i88 



NATURE 



{Dec. 28, 1876 



parative smalhtess of the, lake come from higher strata of the atmo. 

 spheree, and since this air has been but a brief time in contact 

 with the surface of the water the lake breeze becomes constantly 

 drier till the afternoon minimum from 2 to 4 p.m. The breeze 

 thereafter diminishes in force, the air consequently becomes 

 moister till the greater maximum is attained about the time of 

 the day when the breeze from the lake falls to a calm. This 

 special feature of the climate of Geneva well deserves the closest 

 investigation, particularly in its relations to the curves of tem- 

 perature, pressure, and clouds. Among the other points dis- 

 cussed may be mentioned an examination of Deville's cold and 

 warm periods of the year by the long series of the Geneva 

 Observations ; a comparison of the temperature of the water of 

 the Rhone, as it issues from the lake, with that of the air, show- 

 ing the mean annual temperature of the water to be 3°7 higher 

 than that of the oir, a point of some importance in connection 

 with questions affecting oceanic circulation ; the distribution 

 through the year of strong northerly and southerly winds, and 

 the variations, regular and irregular, in the amount and duration 

 of the rainfall. 



Climate of Lund. —A paper of considerable value has been 

 published by H. A. V. Tidblom, in Lunds Universitets Arsskrift, 

 torn, xii., on the meteorological observations made at the obser- 

 vatory at Lund from 1 741 to 1870. The observations, which 

 are very fully discussed, embrace the temperature, winds, rain, 

 snow, thunderstorms, and auroras, and their great value lies in 

 the long period, viz. 130 years, over which they extend. The 

 highest observed temperature during the 118 years ending 

 1870 was 94°* I, and the lowest — 13° "9, both occurring in 1845. 

 Northerly and easterly winds prevail in winter and spring, north- 

 westerly in summer, and south-westerly in autumn — these winds 

 being of special interest from their relation to the prevailing 

 winds in the south of Norway in the corresponding seasons. Hail 

 falls on an average 5 days in the year, snow 37 days, and rain 

 122 days. March is the month of smallest and least frequent, 

 and August of greatest and most frequent rainfall. Thunder- 

 storms reach the maximum in the last half of July and first half 

 of August, very few occurring from the middle of October to the 

 middle of April. The greatest number of auroras occur in April 

 and September, and the variations through the different years are 

 very great, a remarkable maximum period occurring from 1 776 

 to 1790, since which latter date the number has been singularly 

 ew. 



Weather Summary. — M. 'H. Tarry's Histoire de I'Aimo- 

 sphh-e for July and August, 1876, has been received. The 

 publication, which recently began to be published in Les 

 Mondes, aims at giving a summary and discussion of the meteoro- 

 logical elements of the northern hemisphere, which it is possible 

 to collect within a month or two of their occurrence. It is thus 

 calculated to be a useful supplement to the weather maps of 

 Europe and America, and to the International Meteorological 

 Observations of the United States, and as such it deserves the 

 active support of the meteorologists of different countries. 



Influence of Forests on Ozone. — In a note by M. L. 

 Fautrat in the Bulletin Hebdomadaire, No. 475, of the Scientific 

 Association of France, it is shown from observations made at 

 Halatte and Ermenonville, that less ozone was observed in forests, 

 particularly forests of pine, than in the open country, and more 

 ozone at a height of 46 feet above the ground than near the 

 surface. 



NOTES 



The Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus is to be finally 

 closed on the 30th inst. 



The Danish Geographical Society enters upon its existence 

 under royal auspices. In accordance with the invitation of the 



King of Denmark, the first public session was held in the royal 

 palace at Copenhagen, on December 22, accompanied by appro- 

 priate festivities. The King has accepted the position of Pro- 

 tector of the Society, while the Crown Prince is active president. 



The veteran chemist, Prof F. Wohler, has been elected pre- 

 sident of the German Chemical Society for the coming year. 



A telegram received by M. Sidoroff from Capt. Wiggins, 

 and communicated by the former to the St. Petersburg papers, 

 announces that on December 13 Capt. Wiggins and his ship- 

 master, M. Svanenberg, left Krasnoiarsk on their way to St. 

 I'etersburg. 



Our readers may remember that at the International Con- 

 ference on the means for exploring Central Africa thoroughly and 

 systematically, held at Brussels last September under the presi- 

 dency of the King of Belgium, invitations were issued to the 

 different countries represented to form local committees for the 

 furtherance of this object. The German National Committee 

 was formed last week under the presidency of Prince Henry VII. 

 of Reuss, and embraces many of the most distinguished names 

 in the empire. A committee has already been intrusted with the 

 duty of preparing the statutes for a. permanent association, the 

 German Society for African Exploration, which is to be under 

 the patronage of the Crown Prince, and expects to enter vigorously 

 and energetically upon its chosen field. 



The Daily News correspondent at Rome writes that the 

 Marquis Antinori has sent to the Italian Geographical Society a 

 long account of the journey of the Italian African Expedition of 

 which he is leader. The expedition has, after many hardships 

 and delays, reached Shoa, the king of which has received the 

 members in his capital, Licce, with the greatest hospitality. 

 The Marquis has taken steps to make Shoa a scientific entrepdt, 

 as a basis of operations for exploring the equatorial lakes. When 

 the letter left the Marquis was preparing an extended scientific 

 report of his journey to be forwarded to the Italian Society by a 

 courier. 



In the last session of the Berlin division of the German and 

 Austrian Alpen-Verein, Dr. Scholle delivered an elaborate 

 address on the orography of the Bernese Alps, He regards 

 them as distinguished from the mountains of other alpine regions 

 by the following peculiarities : — The valleys are unusually deeply 

 cut. The mountains inclosing these valleys are remarkable for 

 their relative as well as their absolute heights, and the horizon- 

 tal projection of their tops lies always at but a short distance 

 from the bottom of the valleys. Finally, the topmost points of 

 the mountains are generally visible from the valleys, and their 

 commanding appearance imparts to the landscape its most pictu 

 resque and magnificent features. 



The Bulletin of the French Geographical Society for Novem- 

 ber contains a paper by Dr. Jules Carret on the Displacement of 

 the Polar Axis, in which he gives a summary of arguments in 

 favour of displacement which will appear at length in a work 

 about to be published by him. 



The following particulars are given by Prof. Desor in the last 

 number of the Bulletin of the Society of Natural Sciences at 

 Neuchatel, as to the burial-ground of the inhabitants of the lake- 

 dwellings discovered last winter on the shores of the Lake of 

 Neuchatel at Auvernier. The burial-place is about lOO feet 

 distant from the well-known lake-dwellings of this locality, at 

 the foot of a hill, and it was shut up by some 7 feet of earth 

 washed by rains from the slopes of the hill. It has a quadri- 

 lateral form (i'6 metre long and I'I2 broad), and is built of flat 

 granitic stones covered with two large flag stones of gneiss, these 

 last necessarily having been cut artificially. The burial-place 

 thus belongs to that class of dolmens which are known in Eng- 

 land as "stone- cists," and it establishes therefore a new link 

 between the ti'ue dolmens and the lake-dwellings. Assiduously 



