2o6 



NATURE 



\yan. 2, 1890 



during the winter months of 2086 pounds per square foot. 

 During a heavy gale this pressure is increased to 6983 

 pounds ; yet the thin oil blanket is sufficient, when applied 

 under certain conditions, to enable a vessel to navigate 

 through them in perfect safety, their oiled summits raising 

 themselves in sullen grandeur, but never breaking aboard. 

 What the exact coefficient of friction between air in 

 motion and water is, and the proportion of its reduction 

 by oil or other lubricants, are questions that open up a 

 most interesting subject of inquiry, the resolution of 

 which will prove highly beneficial to the whole nautical 

 and mercantile world. 



Numerous experiments have been made with a view to 

 testing the utility of oil in smoothing the approaches to 

 exposed harbours in rough weather. The tests undertaken 

 at Peterhead have met with unqualified success. The 

 modtts operandi has been to lay leaden pipes along the 

 bottom of the harbour, taking care to keep the pipes 

 stationary by means of concrete. The pipe is provided 

 with numerous roses for disseminating the oil. When 

 rough weather comes on, oil is forced along the pipes, 

 and it escapes into the water through the apertures 

 provided, and then, its specific gravity being less than 

 that of water, it rises to the surface and quickly renders 

 the sea less turbulent and the passage into the harbour 

 quite safe. Another method employed to render safe 

 ingress into harbours in bad weather is that of firing out 

 to sea an oil-carrying projectile. This consists of a heavy 

 tin tube weighted with lead at one end. The tube is 

 filled with two or three quarts of oil, and the aperture 

 stopped. When the projectile is fired from a gun or 

 mortar, it reverses, and, the time-fuse exploding, the 

 powder blows out the plug, and the liberated oil falls 

 into the sea. A series of experiments, conducted by a 

 Committee appointed by the United States Life-saving 

 Service to inquire into the practical utility of oil-carrying 

 projectiles, goes to confirm the statement made above, viz. 

 that the power of oil to subdue the force of the waves in 

 shoal water, or to prevent the waves breaking in surf, is 

 very small indeed. There is one point, however, upon 

 which all authorities who have tested the use of oil at 

 sea are agreed. As an adjunct to the equipment of ships' 

 boats it is simply invaluable. Many a shipwrecked crew 

 have been enabled to keep their frail craft afloat until 

 land was reached or a rescue effected, solely by its use. 

 Nothing is more common among the records of ship- 

 wrecks than to read of the small boats either being 

 swamped while at the vessel's side, or capsizing through 

 stress of weather. In January 1884 the Cambria emi- 

 grant ship was run into by the Sultan in the North Sea, 

 and, out of 522 on board, 416 were drowned. Of the 

 four starboard boats, no less than three capsized, and all 

 their occupants perished. In the collision in the Channel 

 between the Forest and Avalaiiche, two out of three boats 

 which left the Forest were swamped, and all on board 

 lost their lives. These are but two instances out of many 

 where lives miirJit have been saved bv the use of a little 

 oil. 



The subject of saving endangered life at sea is one that 

 always enlists the deepest sympathies of all sorts and 

 conditions of men. The perusal of the " Annual Wreck 

 Chart," published by the Board of Trade, or of the 

 lamentable records of personal sorrows and destitution 

 consequent upon the disasters around our coasts, sug- 

 gests the possibility that the loss of life might be con- 

 siderably reduced by a practical knowledge of the best 

 methods of applying oil during storms at sea. We think 

 that much might be done by its use to facilitate the 

 launching of boats from distressed vessels, and their safe 

 subsequent navigation. Harbours of refuge on exposed 

 coasts might be established at a very small cost. 



In one department alone of our maritime industry, 

 deep-sea fishing, many lives might be saved. At pre- 

 sent, the mortality among the carriers, i.e. those engaged 



in carrying in small boats the fish from the smacks to the 

 steam despatch-boats, is very great. Their boats might be 

 equipped, at a very low cost, with oil-tanks or oil-bags to be 

 used when trans-shipments are being effected in heavy 

 weather. Already the Governments of the United States 

 and Germany have realized the vast importance of this sub- 

 ject, and have instituted an exhaustive series of experiments 

 with the view of rendering compulsory the carrying of 

 oil for use as a life-saving equipment. When that com- 

 plex and overburdened instrument of government, the 

 Board of Trade, was asked in Parliament to cause experi- 

 ments to be made relative to the use of oil at sea, the reply 

 was, that there were no funds available for the pur- 

 pose ; that the Board could not spend money or become 

 investors in such schemes. The Consultative Committee 

 appointed under the Life-saving Appliances Act of last 

 year have, however, suggested oil-bags, among other 

 equipments, to be carried by boats and rafts. At the 

 International Maritime Conference at Washington, U.S., 

 this subject has received the attention its importance 

 merits. Further, the National Life-boat Institution and 

 the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association have 

 amalgamated their forces with a view to testing the efficacy 

 of oil, but as yet the results of their investigations have 

 not been published. W'hile it is very gratifying to know 

 that the man of science and the philanthropist are ready 

 to explore the practical utility of this question, we 

 cannot hope for any satisfying material results until the 

 Board of Trade sees its way to take administrative 

 action in the matter, and to deal in a fitting manner with 

 a question that is so indissolubly connected with the 

 interests of all classes of this great mercantile community. 



Richard Beynon. 



RECENT OBSERVATIONS OF JUPITER. 



OBSERVATIONS of Jupiter have been conducted 

 under great difficulties during the past opposition 

 in consequence of the low altitude of the planet. His 

 elevation, even at meridian passage, has only been about 

 16°, as observed in this country, so that the study of 

 his surface markings has been much interrupted by the 

 bad definition which usually aftects objects not far re- 

 moved from the haze and vapours on the horizon. It is,, 

 however, important that planetary features, especially 

 those which exhibit changes of form and motion, should 

 be watched as persistently as circumstances allow, and 

 with this purpose in view Jupiter has been submitted to- 

 telescopic scrutiny whenever the atmosphere offered 

 facilities for such work during the past summer and 

 autumn. Few opportunities occurred, however, during the 

 latter season owing to the great prevalence of clouds, and 

 on the several nights sufficiently clear for the purpose, the 

 atmosphere was unsteady and the definition indifferent : 

 thus the more delicate lineaments of the planet's surface 

 could be rarely observed with satisfactory distinctness. 



The great red spot was visible on the night of May 21, 

 1889, and it was estimated to be on the central meridian 

 at I2h. 31m. Further views of the same object were 

 secured in June, July, and later months. In appearance 

 and form it presented much the same aspect as in pre- 

 ceding years. Its elliptical outline is still preserved, and 

 there seems to have occurred no perceptible change in its 

 size. It is somewhat faint relatively to the very con- 

 spicuous belts north of it, and it is only on a good night 

 that it can be well recognized as a complete ellipse with a 

 dusky interior. On the evening of September 12 last, I 

 obtained an excellent view of it with my lo-inch reflector, 

 power 252. The spot was central at 6h. 33m., and its 

 following end was seen to be much the darkest. This has 

 usually been the case, and I have often noticed a very 

 small, black spot at this extremity. Another observation 

 was effected on the early evening of November 26, when 

 the spot crossed the planet's centre at 3h. 54m., but the 



