quite distinct conchological fauna."

Of the geology of East Central Africa, Mr. Thomson says, that the coast tertiary deposits "are succeeded near the base of the inner plateau by sandstones and carboniferous rocks striking north and south, never rising over 1000 feet, and suggesting a continental outline unaltered from an anterior period. An immense series of greatly more ancient metamorphic rocks composes the escarpment of the plateau, after which a granitic district (sometimes decomposed and forming thick accumulations of clay) is reached, showing evidences of volcanic eruptions, which extended from the Cape to Abyssinia parallel to and near the coast. The upper plateau is also metamorphic, clay-slates occurring near Nyassa, round which is an extraordinary agglomeration of volcanic rocks, probably resulting from one slowly acting crater. No sufficient material is given for any broad sketch of the country between Nyassa and Tanganyika. The latter lake is set as it were in a socket of sandstone, which ends abruptly with the descent from the plateau, being succeeded by a great mass of felspathic rock forced through the crust of the earth previous to the formation of the present lake, and subsequently fractured into halves. The beds on the eastern side of the lake seem not to have been much disturbed, and were formed by a great inland sea-basin, which included the whole Congo region from Tanganyika to the West Coast mountains, the lake forming a bottom hollow, remaining salt on the upheaval of the continent. This basin disappeared through the channel cut by the great western outlet of the Congo, or by the more speedy fracture of the Zambesi."

The Algerian missionaries in Urundi, near the northern end of Lake Tanganyika, have founded a station on the west coast of the lake at Mulonewa in the Masansi country, on the shores of the large gulf which Stanley named after Capt. Burton. The country is covered with fine trees. A range of hills separates it in the rear from the Wabembe, who are said to be cannibals.

Père Livinhac, the head of the Algerian Missionary Expedition Uganda, has given some account of the rulers of that country. Under the Kabaka, or absolute monarch, are the chiefs of the great families, called Mohamis, of whom three members visited England in

the company of missionaries who returned last year. Below these are a class of inferior chiefs. The lowest order are the Wadu or slaves. Mtesa is much under the influence of the Mohamis, who are mostly opposed to the admission of foreigners into the kingdom.

We learn from the Mittheilungen that Dr. Junker returned from his journey to the Monbuttu country to his station in Ndoruma's territory in December last. He crossed the Welle river half-way between Miani's Bakangoi and the former capital of Munza. Near the latter place he saw the grave of the Italian traveler. He returned through Wando's land, crossing the Gadde and Bibali rivers at their confluence. He finally departed from Ndoruma's on the 7th of January for Bakangoi and was last heard from at Pulembata in Baria's country on January 28th.

WEST CENTRAL AFRICA.-Dr. Max Buchner failed in his effort to explore north of the kingdom of the Muata Yanvo. He only reached lat. 7° 22' S., when the desertion of his porters obliged him to return. He arrived at Malange on February 8th. Most of his collections were on board of a steamer recently lost in the British Channel.

Dr. Pogge, whose visit to the Muata Yanvo six years ago will be remembered, has arrived at St. Paul de Loanda and departed for Dondo.

Herr Flegel, whose trip up the Binué was described in the NATURALIST for September, 1880, has recently been visiting the unknown course of the Niger between Jauri and Say. He found navigation obstructed and frequently rendered impossible by beds of immense boulders, through which the stream forces its way with immense difficulty.

On the Congo some advance has been made by the missionary parties in their progress towards the interior. Mr. McCall's party has safely reached Manyanga, near the right bank of the Congo, above the Yellala falls. This mission has now five stations in the first 200 miles on the Congo, viz.: Banana; Mataddi Minkanda, opposite H. M. Stanley's station at Vivi; Paraballa; Banza Montega; and Manyanga, which is situated a few miles inland from the northern bank of the Congo. Another station is to be established at the mouth of the Edwin Arnold river, some miles higher up than Manyanga. Mr. McCall has determined to proceed to Stanley pool by the river, believing that many and perhaps the majority of the intervening falls and rapids can be passed in canoes. He has already passed one, the Ntombo Mataka falls of Mr. Stanley's map.

Meanwhile the members of the Baptist Missionary Expedition, Messrs. Crudgington and Bentley, have succeeded in reaching the pool by following the north bank of the river. After a journey of twenty-one days they arrived at Mfwa, near Mankoneh's village at Stanley pool. From here they crossed the pool to Ntamo

or Kintamo, where they remained two days, but finding that the natives did not wish them to stop, they went on by land to Nehasha or Kinshasha, where the natives were even worse, owing probably to a misunderstanding. This appears to be the locality of M. de Brazza's station, and notwithstanding all that the French sergeant in charge said, the natives, finding that Mr. Crudgington and his companions were not Frenchmen, could not be persuaded that they were not enemies. They accordingly made the best of their way back to the opposite side of the river and shortly afterwards commenced their return journey, which was accomplished in fifteen days, partly by land and partly by water.

The expedition now proposes, after consultation with Mr. Stanley, to use his road as far as Isangila, his furthest station, thirty miles above Vivi, and then to place a steel boat on the river above the falls at that point. It is hoped that the navigation will be uninterrupted above Isangila, except at two or three places where the boat will have to be taken round the cataracts. Mr. Stanley himself contemplates adopting this course also, as above Isangila is a very troublesome tribe, named Basundi. He has a steam launch and two steel whale-boats above the falls. He is now awaiting the arrival of a reinforcement of seventy-two natives from Zanzibar.

Mr. Richards, of the Livingstone (Congo) Inland Mission, has recently visited two towns, a short distance from Banza Montiko, where no Europeans had hitherto been. One of them he describes as neat and orderly in its arrangement. He heard of others further on and thinks the population of the district larger than was supposed. The people are intelligent but very shy.

GEOGRAPHICAL NEWS.-The June number of Petermann's Mittheilungen contains a valuable paper by Dr. Herman Ziemer, on the greatest daily rainfall. Four inches of rain in twenty-four hours have been recorded at Breslau, Brussels, Geneva, Trieste, Milan and Genoa. Verviers heads the list of European towns with fourteen inches. Purneah, Bengal, has had thirty-five inches. In the British Isles the greatest registered is 12.5 inches at Portree, in the Isle of Skye.-The Royal Geographical Society have published a General Index to the fourth set of ten volumes of the Society's Journal. Also a classified catalogue of the collection of maps. A second supplement to the catalogue of the library will include additions to the end of 1880.The engineers engaged on the Panama canal find great difficulty in deciding how to treat the Chagres river. An immense dam is proposed to turn the river into a lake with an outlet to the Pacific, but the task would be a gigantic one. The dam would have to be a mile long, over 1000 yards thick at the bottom, 250 at the top, and some 50 yards in height.-A narrative of the journey of Count Bela Szechenyi through India, Japan, China, Tibet and Burmah, by his companion, Lieut. G. Kreitner, is to appear in

thirty parts, illustrated with wood-cuts, maps, etc., and published in Vienna. Capt. J. E. Sandeman, of the British Indian Survey, has recently sent out a trained native explorer to endeavor to ascertain the source of the Irrawaddy river. He went up the stream in boats to Kacho, lat. 25° 20', at an elevation of about 1000 feet above the sea. Thence by land he continued on to Mogungpoon Maingkung, lat. 26° 8', at which place the exploration terminated. The eastern and western branches meet at Ponk-san-poon; the western branch is the largest and is said to rise in the Kanti country. There seems to be no doubt that there is no longer any reason to suppose the Irrawaddy is connected with the Sanpu river of Tibet. The Academy says there are several expeditions preparing to visit the Obi and Yenisei gulfs this season. M. Siberiakoff is fitting out sledges to take supplies to two of his vessels which have been frozen up in the Gulf of Obi during the winter. The steamer Nordenskiöld will sail for the mouth of the Yenisei from Gothenberg. A hydrographic expedition is also being formed in Russia to visit the Sea of Kara and Gulf of Obi.

MICROSCOPY.1

THE BLOOD IN HIBERNATION.-In the autumn of 1879, Professor V. Wittich, received twelve living German moles (Mus montanus), in order to investigate the amount of glycogen in the liver during their winter sleep. One animal was killed accidentally immediately after its arrival, and the results obtained on a microscopical examination of the blood, led to an examination of the blood of the other animals, all killed in perfect health, and in all the same appearances were found. One of the animals had died on the journey without signs of disease, although perhaps in consequence of a bite from another animal.

The blood taken from a vein in the peritoneal cavity contained a large number of thread-like moving objects, which moved the blood corpuscles lying near them, and, after diluting the blood with a-half per cent. solution of chloride of sodium, presented an appearance identical with that of the spermatozoa of the frog. These organisms appear to be the same as those described by T. R. Lewis as existing in the blood of healthy rats. They are much larger than the spirilla met with in the blood of relapsing fever. They were found in the blood from various parts, arterial and venous, in every animal. They disappear from the blood as soon as decomposition sets in and the putrefaction-bacteria appear. They were very numerous, ten or twelve being found in every drop of blood, and they furnish a new proof of how large a number of parasitic organisms may exist in the blood without causing any disturbance to the general health. Attempts were made to inoculate guinea-pigs, but in every instance with a negative result.-London Lancet.

This department is edited by Dr. R. H. Ward, Troy, N. Y.

MOUNTING STARCHES.-A correspondent of Science Gossip advises to mount starch by dredging it through muslin into balsam melted in a test tube over a spirit-lamp. After the air bubbles which will appear have been caused to burst, a little of the balsam is transferred to a slide and covered with a warmed cover-glass, when the starch it contained is found to be evenly distributed, free from air bubbles, and in suitable condition to be viewed by polarized light. Very soft balsam, which requires but little heat, should be used in this procedure, lest the starch grains should be altered by the heat.

NEW MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL.-The microscope, and its relations to medicine and pharmacy, is the title of the new journal whose publication has been commenced at Ann Arbor, by Professor Charles H. Stowell of the University of Michigan. It is a bi-monthly of thirty-two pages, primarily of a microscopical character, but introducing a considerable medley of medical and pharmaceutical notes. Though very elementary in its character, and designed essentially for beginners, it is sensible and scientific in its tone, and will therefore be of interest to all. The pharmacy department is under the charge of Mrs. Louisa R. Stowell, whose real ability and previous good work in this direction give assurance that her department will be an important as well as prominent feature of the enterprise.

RECENT PAMPHLETS.-Les apparences microscopiques des Valves des Diatomees, par Julian Derby, C. E. Bruxelles, Belgium.

Etudes sur des Coupes de Diatomees (Jutland), par W. Prinz. Bruxelles, Belgium.

On some Impurities of Drinking-water. By Professor W. G. Farlow, Boston. The condition of the Brain in Insanity. By Theodore Deecke, Utica, New York. Pseudo Polypi of the Colon. By Surgeon J. J. Woodward, U. S. A., Washington. SOCIETY NOTES.-The American Society of Microscopists will hold its fourth annual meeting at Columbus, Ohio, commencing on the 9th of August, under the presidency of J. D. Hyatt, of New York. A full and interesting meeting is expected. The local arrangements for reception and entertainment under the auspices of the Tyndall Association of Columbus, will doubtless be of the most satisfactory character.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science, meets at Cincinnati on Wednesday of the following week, August 17th, the subsection of microscopy being under the chairmanship of Rev. A. B. Hervey of Taunton, Massachusetts. During the week of the meetings, the Department of Science and Art of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute, will open a loan exhibition of scientific apparatus, including microscopes, and other optical instruments. It is believed that this exhibition of apparatus and objects illustrating natural history in its various branches and applications, will add greatly to the interest of the meetings. Among the prizes offered are