Abstract
THE annual meeting of the National Academy of Sciences was held on the 18th of April last in the rooms of the Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, and continued in session four days. A number of interesting communications were presented. A report was presented by the treasurer of the Academy in regard to the Bach e bequest, in which it was stated that its present value was about 41,000 dols., invested at 6 per cent., and bringing an income of about 2,400 dols. a year. It may be remembered by some of our readers that Prof. A. D. Bache, the late head of the Coast Survey, left his property in trust to the National Academv of Sciences, after the death of Mrs. Bache, for purposes connected with the advance of science, appointing as special trustees Prof. Agassiz, Prof. Peirce, and Prof. Henry. The precise disposition of this fund has not yet been determined upon, the bequest having fallen too recently into the hands of the society to make it necessary to come at once to a conclusion.—The ship Onward arrived at New Bedford a few days ago, and her captain —Pulver— reports passing Sunday Island on the passage from Honululu, and states that the volcano near by, referred to in a previous number of scientific Intelligence, was at that time three miles long, and from 300ft. to 400-t. high. The sulphurous vapou's extended around to a distance of three to four miles. He thinks that when the volcano becomes quiet there will be a good harbour between it and the main land, where before there has bten only an open roadsead. The island is in latitude 29° south, and in longitude 178° west. The statement of Captain Pulver, according to the New Bedford Standard, is corroborated by other witnesses.—An examination has recently been made by an officer of the United States army of an old pueblo situated about twenty-five miles from the town of Socorro, on the Rio Grande. The walls of the buildings of this pueblo are composed of thin sandstone, heaped one layer upon another without mortar, and without any traces of beams or timber of any kind. The edifices seem to have been but one story high, and to have consisted of four separate buildings, arranged so as to form a hollow square with a fifth a little outside of these. The longest range was over 200ft. in length, and the whole five contained about two hundred rooms. Near the pueblo extensive silver mines have recently been discovered, and a town is to be laid out during the present year, the material for the houses to be derived from the ruins. There are evidences of ancient workings of these mines in the form of shafts now entirely filled up with earth, although it is probable that these do not antedate the period of the occupation of the country by the Spaniards. — According to late advices from South America, an unusually brilliant electric phenomenon was visible from Tacna, on the coast of Peru, early in March of the present year, around the snowy peak of Tacora, lasting for over two hours. The lightnings were of extraordinary shapes, and the thunders were of such intensity, and were heard over so wide an extent of country, as to completely terrify the population, unused to such exhibitions. This unwonted display was preceded by a slight shock of earthquake on the previous night.—According to the Comercio, of Lima, on the 12th of February, at Pitchican, an extraordinary meteor, of an obi mg shape, and of a red colour, was seen to descend suddenly from the sky toward the earth; and, as soon as it touched, an explosion occurred, leaving a dense cloud over the place, and knocking down a fence for about five hundred yards. Among the stones heaped around by this meteoric body were found recently dead fishes of different species, which were supposed to have been lifted out of the river and dashed against the stones.—The cattle disease continues to spread throughout South America, all efforts to resist its progress having been unavailing. At the present time it is very prevalent in the Southern provinces of ChtT and in the adjacent country.—The details of later advices from the Isthmus of Panama indicate the discovery of a rather low water-shed between the Atlantic and Pacific, on the Isthmus of Darien, although the feasibility of constructing a canal is, after all, by no means well-established. As far as the engineering possibilities are concerned, the chance seems to be much more favourable by way of Nicaragua, the result of a late investigation by Mr. Sonnenstern, on behalf of the Nicaraguan Government, serving to show that a route of 220 miles can be found connecting the two oceans, 196 of winch is a ready constituted by the riv vs and lakes of the country, leaving only twenty-four miles of land to be excavated, with a maximum elevation of not more than twenty-six ieet. A slight drawback, however, to the value of this line is to be'lound in the fact, stated in the same paper, that the harbour of “San Juan del Norte” has been nearly filled up by a sand-bar, entirely preventing the entrance of vessels !
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American Notes . Nature 4, 56 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004056a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/004056a0