372 



NATURE 



yAugust I, 1878 



earth. The resistance of the smaller end has been found 

 equal to 24,000 kilos of traction exerted by hydraulic pressure, 

 and is smaller than anticipated. It had been suggested by Mr, 

 Nevvall to employ a wire rope of his own make, which would 

 have had a much greater resistance with a smaller weight ; but 

 the suggestion was lost, M. Giffard fearing some electric dis- 

 charge might ignite the gas. The commission has given its 

 authorisation to admit the public, but under the condition that 

 the pressure should be limited to a quarter of the breaking- 

 strain, viz., 8,000 kilos. The ascending-power is generally 

 5,000 Icilos (about 12,000 lbs.). The difference left to bear 

 the pressure of the wind will be about 5,000 lbs. for a balloon 

 whose surface is 4 X 1,170 square yards. The breaking of the 

 rope answers to a resistance of 50,000 lbs,, or about ten lbs. 

 per square foot of a plane ; it can bear very high wind, and need 

 fear only a tempest. Some observations have already been 

 made by M, Tissandier, but in a somewhat rough manner. An 

 anemometer will be constructed in the car, and its readings will 

 be compared with the readings at the steelyard, to which the 

 rope is attached. 



On July 26, the Council of the Paris Observatory held 

 its quarterly meeting under the presidency of M. Dumas. 

 Admiral Mouchez read a memoir on the most urgent reforms 

 required for the better working of the institution. The new 

 director insists upon the necessity of having a watch kept all 

 night irrespective of the state of weather, for observations 

 to be taken with the meridian circle. Such is the practice 

 at the naval observatory of Montsouris, of which Admiral 

 Mouchez continues to be the director. A large augmentation is 

 required in the personnel, a supplementary sum of 54,000 fr. 

 having been asked for that purpose. The Chinese ambassador 

 visited the observatory on July 24, when a large mirror was 

 almost instantly silvered by the Foucault process. 



The French Journal Officiel has published the names of those 

 appointed by the Minister to act during three years as members 

 of the Central Bureau of Meteorology. M. Herve Mangon, and 

 Admiral Mouchez have been appointed to represent the Academy 

 of Sciences, M. Vicomte d'Arlot, sub-director of the Oriental 

 and Chinese Department as delegate of the Foreign Office, 

 Dr. Du Mesnil, Physician of the National Asylum of Vincennes, 

 delegate of the Home Office ; Commander Perrier, Member of 

 the Bureau des Longitudes, to represent the War Office; M. 

 Vice -Admiral Cloue, Director of the French Survey, representing 

 the Ministry of Marine ; M, Leon Lalanne, Engineer of the Ponts- 

 et-Chaussees, representing the Department of Public Works ; 

 M, Cyrien Girard, Member of the Chamber of Deputies, repre- 

 senting the Ministry of Agriculture ; M, Berthelot, Member of 

 the Institute, representing the Ministry of Public Instruction ; with 

 General Farre, President of the Committee of Fortifications, M. 

 Blavier, Telegraphic Engineer of the Government, to represent 

 the French Postal Telegraphic Administration. The appoint- 

 ments of the officials to fill the several departments of the 

 Central Bureau will soon be made public. It was decided that 

 the Meteorological Bureau will leave the observatory at any 

 cost. An hotel will be obtained for its use in the Rue de 

 Crenelle, Saint Germain, in a part of Paris, which although 

 not central, is at least thickly populated. 



A Commission, appointed by the U.S, Congress to select a 

 new site for the Naval Observatory at Washington, held its first 

 meeting on July 15. According to the New York Tribune, no 

 money has been voted for expenses, and the Commissioners must 

 therefore be in rather an awkward predicament. The old 

 observatory, in which so much excellent work has been done, is 

 in a very dilapidated condition, and we cannot believe that the 

 U,S. Government will be so parsimonious as to allow the 

 Washington Observatory to lose its place as one of the first 

 institutions of the kind in the world. 



Amongst a large number of designs for the Spinoza monu- 

 ment at the Hague, only two were deemed suitable by the 

 Committee ; they were furnished by the sculptors, M. Fr. 

 Hexamer, of Paris, and Herr Joseph Tiishaus, of Diisseldorf, 

 The monument will be erected after the design of the former 

 sculptor. 



On June i last, the hundredth anniversary of the founda- 

 tion of the Society of Arts and Sciences at Batavia was cele- 

 brated by a large assembly of members and friends. This 

 Society is the first learned European association which was 

 formed upon Asiatic soil. 



At the Jardin d'Acclimatation at Paris, thi-ee enormoas 

 tortoises have recently arrived from the Seychelles. The largest 

 of the three weighs no less than 187 kilogrammes (nearly 4 cwt.), 

 and measures 1*17 metres in diameter (about 46 inches). 



Dr F. Mook, who for some time past has been busily engaged 

 in making excavations in different parts of Egypt, has just re- 

 turned to Freibiurg (Baden), with a large collection of antiquities. 

 There is no doubt that his collection is the most complete in its 

 special direction which has ever been brought to Europe. 

 It contains no less than 340 skulls from the tombs of 

 Thebes, Dendera, Abydos, and the Pyramid fields, all in the 

 most perfect preservation. Besides these there are some eighty 

 animal mummies, a large quantity of flint iinplements from 

 Nubia and Egypt, vases, amulets, ornaments, &c. The collec- 

 tion is now exhibited in the University buildings at Freiburg. 



We have received from Messrs, Eberstein, of Dresden, a 

 specimen of an interesting "walking-stick for naturalists or 

 toiurists." The stick is a perfect multum in pai-vo, and contains 

 quite a museum of scientific instruments. The handle alone 

 contains a compass, a double magnifying glass, or pocket micro- 

 scope, and a whistle. Below it there is a thermometer on one 

 side of the stick and a sand-glass on the other. The body of 

 the stick is partly hollow, and in its interior holds a small bottle, 

 which is intended to contain chloroform or ether for killing 

 insects. Along the outside of the body there is a half -metre 

 measure, showing decimetres and centimetres. Near the end of 

 the stick a knife-blade may be opened, which serves for cutting 

 off objects which cannot be reached by hand, such as aquatic 

 plants, &c. At the extreme end a screw may hold in turn a 

 spade (for botanists), a hammer (for geologists or mineralogists), 

 a hatchet, or a strong spike, which would be of great use on 

 glaciers. The whole is neatly finished in black polished wood. 



The follo\\'ing is the title of the essay to which the Howard 

 Medal of the Statistical Society will be awarded in November, 

 1879 : — " On the Improvements that have taken place in the 

 Education of Children and Young Persons during the Eighteenth 

 and Nineteenth Centuries." The essays to be sent in on or 

 before June 30, 1879. 



Next Sunday evening, August 4, from 6 to 8 p.m., is the 

 last Sunday on which the Grosvenor Gallery will be open to the 

 public this season. Tickets may be obtained by forwarding 

 stamped envelope to the Hon. Sec, Sunday Society, 19, Charing 

 Cross, S.W. More than 3,000 persons visited the Gallery on 

 Sunday evening, July 21. 



In a paper in the last number of the Jouriial of the Statistical 

 Society, on "Failures in England and Wales," it is pointed 

 out, by reference to the tables in Prof. B. Stewart's papers in 

 Nature, vol. xvi. pp. 9, 26, and 45, that there seems to be 

 some relation between the number of failures and sun-spot 

 periods, just as there is between famines and the periodicity of 

 the same solar phenomenon. Indeed, it is easy to see that this 

 phenomenon must have a widespread influence, and in the in- 

 terest of the most material commercial interests of our own and 



