00^ 



NA 2UKE 



[Sept. 26, 1889 



of combining the double observation for all forecasting purposes, 

 and inquiries in connection therewith ; in other words, of com- 

 bining with the observation at the top of Ben Nevis that made 

 at the same instant near sea-level at Fort William. With the 

 opening of the Low Level Observatory in November will com- 

 mence a new era in the work of the Ben Nevis Observatory. It 

 will then be possible, by the double set of horizontal meteoro- 

 logical gradients and vertical meteorological gradients thus ob- 

 tainable, to examine more fully and rigorously the atmospheric 

 changes which precede, accompany, and follow the passage 

 across these islands of the cyclones and anticyclones of North- 

 western Europe. 



The minimum temperature on Ben Nevis for the year was 7°' 2, 

 being the lowest yet observed since the Observatory was opened 

 in 1883. The maximum was 6i''"i in June, which closely agrees 

 with the maxima of previous years, except that of 1887, which 

 rose to 67° 'o. It is also to be noted that so late as September 

 temperature rose to 57°*6. 



The registrations of the sunshine recorder showed 970 hours 

 of sunshine during the year, the smallest number of hours for 

 any month being 8 for November, and the largest 250 in June, 

 being nearly half the possible sunshine. The number of hours 

 for the four years now observed, beginning with 1885, were 680, 

 576, 898, and 970. The contrast of the sunshine of 1886 with 

 that of 1888 is thus very striking. 



The amount of rainfall for the year was 132 '46 inches, the 

 month of least rainfall, 376 inches, being June, and of 

 greatest, 20'6o inches, being November. The number of days 

 on which precipitation was nil, or less than the hundredth of an 

 inch, was 118. The number of rainless days for the last three 

 years have been 159, 128, and 118. From all the observations 

 yet made, it is seen that a fall, equalling at least i 00 a day, 

 has occurred on an average of one day in nine. 



Atmospheric pressure was this year again above the annual 

 average, the mean at sea-level being 29*889, or 0*055 higher. 

 The lowest mean at the Observatory, 25*035 inches, occurred in 

 March, and the highest, 25*590 inches, in September ; the differ- 

 ence being 0*555 inch. At sea-level at Fort William the ex- 

 treme monthly means were 29*636 inches in November, and 

 .30*132 in September ; the difiterence being 0*496 inch. 



NOTES. 



Mr. Griesbach, of the Geological Survey of India, shortly 

 proceeds to Beluchistan to exploit for coal ; and Mr. Oldham, 

 also of the Geological Survey, is also going to Beluchistan to 

 investigate and report upon oil fields which are believed to exist 

 there. 



The Iron and^ Steel Institute has assembled this year in Paris 

 at the rooms of the National Industry Encouragement Society, and 

 its first sitting was held on the 24th inst., under the presidency 

 of Sir J. Kitson. The paper which attracted most attention 

 on the first day was one by M. Schneider, of Creuzot, and M. 

 Hersent, ex-President of the French Civil Engineers' Society, 

 on the Channel Bridge, which gave an elaborate account of the 

 scheme. The route chosen as the line, stretching over the 

 shallowest parts of the Channel and connecting the shores 

 where closest to each other, commences at a point near Cape 

 Gris Nez, passes over the Colbart and Varne banks, and ter- 

 minates near Folkestone. The Colbart and Varne banks are 

 situated near the centre of the Channel, about 6 kilometres 

 apart, the depth of the water at that point not exceeding 7 or 8 

 metres -at low water, and they are separated from each other 

 by a depression about 25 to 27 metres deep. Between the 

 Varne and the British coast the depth does not exceed 29 metres, 

 but near Colbart the bottom sinks somewhat abruptly down to 

 40 metres. It then attains 55 metres about midway across, when 

 it begins gradually to rise. In these parts the chief difficulties 

 would be encountered in laying the foundations. The result of 

 repeated experiments is that the ground is found to be sufficiently 

 ■solid to support very extensive works, and the borings lately 

 made in connection with the proposed tunnel have confirmed 

 preceding experiments as to the position and nature of the bot- 



tom as published by M. de Gamond. The metal proposed to 

 be used is steel. The amount of metal and machinery to be 

 provided would represent an aggregate weight of about 1,000,000 

 tons. The spans of metal would be 500 metres in length across 

 the Channel, supported on columns resting at different depths 

 on the bottom of the sea. A rough calculation gives 380,000,000 

 francs for masonry supports, and 480,000,000 francs for the metal- 

 lic superstructure — in all, 860,000,000 francs, or ;^34, 400,000. 

 The time required for the undertaking was fixed at about 

 ten years. 



The eleventh Congress of the Sanitary Institute was opened 

 at Worcester on the 24th inst. In connection with the Congress 

 an exhibition of sanitary appliances and apparatus is being 

 held at the Skating Rink, where also lectures on cookery are 

 given by Dr. Strange. The Presidential address was delivered 

 by Mr. G. W. Hastings, M.P., and referred mainly to recent 

 legislation affecting sanitary science. 



The International Oriental Congress, which was held this 

 year during the first and second weeks of the present month, in 

 Stockholm and Christiania, was well attended, and was especially 

 noticeable for the enlightened and warm interest taken in the pro- 

 ceedings by the King. Representatives of Oriental learning from 

 the chief countries were His Majesty's personal guests, the members 

 of the Congress present were on several occasions specially 

 entertained by him, and in other marked ways the King showed 

 his desire to honour science and learning in the persons of the 

 assembled Oriental scholars. The Times is the only one of the 

 English daily papers in which the proceedings have been followed 

 regularly, and in the last letter on the subject, its Correspondent, 

 who has been far from a prophet of smooth things in reference 

 to all the proceedings, says that "this eighth International 

 Oriental Congress was favoured above all its predecessors by the 

 right royal splendour with which the ruler of the two countries 

 entertained his guests, by the warm interest which the citizens 

 took in the foreign savants, by the care and kindly forethouglit 

 with which all the arrangements for our comfort had been 

 planned and were carried out, and last (not least) by the grand 

 and lovely natural features of the places which the members 

 visited. Perhaps at future Congresses care will be taken that 

 there be less of empty Oriental parade, by which no palpable 

 literary object can be gained, and that greater facilities be given 

 for placing without delay within the reach of members an 

 abstract of the proceedings in each Section. However, in the 

 face of such boundless hospitality and such personal sacrifices on 

 the part of our hosts, it would be ungracious were we to take 

 exception to what are after all but small matters of detail." 



A LARGE number of papers of great philological and general 

 interest were read, as will be readily gathered from the following 

 list of the Sections, with their respective Presidents and Vice- 

 Presidents : — Section I. Modern Semitic : Presidents — Baron 

 Kremer, of Vienna ; M. Schefer, of Paris ; M. de Goeje, of 

 Leyden. Section II. Ancient Semitic : President — M. Fehr, 

 of Stockholm ; Vice-Presidents — M. Chivolson, of St. Peters- 

 burg ; M. Oppert, of Paris. Section HI. : Presidents — M. 

 Max Midler, of Oxford ; M. Weber, of Berhn ; M. Spiegel, of 

 Erlangen. Section IV. : President — Brugsch Pasha ; Vice- 

 Presidents — M. Lieblein, ]M. Reinisch. Section V. : President — 

 M. Schlegel, of Leyden ; Vice-President — M. Cordier, of Paris. 

 Section VI. : President — M. Kern, of Leyden ; Vice-President: 

 Mr. R. N. Cust, of London. 



A CORRESPONDENT sends us the following instance of " Science 

 as she is wrote," which he thinks worth preserving. It is 

 extracted from an eloquent description of the icebergs near the 

 coast of Newfoundland, which appeared in the Daily Telegraph 

 of September 17, and was signed " Edwin Arnold " : — "The 



