August 



•^y 



887] 



NATURE 



397 



THUNDERSTORM IN LONDON. 



A N exceptionally severe thunderstorm was experienced 

 -^~*- in London and the suburbs on the evening of the 

 17th inst. It commenced with distant thunder at about 

 5.30 p.m., and by 6 o'clock the storm was fully over the 

 southern suburbs. The lightning was very vivid, and the 

 flashes were very frequent, following each other occa- 

 sionally with but an interval of a few seconds. The 

 thunder was very heavy, and at times quite deafening, the 

 crash often following the lightning-flash almost instanta- 

 neously. The greatest violence of the storm occurred 

 between 6.30 and 8 p.m., throughout the whole of which 

 time the lightning and thunder were most intense. 

 Thunder was heard till 9.30 p.m., and distant light- 

 ning seen till 10 p.m., so that the storm was over 

 London for about four hours and a half. There was no 

 evening as far as daylight was concerned, night setting 

 in at the close of the afternoon, and the heavy clouds 

 which covered the sky had the appearance of being 

 doubly massive in contrast to the lightning as the flashes 

 illumined the whole sky. The rain which accompanied 

 the storm was very heavy, but the fall varied very 

 considerably in different parts of the metropolis. 

 Unfortunately at present the measurements at hand 

 are by no means numerous, but a careful discussion of 

 the rainfall of this storm would probably be of consider- 

 able scientific interest. The falls as yet available are : 

 Brixton Hill toz inches, Camden Town 1-42 inch, Clap- 

 ham 0-97 inch, Greenwich 0*54 inch, Westminster 050 

 inch, and East Finchley 016 inch. At Brixton Hill the rain 

 was intensely heavy for twenty minutes from about 6.10 to 

 6.30 p.m., during which time by far the larger part of the 

 fall occurred ; the observer not being on the spot until 

 later in the evening, measurements were not made during 

 the progress of the storm. There is ample evidence, 

 however, to confirm the heavy fail at Brixton, as the roads 

 were flooded in parts to the depth of from 12 to 18 inches, 

 and the water rushed down the roadways with such force 

 that it was thought a large reservoir had burst. Mr. 

 Wallis, writing from the head-quarters of the " British 

 Rainfall" at Camden Town, states that the total fall 

 there was 1-42 inch, and heavy rain did not commence 

 till 6 30 p.m. He gives the following rates of fall: — 7 to 

 8 p.rn. 1-24 inch, 7 to 7.30 p.m. o'45 inch, 7.30 to 8 p.m. 

 079 inch ; in 22 minutes, from 7.42 to 8.4, the amount 

 measured was o-66 inch ; and in 10 minutes, from 7.45 

 to 7-55> the heavy fall of 0-50 was measured. The 

 primary cause of the storm was due to a somewhat 

 shallow barometric depression, the mercury at the centre 

 standing at 297 inches, which passed completely _over 

 London during the evening. 



This disturbance was central over the north of Devon 

 at 8 a.m. 17th, and by 8 a.m. i8th was situated over 

 North Germany, but from some cause, not yet under- 

 stood, its rate of travel when passing over London was 

 very much slower, and its energy more intense, than at 

 any other stage of its existence. The weather had been 

 dry during the first twelve days of August, as well as at 

 the close of July, especially in the southern and eastern 

 districts of England, where, indeed, a second drought, 

 during the present summer, had prevailed, but which was 

 much less marked than the drought of June and the early 

 part of July, but yet severe, following as it did so closely 

 on its predecessor, with so small a fall of rain intervening. 

 After the 12th, however, the weather over England be- 

 came disturbed, and the anticyclone which had prevailed 

 gave place to cyclonic conditions, and a series of disturb- 

 ances passed over our islands ; it was one of these which 

 resulted in this severe thunderstorm. Very little rain fell 

 over the country generally in connexion with this storm, 

 but other falls of rain occurred in many places about this 

 time. In London, as well as in the Midlands, and the 

 southern and eastern districts of England, a thunderstorm 



had been experienced in the early morning of the same 

 day ; the total fall of rain in London, as the result of the 

 two storms, was 262 inches, a fall 0*34 in excess of the 

 total average for August, all of which fell in less than 

 twenty-four hours. CHA.S. HARDING. 



SPENCER F. BAIRD. 



'T^HE news of Prof. Baird's death will be received by 

 -*- English naturalists with the most profound regret, 

 the more so as no intimation of the indisposition of the 

 celebrated American man of science had been communi- 

 cated to his friends in this country, and the intelligence 

 was therefore unexpected. By EngHshmen who knew 

 Prof. Baird personally the loss must be especially felt, but 

 there are many who had never met him in the flesh, to 

 whom the news of his decease must come as that of a 

 dear friend. As one of the latter class, we venture to 

 express our sympathy with our scientific brethren in 

 America on the decease of one of their most eminent 

 and respected colleagues. As chief of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, Prof. Baird possessed a power of conferring 

 benefits on the world of science exercised by few 

 directors of public museums, and the manner in which 

 he utilized these powers has resulted not only in the 

 wonderful success of the United States National Museum 

 under his direction, but in the enrichment of many 

 other museums which were in friendly intercourse 

 with the Smithsonian Institution. We know by ex- 

 perience that the British Museum is indebted beyond 

 measure to Prof. Baird, and we need only refer to the 

 recent volumes of the " Catalogue of Birds " to show how 

 much our national Museum owes to the sister Museum in 

 America for hearty co-operation. We had only to write 

 and express our wants, and immediately every effort was 

 made, by Prof. Baird's instructions, to supply all the 

 desiderata in our ornithological collection, and this with- 

 out the slightest demand for an equivalent exchange, 

 though of course in the case of the British Museum 

 every effort was made to reciprocate the good feeling shown 

 towards that institution by the great American Museum. 

 There must be many private collectors in this country 

 who will indorse our acknowledgments to Prof. Baird for 

 the unrivalled liberality which he has always shown in 

 the advancement of the studies of every ornithologist who 

 invoked his aid. 



Of the celebrated trio, Baird, Cassin, and Lawrence, 

 who together wrote "The Birds of North America," the 

 last-named naturalist is now the only survivor, but Baird 

 lived long enough to see the results of that great under- 

 taking, which placed American ornithology on a sound 

 working basis, and established an era from which progress 

 has been both sound and rapid, until there is perhaps 

 no country in the world where birds have been so 

 thoroughly and scientifically studied as in America. This 

 result is undoubtedly due to the influence of Prof. Baird 

 in directing the scientific studies of his colleagues in the 

 New World. His "Review of North American Birds" 

 is really a wonderful work, and, though published twenty- 

 five years ago, is of the greatest service to students of 

 Passerine birds at the present day. Our only regret is 

 that it was never completed. The celebrated paper on the 

 distribution of North American birds, published in 1867, 

 laid the foundation of the division of the Nearctic Region 

 into natural sub-regions, which the multitudinous labours 

 of travellers in recent years have tended to elaborate and 

 confirm. Prof. Baird's last great effort in the cause of 

 ornithology was the pubhcation of the " History of North 

 American Birds," in conjunction, this time, with Robert 

 Ridgway and T. M. Brewer. 



After the completion of that important work he was occu- 

 pied chiefly with his duties as head of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, and of the United States National Museum, 



