Jan. 23, 1890] 



NATURE 



279 



It must always be remembered that the forecasts are 

 drawn for districts, not for individual stations ; and disre- 

 garding the amount of correctness claimed by the Office 

 by its own checking of its work, they attain a very credit- 

 able amount of success when tested by independent 

 observers. This happens even in the summer-time, the 

 very season at which a recent critic said that the forecasts 

 for one month, if shuffled about, and drawn at random 

 from a bag, would suit just as well for the next ! This is 

 proved by the results of the hay harvest forecasts, which 

 are deduced from the reports of the recipients, practical 

 agriculturists. 



The following is the table for the season of 1888, the 

 latest for which the figures are available : — 



Every year the Office hears of farmers expressing their 

 interest in these announcements, and sending daily to 

 the places where they are exhibited, to learn what they 

 contain. 



To give an idea of the difficulty of obtaining accurate 

 opinions from outsiders as to the value of storm-warnings, 

 which are a class of forecasts, it may be interesting to 

 give some specimens of reports. 



Inquiries were made in 1882, from all the stations where 

 signals are hoisted, as to their correctness and general 

 utility. From Tynemouth the answer was that " these 

 signals have been, and will be, an inestimable boon to our 

 seafaring population." From South Shields, just opposite 

 Tynemouth, the reply to a recent official inquiry was 

 that " the warnings were not a ha'porth of use, and that 

 no one minded them." Each answer merely represented 

 the private opinion of the person who uttered it. 



The reader can see that there is some difficulty in 

 picking out the actual truth from such a heap of incon- 

 gruous statements as the foregoing are certain to furnish. 



R. H. S. 



THE LABORA TORIES OF BEDFORD 

 COLLEGE. 



jDEDFORD COLLEGE, in York Place, Baker Street, 

 '*-' which was one of the earliest institutions devoted to 

 the higher education of women, is taking a leading part 

 in providing facilities for their instruction in science. 

 Founded long before Oxford and Cambridge con- 

 descended to the " weaker sex " (which has since proved 

 strong enough to attain to the highest place in the 

 Classical Tripos), it is the result of the work of en- 

 thusiasts who would not admit the possibility of defeat. 

 It has had to struggle not only against the inevitable 

 difficulties due to its early foundation, but against the 

 apathy of London. Provincial towns feel that their 

 honour is involved in the success of their institutions. 

 The Colleges for women at Oxford and Cambridge share 



in the picturesque surroundings of those old homes of 

 learning. They attract attention and interest by their 

 situation amid scenes and traditions of which the whole 

 English-speaking race is proud. Bedford College has 

 had no such advantages. London institutions are re- 

 garded as either Imperial or parochial — as too large or too 

 small to interest its citizens as such. Bedford Square 

 compares unfavourably with the " backs," and it is im- 

 possible to regard York Place with that gush of emotion 

 which " the High " sets free. Thus it is that, although 

 Bedford College has been at work since 1849, and though 

 one in every four of the whole number of women who 

 have gained degrees of the University of London has 

 been a student in its classes, the work of the College does 

 not yet receive the meed of public appreciation which it 

 has fairly earned. Bedford College is for women what 

 University and King's Colleges are for men. It provides, 

 within easy reach of all Londoners, an education which is 

 tested by the severe standard of the University of 

 London, and bears the hall-mark of success. One-third 

 of its students are aiming at degrees, and their presence 

 in the class-rooms, their work in the examination-hall, 

 guarantees the quality of the teaching they receive to 

 class-mates who do not intend to face the same 

 ordeal. Science has for long been taught in Bedford 

 College, but there has been a pressing need for better 

 laboratories and class-rooms. These the Council has 

 now provided. A new wing has been built, dedicated to 

 the memory of the late Mr. William Shaen, who worked 

 long and devotedly for the College. About ^2000 is 

 required to complete and fit up this building free of all 

 debt, and Mr. Henry Tate, who had already given ^1000 

 to the fund, has promised to supplement it by a like 

 amount if the Council on its part can raise the other 

 moiety of the deficit. It is too probable that this sum 

 will only be obtained by an exhausting effort, but surely 

 it is not too much to hope that the public may at last 

 appreciate the importance of promoting the higher educa- 

 tion of women in London. In a northern manufacturing 

 town the money would be forthcoming in a week. 



As regards the laboratories, it may be sufficient to say 

 that Dr. W. Russell, F.R.S., is the Chairman of the 

 Council, and that they have been built under his general 

 supervision. They appear to be in all respects suited to 

 the purposes for which they are intended. The physical 

 laboratory and lecture-room are on the ground floor. The 

 former has a concrete floor, and is well lighted, partly by 

 windows, partly by a skylight. It looks out upon East 

 Street, and is therefore removed as far as possible from 

 the effects of the heavy traffic in Baker Street. The 

 chemical laboratory is at the top of the house, and opens 

 into a class-room which is fitted with all the usual 

 conveniences for experimental illustration. 



It is surely a hopeful sign that a College for the higher 

 education of women should now be regarded as incom- 

 plete unless it controls physical and chemical laboratories 

 specially designed and fitted for the delivery of lectures 

 and the performance of experiments. These Bedford 

 College now possesses. We can only hope that it may 

 soon possess them free of debt. The Editor of Nature 

 will be happy to receive and forward to the College 

 authorities any subscriptions which may be sent to him 

 for that purpose. 



STEPHEN JOSEPH PERRY, F.R.S. 



/^N the evening of January 4 a telegram from Demerara 

 ^^ announced that there had been a successful ob- 

 servation of the eclipse of December 22, and that Father 

 Perry had succumbed to dysentery. 



Stephen Joseph Perry was bom in London on August 

 26, 1833, and received his early education at Gifford Hall 

 School. Having decided to enter the priesthood, he went 



