154 



NA TURE 



{June 1 6, 1887 



west, accompanied with much lightning and thunder. Imme- 

 diately hailstones became mingled with the rain, attention being 

 drawn to their advent by the sharpness with which they struck 

 on the shingled roofs. The west door of the laboratory being 

 open to the air, the hail came in freely, nearly covering the floor 

 for more than 12 feet. The hailstones were of clear ice, 

 inclosing a few bubbles of air, varying from mere points to 

 bubbles of the size of a split pea. The shape of the stones 



was singular. Suppose a shallow and very thick saucer to have a 

 shallow cup, without a handle, inserted in it, and you will have a 

 good idea of the form of the hailstones when unbroken. Many 

 had more or less lost the "saucer" by violence, while some were 

 entirely without it, presenting the appearance of a double 

 convex lens with faces of different curvature. 



By actual measurement the hailstones were found to vary from 

 one- quarter to three-quarters of an inch in diameter, and from 

 one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in thickness at the thickest 

 part. I observed that in very many of the larger stones the air- 

 bubbles could move about, showing the interior to be still 

 liquid ; as melting proceeded the bottom of the " saucer " would 

 suddenly give way and become concave. The storm lasted 

 about 15 or 20 minutes, hail falling for the greater part of the 

 time. The hail which fell on grass remained unmelted for ten 

 or fifteen minutes after the rain ceased. The fall of hail was 

 very local, none falling at my house a mile away. I am 

 informed that hail last fell in Kingston in 1839. 



James John Bowrey. 



Government Laboratory, May 12. 



Singular Nesting-place of Linnets 



It may be interesting to some of your readers to know of the 

 recurrence of a strange freak on the part of a pair of linnets. Last 

 year they selected, as the scene of their nest-building and other 

 parental operations, the interior of a Maltese water-bottle, hung 

 against a brick wall, at the back of the house of Capt. G. Wood, 

 and in a sort of half yard, half garden. The bottle is of porous 

 ware, 10 inches high, 7 inches wide at its broadest part, which 

 is mid-way between the bottom of the neck and the base, and 

 having an upright constricted neck 4 inches long and only 

 i^ inches in diameter on the inside. In this singular receptacle 

 the birds contentedly built, laid their eggs, and successfully 

 reared their brood. 



This year, strange to say, the same pair, or one identically 

 like them, have returned to the old haunt, deftly repaired and 

 slightly added to the old nest, laid their eggs, and now have a 

 vigorous progeny of five or six unfledged youngsters. 



How the birds came, in the first instance, to select such a 

 shelter, seeing that they could only pass in or cut with folded 

 wings, and by a sort of dart, and that to enter the neck from 

 within in this way must have been a task of considerable skill 

 and no little difficulty, is a mystery ; but that they should have 

 retained such a happy memory of their first sojourn as to lead 

 them to return to their old quarters, is more interesting still. 



H. VlAN-WlLLIAMS. 



3 Waterloo Place, North Shield-, June 2. 



A Br lliant Meteor, 



Yesterday I saw a very brilliant meteor with train, resem- 

 bling a firework in shape, colour, and other features. It was 

 coming from Ursa Major, and vanished midway between a Lyra? 

 and 5 Cygni. Motion very slow ; 2ih. igm. mean Turin time. 



Turin, June 1 1. F. PoRRO. 



ELECTRICITY A T OXFORD. 



T T is with very great regret that we learn that the study 

 ;'■ of natural science in the University of Oxford 

 received last week a blow which is all the more to be 



deplored in that it was, in part at all events, delivered by 

 those from whom such an onslaught was least to have 

 been expected. Professed hostility or indifference to the 

 great scientific movement of the day, injudicious economy, 

 — these are obstacles which promoters of that movement 

 must be prepared to face, and will in the long run over- 

 come. It is not, however, to be expected that progress 

 will be made if each forward step is checked by those who 

 have themselves enlisted on the side of science. 



The cardinal point which the University had, to decide 

 was whether it should or should not provide itself with a 

 laboratory for the development of the teaching of electri- 

 city. The Clarendon Laboratory was, we believe, the 

 first building in this country which was planned and 

 erected for the study of experimental physics alone. It 

 was designed about twenty years ago by Prof. Clifton, 

 and, if we except the provision made for electricity, 

 nothing better or more complete is to be found within the 

 four seas. 



Rooms were, it is true, originally set apart as electrical 

 laboratories. The rapid growth of the science would 

 have sufficed to render them inadequate now, but we 

 gather from a statement circulated by Prof. Clifton that 

 other causes have combined to strengthen the case for an 

 extension of the building. 



Optics has been a favourite subject among students of 

 physics at Oxford, and optical apparatus now occupies 

 the space intended for electrical instruments. Thus it 

 has come to pass that " the important branches of elec- 

 tricity and magnetism are," in the words of the Professor, 

 " necessarily excluded from the practical course." 



In conseciuence of this unsatisfactory condition of 

 affairs, Prof. Clifton has for some years lectured almost 

 exclusively on electricity, and has been compelled to 

 discuss methods of manipulation and details as to instru- 

 ments which are usually mastered in a laboratory. The 

 Lee's Reader in Physics, Mr. R. Baynes, has also estab- 

 lished a practical course on electrical measurement's, in 

 Christ Church. Although the work he has thus done is 

 excellent, we believe that it is not contended that Christ 

 Church is in a position to make a permanent provision 

 for instruction in electricity on a scale adequate to the 

 requirements of the University. 



For some time past, therefore, the University has been 

 urged to add a wing for electrical work to the Clarendon 

 Laboratory. 



The necessity of providing for other University require- 

 ments has caused a long delay, but at length the turn of 

 physics seemed to have come. Plans prepared by Prof. 

 Clifton were submitted to the Hebdomadal Council. Mr. 

 Henry Wilde, F.R.S., generously promised a gas-engine, 

 dynamos, and an electric lamp. The Delegates of the 

 Museum (who superintend the laboratories of the Univer- 

 sity), the Curators of the Chest (who have charge of its 

 financial affairs), approved the scheme. It was adopted 

 by the Council, and nothing remained but for the 

 graduates in Convocation assembled to give their assent. 



At the last moment, however, unexpected opposition 

 arose. Balliol and Trinity Colleges have for some years 

 combined their provision for the teaching of natural 

 science, and the President of Trinity, acting for these 

 Colleges, issued a pamphlet hostile to the grant for the 

 proposed new laboratory. This step was taken on two 

 groimds, both of which appear to us mistaken. 



In the statement above referred to, Prof. Clifton had 

 mentioned as an advantage incidental to the erection of 

 the new laboratory that he would be able to abandon the 

 lecture course of electrical demonstrations, as the instruc- 

 tion given in them would be better provided for in 

 laboratory work. He proposed to substitute a general 

 course on physics, addressed not only to the compara- 

 tively few students who aim at high honours in that 

 subject, but to the larger body who enter for the first or 

 preliminary stage of the honour examination. To this 



