METEOROLOGY. 431 



est experience since the establishment of photograx)hic registration at 

 Zi-ka-wei in the year 1877, and he considers that the cliauges then ob- 

 served (those of vertical force included, of which he gives no curves) are 

 similar to such as would be produced by a iiowerful magnet placed in 

 a certain defined position. It may iierhaps be here pointed out that 

 the results given by the astronomer royal in his paper, "First Analysis 

 of One Hundred and Seventy-seven Magnetic Storms" {Fhil. Trans, for 

 1SG3), appear to give no support to a theory of this kind, and indeed 

 seem conclusively to show that at Greenwich the observed disturbances 

 cannot be accounted for in any such a way. 



It should be added that JM. Dechevrens reports also that strong earth 

 currents were experienced on August 11 and 12, on the submarine tele- 

 graph lines connecting Slianglmi and Nagasaki and Hong-Kong, as well 

 as on the land lines in Jai)an, so much so that correspondence was fre- 

 quently interrupted, but that no interruption appears to have been 

 experienced on the occasion of the generally smaller magnetic disturb- 

 ance of August 18. {Notnre, 1880, xxili, p. 33.) 



Admiral Mouchez has resumed magnetic observations in subterra- 

 nean chambers at the Paris Observatory. The apparatus will be self- 

 registering by photography, but direct observations will also be made 

 with the old instruments used by Arago. {N'ature, xxvr, p. 207.) 



Professor ISTipher of Saint Louis has investigated the peculiar distri- 

 bution of magnetic phenomena in Missouri. In explanation of certain 

 abnormal phenomena originally observed by him in 1878 he finds 

 that tlie irregularities are not due to minute local causes, but that the 

 perturbing force disturbs the declination of the magnetic needle over 

 an area of 50 or 100 miles square. Thus the line of 8° E. crosses the 

 Missouri Valley in a SW. direction and then bends abruptly to the 

 NE., recrossing the Missouri, and after a wide detour crosses the river 

 again for the third time and returns to its SW. direction. {NatiirCj 

 XXV, p. 40.) 



W. H. Preece, in a valuable historical paper on telephony, says : " The 

 discovery of the telephone has made us acquainted with another ])he- 

 nomenon. It has enabled us to establish beyond doubt the fact that 

 currents of electricity actuall}' traverse the earth's crust ; the theory 

 that the earth acts as a great reservoir for electricitj' may be placed 

 in the physicist's waste-paper basket. A telephone circuit when in con- 

 nection with the earth gives distinct evidence of every visible hash of 

 lightning, however far off the thunder-storm may be. No difference in 

 time has been observed between seeing the flash and hearing the crash. 

 There are certain natural currents flowing through the earth ; they are 

 called earth currents, and at times acquire such considerable energy 

 that with a telephone pressed to the ear, I have been told, although 

 I have not experienced it, the noise made is very near." {Nature, xxvi, 

 p. 518.) 



Professor Stokes, in some remarks on his admirable lectures on atmos- 



