350 



NA TURE 



[Fed. 9, 1888 



flash of light and a loud explosion, which Prof. Meyer likens to 

 a thunder-clap, so much more powerful is the detonation in a 

 confined space. The flask of course was shattered, not into 

 powder, but into tolerably large fragments ; the plate-glass box, 

 however, even after many repetitions of the experim^ent, remained 

 intact, a small door on the side away from the observers having 

 been left ajar so as to prevent any notable increase of pressure. 

 Curiously, the chloride of nitrogen never entirely exploded ; a 

 part remained in the distorted leaden dish and maintained an 

 incessant fusillade for more than a minute. 



At the last meeting of the Gottingen Chemical Society, Dr. 

 Gattermann read a preliminary note upon his recent researches 

 as to the nature of chloride of nitrogen. From his analyses it 

 appears pretty clear that the yellow liquid is a mixture of at least 

 two distinct chlorides, which he has hopes of being able to 

 separate. During the course of the experiments the reason of 

 its capricious behaviour, the cause of so many painful accidents 

 in the past, was happily discovered. It is decomposed by the 

 actinic rays of light, being rapidly acted upon by sunlight with 

 periodic spontaneous explosion, and is at once fired by exposure 

 to the rays of burning magnesium. Hence further light upon 

 this difficult and dangerous subject can only emanate from the 

 dark room, a paradox the truth of which Dr. Gattermann is 

 endeavouring to demonstrate. 



On tte morning of Tuesday, January 31, a distinct shock of 

 earthquake is said to have been felt near Birmingham. In and 

 around Coventry, too, several persons say that they experienced 

 sensible vibrations of their houses and heard rumbling noises. 

 At Hartshill the ceiling of a house was cracked by the shock. 

 On Thursday, February 2, a sharp shock of earthquake was 

 felt over a laj-ge part of Scotland. The following details regard- 

 ing this shock are taken from the Times of Friday, February 3: 

 — " The shock was distinctly felt at a quarter pa-t 5 o'clock in 

 Perth, The tremor lasted about one minute, and consisted of 

 five or six slight, wave-like motions from west to east. In the 

 Breadalbane [and Grantully districts of Perthshire the shock 

 lasted six seconds. It was also felt very distinctly in Aberfeldy, 

 Acharn, Kenmare, and Strathay. It is twenty years since these 

 districts were similarly affected. In Strathearn two shocks were 

 felt, the first about half past 3 o'clock, and the second about 

 5 o'clock. Further north, in Invei-ness-shire and Ross-shire, 

 a shock was felt about 5. It was sharper and seemed to travel 

 from south-west to south-east. The tremor in Dingwall is 

 likened to the vibration caused by a heavy waggon passing along 

 a road, while at Crieff it was like a very heavy body thrown to 

 the ground. In Beauly and Strathglass people were greatly 

 alarmed. Their houses shcok, dishes fell, furniture was broken, 

 and numbers of people rushed from their beds and out of houses 

 without dressing. On the west coast the shock was very violent. 

 It was also felt at Mull. From Fort William it is reported that 

 there was a slight shock at 5 a.m , which affected the old 

 Caledonian valley, and extended down to the line of the Moray 

 Firth." 



The February Bulletin of Miscellaneous Inf..rmation, issued 

 from the Royal Gardens, Kew, contains a list of such hardy 

 herbaceous annual and perennial plants as have matured seeds 

 under cultivation in the Kew Gardens during the year 1887. 

 "These seeds," it is explained, "are available for exchange 

 with colonial, Indian, and foreign botanic gardens, as well as 

 with regular correspondents of Kew. But the seeds are for the 

 most part only available in moderate quantity, and are not sold 

 to the general public. In the years 1885 and 1886 the list was 

 printed as an independent publication. It has now been thought 

 more convenient to issue it as a number of the Bulletin. Every 

 effort is made to correctly determine the nomenclature of the 

 plants in the list. As far as it goes, it will serve as a record of 



the herbaceous species cultivated at Kew. It must, however, be 

 remembered that a considerable proportion of herbaceous plants 

 do not mature seeds in the climate of England, and these are 

 necessarily not included in the list." 



Much inconvenience is caused by the fact that lists of recent 

 additions to public libraries are not always readily accessible to 

 persons who would like to make use of them. Readers at the 

 Darvven Free Public Library may congratulate themselves that 

 in their case this difficulty has been overcome. The other day 

 the Darwen Netvs printed the first instalment of a list of books 

 which have been lately added to the collection belonging to that 

 institution, and which are not to be found in the catalogue. 

 Two similar instalments will follow, and afterwards lists will be 

 given as books are purchased. If readers will take the trouble 

 to cut out these lists and place them at the end of their copies of 

 the catalogue, they will know exactly what works have been 

 secured for the library. From the instalment just i-:sued, it is 

 obvious that the managers of the Darvven Free Public Library 

 exercise great discretion in their choice of books, and we are 

 glad to see that among the works selected by them science is 

 very fairly represented. 



Several correspondents have written to us about Mr. John 

 Mori;on's letter, printed last week (p. 321), on what he sup- 

 posed to be a ca^e of untimely insect development. Mr. Edward 

 Buckell, of Romsey, writes: — "Surely Mr. Morison has over- 

 looked the fact that Vanessa tirtiac hibernates in the imago 

 state, selecting for that purpose houses and such other warm 

 quarters as it can find. I have counted nine in one house. 

 During hibernation the insect is naturally in a semi-torpid con- 

 dition. As to the ' abnormal appearance ' of the antenna?, I 

 think that if Mr. Morison observes other specimens, both during 

 the winter months and after sundown in the summer, he will 

 find the position noted by him to be the usual one," 



We referred last week (p. 328) to M. Lancaster's work on 

 the climate of Belgium in 1887 ; we are also indebted to him for 

 an elaborate discussion of the barometer observations taken at 

 Brussels Observatory during the fifty years 1833-82. That 

 Observatory owes its origin to the efforts of the late L. A. J. 

 Quetelet, President of the International Maritime Conference 

 held at Brussels in 1853, to which Conference our own Meteoro- 

 logical Office owes its origin. The Annals of the Observatory 

 contain one of the most complete series of climatological and 

 phenological observations extant. The barometrical results, 

 which M. Lancaster has carefully resumed, are drawn from the 

 eye observations taken up to June 1 841, and since that time 

 from self-recording instruments, one of which is a photographic 

 barograph of the Kew pattern. In addition to the usual monthly 

 and annual means, the tables contain summaries of the days 

 on which the barometer was above or below certain values, the 

 epochs of all remarkable falls and rises, five-day and seasonal 

 means. The mean for the whole period was 29766 inches (not 

 reduced to sea-level) ; the greatest height was 30753 inches on 

 January 17, 1882 ; and the lowest, 28'367 inches, on December 

 10, 1872. The mean diurnal range for the year wa^ 0^023 inch. 

 The diurnal and monthly variations are greatest in winter and 

 least in summer ; the highest and lowest absolute readings occur 

 generally in the month of January. 



Mr. R. H. Scott delivered a lecture on British and Atlantic 

 weather, at the London Institution, on the 2nd instant. After 

 some interesting remarks on the effect of difference of height 

 upon vapour, the dependence of our weather on the upward or 

 downward movement of the atmosphere in cyclonic and anti- 

 cyclonic systems, and on the cause of fogs, he discussed the 

 utility of the present American reports in forestalling storms, 

 based on a consideration of their movemen's as shown by the 

 Atlantic Weather Charts lately published by the Meteorological 



