terpretation of various symbols made it seem advisable to defer further publication until these matters had been settled. The delegates of the bureaus concerned who met at the International Geographical Congress in Rome in March-April, 1913, decided to reconvene for this purpose in Paris at the end of the year. Nevertheless, the following sheets have been issued, all of a provisional nature, however: North L-34 (Budapest), with hypsometrical coloring, by the Hungarian Geographical Institute, Budapest; South F-19, H-19, I-18, I-19, J-18, J-19, in black and white, with contours, comprising the whole of Chile between 20° and 24° S. and 28° and 40° S., by the Oficina de Mensura de Tierras, Santiago; and the Argentine portions of South G-21, H-21, I-21, by the Instituto Geográfico Militar, Buenos Aires. Geological Map of the World.-At the International Geological Congress at Toronto, August, 1913, it was decided to begin the publication of an International Geological Map of the World as outlined in the resolutions adopted at the preceding congress at Stockholm. The map will consist of 80 sheets on the mean scale of 1: 5,000,000; each hemisphere will be drawn as a unit on the stereographic projection. Maps of the Oceans. In the domain of oceanography two important pub lications have appeared. The maps of the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean, by M. Groll, on the mean scale of 1:40.000.000, with explanatory text (Tiefenkarten der Ozeane, Veröffentl. Inst. Meereskunde, Neue Folge, Reihe A, Heft 2, Berlin, 1912); are an exhaustive compilation of all the material available as to the configuration of the ocean floor. Below the continental shelf, which is colored buff, depths are indicated by deepen ing shades of blue, which merge into purple and pink for the abyssal regions and the troughs. The scale chosen allows of the recognition of the broad, general features at a glance, while the limits of each map are inclusive enough to bring out the relationship of the main ocean to the surrounding seas and land areas. Thus, the map of the Atlantic includes the whole Arctic Ocean, that of the Indian, the whole Antarctic Continent. The use of an equal-area projection is also invaluable in insuring proper conceptions as to size. The second publication is a new edition of the standard Carte Générale Bathymétrique des Océans on Mercator's projection (equatorial scale, 1:10,000,000), published under the direction of J. Thoulet by the Institut Océanographique of Paris, founded by the Prince of Monaco. Four revised sheets have so far appeared: A I, A II, A III, A IV, comprising the zone between the equator and 46° 40′ N. While the map has up to the present time only represented the depths of the ocean, the new edition shows in addition the relief of the land. For this, as for the representation of submarine relief, contours are used, supplemented by brown tints on land and blue on the ocean. Atlases of China.-A signal event is the posthumous completion of Richthofen's monumental work on China. The newly published Volume III is accompanied by an Atlas of Southern China, edited by M. Groll (Berlin, 1912). The atlas consists of 14 sheets on the scale of 1:750,000, which embrace the Red Basin of Szechuan, the whole Yantzekiang valley, and the meridional strip extending from the Yantzekiang in 113° E. to Canton. Of each sheet there is a topographical and a geological edition. A similar work is the atlas of 31 sheets, 1:200,000, comprising the Chinese portion of A. Tafel's route surveys in China and Tibet in 1905-08, published by the Berlin Geographical Society. The region represented is the loop of the Hoangho from Hsiningfu to the river's emergence into the Chinese Plain. Amundsen's map of the South Polar Polar Maps. In polar exploration region, 1:5,200,000, accompanying Volume II of his South Pole (New York, 1913), is probably the most interesting. Of the maps accompanying Charcot's scientific report (Paris, 1912), that entitled Antarctide Sud Américaine et Iles Environnantes, on the mean scale of 1:1,500,000, is the most valuable. Sketch maps of Filchner's explorations in the Antarctic were published in the Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für Erdkunde (No. 1, 1913). Density of Population Map of Eu-|R. L. Scott's expedition, which were rope. A noteworthy map in the field of anthropogeography is the map of the density of population of Europe, 1:10,000,000, by L. Weise (Pl. 2, Petermanns Mitt., LIX, first half). Besides being based on the recent censuses of 1910-11, its importance lies in the large number of density grades shown, which make for a more detailed representation than heretofore available. Unfortunately, the color scheme chosen fails to suggest the sequence of the density grades. to the effect that Captain Scott, with his four companions, was in latitude 87 deg. 36 min. South on Jan. 4, 1912, 150 miles from the Pole, with an abundance of provisions and with every prospect of reaching the goal. No further word was heard from this party until Feb. 10, 1913, when the world was startled with the news that a terrible disaster had befallen the expedition; that Scott and his four companions, Lieut. Bowers, Dr. Wilson, Capt. Oates, and Mr. Evans, after Balkan Maps. Of the maps brought reaching the South Pole and finding forth by the Balkan War, two deserve Amundsen's records, had, on their remention. One is the admirable eth-turn, been starved and frozen to death nographic map of the Balkan Penin- within 11 miles of a depot of food sula, 1:1,500,000, by J. Cvijić (Pl. and fuel and only 150 miles from 22, Petermanns Mitt., LIX, first half). their headquarters on the coast. It The differentiation between the eth- seems, from Captain Scott's diary, nographic units is detailed, due weight which he kept up almost to the time being given to the religious factor as of his death, that the party had been a subdivisional element. The other caught in a blizzard which absolutely map, entitled Südöst-Europa mit den prevented traveling and which conneuen Grenzen, 1:2,000,000, and edited tinued for nine days. by K. Peucker (Vienna, 1913), is of interest in that it shows the new boundaries of the Balkan States. Forest Atlas of North America.Attention should also be called to the publication by the Forest Service (Washington, 1913) of the first part of a series of atlases which, when completed, will show the distribution of all North American trees, exclusive of those occurring wholly in Mexico. The first part, by G. B. Sudworth, represents 36 species of pine on maps of North America on the scale of 1:18,000,000. Debes' Handatlas.-Finally, mention may be made of the fourth edition of E. Debes' Neuer Handatlas (Leipzig, 1913). Although not containing so many or so detailed maps as some other general atlases, Debes' Handatlas remains distinctive for the critical quality of its content and for the special attention given to the selection of suitable projections. A part of the Australian Expedition under Dr. Mawson, including Frank Wild and seven members of his party, who were landed on Termination Land, returned to Sydney early in the Spring of 1913. They report great success; the expedition mapped about a thousand miles of coast line and did much valuable geological work, securing specimens from numerous widely separated localities. With them was a part of Dr. Mawson's party. It appears that the Aurora, Dr. Mawson's ship, arrived at his station on Adelie Land, but found that Dr. Mawson and two other members of the party had not yet returned from a long expedition to the eastward. The ship took off part of the party and then, as the season was late, decided to go and pick up Mr. Wild's party, 1,200 miles to the westward, on Termination Land. They had hardly started when they received a wireless to the effect that Dr. Mawson had just returned, but that his two companions had died, Lieut. Innes having fallen into a deep crevasse and Dr. Merz having perished from hunger and exposure. Dr. Mawson and his small party spent another winter in the Antarctic. The German expedition under the command of Lieut. Filchner went in the Deutschland to Coats Land, with a view to establishing a station and sending out exploring parties inland therefrom. They found a broad bay similar to Ross Sea on the other side of Antarctica, filled with a great field of ice, with an ice cliff at its northern limit. An attempt to make a landing on an immense ice floe ended in disaster, as the floe got adrift and broke up. This was in latitude 78 deg. South. The ship then attempted to proceed north, but was caught in the ice and held all winter and until November, when the expedition was abandoned. mouth of Nansen Sound. To explore this land an expedition has been organized by the American Museum of Natural History of New York and the American Geographical Society, under command of D. B. MacMillan, who, it will be remembered, was one of Peary's lieutenants in the expedition which reached the North Pole. This expedition started late in the summer of 1913, intending to winter on the west coast of Smith Sound, opposite Etah and thence to sledge across Grant Land to its west coast at the mouth of Nansen Sound. Latest advices show that this expedition reached Arctic. Late in 1912 Vilhjamur Etah, but was unable to cross Smith Stefansson and R. M. Anderson re- Sound. It will doubtless cross on the turned after four years' exploration ice as soon as it becomes light enough. in northern Canada and on the Arctic Much activity has been shown in coast. They explored and mapped a the exploration of the north coast of large area on the mainland east of Siberia. A Russian expedition, under the lower Mackenzie River and the Major-General Sergeief, has left Vlaadjacent islands, and discovered sev-divostok in two icebreakers for the eral villages of "white Eskimo," who are supposed to be descendants of Danes who have migrated westward from Greenland (A. Y. B., 1911, p. 666; 1912, p. 679). Since their return from this expedition the Canadian Government has made provision for further exploration by them of adjacent regions, especially of Banks Land, Prince Patrick Island, and of possible lands in the Arctic Ocean to the northwest. This expedition is now well on its way, the most recent advices indicating that their vessels, three in number, have passed through Bering Strait on their way to Herschel Island at the mouth of the Mackenzie. They expect to be absent from civilization for at least three years. The expedition is amply provided for in every respect and the scientific staff consists of 15 persons. purpose of making its way to the mouth of the Lena, and, if possible, continuing the voyage through Kara Sea to Europe. Another expedition, under the leadership of Lieut. Brussilov, left St. Petersburg in July, 1912, for the purpose of passing around Siberia to the eastward. A third expedition under Captain Wilketsky has, according to press reports, discovered a large island to the north of Cape Chelguskin. It is said to extend as far north as latitude 81 deg. and to lie between longitudes 96 deg. and 140 deg. East, thus being east of Franz Josef Land and south of Nansen's drift route. Greenland. The Mikkelsen expedition for the recovery of the records of the unfortunate Mylius Erichsen expedition and for exploration in northeastern Greenland, which left Copenhagen in 1909, returned in July, 1912. From a study of the tides in the They were successful in recovering the Arctic Ocean it is believed that there records, and made, at the cost of great must be, somewhere north of Alaska, hardships and danger, a long journey a considerable body of land or a large over the inland ice, from Shannon Isgroup of islands, and one of Mr. Stef-land to the head of Denmark Fiord. ansson's purposes, if not his main purpose, is to search that part of the Arctic Sea in which this land is supposed to be, and if discovered, to ex-its widest part. The expedition was plore it. This land may be the Crocker Land seen by Admiral Peary at a great distance from the highlands at the A Danish expedition, under Captain Koch, set out in June, 1912, to cross the inland ice of Greenland at about landed upon the east coast, and on April 20, 1913, started inland with five sledges drawn by horses, and reached the west coast at Proeven, near Upernivik, on July 12. The in March, 1913, by the University greatest altitude reached on the jour- Museum of Philadelphia to explore Franz Josef Land.-A French expedition, organized by M. Jules de Payer for the exploration of the northeastern part of Franz Josef Land, sailed from Havre on Aug. 10, 1913, intending to winter at Vardo. The Russian expedition for the exploration of this same region has not been heard of definitely, although rumors of a disaster have reached Russia. Peru. - During 1912 Prof. Hiram Bingham conducted a second expedition to Peru, which was financed jointly by Yale University and the National Geographic Society (A. Y. B., 1912, p. 685). Much topographical and geological work was done in Cuzco and the Urubamba River valley cañon. The main feature of the expedition's work was the discovery of an ancient Inca capital, Machu Picchu, which is situated on a mountain in the cañon of the Urubamba River. This is a large place, wonderfully well built with cut stone, and when cleared of the tropical undergrowth which enshrouded it, seemed to be wonderfully preserved. This is probably one of the most notable discoveries of its kind ever made. Another expedition to Peru, under the auspices of the American Geographical Society, and the leadership of Prof. Isaiah Bowman, who was geologist with Prof. Bingham's expedition in 1911, started for its field of work in June, 1913. The objects are geological, geographical, and anthropological. Brazil. An expedition was sent out India. Under the auspices of the Indian Government, an expedition in two detachments, under J. Barnard and F. V. Clerk, has been sent out to explore the head waters of the Irawadi River. New Guinea.-The German expedition for the exploration of the Kaiserin Augusta River reports excellent progress, and it was expected that the exploration of the lower and middle portions of this river and the neighboring country would be completed by the end of 1913. In western New Guinea, Dr. Wollaston, accompanied by Lieut. Vanderwater of the Dutch Army, succeeded in reaching the summit of Mt. Carstensz, the height of which is approximately 16,000 ft. Several other expeditions, among them those under Capt. Hordershee, Dr. Moszkowski, and Weyerman, are engaged in extending the known area of this great island. An Africa. The Saharan Railway expedition was organized for the purpose of discovering the best railway route from Adrar to Lake Chad and the Niger valley. In the course of this work, carried on during 1912, many lines were run and a great extent of country was mapped. English punitive expedition sent to Odonga, in the Egyptian Soudan, to subdue the unruly Anuak Tribes has added to our information regarding this part of Africa. Further exploration of the Kamerun has been made by a Dutch party under Professor Thorbecke. A French expedition has made explorations in the southern part of Angola. XXVI. CHEMISTRY AND PHYSICS CHEMISTRY INORGANIC AND PHYSICAL | has been prepared by Meyer and Hydrogen Peroxide and Ozone.-F. Fischer and Priess have found it possible to obtain large yields of hydrogen peroxide by reduction of oxygen gas under a pressure of from 25 to 100 atmospheres. The reduction was effected either electrochemically, with a dilute acid as the electrolyte, or chemically, as, for example, by use of a liquid zinc amalgam with dilute sulphuric acid. A method for the preparation of relatively concentrated solutions of ozone in dilute acids has been devised by Rothmund and Burgstaller, who have also studied the velocity of decomposition of ozone in aqueous solution. The intense orangered coloration noted by Manchot when ozone was passed into liquid ammonia is probably attributable to the presence of ammonium hydroxide, which would behave similarly to potassium hydroxide (A. Y. B., 1912, p. 627). The use of ozonized air in the detection of methane, which reacts with ozone yielding formaldehyde, is recommended by Hauser and Herz Steiner by heating mellitic acid with benzoyl chloride. Rhead and Wheeler have reached the conclusion that when carbon and oxygen unite at temperatures up to 900 deg. C., the first product of the combustion is a "loosely formed physico-chemical complex, which may be regarded as an unstable compound, CO." At a given temperature this complex tends to decompose into carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in a certain ratio. Lidoff has continued his researches upon oxane (A. Y. B., 1912, pp. 627, 630), and has found that this substance may be obtained by the action of nitrogen peroxide upon charcoal at 150 to 300 deg. C. Even better results were obtained with nitrous oxide. Photochemistry and Actinochemistry.-By subjecting mixtures of carbon monoxide and cyanogen to the action of ultraviolet light, Berthelot and Gaudechon have obtained the new compound, carbon oxycyanide, CO (CN),, in the form of a yellow solid which does not sublime at 200 deg., but which reacts with water to form hydrocyanic acid and carbon dioxide. In connection with a study of the dissociation by light of the hydrides of certain elements in the chlorine and oxygen groups, these investigators have found that in photochemical reactions frequency of vibration is analogous to temperature in ordinary reactions, and that the stability of the compounds of elements in the same group toward light decreases with increasing atomic weight of the elements. This latter conclusion was confirmed by results Carbon.-A very stable new oxide obtained during a subsequent study of carbon with the formula C12O, of the hydrides of certain elements in feld. |