68o 



NATURE 



[Oct. 24, 1878 



of the liquid in the vessels employed. These phenomena 

 he describes in a paper in the Chem. Centr., 1878, 351, 

 and explains them by the supposition that the gas in its 

 evolution throws up small portions of zinc, rendered 

 porous by the action of the acid, and that these finely- 

 divided particles coming in contact with the air act like 

 spongy platinum, causing the gaseous mixture to explode. 

 The spontaneous ignition of hydrogen has been observed 

 by others, but no satisfactory explanation has been given 

 of the action. 





METEOROLOGICAL NOTES i';-^. / •' 



Capt. Hoffmeyer has made an original and highly 

 important contribution to our knowledge of the distribu- 

 tion of atmospheric pressure in winter over the North 

 Atlantic, and its influence on the climate of Europe, in 

 the last published number of the Journal of the Meteo- 

 rological Society of Austria (October 15). The contribu- 

 tion takes the form of a rectification of Buchan's isobaric 

 charts for this part of the globe, and, by a most ingenious 

 and able method of investigation, entirely his own, Hoff- 

 meyer conclusively shows that Greenland and Iceland exert 

 a powerful influence on the distribution of atmospheric 

 pressure not hitherto properly recognised, resulting in the 

 mean minimum of pressure being localised distinctly to 

 the south-west of Iceland— a minimum accompanied with 

 two subordinate minima, one in Davis Straits and the 

 other in the Arctic Ocean, mid-way between Jan Mayen 

 and the Lofoden Isles. Four typical charts are also given, 

 showing the actual mean pressure of as many individual 

 winter months, from which it is plain that one or other 

 of these three minima plays the chief roll, the other two 

 being, for the time, subordinate ; and that, according as 

 the one or the other of these minima of pressure pre- 

 dominates, so is the character of the weather, as regards 

 its mildness or severity, of the winter of the regions sur- 

 rounding the North Atlantic, determined. 



The Report of the Royal Meteorological Institute of 

 Prussia for 1877 has been received. It is the thirtieth 

 Report, and like all the foregoing Reports, is published by 

 the Royal Statistical Bureau, Berlin, with which the 

 Institute, since its establishment in 1848, has stood in 

 close and uninterrupted connection. Important changes 

 are in contemplation, the most vital of which are the 

 severance of the connection between the Institute and th6 

 Statistical Bureau, and the establishment of an indepen- 

 dent central direction for meteorology. The Bureau has 

 done a graceful act in presenting with the Report a 

 highly characteristic portrait of the veteran meteorologist 

 and physicist Dove, who has directed the affairs of the 

 Institute since December 9, 1848, and who, by the 

 number and thoroughness of his writings and their 

 breadth of view, deserves of all men to be styled the 

 father of meteorology. 



Among the separate papers incorporated in this Report 

 is a discussion by Dr. Hellmann of the observations of 

 cloud at Crefeld, being in continuation of the author's 

 researches into the cloud-covering of the sky as influenced 

 by the hour of the day, the season of the year, and geo- 

 graphical situation. The daily maximum occurs at 

 Crefeld, about, or a little before sunrise, from September 

 to April, whereas, from May to August, the maximum is 

 from about 1 1 A. M. to 3 P. M. The monthly maximum, 

 which holds also for all hours of the day, is December, 

 whilst the month with clearest skies is September. The 

 barometric observations at Berlin for the past thirty years 

 are carefully discussed by Prof. Arndt, from the general 

 results of which it appears that the great summer depres- 

 sion of the barometer which is so characteristic a feature 

 of the climatology of the Europeo-Asiatic Continent, is 

 not shown at Berlin, it being a little to eastwards of Berlin, 

 to which the limits of the western outskirts of this wide- 

 spread barometric depression extend. 



The Dutch Meteorological Institute has issued Wind 

 Charts of the North Atlantic, Series I., including the six 

 months from December to May. The region covered by 

 the charts lies between 5 1 — 30° N. lat. and 4 — 52° W.long., 

 and between 30—8° N. lat., and 13—39° W. long. The 

 frequency of the different winds is graphically shown by 

 radii, the length of each being proportional to the fre- 

 quency of the particular wind it repuresents. Instead of 

 grouping the observations into 5° squares and into sea- 

 sons as has been generally done. Dr. Buys Ballot has 

 presented the facts on the charts for each 1° square 

 and for each month, the object being to lay down 

 the geographical position of the winds of this region, so 

 important to navigators as well as men of science, with 

 the closest approach to truth and least possible admix- 

 ture of hypothesis. 



In a circular letter addressed to the Permanent Com- 

 mittee on Meteorology, Prof. Hildberandsson invites 

 the co-operation of all meteorologists to the carrying 

 out of a more systematic observation of the upper cur- 

 rents of the atmosphere than has yet been attempted. 

 Hitherto the observation of the upper clouds and the 

 directions in which they march, has been confined to 

 isolated observers whose services were enlisted through 

 the enthusiasm of individual meteorologists. But frag- 

 mentary and scattered though the observations have 

 necessarily been, the results fairly deduced from them are 

 of so important a nature from their bearings on the great 

 problem of atmospheric circulation, that we have no 

 hesitation in giving our hearty support to Prof. Hilde- 

 brandsson's proposal that the meteorological societies 

 and observatories make observations of the movements 

 of clouds, chiefly of the upper clouds, part and parcel of 

 their regular observations, and that the results regularly 

 appear in their pubhcat ions. 



The great storm of September 15-16, so widely and so 

 severely felt, deserves to be specially noticed on account 

 of the low barometers accompanying it, which were not 

 only exceptionally low for the season but even exception- 

 ally low for any season of the year. From the observa- 

 tions made at the stations of the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society in the north and north-west it is seen that at 

 Thorshavn, Faro, the barometer at 32° and sea-level fell 

 at 9 P.M. of the 15th to 28*058 inches, being the lowest 

 point to which it fell, and about that time the wind 

 shifted from south-east to north-west. At Stornway the 

 barometer fell to its lowest, 28^400 inches at 7 p.m., or 

 two hours earlier than in Faro ; at the same hour 

 it fell to the lowest point, 28*457 inches, at Monach 

 lighthouse, the wind at this time attaining its maximum 

 violence during the storm; at Sandwick to 28*404 at mid- 

 night ; and at North Unst lighthouse it fell during the 

 night to 28*305 inches. Heavy showers with thunder and 

 lightning and heavy continued rain occurred in the North- 

 west Highlands, nearly an inch of rain falling in less than 

 an hour at Portree on the morning of the 15th, and 10*57 

 inches at Glenquoich during the six days beginning with 

 the 14th. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

 The Gothenburg Handels Tidning, of the i6th inst., 

 contains a telegram from Irkutsk, addressed to Mr. 

 Oscar Dickson by Prof. Nordenskjold, announcing that 

 he had reached the mouth of the Lena on August 27, 

 after having passed Cape Chelyuskin, without meeting 

 with any noteworthy obstacle from ice, and that the 

 voyage would be continued towards Behring's Straits 

 with the highest hopes of success. It is probable that 

 Prof. Nordenskjold's anticipations have been by this 

 time realised, that the Vega has reached Behring's Straits, 

 and thus successfully accomplished the North-East 

 Passage. News has also arrived that the Lena, a small 

 steamer which accompanied the Vega, has ascended the 



