Anomalies of Temperature 217 



rose from below. 1 The forms of the frozen spray on 

 neighbouring trees were most remarkable. 



Dr. A. Thomson referred to the shipwreck on January 24th 

 of the Danish mail-steamer on the coast of Iceland. 2 The 

 large, mound-like accumulation of frozen spray on the 

 forepart, of the ship threatened to submerge it, and obliged 

 the captain to run the ship on shore. But as the actual 

 wreck was caused by its striking a sunken rock, the captain 

 and the crew suffered great hardships from the cold and 

 continued storm. 



Oct. 27th, sogth meeting. Mr. Gait on referred to the 

 remarkable variations of temperature in different regions 

 during the past season. Packed ice had drifted to within 

 ten miles of Iceland, from which Greenland polar bears had 

 swum ashore, yet in Smith Sound the water had been 

 remarkably open. Professor Frankland said that in Norway 

 a very low temperature had prevailed, when in England it 

 was very hot, and Dr. Carpenter remarked on the great 

 and persistent cold in Scotland during the whole summer 

 and autumn. 



Nov. 24th, 3ioth meeting. Professor Dewar exhibited 

 photographs on glass, illustrating communications to the 

 Royal Society, from himself and Professor Liveing, on the 

 reversal of the lines in metallic vapours. They showed 

 that, as a rule, the rays of high refrangibility are the 

 most readily reversed and must therefore possess the greatest 

 emissive power. Many of the plates had almost the whole 

 of the iron rays reversed in the ultra-violet. On some 

 plates, lines, due to an emission spectrum of water, appeared. 

 Further experiments showed it to be a consequence of the 

 spark being taken in moist gases. This has an important 

 bearing on the continuity of flame spectra. 



It was mentioned that the meeting-room and vestibule of 

 the Royal Society were lighted for the first time by electric 



1 A photograph (as stated in the Minutes) is given in Nature, vol. xxiii. 

 on page 512. It was taken in January, 1881. 



2 He quoted from the description in Nature, vol. xxiv. pages 106-7,. 

 where a picture is given of the steamer with its ice-loaded bows. 



