248 



NATURE 



[Jan. 24. 1878 



In a communication to Baron de Zach early in 182 1, 

 Olbers states that Brandes had sent him a work by this 

 Father Kirwitzer, which it appeared had become very 

 scarce, containing observations of the second comet of 

 16 1 8, but so disfigured by faults either in copying or 

 printing, that he had found it impossible to deduce from 

 them a tolerable orbit. According to these observations 

 " la comete sautiile d'un jour k I'autre 9a et Ik dans le ciel, 

 tantot en avant, tantot en arri^re, de sorte qu'k peine 

 peut-on reconnattre quelle a dt^ la vraie direction de son 

 mouvement." Kirwitzer, who had observed the comet 

 from November 14, reports that on November 26 he was 

 joined in the observations by Father Schall, and Olbers 

 drew attention to the fact that in Zach's Monatliche Cor- 

 respondenz, vol. xxviii., it had been stated that fourteen 

 volumes of Schall's manuscripts were in existence in the 

 library of the Vatican, and engaged Zach to use his 

 interest towards having them examined. This was soon 

 after effected by Conti, but unfortunately no allusion to 

 the second comet of 16 1 8 was found in them, indeed these 

 manuscripts proved so worthless, that Zach considered 

 them " que de la poudre chinoise jetde aux yeux 

 europdens." It does not appear that a more accurate 

 copy of the Goa observations has been found since Olbers 

 wrote on the subject. There are two works by Kirwitzer 

 in the British Museum, but they afford no assistance. It 

 thus happens that there is as yet no orbit of the comet in 

 question. 



In a further note we shall briefly recapitulate other 

 circumstances in the history of the comet, and examine 

 one or two points in which the known elements of the 

 third comet assist in establishing the absolute distinctness 

 of the second, notwithstanding the idea advocated by 

 Kepler that a comet had divided into two — and which 

 led Pingrd to say of him — aliquando bonus dormitat 

 Homerus. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES 



Contribution to the Climatology of the 

 Spanish Peninsula. — An interesting and able contri- 

 bution to the climatology of the Spanish Peninsula has 

 been made by Dr. Hellmann in a discussion of the 

 humidity and clouds of that region, published in the 

 Dutch Meteorological Year-Book for 1876, being one of 

 the results of the author's recent prolonged meteorological 

 tour in the Peninsula. One of the broad results arrived 

 at is this : the small variation in the annual humidity of 

 places on the west coasts of Europe, as contrasted with 

 the large variation in the humidity of the east coasts of 

 Asia, together with the striking climatic contrasts resulting 

 therefrom is essentially, though less intensely, reproduced 

 in the climates of the Peninsula of the west bordering the 

 Atlantic as contrasted with those of the east washed by 

 the Mediterranean. As regards the relative humidity of 

 the air, the climate is moister in May than it is imme- 

 diately before and after, and it is interesting to observe 

 that thunderstorms, rain, and cumulus, cirro-cumulus, and 

 cumulo-stratus clouds show an increase in May as com- 

 pared with March and April on the one hand, and June 

 and July on the other. The annual variation in the 

 relative humidity increases from about four to nine per 

 cent, on the coasts, to about forty per cent, at such inland 

 places as Madrid and Campo Maio. Those who are 

 familiar with the weather-maps of Europe are aware how 

 often atmospheric pressure is so distributed as to give 

 ribe to winds blowing outwards from the Peninsula to the 

 ocean in all directions, being easterly on the west coast, 

 southerly on the north, westerly on the east, and northerly 

 on ttie south. They are everywhere dry winds, and are 

 known in the various provinces as the Terrain or land- 

 wind. The desert-wind of the Spanish Mediterranean 

 coast is the Leveche, and not the Solano, as it is almost uni- 



versally stated to be by non-Spanish writers. The Solano 

 is, as its name implies, a simple east wind which blows 

 everywhere over the east coasts, and is a rain-bringing 

 wind, but in no sense a desert-wind, malignant and 

 prostrating in its effects. The true desert wind is known 

 by the name of the Leveche, which is usually loaded with 

 fine sand and dust, and is hot and stifling, is productive 

 of violent headaches, and prostrates even the most robust 

 with a feeling as if every member of the body were 

 oppressed under a load of lead. Dr. Hellmann describes 

 the effects of the passage of one over a vineyard in August, 

 1876, the appearance being as if a scorching flame had 

 passed over it. The Leveche is felt on the coast only from 

 Cabo de Nao, to Cabo de Gata in the south, and in a less 

 severe form as far as Malaga ; but it extends inland no 

 farther than from forty to fifty miles. 



Climatology of the Fiji Islands. — A valuable 

 contribution to this subject from data collected by the 

 Meteorological Office has appeared in the Quarterly 

 yournal of the Meteorological Society for July, 1877. 

 From the position of the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific, 

 the climate is strictly tropical, the year being divided into 

 a hot moist season, extending from November to April, 

 and a cool dry season from May to October. The pre- 

 vailing winds are S.E. and E., but during the hot season, 

 particularly from January to March, N.E. winds prevail. 

 These N.E. winds are, in Mr. Strachan's opinion, pro- 

 bably due to the heated land of the large island, Viti 

 Levu, giving rise to a wind of aspiration. The annual 

 rainfall on an average of six years was 1 10 inches. The 

 heaviest falls occur in the summer months of January, 

 February, and March, when thunderstorms are frequent, 

 and in the same months hurricanes occur, though fre- 

 quently several years pass in succession without the 

 occurrence of any hurricane. In the cool season the 

 rainfall, though considerable, is reduced in amount and 

 frequency, and in all seasons there is a considerable 

 difference as regards moisture and rainfall between the 

 windward and lee sides of the different islands, the effect 

 being strikingly shown by the difference of vegetation. 

 The working out of this question of the distribution of the 

 rainfall by such a multiplication of gauges over the islands 

 as has been so successfully done in the Mauritius and 

 Barbadoes, is most desirable from the scientific and 

 practical importance of the subject. The mean annual 

 temperature is about 77°'5, and the difference between the 

 hottest and the coldest months scarcely reaches 5°. In 

 the wet season atmospheric pressure is about 29870 

 inches, and vapour tension o"86o inch, but in the dry 

 season 30020 inches, and 0700 inch, thus showing 

 considerable variation through the year in the pressure 

 and vapour tension of a climate characterised by com- 

 paratively so little variation as that of Fiji. 



Extension of Volunteer Weather Service in 

 THE United States. — We are greatly gratified to see 

 that the marked success which has attended the volunteer 

 weather service in the State of Iowa, so vigorously 

 prosecuted by Dr. Hinrichs, and which now numbers 

 about 100 observers, is leading other states to adopt a 

 similar system. Prof. Francis E. Nipher, of the Wash- 

 ington University of St. Louis, has already secured the 

 services of fifty-five observers, chiefly in the northern and 

 western parts of Missouri, for the regular observations, 

 particularly of rainfall, but also, where possible, of tem- 

 perature pressure and humidity ; and for observations of 

 irregularly recurring phenomena, such as storms, the aim 

 being to collect together as full and accurate an account of 

 the different phases of these phenomena as it is possible 

 to make, particularly their commencement, culmination, 

 and termination. The investigation of the climatology 

 of the state is also to be undertaken. The observations 

 are to be according to local time. Regular reports will 

 be furnished to the newspaper press. Tne work is under- 



