276 



NATURE 



\yuly 17, 1879 



the members had an opportunity of getting out into deep water 

 of from forty to fifty fathoms, and a most interesting and valuable 

 series of specimens was taken in all classes from diatoms up 

 to fishes. The most noteworthy capture by the dredge in water 

 of fifty fathoms off the Bay, was a specimen of the rare Alcyo- 

 narian zoophyte, Vir^laria mirabilis. In the evenings the 

 specimens taken were exhibited in the ladies' drawing room, 

 some under the microscopes, under the superintendence of Mr. 

 Marshall and Mr. Bolton. The botanists have not been idle, 

 and nearly 400 species of flowering plants have been gathered, 

 besides ferns of many species and varieties. A noteworthy 

 circumstance connected with this excursion has been the kind 

 assistance rendered by local naturalists, among whom are Mr. 

 Howard Fox, the Rev. W. Rogers, Mr. Thomas Cornish, Mr. 

 Tressidder, &c. Some valuable suggestions and encouraging 

 remarks were also made in letters from eminent naturalists in 

 special branches, viz., Prof. Allmann, Dr. Gwyn Jeffreys, Mr. 

 P. H. Gosse, and Mr. H. J. Carter. On Thursday Mr. Saville 

 Kent joined the party, accompanied the dredgings, and kindly 

 rendered very valuable help. Full reports of the excursion will 

 be "presented to the Society in due course from the members 

 who are going over the specimens ; in marine zoology by Mr. 

 Graham, the President, Mr. Saville-Kent, Mr. Wills, Mr. 

 Trye, and Mr. Hughes ; in botany by Mr. Baxenall and 

 Mr. Morley ; and in geology by Mr. Bunnan and Mr. Cotterell. 

 Every effort was made for the comfort of the visitors by the 

 obliging manager of the Falmouth Hotel, where the party took 

 up their quarters, and the hon. sec, Mr. Morley, was indefati- 

 gable in his efforts to make the excursion successfu). Not the 

 least enjoyable part of the excursion was the really beautiful 

 weather, which was fine and bracing during nearly the whole 

 period. The twentieth annual Report of this Society speaks 

 favourably of its progress, and the more active part taken by 

 the members ,in its proceedings. Some consideration has been 

 given to plans for utilising the energy of the Society in deve- 

 loping original research and knowledge of natural histology. 

 Circumstances have interfered to prevent immediate action, but 

 we hope that before long the Society will be able to carry its 

 plan into execution. 



At the anniversaiy meeting of the Sanitary Institute of Great 

 Britain the annual address was delivered by Mr. G. J. Symons, 

 F.R.S., on "Water Economy." Mr. Symons, in the first part 

 of his address, explained the circumstances which combined to 

 render the small areas in the kingdom on which upwards of 75 

 inches of rain fell annually, of great national importance. Al- 

 most all these districts of heavy rain were districts of hard rocks, 

 of steep slopes, and of sparse population. The first of these 

 conditions insured the permanency of the physical geography of 

 the district — the rocks being too hard to be washed away — and 

 therefore the permanency of the rainfall ; the second lessened 

 evaporation, and sent the water rapidly into the streams or lakes ; 

 and the third tended to insure the purity of the effluent water. 

 Having traced the water from the clouds to the earth, he next 

 considered the effect of soil, crops, inclination of ground, &c., 

 upon the water thus precipitated. He showed the necessity for 

 modifying our customs and laws respecting rivers and water- 

 courses, &c., in conformity with the advance of civilisation and 

 the increasing population of the country. He recommended that 

 the entire administration of streams should be under a single 

 direction, which should see to all questions of drainage, sewerage, 

 canalisation, motive power, and water supply. Such new works 

 as were required promptly should only be authorised subject to 

 their reverting to Government in fifty or a hundred years. All 

 other hydraulic works should be undertaken, or at all events 

 supervised, by a Government department, so as to insure the 

 greatest possible public benefit and not merely that of an indi- 

 vidual town. 



Mr. R. Anderson, F.C.S., whose paper on Lightning Con- 

 ductors and Accidents i from Lightning attracted considerable 

 attention at the last meeting of the British Association, has for 

 some time been engaged on a large work treating the subject 

 from a scientific, practical, and historical point of view. The 

 book is now nearly ready, and will be published in a few weeks. 



We have received from Mr. William George of Park Street, 

 Bristol, the first four numbers of an interesting catalogue of 

 works referring, inter alia, to geography, geology, chemistry, and 

 other branches of science. The catalogue displays a consider- 

 able knowledge of the bibliography of these subjects, and 

 would, no doubt, interest many of our readers. 



Among Mr. Murray's announcements are: "The River of 

 Golden Sand ; a Narrative of a Journey through China to 

 Burmah," by Capt. Wm. GUI, R.E. ; "A Lady's Life in the 

 Rocky Mountains," and "Japanese Letters," by Miss Isabella 

 Bird; "A Sketch of the Life of Erasmus Darwin," by Dr. 

 Krauss, translated from the German, with a preliminary notice, 

 by Charles Darwin, F.R.S. ; "Metallurgy, Part V., Silver and 

 Part of Gold," by Dr. J. Percy, F.R.S. 



Those of our readers interested in India may be glad to know 

 that Mr. Quaritch has on sale the second edition of Balfour's 

 monumental Cyclopaedia of India. 



M. W. DE FoNViELLE Writes: — " On July 9 I made an 

 ascent at Douay in a small balloon, at 5.30 P.M., with a strong 

 west-south-west wind ; velocity, I kilometre per minute. The 

 temperature varied from 12° to 14° C. according to the expo- 

 sure, and the altitude from 900 to 1,300 metres. From 800 

 to 1,000 were small floating clouds of irregular shape, not more 

 than 100 metres in altitude and 200 metres 'in transverse 

 dimension, but very dense, obviously formed with pure 

 water, without any sno\%7 matter. We observed at six dif- 

 ferent times the white rainbow, or Ulloa Circle, at the 

 superior surface of this cloud. This dispels the notion, pub- 

 lished in so many text-books, that it is seen only on icicles. 

 There were three circles — interior blue, medium yellow, and 

 exterior red. I had not a sextant for measuring the diameter, 

 which I suppose was not more than 25 to 30 degrees for the 

 exterior circle, somewhat less than the little halo, and in all. 

 cases about the same, irrespective of the distance of clouds. It 

 was, of course, seen opposite the sun. The interior part was 

 quite silvery white, being merely reflected light from the sun. 

 The shadow of the car, travellers, and balloon was seen in 

 the centre with angular dimensions varying according to the dis- 

 tance of the clouds. The shadow was sometimes projected out- 

 side the luminous circles, being too large to be included. Once 

 we saw distinctly a luminous circle developing round the balloon, 

 and we had two coloured images at once. The balloon pheno- 

 menon did not last long enough to be carefully observed ; it ap- 

 peared less distinct. I recollect only the reddish part of it, but 

 we are both certain of its appearance. I suggest the acceptance 

 of the explanation given by Bravais of the white rainbow, that 

 it is produced by the reflection of the sun's rays on the surface of 

 small vapoury vesicles, composed of a little quantity of air im- 

 prisoned by a shell of water. I noted also a curious optical il- 

 lusion of a kind which was indicated to me by Mr. Coxwell a 

 few years ago. When the clouds were at some distance they 

 appeared almost at the same level, and I was under the impres- 

 sion that the balloon was ascending as they were passing under 

 the car at some distance below. But the bai-ometer and other 

 circumstances proved we were keeping almost a perfect vertical 

 equilibrium, and travelling in a horizontal direction." 



W. B. F., writing from Point-of-Air, North Wales, on the 

 14th inst., states that an earthquake was observed there that 

 morning at 1.5 A.M. The direction of the undulation appeared 

 to be from a little to the east of south to a little to the west of 



