August 2 2, 1889] 



NATURE 



401 



type is a large ruminant, referred by the author to the 

 Giraffidce, and stated to connect HelladotlieriuDi and the 

 giraffe with some of the aberrant antelopes of Pikermi. 

 Finally, a large ostrich is especially noteworthy from a 

 distributional point of view, since we now have remains 

 of this genus from Samos, the Thracian Chersonese, and 

 Northern India. 



. NOTES. 



We regret to have to record the death of the eminent 

 American physicist, Prof. Elias Loomis. He was born at 

 Wellington, Connecticut, in 181 1, and was educated at Yale 

 College, where he acted for some time as tutor. He was suc- 

 cessively Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy ia 

 Western Reserve College, Ohio ; Professor of Natural Philo- 

 sophy in the University of the City of New York ; and Professor 

 of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in Yale College. The 

 latter appointment he received in i860, and he held it until his 

 death. Prof. Loomis was the author of more than 100 scientific 

 treatises. Among his works was a series of text-books on 

 mathematics, natural philosophy, astronomy, and meteorology. 

 Of this series more than 500,000 copies were sold. During the 

 last twenty-five years of his life he devoted himself chiefly to 

 original research, and gave much time and energy to the pre- 

 paration of a full account of the principles of meteorology. He 

 was a member of various American and European scientific 

 Societies. 



On August 19 the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the 

 Observatory at Pulkowa was celebrated. Among those present 

 on the occasion were the President of the St. Petersburg 

 Academy of Science, the Grand Duke Constantine Constan- 

 tinovitch, the Russian Ministers and Court dignitaries, the 

 German and French Ambassadors at the Russian Court, and 

 deputations from the Universities and Academies of Russia, and 

 from foreign observatories, including Greenwich and the chief 

 German observatories. Numerous congratulatory telegrams were 

 received. The Czar expressed in a telegram high appreciation 

 of the scientific merits of the Observatory. 



This week the meeting of the Photographic Convention of 

 the United Kingdom is being held in London. It was opened 

 on Monday in St. James's Hall, where an interesting collection 

 of photographic appliances and specimens of the best photo- 

 graphic work had been brought together. In his inaugural 

 address, Mr. Andrew Pringle, the President, reminded his 

 hearers that the present year was the fiftieth of practical photo- 

 graphy, and traced the history of the art from its birth to its 

 jubilee. 



At the meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 

 on June 26, Dr. Oscar Katz read a paper giving an account of 

 experimental researches with the microbes of chicken-cholera. 

 In this paper the author describes the investigations undertaken 

 by him since last year with regard to the microbes of chicken- 

 cholera. The larger portion of the experiments were made on 

 wild rabbits ; in addition, the action of the microbes on domestic 

 poultry, as well as on indigenous birds, on hares, guinea-pigs, 

 and ferrets was studied. A number of other points in the life- 

 history of the chicken-cholera bacteria are dealt with in the 

 paper : for instance, their behaviour when transmitted through 

 the bodies of rabbits in successive generations ; towards desicca- 

 tion, putrefaction, &c. Rabbits were repeatedly protected 

 against a virulent infection, in consequence of having pre- 

 viously partaken, at intervals, of cultures of the microbes in 

 which the latter had been killed by moderate heat. 



On August 17, at I o'clock a.m., a severe earthquake shock 1 

 of an undulatory character, lasting six seconds, was felt at I 



Jablanica, Bosnia. The direction of the seismic wave was from 

 south-east to north-west. According to a telegram from Mostar, 

 a shock, lasting ten seconds, was felt there also on August 17. 

 Some damage was caused to the railway line between Mostar and 

 Ostrojac, while at Konjica a wall collapsed. The duration of 

 the shock at the latter town was only five seconds. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for the month 

 of August shows that fine weather prevailed generally over the 

 greater part of the North Atlantic during July. The only 

 storms worthy of notice were two which prevailed in the western 

 part of that ocean ; the first was situated in latitude 40° N., 

 longitude 58° W., on the loth, and moved across Newfoundland 

 on the i6th ; the next day it was joined by the second storm, 

 which passed out to sea from the coast of New Jersey on the 

 15th. The storm then travelled about north-north-east, and 

 disappeared off the south coast of Greenland. Much fog has 

 been experienced along the Transatlantic routes, and icebergs 

 have been numerous, within the usual limits. 



The Report of the Meteorological Commission of the Cape of 

 Good Hope for the year 1888 contains monthly summaries and 

 results for 38 stations and rainfall statistics at 292 stations, 

 including returns from Basutoland, Orange Free State, &c. In 

 addition to the tables, there are some extremely interesting 

 diagrams showing the actual rainfall in 1888 at a number of 

 stations throughout the colony, as compared with the average 

 rainfall. They show that in nearly all months the fall in 1888 

 was much above the average. Storm warnings are not yet 

 issued, but weather telegrams are received from a number of 

 stations, and after correction and collation, reports are sent to 

 coast stations and entered on charts, for the information of 

 seamen and others. 



Vols. ix. and x. of Aus dem Archiv dcr Deulschin Seewarte 

 contain reports of the activity of that institution during the 

 years 1886 and 1887. The collection of observations at sea, and 

 at distant stations, has been carried on with vigour, while weather 

 telegraphy and the verification of chronometers and nautical 

 instruments also receive great attention. Dr. Neumayer regrets 

 that the ever-increasing routine work curtails the time for scien- 

 tific investigation, yet the volumes contain many valuable re- 

 searches by members of the staff, to some of which we can only 

 very briefly refer, although all are worthy of careful study. In 

 vol. ix. Dr. v.in Bebber, dealing with typical weather-con- 

 ditions, investigates the passage of barometric depressions 

 over Europe during the years 1881-85, in continuation of a 

 former paper referring to 1876-80. The object of the dis- 

 cussion is to trace the influence of the depressions upon the 

 weather, with a view to the discovery of the laws of the 

 changes of direction of their tracks, and of their rates of pro- 

 gression. The author shows that the depressions move along 

 certain tracks with greater velocity than the motion of minima 

 generally. The text is illustrated by twenty plates. The other 

 articles are : on the determination of the refraction constants ; 

 and remarks from ships' logs relating to weather, &c., in Eastern 

 Asiatic waters. In vol. x. Dr. Koppen contributes a useful 

 paper on the determination of air-temperature. The author 

 investigates the influence of radiation on different thermometers 

 and screens, and gives a resume of the experiments with regard 

 to the latter in various countries, and of the observations on 

 local differences of temperature (including the influence of radia- 

 tion). These experiments seem to show that screens through 

 which the air can freely pass are better than large shelters^ 

 and that the effect of radiation is lessened by the free circula- 

 tion of the air, and by the smallness of the thermometer-bulbs. 

 M, Moller contributes an article on the circulation of the atmo- 

 sphere between the equator and the Poles. The results arrived 

 at differ from those of Prof. Ferrel, especially with regard to the 



