May 26, 1887] 



NA TURE 



87 



coloured suns all over the northern provinces of South 

 America ; while between the 3rd and 4th of the same 

 month the glows extended across the Pacific both north 

 and south as far as the Society and Gilbert Islands, and 

 were reported from two stations in New Britain. 



By September 5 the Sandwich Islands were reached ; 

 while the outburst of glows in Southern India did not 

 commence till about the 6th to 8th of the same month. 



The northward extension of the dust all this time was 

 very small, and not widespread. Isolated phenomena 

 are reported from Formosa on August 26, and from 

 Japan on the 28th, but I am unable to say whether the 

 glows which appeared in the Sandwich Islands on Sep- 

 tember 5, had come via Japan, or across South America. 



Thus the general system of the dust-flow appears to 

 have been very simple. The great dust-stream was 

 carried for the first twenty-four hours by the normal 

 easterly upper currents over the south-east trade, at the 

 extraordinary rate of more than 120 miles an hour, 

 but hardly extended north of the line. Three days after the 

 eruption we find the products of Krakatab in Guiana, 

 the South Atlantic and also north of the line in the Cape 

 Verd Islands. Just to the south of the latter we know 

 that the south-east trade with its attendant upper cur- 

 rents crosses the equator. Then all the north of South 

 America was invaded ; and six or seven days after the first 

 outburst, the Pacific Islands— south of, or on the line — 

 were also overshadowed. 



In fact we may say that the great stream of Krakata'b 

 dust was carried nearly round the world by the usual 

 upper winds of the south-east trade, in which the dust 

 jWas first ejected, at a rate of about 120 miles an hour, 

 i and that the dust spread very slowly either north or south 

 j of the main current. 



I There is one inference from this which is very im- 

 iportant in any theory of the general circulation of the 

 i atmosphere from the equator to the Poles. The main 

 body of the equatorial circulation is in an easterly direc- 

 tion, so that the whole mass of a'r going towards the 

 doldrums does not rise up and flow backwards on itself 

 directly towards the Pole ; and though the highest cur- 

 rents over the Polar limit of both the south-east and 

 north-east trades are from north-west and south-east 

 respectively, still the poleward motion near the equator 

 is very small. 



The high velocity of 120 miles an hour is certainly 

 more than would have been expected ; but we have very 

 few observations on the rate of motion of the highest 

 clouds. Hildebrandsson has, however, reported from 

 Upsala one velocity of about 112 miles per hour for a 

 cirrus at 28,000 feet (50 metres per second at 8559 

 metres) ; and several velocities ranging between that 

 figure and 90 miles per hour. 



There would be nothing, then, outrageous in the 

 assumption of a velocity of 120 miles an hour for the 

 easterly current over the equator to account for the 

 high speed of the diffusion of KrakatJio dust ; and it is 

 also satisfactory to know that the general direction of 

 the flow is in accordance with the most recent researches 

 on the vertical succession of the upper currents near the 

 equator. Ralph Abercro.mby. 



BERNARD STUDER. 



A MONG the magnates of Swiss geology, no name has 

 ■^*- held a more honoured place than that of Bernard 

 Studer, who now at the ripe age of ninety-three years has 

 passed away. Upwards of sixty years ago he began his 

 scientific career by the study of some of the geological 

 problems presented by the rocks of his native country. 

 From the molasse of the lower grounds he soon climbed 

 into the higher Alps, and distinguished himself as one of 

 :he foremost pioneers who grappled with the intricate 



problems in stratigraphy which these mountains present. 

 With patient toil he extended year by year his acquaint- 

 ance with the various portions of the chain, publishing 

 from time to time notices of his labours, and preparing 

 materials for a geological map of the whole region. In 

 association with A. Escher von der Linth he pursued these 

 labours until the two fellow-workers were enabled to give 

 to the world their great map of Switzerland, which, though 

 only an outline of the geology of the Alps, will remain as 

 an enduring monument of the geological prowess of its 

 authors. No one who has not climbed the mountains with 

 that map in hand can form any adequate conception 

 of the physical labour, mental exertion, and happy geo- 

 logical intuition which its preparation required. 



Studer's contributions to the glacial geology of the Alps 

 brought him into intimate personal relations with many 

 English geologists. All who passed through Berne tried 

 to see the venerable Professor, who retained, in spite of his 

 weight of years, his keen interest in the progress of his 

 favourite science. His papers, published in various scientific 

 journals, make a long list. But he was also the author of 

 some separate works. Besides the great map of Switzerland,, 

 he published several volumes on Swiss geology, the most 

 important of which was his " Geologie der Schweiz," 

 which appeared in two volumes in 1-851-53. Less knowrk 

 perhaps, but full of suggestive matter, is his " Lehrbuch 

 der physikalischen Geographie und Geologie," which was 

 issued as far back as 1844. This work was one of the 

 earliest in which the processes of physical geography 

 were discussed from the geological side, and showed how 

 wide and thoughtful had been the observations of the 

 author, especially among the phenomena to be witnessed 

 in Switzerland. Another of the old lights of geology has 

 been extinguished by the death of Bernard Studer, whose 

 kindly presence and helpful courtesy will be affectionately 

 remembered by everyone who has been fortunate enough 

 to come in contact with him. 



NOTES. 

 An important Bill dealing with the question of technical edu- 

 cation has been introduced into the House of Commons by Sir 

 Henry Roscoe. The Bill empowers any School Board, loc a 

 authority, or manajjers of a public elementary school, to provide 

 day technical and commercial schools and classes for the purpose 

 of giving instruction in any of certain subjects. These include 

 the several science subjects which are specified in the Directory 

 of the Science and Art Department, and in which that Depart- 

 ment undertakes to examin<*. The following subjects are also- 

 included : the use of ordinary tools, commercial arithmetic, 

 c^mmercial geography, book-keeping, French, German, and 

 other foreign languages, and freehand and machine drawing. 

 The addition of other subjects may be sanctioned from time 

 to time by the Committee of Council on Education or by 

 the Science and Art Department. For the purpose of carry- 

 ing on these schools and classes, the power of School 

 Boaids, other local authorities, and school managers is to 

 be in every respect the same as for providing ordinary 

 elementary schools. They are to have power to provide, or 

 contribute to the maintenance of, laboratories and workshops in 

 endowed schools for the purpose of carrj'ing on classes or 

 instruction under the Bill. All these schools and c'asses are ta 

 be subject to the inspect' on of the officers of the Committee of 

 Educitioa or of the Science and Art Department. Before a 

 scholar is admitted he must have passed the Sixth Standard or 

 some equivalent examination. The Education Committee and 

 the Science and Art Department are authorized to give grants 

 on such conditions as they may lay down for any of the subjects 

 taught. For the purpose of obtaining grants a technical school 

 or class~must be one carried on under minutes to be made by the 



