Abstract
THE most important contribution to Himmel und Erde for this month is a long paper on the terminal moraines of North Germany. The other papers comprise one in which is given the conclusion of a lecture by Dr. Drygalski on Greenland, dealing mainly, in this part, with the habits and customs of the Esquimaux; and another by Herr G. von Gleicke treating of the existence of an intra-mercurial planet or planets, generally surveying the various theories that have been put forward to explain the motion of the perihelion of Mercury. The only result that appears certain in the paper is the practical confirmation of the reality of the motion, originally determined by Le Verrier. The presence of a single planet or of a ring of meteoric matter; the existence of an unknown satellite of the planet itself, or an ellipticity in the figure of the sun; an alteration in the expression of the law of gravitation or the introduction of terms suggested by electro-dynamic considerations; all seem to offer insuperable objections, or to be based on pure empiricism. The enigma is not solved yet. The subjects to which the shorter notes refer have generally been mentioned in these columns. They include some account of the Greenland Meteor; the sinking of the surface of the earth in the neighbourhood of the Canadian lakes, and its effect on the Niagara Falls; the depth of the sea and the determination of ocean currents around Australia derived from floating bottles. A short notice is also added of a proposed attempt on the part of MM. Godard and Surcouf to reach the North Pole by means of ballooning. The expedition would start in the summer of 1898, selecting Spitsbergen as a base of operations. The peculiar feature of the attempt seems to consist in carrying twelve small balloons, filled with hydrogen to serve as a gasometer to supply the main balloon, which is of gigantic dimensions, with the gas which may leak or waste. M. Godard counts on spending sixty days aloft, and to carry with him the means of support of no less than seven people, among whom will be found a chemist, a meteorologist, and a physician.
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Scientific Serials. Nature 57, 381 (1898). https://doi.org/10.1038/057381a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/057381a0