426 SCIENTIFIC RECORD FOR 188-2. 



G. M. Wliipple coiamunicated to the British Association the results 

 of observations of atmosphericelectricity at Kew Observatory during 1880 

 The author, having spoken about the work already done, stated that lie 

 had devised a modification of Professor Everett's method, and had con- 

 structed a glass scale by means of which curves could be tabulated with 

 great facility. They had commenced tabulating and discussing the 

 accumulated records, and he was able to state some of the facts derived 

 from the curves of 1880. Having determined the atmospheric tension 

 for every hour duriug the year when measurement of the trace was 

 l)ossible, the diurnal, monthly, and annual variations were completed. 

 The maximum tension occurred in January and March; the minimum in 

 August and September. During summer the tension is greatest with 

 an east wind and lowest with a north wind. In winter the tension is 

 greatest with north and northwest winds and least with southeast 

 winds. {Nature, September, 1881, xxiv, p. 191.) 



A report has been published by Messrs. Spon & Co. of the lightning- 

 rod conference which has been in session foe three years, and which has 

 collected an enormous mass of information. The conference was formed 

 by delegates from the Meteorological Society of London, the lioyal In- 

 stitute of British Architects, the Society of Telegrai)h Engineers, and 

 the London Physical Society. The report will contain a simi>le code of 

 rules for the erection of lightning-rods, which any ordinary individual 

 will be able to understand. {N'nfiire, xxv, p. 184.) 



ProfC'^sor Tait, in the course of a lecture on thunder-storms, referring 

 to the beneficial effect of a large number of well-grounded, shar[)-i)ointed 

 lightning-rods, stated that they aftbrd absolute protection against ordi- 

 nary lightning; thus until lightning-rods became common in Pietei- 

 maritzburg, that town was constantly visited by thunder-storms; they 

 still come as frequently as ever, but they cease to give lightning flashes 

 whenever they visit the town, and begin to do so as soon as they have 

 passed over it. {Mature, xxii, p. 365.) 



Mr. W. H. Preece read a paper before the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, On the heat form to give to lightning-conductors. 

 The question was whether the lightning-conductor should be a solid 

 rod or tubular or flat. Experiments made by heating and deflagrating 

 wires through the different conductors left no doubt that intense dis- 

 charges do obey the law of Ohm, and therefore that the additional sur- 

 face of flat and tubular conductors is of no advantage in their conduc- 

 tivity. [Nature, xxii, p. 44G.) 



R. Anderson called the attention of the British Association to the 

 necessity for a regular inspection for lightning-conductors. The au- 

 thor referred to a paper of M. W. de Fonvielle, " On the advantages of 

 keeping records of physical phenomena connected with thunder-storms," 

 read in 1872. Nothing, however, has been done by the association 

 since then. He not only confirmed the conclusions at which M. de Fon- 

 vielle arrived as to the desirability of collecting such data, but was 



