314 



NATURE 



[January 5, 191 i 



■*' Spaziergange durch das Reich der Sterne." He also 

 wrote on comets and meteors in a way to attract atten- 

 tion and stimulate enthusiasm. 



The Meteorological Office has, with the commencement 

 of the present year, introduced considerable improvement 

 in its Daily Weather Report. Dover has been discontinued 

 as a reporting station, and Newquay has been added. 

 The London observations are now taken at Kew, and not 

 in St. James's Park as for some years past. The London 

 area is, however, well served by supplementary observa- 

 tions given for Greenwich Observatory, City (Bunhill 

 Row), Westminster (St. James's Park), and Hampstead. 

 The graphic representations are greatly improved, and 

 the area covered by the charts has been extended, so that 

 the incorporation of the observations from the Atlantic 

 Ocean received by radio-telegraphy will be much clearer. 



The summary of the weather for the year just issued 

 Tjv the Meteorological Office with its Weekly Weather 

 Report shows that the mean temperature for the several 

 •districts of the United Kingdom was nowhere very 

 <lifTerent from the average. The absolutely highest 

 temperature reported in the British Isles was 83°, which 

 occurred both in the east of England and in the Midland 

 •counties, and the lowest was minus 10°, in the east of 

 Scotland. The rainfall for the year was in excess of the 

 average, except in the north and west of Scotland. The 

 greatest excess was 9-12 inches, in the Channel Islands, 

 and this was followed by an excess of 6-83 inches, in the 

 south-west of England. The heaviest aggregate measure- 

 ment was 4974 inches, in the north of Scotland, and the 

 least 25.24 inches, in the north-east of England. The 

 largest number of rainy days during the year in any dis- 

 trict was 257, in the south of Ireland, the least 194, in 

 the north-east of England, and 195, in the south-east of 

 England. The duration of bright sunshine varied con- 

 siderably in different districts, but there was a general 

 ■deficiency except in some of the northern districts. In the 

 north of Scotland there was an excess of 74 hours, and in 

 t^e north-west of England an excess of 62 hours, whilst 

 in the Channel Islands there was a deficiency of 159 hours 

 and in the east of England a deficiency of 103 hours. A 

 discussion of the Greenwich observations shows that the 

 mean temperature for the 3-ear was 50-4°, which is 0-3° 

 in excess of the average. The highest monthly mean was 

 62.2°, in August, the lowest 38-7°, in November. In 

 November the mean temperature for the month was 4-7° 

 below the average of sixty years, and in July it was 4° 

 beiow the average. In December the mean was 5° in 

 excess of the average, and in October it was 3-5° in excess. 

 The absolutely highest temperature was 82°, in June, the 

 lowest 20°, in January. The greatest range in any month 

 was 48°, in May. There were only two warm days with 

 the temperature above the average in July, and only three 

 in November, but there were about twenty-six warm 

 •days both in October and December. November had as 

 many as fifteen frosty nights. The aggregate rainfall was 

 28 inches, which is 4 inches more than the average, and, 

 with the exception of 1903, it was the heaviest rainfall 

 for thirty years. July was the wettest month, with 3-55 

 Inches, and September the driest, with 0-72 inch. The 

 ■duration of bright sunshine was about 115 hours' deficient 

 for the year. May was the sunniest month, with 219 

 hours, and December the least sunny, with about 30 

 hours. 



Several earthquake shocks have been recorded during 

 the past week. According to Reuter messages, continuous 

 shocks were experienced in the province of Elis, Greece, 

 NO. 2149, VOL. 85] 



on December 29, 19 10. On December 31 a distinct earth 

 tremor, lasting several seconds, was felt at San Francisco 

 at 4.41 a.m.; and on January i a strong shock was fi : 

 at Brusa, in Asiatic Turkey. 



A TELEGRAPHIC message from the ss. Ccinc to tl, 

 Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company on December 1^. 

 1910, published in the Times of the following day, stat' 

 that the ship had been in communication with the Engli- 

 and French coasts at 1250 miles distance, and with Flor^ 

 Island on three successive days. The ship was in com- 

 munication with the European and American coast everv 

 day of the passage, and was at the time of telegraphin. 

 1 140 miles from New York. 



The Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund was established 

 by Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson, of Stamford, Connecticir 

 " for the advancement and prosecution of scientific 1 

 search in its broadest sense." The income from this fuivl 

 is now available, and the trustees desire to receive applica- 

 tions for appropriations in aid of scientific work. Th 

 trustees are disinclined, for the present, to make any gra: 

 to meet ordinary expenses of living or to purchase instn 

 ments, such as are found commonly in laboratoric 

 Decided preference will be given to applications for small 

 amounts, and grants exceeding 60I. will be made only in 

 very exceptional circumstances. Applications for assis 

 ance from this fund, in order to receive consideratior 

 must be accompanied by full information, especially : 

 regard to the following points : — (i) precise amount r 

 quired ; (2) exact nature of the investigation proposed 



(3) conditions under which the research is to be prosecutei: 



(4) manner in which the appropriation asked for is 1 

 be expended. All applications should reach, befor 

 February i, the secretary of the board of trustees, D; 

 C. S. Minot, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mas<.. 

 U.S.A. 



Mr. F. C. Selous has been commissioned by tl 

 trustees of the British Museum to undertake an exped 

 tion to the southern district of the Bahr-el-Ghazal < 

 Lado for the purpose of procuring the head and skin c 

 an adult male of the Sudani race of Lord Derby's elan 

 (Taurotragus derbianus gigas). As these antelopes appea 

 to be of a wandering disposition, it is by no means ea- 

 to know where to light upon them, and even when four 

 it is somewhat difficult to decide whether to select, fc 

 museum purposes, a comparatively young bull with lon^^ 

 unworn horns and a short frontal "brush," or an old- 

 animal with shorter horns but a fully developed brusl. 

 At present this eland is represented in the exhibitio 

 galleries of the natural history branch of the museum h\ 

 the mounted head of a female and a male skull and 

 horns. Mr. Selous, who has our best wishes for success, 

 starts, we believe, almost immediately. 



A CORRESPONDENT of the Times of December 28, 1910 

 records the discovery of what may be called an Arab; 

 Pompeii in the neighbourhood of Cordova. The discover 

 of this pleasure-resort of the great Khalif Abderral 

 man III., who erected it between 936 and 961, has bee: 

 jealously concealed by the Spanish archasologists, an 

 came to light accidentally through the examination d 

 certain fragments of Arabic sculpture of the tenth centur 

 recently deposited in the Museum of Cordova. The r 

 mains may be assigned to the Egyptian or Copto-Arab 

 school, and among them the most remarkable are th 

 specimens of glass work with a silver sheen, the secret o 

 which has long been lost, and the painted and glazf 

 pottery made out of calcined clay. So far, the excavation- 



