^i6 



NA TURE 



[March 31, 1898 



Communications should Idc addressed to Mr. E. Sidney Marlland, 

 hon. sec. Ethnographical Survey Committee, British Asso- 

 ciation, Burlington House, W. 



Prof. N. E. Hansen, professor of horticulture at Brook- 

 ings, South Dakota, who was sent to Eastern Europe and 

 Asia to secure new seeds and plants for the Agricultural 

 Department of the United States, is (says Science) now pre- 

 paring his report for publication, after an extended trip through 

 Eastern Russia, Trans-Caucasia, Russian Turkestan, Western 

 China, and Siberia. Many promising varieties were obtained, 

 and about three car-loads of seed will be distributed to State 

 experiment stations. These seeds, it is expected, will be chiefly 

 of value in the arid regions, the purpose of Prof. Hansen's trip 

 being to obtain such as were distinguished for resistance to 

 •drought and heat. 



The following are among the lecture arrangements at the 

 Royal Institution after Easter :— The Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, 

 F.R.S., three lectures on natural philosophy ; Dr. E, E. Klein, 

 two lectures on modern methods and their achievements in 

 bacteriology ; Mr. J. A. Thomson, two lectures on the biology 

 of Spring. The Friday evening meetings of the members will be 

 resumed on April 22, when Mr. W. H. M. Christie, C. B., the 

 Astronomer Royal, will deliver a discourse on the recent eclipse ; 

 succeeding discourses will probably be given by Prof. A. Gray, 

 Mr. E. A. Minchin, Prof W. A. Tilden, the Right Hon. D. H. 

 Madden, Lieut. -General the Hon. Sir A. Clarke, Prof W. M. 

 Flinders Petrie, the Right Hon. Lord Rayleigh, and other 

 gentlemen. 



Science announces that Prof. W. A. Rogers died at Water- 

 ville, Maine, on March i, aged sixty-one years. He was 

 assistant professor of astronomy in the observatory of Harvard 

 University from 1875 until 1886, when he accepted a call to the 

 professorship of physics and astronomy at Colby University. 

 He had expected to enter on a professorship at Alfred Univer- 

 sity, N.Y. , on April i. Prof. Rogers was a member of the 

 United States National Academy, and a past vice-president of 

 the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 He made important contributions to astronomy and physics, 

 especially to the technique of measurement. 



Storms of more than ordinary severity were experienced on 

 our coasts last week, and were accompanied by a good deal of 

 snow in many districts. A cyclonic disturbance, which arrived 

 from the Atlantic on March 23, crossed the northern portion 

 of Scotland, travelling in a south-easterly direction ; and, after 

 continuing its course down the east coast of England, the central 

 area of the disturbance crossed the North Sea, and eventually 

 passed over Germany. Owing to the prevalence of anticyclonic 

 conditions over Scandinavia, the track followed by the storm 

 was somewhat unusual, and its progress was very slow, while 

 the area of high barometric pressure advancing in the rear of 

 the disturbance gained additional energy. It was particularly 

 to this last feature that the storm owed its chief violence ; the 

 gales experienced from the 23rd to the 27th belonged to the 

 rear segment of the storm-area, and were wholly from the 

 north and north-east. They have proved very disastrous on 

 our coasts, and have also wrought considerable damage over 

 the inland parts of the country. The general characteristics of 

 the disturbance, both in its cause and effect, closely resembled 

 those of the storm which occurred at the end of last November. 



The report of the Council of the Scottish Geographical 

 Society was presented at a general meeting held on March 23. 

 After referring to the general reports of the meteorological 

 stations, the Council state that, as intimated in the last 

 report, the observations at the intermediate station on Ben 

 Nevis, at a height of 2322 feet, were resumed last summer. 



NO. 1483, VOL. 57] 



The observations form a very complete series, thanks to the 

 great enthusiasm and self-denial of the observers, Mr. T. S. 

 Muir and Mr. A. Drysdale, aided by several valuable self- 

 recording instruments. From the varying cyclonic and anti- 

 cyclonic types of weather which prevailed during the ten weeks 

 of observation —July 19 to end of September 1897— the Society 

 is now in possession of simultaneous hourly observations from 

 the three observatories on Ben Nevis, which are really the 

 indispensable data in investigating the problems relating to the 

 vertical gradients of the temperature, pressure, and humidity of 

 the atmosphere and its movements. The work of making daily 

 maps showing the rainfall at 120 stations well distributed over 

 Scotland is in progress ; and to these are being added the figures 

 showing the hours of the occurrence of fog at the Scottish light- 

 houses. The large series of maps, in illustration of the mean 

 monthly and annual atmospheric pressure and temperature of 

 the British Islands, is well in hand. The maps of isothermals 

 are finished, and the maps of isobars will be on the stone in a 

 few days, and no time will be lost in issuing the number to 

 members. The Council announced a Diamond Jubilee donation 

 of 100/. from one of the members, of which 50/. is for discussion 

 of separate parts of the work of the Ben Nevi.s observatories, 

 and 50/. in furtherance of the Society's work. It was also 

 announced that the late Hon. Ralph Abercromby bequeathed a 

 legacy of 100/. to the Society. 



Das Welter of February reproduces a lecture, recently de- 

 livered by Dr. G. Hellmann, on the interesting question of 

 mild winters. The facts are based upon the temperature 

 observations at Berlin, for which place observations are avail- 

 able since the early part of the previous century, and the subject 

 is divided into three parts : (i) the frequency and succession of 

 mild winters, (2) their general character, and (3) what kind of 

 summer weather may be expected after a mild winter. For the 

 purpose of this investigation, the author defines a mild winter as 

 one in which the mean temperature of December and January is 

 above the average, and in which the sum of the deviations in 

 both months amounts at least to 2° C. A table giving the 

 monthly deviations for November to August shows that since 

 1720 there have been forty-eight mild winters in Berlin, that 

 they are never isolated, but occur in groups of two or three years, 

 and especially after a long period of colder winters. The in- 

 tervals between two groups of mild winters vary from nine to 

 fourteen years. With regard to the character of mild winters, 

 the table shows clearly that they are usually of long duration. 

 The chances are 79 to 21 that after a mild winter, February will 

 also have a high mean temperature. Another characteristic of 

 mild winters is that the greatest deviations of temperature usually 

 occur in January. Whether a mild winter will be damp or dry 

 depends chiefly upon the distribution of atmospheric pressure ; 

 the present winter is of the mild and dry type. The general 

 distribution of pressure between December 5, 1897, and January 

 29 last, is illustrated by weekly charts. With respect to the in- 

 fluence of mild winters upon the subsequent weather, and espe- 

 cially of the summer, if July and August be taken together as 

 representing the summer, it is found that the chances are 44 per 

 cent, that a warm summer will follow a moderately mild winter ; 

 while after a very mild winter, the chances of a warm summer 

 amount to 68 per cent. The cases of mild d7y winters, such as 

 the present, are rare ; if the deficient rainfall is not compensated 

 during spring time the summer is likely to be wet, and 

 consequently cool. 



The British Medical Journal for March 19 contains an 

 important paper by Dr. Luigi Sambon, on the "Etiology of 

 Sunstroke." Dr. Sambon adopts what at first appears a 

 somewhat startling theory, namely, that sunstroke is not 

 due to excessive heat or exposure to the sun, but is 



