•June 1 6, 1S87] 



NATURE 



165 



sion of the hourly frequency and quantity of rain in a 

 lenod of seven years (1878-84), derived from a self-registering 

 !.'asella's hyetograph. The results do not seem of much prac- 

 ical importance. In the rainy season the rain is least frequent 

 t the hour of maximum pressure, and most frequent at the 

 oldest hour. At other seasons, dust-storms, with rain, are 

 ommonest in the evening. The greatest and least rainfall 

 >ccur in general at the hours of greatest and least frequency. 



III. — "The Meteorological Features of the Southern Part of the 

 3ay of Bengal," by W. L. Dallas (pp. 11, and 1 plate). This is a 

 liscussion of the meteorology of a square district of 4° by 4° of 

 he Indian Ocean, about half way between Ceylon and Sumatra, 

 lerived from the logs of ships. The air-pressure is at a maxi- 

 num in January and at a minimum in May, with slight minima 

 n July and October, which seem related to the occurrence of 

 :yclones. The diurnal variation is extremely regular, the minima 

 ailing about 3h. 30m. and I5h 400., and the maxima about gh. 

 ind 22h. The range is markedly largest in April and Sep- 

 ember, i.e. at the two great seasonal changes. The mean 

 emperature is 80° "9, and ihe range of the mean monthly tem- 

 jerature is only 3°, which is smaller than at any coast station : 

 he diurnal range of the year is about 2""7, varying from 3°"75 

 n April to i°*8 in May, the maximum and minimum being thus 

 :lose together. In the summer (south-west) monsoon calms are 

 •are. From April to September the wind is pretty steady from 

 ^outh-west to west-south-west, and, from December to March, 

 j!;enerally from north to north-east. Only thirteen gales are 

 recorded in twenty-five years, and none of them over force 9 of 

 She Beaufort scale. 



Mr. Blanford's ** Report " for 1884 is a discussion of the meteoro- 

 logy of India in 1884, on the same general plan as adopted for the 

 en years preceding. The discussion rests on observations sup- 

 ilied from 134 reporting-stations. Each meteorological element 

 s discussed separately, beginning with the solar radiation as 

 jeing the prime cause of all meteorological change ; next, earth- 

 adiation, temperature, humidity, cloudiness ; and, lastly, rain- 

 all. The great extent of India, and its isolation by ocean and 

 Inountain from other countries, render it a country most favour- 

 able for meteorological study. One singular feature is, that 

 ■nosl considerable variations are of a somewhat lasting character, 

 iometimes lasting two seasons, e.g. heavy snow in the spring in 

 he Himalya is followed by steady north-west winds over the 

 jlains of Northern India, afterwards turning into the hot west 

 winds. 



The year under review was in some ways peculiar. Perhaps 

 the most striking feature brought out is that, ever since 1878, 

 he temperature of insolation and of the air have both steadily 

 fallen, and were lowest in 1884 (i°"2 less than in 1878), although 

 Lhe sky was slightly less cloudy than in 1883 : it seems likely 

 that this is part of a cyclic change connected with that of the 

 Bunspots, the temperature being highest at the sunspot minimum, 

 and vice versd. The mean air-pressure was slightly (o"'oi) 

 above that of past years, and also much steadier. The average 

 humidity was rather lower, and the average clearness of sky 

 pomewhat greater than in the recent years, and yet the total 

 Vainfall was somewhat greater : this was chiefly due to excess of 

 rain in North-West, Central, and South-East India. Heavy 

 snow fell in the North-West Himalya early in the year, bring- 

 ,ing rain to the North-West Punjab, and dry north-west winds 

 tn North India generally, followed by a hotter summer than 

 usual. The south-west monsoon bringjing the rain sets in in 

 ;|North India in June. The storms of the year were somewhat 

 lingular. From July to September a series of cyclones formed 

 in the Bay of Bengal, and followed a north and west course far 

 pito the plains of India : this course seems to be the usual 

 uyclone track of the Bay of Bengal. One of these, in July, 

 crossed the entire breadth of India, and one, in September, 

 lasted over a fortnight. Heavy snow fell in the outer Himalya 

 in September and October, followed by north-west winds in 

 North India, and by an unusually cool winter in India gener- 

 Uly. Twelve charts accompany this Report, showing the mean 

 monthly temperature, aii -pressure, and wind; the isotherms, 

 sobars, and wind-resultants being plotted in colours on each 

 nonthly chart. This annual Report, of which a very brief 

 iummary only is here given, is the outcome of an enormous 

 amount of labour: the detailed tables of data covering 305 

 [uarto pages, these tables being themselves mostly the result 

 tf laborious computition from the data furnished by the 

 >bservatories. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — The Mathematical Examiners have bracketed 

 as Senior Wranglers Messrs. Baker and Flux of St. John's, and 

 lies and Michell of Trinity. It is unprecedented to have a 

 bracketed Senior Wrangler. No women students have this year 

 been placed as Wranglers. 



The following women students have been placed in the first 

 class of the Natural Sciences Tripos, Part I., E. E. Field, A. 

 J. Flavell, and M. M. Smith, all of Newnham College. 



The Honorary Degree of Doctor in Science has been conferred 

 on Prof Asa Gray^ of Harvard. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 

 Annalen der Physik und Chemie, No. 6, June. — R. Emden, 

 on the vapour-pressures of saline solutions. Criticism of prior 

 results, and fresh experiments conducted according to the 

 method of Konowalow. Babo's law, that the vapour-tension of 

 saline solutions is always proportional to that of pure water at 

 the same temperature, is shown to be true between 20° C. and 

 95° C. — Max Planck, on the principle of increase of entropy. 

 Application of this principle in the study of dissociation of 

 gases. — C. R. Schulze, on the amount of water of crystallization 

 held in various salts. Proves the existence of a new form of 

 sulphate of magnesia having density i"898i, containing six mole- 

 cules of water, and therefore differing from Mitscherlich's salt 

 of same composition of density i*6i5i. — W. Voigt, on the 

 theory of light for absorbing isotropic media. A development 

 of the theory propounded by the author three years ago. — C. 

 L. Weber, on the galvanic conductivity of amalgams. The 

 amalgams examined were of tin, bismuth, lead, cadmium. 

 Addition of tin increases conductivity of mercury ; ' bismuth 

 increases it until 10 per cent, of bismuth has been added, after 

 which further addition decreases the conductivity ; lead shows a 

 maximum at about 25 per cent. ; cadmium produces a steady 

 increase in conductivity. — Adolf Koepsel, determination of 

 magnetic moments and absolute strength of currents by means 

 of the balance. The method is due to R. von Helmholtz, and 

 is independent of the earth's magnetic field or its variations. 

 The author has made by this method a new determination of 

 the electro-chemical equivalent of silver, which he gives as 

 0'0II740 ± 0*0000022 in C.G.S. measure. Lord Rayleigh's 

 value was o"oii794. — Walter Konig, magnetic researches on 

 crystals. A very careful research on magnetic susceptibility of 

 quartz and calc-spar in magnetic fields of various degrees of 

 intensity. The two principal permeabilities in calc-spar possess 

 a constant difference in fields of various strengths up to 3000 

 C.G. S. ; for quartz, the difference diminishes as the field is 

 strengthened, and is less than that of calc-spar. — R. Clausius, 

 reply to some remarks of Lorberg upon dynamo-electric 

 machines. — A. Foeppl, electricity as an elastic fluid. A specu- 

 lative paper : the author thinks the existence of the Hall effect 

 a criterion of his theory. — K. Wesondonck, on the absence of 

 polar difference in spark-potential. — G. Meyer, note on the index 

 of refraction of ice ; the value for sodium light is I'3I33. — E. 

 Ketteler, on the dispersion of rock-salt. The author thinks he 

 has established the law that the absorbing power of substances 

 for heat-rays is proportional to the negative coefficient of the 

 term in A.^ in the formula which he uses in place of Cauchy's for 

 the law of dispersion. — W. Voigt, reply to Wernicke's remarks 

 on elliptic polarization. — F. Braun, on the diminution of the 

 compressibility of solutions of sal-ammoniac with increase in 

 temperature. — A. Overbeck, on the signification of the absolute 

 system of measurement. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Geological Society, May 25.— Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — The following communications 

 were read:— On the remains of fishes from the Keuper of 

 Warwick and Nottingham, by Mr. E. T. Newton ; with notes 

 on their mode of occurrence by the Rev. P. B. Brodie and Mr. 

 E. Wilson, — Considerations on the date, duration, and con- 

 ditions of the Glacial period with reference to the antiquity 

 of man, by Prof. Joseph Prestwich. After showing how the 

 discoveries in the valley of the Somme and elsewhere, twenty- 

 eight years ago, led geologists who had previously been dis- 

 posed to restrict the age of man to exaggerate the period during 

 which the human race had existed, the author proceeded to 



