^e 



SepL 8, 1887] 



NATURE 



453 



f eteorological Office before the warning from the sea-level stations 

 — a fact which proves, all the more conclusively because uninten- 

 tionally, the great value Ben Nevis would have if properly utilized 

 as a forecasting station by means of daily reports sent to some 

 one able both to interpret their indications and to compare 

 them with similar daily reports from low-level stations all 

 over the country. The former of these conditions can only 

 be fulfilled by those who have studied the Ben Nevis records 

 of the last three years and a half, while the latter in this 

 country necessarily is limited to the Meteorological Office, which 

 alone receives such daily telegrams. It is to this unfortunate 

 hiatus and not to any defect in the position of Ben Nevis that 

 the alleged uselessness for practical forecasting of its observations 

 is due." Mr. Omond's vigorous defence is therefore the same in 

 substance as that of Mr. Buchan which we reproduced last week. 

 It amounts to this : the Observatory is blamed for not doing 

 certain work which it offered to do, but which the Meteorological 

 Office refused to permit it to doj; Mr. Omond did what he was 

 asked, and did not do that which the Meteorological Council 

 refused to have from him on the score of expense. 



The Committee of the International Geological Congress 

 dealing with the question of geological nomenclature is holding 

 its meeting in Manchester at the same time as the British Asso- 

 ciation. The representatives at present in Manchester are Prof. 

 G. Capellini, Rector of the University of Bologna, and repre- 

 sentative of Italy (President) ; Prof. Dewalque, Belgium (Secre- 

 tary) ; Prof. O. Torell, Sweden ; Prof. Vilanova-y-Piera, Spain ; 

 Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, Canada ; Dr. W. T. Blanford, India ; 

 and Prof. T. McK. Hughes, England. Meetings of the Com- 

 mittee, at which the foregoing were present, were held in the 

 Committee-room of the Geological Section on Tuesday and 

 Wednesday last week, at which Mr. J. E. Marr and Mr, W. 

 Topley, of the English International Committee, were also 

 present. The object of this Committee of the Congress is to 

 discover the nomenclature and classification adopted by different 

 authorities and in different countries, with the view of bringing 

 their views into harmony, and also to lay down rules for the 

 guidance of geological workers in the future. The subject 

 chiefly discussed has been the classification of the Cambrian and 

 Silurian rocks, some reference having also been made to the 

 question of the Archaean rocks. The full Congress will meet in 

 England next year, when these and other similar matters will be 

 considered. Another meeting of the Congress Committee was 

 held on Friday. 



The autumn meetings of the Iron and Steel Institute are 

 announced to take place this year at Manchester. They will be 

 held at Owens College, the use of which has been granted by 

 the Governors for the occasion, and will begin on the morning 

 of September 14. The programme is a very comprehensive one 

 viewed from a metallurgical and manufacturing point of view, 

 while the more strictly holiday features of such a gathering have 

 not been neglected. The President of the Institute (Mr. Daniel 

 Adamson), will give a paper on "Machines for the Testing of 

 Metals," a subject to which he has devoted a great deal of atten- 

 tion. Mr. Thomas Ashbury is down for a paper on " Recent 

 Metallurgical and Mechanical Progress, as illustrated at the 

 Manchester Exhibition," and as that Exhibition, so far as 

 relates to machinery in motion, is probably the best that has 

 ever been held, and illustrates with unusual completeness every 

 department of the engineering art, such a paper can scarcely 

 fail to be an instructive and valuable record. A third paper 

 will be read by Mr. James Johnson, on "The Mechanical 

 Apparatus for Continuous Moulding at the Works of M. Godin, 

 at Guise," the interest of which will be of a two-fold character — 

 first, as regards the processes and apparatus to be described, 

 which are of a novel and improved character ; and, secondly, as 

 r^ards the system of co-operation which has been adopted 



there on a more complete and successful scale as between 

 employers and employed than probably in any other part 

 of Europe. Dr. Fleming, of University College, London, 

 will contribute a paper on "Electric Light Installations 

 for Works and Factories," a subject with reference to which 

 he has had a very large amount of experience as the con- 

 sulting engineer for the Edison-Swan and other companies. 

 The manufacture of ordnance, respecting which there has been 

 so much discussion in military and political circles of late, wil> 

 be brought forward by Capt. Cubillo, who occupies a responsible 

 position at the Royal Arsenal [of Trubia, in Spain. Capt. 

 Cubillo has studied the conditions of the manufacture of ordnance 

 at all the leading arsenals both in this country and abroad, and 

 as the Spanish Government has recently exhibited a strong dis- 

 position to be abreast of the world in naval and military affairs, 

 this paper is likely not only to show what they have so far achieved, 

 but also to bring to the front comparisons with reference to ord- 

 nance that will probably be extremely useful and interesting at 

 the present time. One other paper, that by Mr. Wailes, of the 

 Patent Shaft and Axle-tree Company, at Wednesbury, promises 

 to give to the world some extremely interesting data respecting 

 the recent progress of the basic process for the manufacture of 

 steel on the open hearth. Hitherto, as is well known, the pro- 

 gress of this system, both on the Continent and in England, has 

 been chiefly in the direction of Bessemer working, but recently 

 the open hearth has come into competition with the Bessemer 

 process for this purpose, and Mr. Wailes's paper will probably 

 lead to a discussion as to the comparative merits of the twc^ 

 systems which will be of value both to producers and consumers 

 of steel. 



The Times Correspondent in Philadelphia telegraphed on 

 Monday night that an International Medical Congress was form- 

 ally opened by President Cleveland at Albaugh's Opera House 

 in Washington on Monday. Five thousand physicians are in at- 

 tendance, including over 2000 delegates sent here from nearly- 

 all parts of the globe. One of those present, Dr. Fanny Dickin- 

 son, of Chicago, is the first woman who has been admitted to 

 an international medical gathering as delegate. Many of the 

 most distinguished doctors of the day were present. An address 

 of welcome was delivered by Mr. Bayard, Secretary of State. 

 The welcome was acknowledged and responded to by Dr. 

 William Harris Lloyd, Inspector-General R.N., on behalf of 

 Great Britain ; Dr. Leon Laforte, of Paris, on behalf of France ; 

 Prof P. G. Unna, of Hamburg, on the part of Germany ; 

 Senator M. Semmola, of Naples, for Italy ; and Dr. Charles 

 Reyber, of St. Petersburg, representing the Government of 

 Russia. 



The centenary of the first ascent of Mont Blanc was cele- 

 brated at Chamounix on the 28th ult., when a monument fcH- 

 which the various Alpine and tourist clubs of the world, as 

 well as the Paris Academy of Sciences, contributed the funds, 

 was at the same time unveiled to De Saussure, who made the 

 ascent on August 28, 1787, with the guide Jacques Balmat. 

 The monument is of bronze on a granite pedestal. The principal 

 feature of the procession with which the proceedings opened was 

 the band of old guides, forty in number, and all over seventy 

 years of age. M. Spuller, French Minister of Education, un- 

 veiled the statue, and delivered an oration in honour of De 

 Saussure. 



Considerable additions have recently been made to our know- 

 ledge of those interesting substances, the chemical products of 

 the action of Bacteria upon the animal body, called ptomaines. 

 In the last number of the Berichte of the German Chemical 

 Society, p. 2217, «Dr. Ladenburg clears up completely all 

 doubt as to the composition of one of the best known of the 

 ptomaines, cadaverin, which he shows is perfectly identical with 



