June 28, 1 888] 



NA TURE 



203 



A MAGNIFICENT METEOR. 



VVrK have received from Mr. C. Weatherall Baker (who 

 vv writes from Penang) the following notes on a 

 magnificent meteor seen from the s.s. Prometheus in 

 longitude 62' E., latitude io° 20' N., at 1040 p.m. on 

 Friday, April 6, 1888:— 



" It rose from the north by west horizen, and, pass- 

 ing behind a small cloud, travelled in a south by 

 east direction, being at one period of its transit im- 

 mediately above the ship. Sketch A represents the 

 meteor when in that position. It traversed the whole 

 arc of 1 So , and was visible from first to last with 

 the exception of the time when it was behind the small 

 cloud before mentioned, the transit occupying about 30 



A. — View as seen directly over ship at 10.40 p.m. 



B. — View as seen shortly after appearing. 



seconds. When directly above the ship, the head ap- 

 peared as near as possible the size of the moon when at 

 its height, and the tail streamed out as in the sketch, to a 

 length of about 15 diameters of the head. It was a 

 brilliant white, and threw shadows oh the deck as dense as 

 those caused by the moon at the full. Sketch B represents 

 the meteor as it appeared a few degrees above the horizon 

 on its upward course, and on reaching the same distance 

 above the south by east horizon it was simply a dull red 

 ball with no tail whatever. Captain J. K. Webster, of the 

 s.s. Prometheus, who has had many years' experience in 

 most parts of the world, tells me that he has never seen a 

 meteor in any way equalling this one for size or brilliancy." 



NOTES. 



The Council of the Royal Meteorological Society have issued 

 a circular requesting that photographs of lightning may be sent 

 to them. In response to a similar appeal last year, about sixty 

 photographs of lightning-flashes were received from various parts 

 of Europe and America. The Council remind photographers, 

 amateur and professional, that the photography of lightning 

 does not present any particular difficulties. " If a rapid 



plate, and an ordinary rapid lens with full aperture, be left un- 

 covered for a short time at night during a thunderstorm, flashes 

 of lightning will, after development, be found in some cases to 

 have impressed themselves upon the plate. The only difficulty 

 is the uncertainty whether any particular flash will happen to 

 have been in the field of view. A rapid single lens is much 

 more suitable than a rapid doublet ; and it is believed that films 

 on paper would effectually prevent reflection from the back. 

 The focus should be that for a distant object ; and, if possible, 

 some point of landscape should be included to give the position 

 of the horizon. If the latter is impossible, then the top of the 

 picture should be distinctly marked. Any additional informa- 

 tion as to the time, direction in which the camera was pointed, 

 and the state of the weather, would be very desirable." 



The Kew Bulletin for June contains, besides an account of 

 the manufacture of quinine in India, papers on "Job's Tears " (the 

 round, shining fruits of a grass widely distributed in tropical 

 countries, and used by the Karens for the decoration of cloth • 

 ing) ; on China grass or Ramie, the fibre of which, if it could 

 be extracted and cleaned at a cheap rate, would have great 

 economic value ; and on a new botanical station at Lagos, 

 which promises to exercise a very favourable influence on the 

 industrial development of the West African colonies. 



Some time ago the Agassiz Association appointed a Commit- 

 tee to arrange for a seaside meeting during the present summer. 

 This Committee, according to Science, proposes that the meeting 

 shall be known as the " Agassiz Seaside Assembly." Its 

 membership is to consist of such persons as shall send their 

 names to the secretary before the opening of the assembly, or 

 such as shall be elected members according to by-laws adopted 

 afterwards. It is intended that the organization shall be made 

 permanent. A six-days' session will be held this year, at Asbury 

 Park, N.J., provided suitable accommodations can be secured 

 at that place in the month of August. The subjects to be 

 discussed this year will be principally botany and entomology, 

 under the direction of such practical specialists as can be 

 secured. The work is to include several field-day excursions 

 with experienced guides. 



The heat in India .lately has been unprecedented, in conse- 

 quence of the delay of the monsoon. On June 24, when the 

 Calcutta Correspondent of the Times despatched a telegram on 

 the subject, the temperature was the highest that had ever been 

 registered. Professional business was almost entirely suspended, 

 and trading operations were greatly hampered. Many persons 

 had suffered from heat-apoplexy and sunstroke, some cases having 

 terminated fatally. 



A conversazione was given yesterday evening by the President 

 and Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians, at the College. 

 The President of the Society of Telegraph-Engineers and Elec- 

 tricians, and Mrs. Grave*, have issued invitations for a conver- 

 sazione in the galleries of the Royal Institute of Painters in 

 Water Colours on Tuesday, July 10. 



A remarkable new series of compounds of silicon tetra- 

 fluoride with organic derivatives of ammonia have been prepared 

 by Messrs. Comey and Loring Jackson, of Harvard.? Many years 

 ago, Gay Lussac and Thenard discovered that silicon tetrafluoride 

 formed w ith gaseous ammonia a singular compound, 2N H 3 . SiF 4 ; 

 this substance, which is comparatively stable in air and distinctly 

 crystalline, is decomposed by water with formation of ammonium 

 fluoride and silicofluoride and deposition of silicic acid. The 

 American chemists now show that a very large number of sub- 

 stituted ammonias form similar compounds, and give an 

 interesting description of the methods by which they have 

 isolated the most important members of the series. Aniline 

 forms two such compound--, the most stable being represented 



