422 



NA TURE 



\August 30, 1888 



On the morning of August 17, about 3 a.m., a remarkable 

 phenomenon attracted attention at the Island of Riigen, in the 

 Baltic. A deep rumbling out at sea was heard, and soon 

 afterwards two enormous waves approached from the north- 

 west, breaking over the shore and doing considerable damage to 

 small craft. At the time the sea was calm, and there was 

 no wind. 



On the night of July 31 a brilliant meteor was seen at Lin- 

 koping, in Swede 1, going in a north-westerly direction. It 

 finally burst, the fragments appearing to fall near the railway 

 park. 



Symons's H&mtkty Meteorological Magazine for August con- 

 tains an interesting summary of the climate of the British Empire 

 during 1887. Comparing with the summary for 1886, Stanley, 

 Falkland Isles, takes the place of London, as the dampest station. 

 Adelaide has the highest shade temperature, iii°"2 ; the highest 

 temperature in the sun, 164 ; and is the driest station. Winni- 

 peg has the lowest shade temperature, -42°'7, and the greatest 

 yearly range, 1 35 9. Bombay has the greatest rainfall, and 

 Malta the least, and also the least cloud. Although the 

 maximum shade temperatures in Australia exceed those in India, 

 the average maxima of the latter far exceed those of Australia. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for August 

 shows that although the weather over that ocean was generally 

 fine and very mild during July, a number of depressions were 

 generated, and produced gales over the trans- Atlantic routes. 

 The most violent was one which developed on June 27, in about 

 latitude 42 and longitude 52", teaching our coats on July 4. A 

 wind force as high as II of the Beaufort scale was recorded 

 during its course. Dense continuous fog w r as encountered over 

 and to the westward of the Grand Banks. Large quantities of 

 ice have been reported as far west as the 60th meridian. The 

 tracks of all the most notable August hurricanes on record are 

 plotted on the chart, and show where these dangerous cyclones 

 are likely to be eneo.mterei. A supplementary chart showing 

 the derelicts in the North Atlantic, gives also the complete 

 history up to date of the great log raft which was abandoned 

 last December. This most dangerous obstruction to navigation 

 consisted of about 27,000 trunks of trees bound together, and 

 measured 560 feet long. Thousands of the great logs of which 

 it was composed are still drifting over the commercial routes. 



In the American Meteorological Journal for July, Lieut. 

 Glassford describes a new wind vane in use at the California 

 State University. The design is said to possess novel advant- 

 ages, such as supporting all the weight upon a point, like a 

 compass-card, an oil vessel into which paddles dip to lessen the 

 suddenness of vibration, &c. It may here be mentioned that 

 anemometers with liquid brakes have also been made in this 

 country. Mr. Rotch contributes an article on the Observatory 

 on the Santis, in Switzerland. The observations of this moun- 

 tain station are regularly published in the Annalen of the Swiss 

 d entral Meteorological Office. Mr. F. Waldo gives an abstract 

 of the results of comparisons of several of the combined cistern- 

 syphon barometets, known as the Wild- Fuess check barometers. 

 These portable instruments have been for some time in use in 

 Russia, and some of them are now introduced into the United 

 States Signal Service. The full account of the comparisons was 

 prepared for the Chief Signal Officer's Report, but is not yet 

 printed. 



Dr. G. N. Stewart, Owens College, sent recently to the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh a preliminary communication on 

 the electrolytic decomposition of proteids. He pointed out 

 that it is an important question whether the conduction of 

 electricity by animal tissues is mainly or entirely electrolytic. If 

 it is mainly electrolytic,,the further question becomes interesting, 



What are the electrolytes? The inquiry is thus brought into- 

 relation with the whole of electro-physiology on the one hand, 

 and the whole of electro-therapeutics on the other, and, at the 

 present moment, it gains special interest from the practical point 

 of view, in connection with the recent introduction of strong 

 currents into gynecological treatment. The investigation is as 

 yet far from being complete, and Dr. Stewart is at present 

 carrying on the experiments. In the case of egg-albumen it has 

 been found that the resistance at any given temperature is not 

 changed by coagulation, but that it is enormously increased by 

 dialysis. The conclusion is that it is, mainly at any rate, by the 

 electrolysis of the simple inorganic constituents that the current 

 passes. 



A third edition of Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson's " Dynamo- 

 Electric Machinery " (E. and F. N. Spon) has just been issued. 

 Most of the treatise has been rewritten for this edition, and much 

 new matter has been added. 



The University College of North Wales has issued its Calendar 

 for the year 1888-S9. 



In the Annual Report, for the year 1887, of the Trustees of 

 the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park, New 

 York City, it is stated that the collections of this Museum are 

 now valued at the sum of about 600,000 dollars. " It is but 

 right to say," add the Trustees, " that of this large amount your 

 Trustees have been the main contributors. The necessity of 

 adding to these collections increases as time goes on, and it is 

 hoped that more of our citizens will take an earnest and in- 

 creased interest in our Museum, and so aid the Trustees in making 

 this institution what it should be and what our city has a right to 

 expect— the great museum of the country." 



In a letter written on board the seal-ship Jason in the Denmark 

 Sound, Dr. Nansen draws attention to the scarcity of seals on 

 the coast of Greenland in recent years. Only ten years ago the 

 animals were so plentiful and tame that thousands could be 

 "clubbed" with the greatest ease, whereas now they have be- 

 come scarce and shy. Dr. N an;-en is of opinion that the ruth- 

 less persecution of these animals since 1876, when the first sealer 

 appeared in the Denmark Sound, has caused them to alter their 

 habits. Formerly they were found on the edge of the drift- 

 ice, where they were safe from their only enemy, the Polar 

 bear, though falling an easy prey to the sealer. Now they 

 gather on the ice close to the shore, whither vessels cannot 

 penetrate, and where they are, at all events, safe from one 

 enemy. This, says Dr. Nansen, was fully demonstrated on 

 several occasions, particularly on July 2, when seals were seen 

 lying in thousands close under the shore to the north and north- 

 east as far as the eye could reach from the mast head. To the 

 north especially the ice was for miles one mass of dark animals. 

 Dr. Nansen advocates a closer preservation of the seal. The 

 seal fishery was a failure this year, and sealers report that the 

 ice-masses were enormous. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include three Black-headed Lemurs [Lemur brunneus) 

 from Madagascar, presented by Captain J. Bonneville ; a Ring- 

 tailed Coati (IVaszta ruja) from South America, presented by 

 Captain James Smith ; a Razorbill (Alca tonla), British, pre- 

 sented by Mr. T. H. Nelson ; a Nightingale {Daulias luscinia), 

 British, presented by Mr. J. Young ; an American Wild 

 Turkey [Meleagris gallo-pavo 6 ) from North America, presented 

 by Mr. F. J. Coleridge Boles ; a Raven (Corvus corax), British, 

 presented by Mr. F. Steinhoff; two Pallas's Sand Grouse 

 {Syrrhaptes paradoxus), bred in Fifeshire, N.B., presented by 

 Mr. Alexander Speedie ; a Macaque Monkey {Macacits cynomol 

 gits & ) from India, a Lesser White-nosed Monkey [Cercjpit/iecus 

 peta arista 9 ) from West Africa, a Vulpine Squirrel (Sciurus 



