Prof. Hele Shaw, of Liverpool, has been appointed senior professor, and he will be in charge of the department of mechanical and electrical engineering, with Prof. Orr, late of Kimberley, as assistant professor. The chair of mining engineering and the assistantship in that department have not yet been filled, but arrangements will soon be completed for the due carrying on of this department.

The courses at present provided by the Transvaal Technical Institute are those of the third and fourth years of the Cape mining curriculum arranged by the University of the Cape of Good Hope, but the council has under consideration the development of the Institute, so as not only to give a complete four years' mining course, but also to provide courses in other departments of engineering and technical education generally, and to provide post-graduate courses for mining engineers.

Evening classes in subjects bearing on certain trades and industries are already being carried on in Pretoria and in Johannesburg, and the council is preparing a scheme of technical instruction for mines employees and others which involves the early opening of evening and day classes along the line of Reef, and eventually in other parts of the Transvaal.

The council of the Institute has also under consideration the wider proposals recommended by the Commission on Technical Education, and it is intended that no undue delay shall intervene in the carrying out of these.

JOHN ROBINSON (Secretary). Transvaal Technical Institute, Secretary's Office, Johannesburg, December 23, 1903.

The Quadrantid Meteor Shower of 1904.

THE evenings of January 2 and 3 were clear here, but the moon being full and near perigee, rendered invisible in the north-eastern sky all stars less bright than second magnitude. A brief watch before midnight on January 2 indicated a total absence of meteors, and it was not thought advisable to prolong observations on this night, as it had been previously determined by the writer that it was on the following night that the Quadrantid maximum would

occur.

The calculated time of this maximum was January 3, 18h. G.M.T. On the same night there was an earlier, and what had been supposed would be a much weaker, maximum at 13h. Observations were therefore commenced here shortly after midnight, and it very soon became apparent that, notwithstanding the strong moonlight, shooting stars were unusually numerous. Between 12h. 5m. and 13h. (Dublin time) there were observed 17 meteors, of which 8 were as bright, or brighter, than first magnitude stars. They made their appearance at very considerable distances from the Quadrantid radiant, and, owing to the very limited number of fixed stars visible in that quarter of the sky, it was impossible to record the meteor-paths with accuracy, but several of the latter indicated a divergence from the region of Boötes, there being at the same time another probable centre of emanation near the tail stars of Ursa Major.

The advent of clouds from the south-east rendered observations impracticable or fruitless between 13h. and 14h. 15m., but during the first quarter of an hour succeeding this interruption 4 more meteors were seen, of which 2 were of first and the rest of second stellar magnitude. The early maximum of the night was now evidently declining, as in the next half hour but 3 shooting stars were visible, the two brightest of these being only of second magnitude. The two hours' interval between 15h. and 17h. was remarkable for its meteoric paucity, only 1 bright meteor equal to second magnitude having been observed during this period at 15h. 30m., though the sky was very clear; and the watch would very probably have been abandoned after 15h. but for the maximum expected some hours later. This anticipation of a recrudescence of the phenomenon was fully realised, for between 17h. and 17h. 30m. 10 meteors were observed (half of them of first magnitude), although twothirds of the eastern sky had by this time become covered with light clouds. The meteors radiated in all directions from a region very evidently situated in the north of Boötes. In the next ten minutes 2 more Quadrantids were observed,

M. Blondlot's -Ray Experiments.

IT would be interesting to know whether anyone has succeeded in confirming the above, as described in your columns and elsewhere.

Personally, I have repeated most of M. Blondlot's experiments, but I have not been able to discern the slightest trace of any of the remarkable phenomena that he describes. This is also the case with Mr. J. C. M. Stanton and Mr. R. C. Pierce, who have assisted me in the investigations.

In order to get away from personal physiological idiosyncrasies we have also applied delicate photographic methods of observation, but without result, and as a general conclusion I am inclined to think that M. Blondlot's observations must be due, not to physical, but to physiological processes, and further, that these are not operative in the case of all persons.

Perhaps others may have tried the experiments and may have met with greater success.

A. A. CAMPBELL SWINTON. 66 Victoria Street, London, S.W., January 19.

Phosphorescence of Photographic Plates. SOME time ago when developing an X-ray photograph I observed the effect noticed by your correspondent in your last issue. Very little of the silver salt had been affected, and the plate, after development, when put into alum solution lit up as described. I have often watched for the same effect since with ordinary negatives; sometimes there is phosphorescence, sometimes not. Apparently a fairly long development with the pyro soda is necessary. Not only the plate itself, but the used developer will give the phosphorescence with alum solution. Dilute sulphuric acid may be used instead of the alum. Quinine sulphate or hydrochloride does not light up when the used developer is added, but will do so if a few drops of sulphuric acid are subsequently introduced. Printing out paper may sometimes be successfully used instead of the plate, or the experiment may be still more easily made by mixing potassium bromide and silver nitrate solutions in dim gaslight, decanting, and shaking up the resulting silver bromide with pyro soda. A red liquid results which gives the lighting up effect when poured into alum solution or dilute sulphuric acid. H. J. EDWARDS. Heaton, Newcastle-on-Tyne, January 16.

ᎪᏞ

BIRD-LIFE IN WALES.1 LTHOUGH the writings of Messrs. Murray Mathew, Cambridge Phillips and others have made us more familiar with the avifauna of southern Wales than we are with that of some other parts of that country, Mr. Walpole-Bond's description of the bird-life of a part of the district is not any the less welcome and instructive. For he enters very fully into the nesting habits and comparative abundance or scarcity of the birds in a way that is only possible to a good climber, indifferent to weather, who is able to devote every day wholly to the pursuit of his favourite study. The wild Wales of this book seems to lie, in the main, in part of the county of Brecon, although Pembrokeshire and other districts are touched upon. Incidentally, Bucks, Kent, and Hampshire mentioned.

are

1 "Bird Life in Wild Wales." By J. A. Walpole Bond. Illustrated with photographs by Oliver G. Pike. Pp. xv+283. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1903.) Price 7s. 6d.

Wild Wales is still, happily, a stronghold of the buzzard and the raven, both of which are still fairly common there (the author seems to have had the luck to see no less than three buzzards' nests with eggs in one day), and enjoy a certain amount of protection or at least toleration, while the sight of a fork-tailed kite even may still gladden the eye of the bird lover, and we read of six seen in the air together! The management of the attempt to protect the kite in Wales, in support of which some members of the British Ornithologists' Union (which should not be called the British Ornithological Society ") have subscribed liberally, was in 1903 placed in the author's hands. Accordingly, a valuable chapter gives us an account of a nesting haunt of the kite in that year. But the birds seem to have had bad luck, despite the watchful care of the author. In the nest he found the kite addled one egg and cracked the other accidentally. A visit to Tenby in the breeding season

66

FIG. 1.-Merlin's Eggs in Crow's Old Nest. (From "Bird Life in Wild Wales.")

supplies material for an account of the ordinary seafowl to be found breeding just then. The little wader which remained unidentified was probably an immature turnstone, for many non-breeding individuals of this species pass the summer on the coast of Wales. The explanation of the light coloured shag seen on May 27 is, perhaps, that these birds do not attain adult dress in their first year, and this was immature.

Other chapters deal with the birds to be seen "in the hills" and along the river, with well-known feathered outlaws and some of the rarer birds of Wales. But the buzzard and the raven are the favourites of the author (who, indeed, devotes a whole chapter to the latter), and his personal observations on the breeding habits of these two species would alone make this pleasant book a valuable addition to the literature of the subject. The fact of the peregrine breeding in Breconshire is here recorded for the first time, and the

author was lucky enough to find a merlin's nest, the second only recorded in that district. Additional interest attaches to this nest from the fact that the birds had taken possession of an old crow's nest in a tree, a most unusual thing in this country, where the merlin usually deposits its eggs on the ground or on a ledge of rock. About half the volume is occupied by an account of the author's bird-nesting and general ornithological observations on the birds of his own neighbourhood (in the form of a diary) from March to July, 1902. From these interesting pages we can gain a very good idea of the avifauna of the district, in which, by the way, the very local woodlark is to be found breeding.

The author includes a chapter of rough notes on climbing, collecting, &c., with an appeal to landowners. to preserve our rarer birds. May we venture to supplement this with a hope that he will set no more traps for marten-cats? For the marten is every bit as interesting a member of our native fauna as the buzzard or the peregrine, and it is getting very, very rare. The author, when writing about egg collecting, states that the dealer is the worst offender in this respect," for he stops at nothing, and will take as many clutches of a good thing as he can find." This, we fear, is quite as true of some collectors, and we must protest against the inference that the collector in general is one bit less to blame than the dealer. The collector stands in the place of "receiver," and whether or not it is true that the thief would not exist without the receiver, it is certainly true that the dealer would not exist without the collector.

As to the unsafety of " generalising" in observations all will agree. It is, perhaps, unsafe to generalise on such a subject as whether or no the curlew "seldom, if ever," lays less than four eggs. For in the case of ground-building birds, especially, the question whether a crow has visited the nest always comes in; but we have twice found three incubated eggs in a curlew's nest. If the missel thrush has usually ceased to sing in South Wales by April 15, its habit is very different in some other parts of Wales, where it may be heard well on into May. In Oxfordshire we have heard it in June. It may be pointed out with reference to the distribution of the garden warbler (p 211) that it is common in Merionethshire, and not uncommon in parts of Carnarvonshire.

These charming pages are all the more refreshing reading because the author is evidently more accustomed to scaling crags and climbing "stiff " trees than to the making of books. All the same, a little more method in the arrangement would have husbanded space by avoiding repetition. For instance, the events of some March days detailed in the third chapter are repeated, with slight verbal variations, in the fifth, and in another place we notice that a note descriptive of bird-life recurs. The author thinks waterhen a better name than moorhen, would no more expect to find one on a moor than a grouse in the river." But it may be pointed out that "6 moor" is an old English name for a wet meadow, and a "moorish" place is a wet place, so that moorhen was an appropriate English name for the bird long before English people had so much as heard of grouse moors.

66

as

one

The work is profusely illustrated with photographs of nests and bird haunts by Mr. O. G. Pike, the excellence of whose work is too well known to need further comment here. But we may direct attention especially to the clearness of the details of the sparrow-hawk's nest, the wool in the lining of the raven's nest, and the beautiful roundness of the pheasant's eggs. We do not remember to have seen a photograph of a woodlark's nest previously. O. V. APLIN.

IN

EARTH-MOVEMENTS IN THE BAY OF

NAPLES.

2

N spite of the prolonged discussions on the question of changes in the relative level of land and sea in connection with the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli, yet much remained unknown with respect to the movements of the Italian coast which it was surmised must have taken place since Roman times. An exclusive study of the columns of this building is insufficient to indicate the Roman sea-level relative to the land, for although the lowest portion of the columns, now below sea-level, was obviously above it, we cannot determine to what extent. Neither can we conjecture the size of the area affected by the movements; indeed, by the undue prominence which has been almost universally accorded to the Serapis phenomena in geological treatises, many authorities, among whom was Prof. Suess, were led to the conclusion that the phenomena were strictly local and almost confined to the Bays of

conjecture, as to the movement of the land spreading over a more considerable area than had been supposed at first.

At many points on the coast (Fig. 1), and especially in the limestone cliffs of Capri, the observer may note a clearly marked line of grooves and holes at a height varying from 23 feet to 12 feet above the present sealevel. This line, which presents the same appearance as one which traverses the rock face along the present water-line, is undoubtedly due to the same cause, namely, the eroding action of the surface of the sea. The upper marks of erosion correspond in height with the highest Lithodomus borings in the columns of the Temple of Serapis, thus showing that the entire Bay of Naples took part in the movement of the subsidence and subsequent elevation of the temple, and, as evidence of the same sort is to be found forty miles north at Gæta, and probably on the promontory of Mt. Circello as well, if atmospheric weathering has not obliterated the traces of marine erosion, the same

Baia and Pozzuoli, in short, to the country immediately surrounding Monte Nuovo.

It was with the object of collecting facts for the elucidation of these points, that we undertook the work of surveying and describing the little-known remains of Roman constructions which are so numerous around the Bay of Naples. Some of them are still standing on the present water-line, while some are awash and some deep beneath the surface and from localities furthest from Monte Nuovo, we obtained evidence of earth-movements not less great than from localities nearer the mountain; thereby confirming our

1 The author's papers here summarised are:-"On the Possibility of Obtaining more Reliable Measurements of the Changes of the Land-level of the Phlegræan Fields (Scottish Geographical Magazine, October, 19co). "Earth-movements in the Bay of Naples" (Geographical Journal, August and September, 1903) "The Submerged Greek and Roman Foreshore near Naples" (Archaeologia, vol. lviii. pp. 1-62, figs. 1-29, plates xlv.-li., 1903). A few copies of the two last papers, reprinted with corrections, have been issued under the title "Contributions to the Study of Earth Movements."

2 Macellum, or market-place, would be a more correct name for the building than "Temple of Serapis."

!

alteration of land-level must have affected a large extent of the Mediterranean sea-board.

The changes of level have been deemed by some to be due to periodic changes in the level of the ocean. We are unable to accept this view, for we should expect the oscillations of the water-level to be of a regular and tide-like nature, as Niccolini, the eminent exponent of the theory, must himself have imagined, for the curve illustrative of his theory of marine phases is essentially a tidal curve, but the marks of erosion indicate spasmodic movements, changes of level during relatively short periods alternating with prolonged periods of rest. Another point against the theory of the change of sea-level is that the line of erosion, though continuous, varies in height; for instance, at the east end of Capri it is 10 feet higher than at the west, and smaller variations have been noted elsewhere. These facts are more reasonably accounted for by a theory of change of landlevel, rendering inequalities in the oscillatory movement natural, than by a theory involving changes in the level of the sea.

sea.

Interesting as it is to search for the traces of her handiwork that nature leaves in her own domain of rocks and cliffs, yet we confess to an interest not less keen in seeking out those she has left on the handiwork of man, on the remains of the Roman buildings by the Massive piles of masonry and concrete, once part of some noble building, have been roughened by the never ceasing onslaught of the waves to the semblance of the brown rocks upon which they stand; and it is only possible to distinguish between the natural and the artificial on calm days, when they can be seen through the clear water.

It is the accumulated evidence furnished by these water-worn ruins that gives so strong a confirmation of our theory that, notwithstanding the oscillatory land-movement indicated by the upper erosion line before mentioned, the present land-level is far below the Roman land-level-how far we cannot exactly say, but we believe that the approximate figure of 17 feet will not be found to be very wide of the mark.

ation of the southern extremity of Posilipo, which

was pre-eminently adapted to the conditions of

The evidence is of the most diverse description; masses of concrete or of Roman brickwork may be seen under water, so disposed that they show the ground-plans of the buildings they once supported; stairways with steps several feet below water are cut in the rock of caves, the walls of which still show traces of a stucco covering even where they are submerged; a drain which runs several feet below the surface, in a sea-side palace of Tiberius; artificial tunnels or cuniculi entirely submerged; these are but few among many other facts which have been a puzzle to antiquarians, and can be accounted for by the theory that the Roman landlevel was about 17 feet higher than the present.

By the same theory we can explain why the malarious Lago d'Agnano was not mentioned by Roman writers, for it would not have been in existence with the land at the higher level; the present unhealthiness of the low-lying plain of Pæstum, once the site of a flourishing Greek colony, is also explained; then the Pool of Baiæ, mentioned by classical writers, and an island off Dicæarchia, described by Pausanias (Fig. 2), that have apparently vanished, we find by this theory to have been carried down by the land as it sank so that they are now covered by the sea; and finally the Roman fresco representing the famous breakwater of Puteoli Harbour (Fig. 2), which shows us the arches that join the piers or pilae, with the springing of the arches well above the water, is of the breakwater as the Romans saw it; nowadays the springing of the arches is submerged (Fig. 3).

Pausanias Island.

These researches have thrown a new light on a point of controversy among scholars, namely, the question as to the exact site of the ancient Greek colony of Palæpolis,

the mother

town of Neapolis, the present Naples. This ancient town was supposed by some authorities to have stood where Naples now is, by others to have been further inland towards Aversa. Following up our hypothesis that the shore was higher by nearly 17 feet than it is now, there would be a stretch of land extending nearly half a mile out to sea at the base of the cliffs of the promontory of Posilipo; it is here, where the ruins now under water attest to the existence of numerous buildings grouped round the Gaiola rocks, that we would place Palæpolis. Close by under the lee of this extended foreshore we discovered the defensive works of an ancient harbour, and we found many traces of an ancient coast road, also submerged, which ran along the foot of the cliffs and by tunnels through some of the little headlands on the eastern side of Posilipo (Fig. 4). This road gave easy means of communication with the neighbouring colonies, and the many proofs We have found of its existence, as well as the geographical situ

an