388 



NATURE 



[Sept 7, 1876 



remark a fortnight ago, in noticing his newly published 

 " Tables for Facilitating the Use of Sumner's Method at 

 Sea," are of very high importance. The general adoption 

 of Sumner's Method, now made simple for the navigator, 

 would be a reform in navigation almost amounting to a 

 revolution, and is one most highly to be desired. Sir 

 William Thomson has also invented a new form of 

 mariner's compass of exquisite construction. It possesses 

 many advantages over the best of those in general use, 

 not excluding the Standard Admiralty Compass ; but its 

 special feature is that it permits of the p7-actical applica- 

 tion of Sir George Airy's method of correcting compasses 

 for the permanent and temporary magnetism of iron 

 ships. He has also invented an apparatus for deep-sea 

 sounding by pianoforte wire. This apparatus is so simple 

 and easily managed that he has brought up " bottom " from 

 a depth of nearly three nautical miles, sounding from his 

 own yacht, without aid of steam or any of the ordinary re- 

 quisites for such depths. His method was much employed 

 in taking rapid soundings during the laying of telegraph 

 cables along the Brazilian coast to the West Indies. It 

 has also been used with great success on the United 

 States Submarine Survey. Recently, while on his way to 

 Philadelphia, Sir W. Thomson himself was able to take 

 flying soundings, reaching the bottom in 68 fathoms, 

 from a Cunard Line steamship going at full speed. 



The treatise on " Natural Philosophy " Avritten by Prof. 

 Thomson, in conjunction with Prof. Tait, brings before us 

 another branch of activity in which he has shown himself 

 as eminent as in research. 



Sir William Thomson is a Fellow of the Royal Society 

 of London and of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He 

 has received the Royal Medal of the former and the Keith 

 Medal of the latter. He is also an honorary member of 

 several foreign societies. The Universities of Dublin, of 

 Cambridge, and of Edinburgh have each conferred upon 

 him the honorary degree of LL.D., and that of Oxford 

 the honorary degree of D.C.L. On his marriage in 1852' 

 he gave up his Fellowship at St. Peter's College, Cam- 

 bridge ; but in 1871 his college again elected him to a 

 Fellowship, which he now holds. 



Sir William Thomson's brother, Dr. James Thomson, 

 is Professor of Civil Engineering in the University of 

 Glasgow. He is well known as the discoverer of the 

 lowering of the freezing-point of water by pressure ; and 

 is the author of many other important physical re- 

 searches. 



The following opinion of Sir William Thomson's 

 merit as a worker in science has been sent us by 

 Prof. HelmhoUz : — "His peculiar merit, according to 

 my own opinion, consists in his method of treating 

 problems of mathematical physics. He has striven 

 with great consistency to purify the mathematical theory 

 from hypothetical assumptions which were not a pure 

 expression of the facts. In this way he has done 

 very much to destroy the old unnatural separation be- 

 tween experimental and mathematical physics, and to 

 reduce the latter to a precise and pure expression of the 

 laws of phenomena. He is an eminent mathematician, 

 but the gift to translate real facts into mathematical 

 equations, and vice versa, is by far more rare than that to 

 find the solution of a given mathematical problem, and 

 in this direction Sir William Thomson is most eminent 



and original. His electrical instruments and methods of 

 observation, by which he has rendered amongst other 

 things electrostatical phenomena as precisely measure- 

 able as magnetic or galvanic forces, give the most strik- 

 ing illustration how much can be gained for practical 

 purposes by a clear insight into theoretical questions ; 

 and the series of his papers on thermodynamics and the 

 experimental confirmations of several most surprising 

 theoretical conclusions deduced from Carnot's axiom, 

 point in the same direction." 



British science may be congratulated on the fact that 

 in Sir William Thomson the most brilliant genius of the 

 investigator is associated with the most lovable qualities 

 of the man. His single-minded enthusiasm for the pro- 

 motion of knowledge, his wealth of kindliness for younger 

 men and fellow-workers, and his splendid modesty are 

 among the qualities for which those who know him best 

 admire him most. 



METEOROLOGICAL RESEARCH 



IN previous articles the necessity of dividing into two 

 groups the subjects usually called meteorological 

 has been strongly insisted on. The one of these may 

 be termed climatic meteorolcgy, and is intimately con- 

 nected with physiology and those sciences which have 

 reference to life. The other may be called physical 

 meteorology, and recent researches have shown that this 

 is intimately connected with other branches of physical 

 inquiry, forming in its wider aspect a sort of meeting 

 ground between molar and molecular physics— a region, 

 in fact, where we find the largest bodies of the universe 

 influencing the smallest. 



It is a fortunate thing that we have no longer any need 

 to enlarge upon the practical importance of the latter 

 branch, since this is now recognised even by those who 

 are furthest from considering science worthy of investi- 

 gation for its own sake ; while our present Government, 

 who have shown themselves so willing to further the in- 

 terests of abstract science, are, we believe, no less anxious 

 to encourage amongst us a truly scientific meteorology. 

 I think, therefore, that the present moment is an 

 opportune one for discussing our subject from the point 

 of view of pure science. 



Nor is a feeling of national pride out of place even 

 here. England is the greatest maritime nation on record, 

 and her interests are represented in every quarter of the 

 globe. If her offspring, America, is content to bestow a 

 yearly subsidy of 50,000/. on meteorology, it is surely not 

 too much to expect that the subject should receive the 

 most liberal and enlightened treatment from the mother 

 country. 



One of the reasons why it is necessary to call attention 

 to meteorology is because the science, being young, is in a; 

 very different position from that occupied by her sister 

 sciences, chemistry and physics, so that we cannot 

 be said to have a school of meteorologists at present 

 existing. It would be an object of national importance 

 to encourage the formation of such a school. 



Again, while a want of clearness exists generally and 

 everywhere regarding the scope of meteorology, there is 

 also a large amount of widespread ignorance. When 

 a leg of mutton dropped from Nadar's balloon intp 



