Oct, 6, 1887] 



NATURE 



545 



Victoria, Sir Graham Berry, has addressed a letter to Sir Erasmus 

 Ommanney, informing him that, in accordance with instructions, 

 he has asked Her Majesty's Government if they would contribute 

 the sum of £yyx) towards an Antarctic exploring expedition, 

 provided the Australian colonies contributed a similar sum. Sir 

 Graham has received (September 2) a letter from the Colonial 

 Office, stating that the subject is now under the consideration of 

 Her Majesty's Government. Not only for the sake of promoting 

 science, but also the good feeling and bond of union which should 

 exist between mother-country and colonies ; let us hope the 

 answer will be favourable. Here at least is a common work, 

 for the benefit and honour of both. If the reply is favourable, the 

 Agent-General is instructed to communicate with Sir Allen 

 Young, with the view of ascertaining on what terms he would 

 take the command of such an Expedition. If there is any 

 obstacle in the way of a money grant, why should not a suitable 

 vessel be placed at the disposal of Australia ? 



Lieutenant Van Gele has started for Bangala Station, 

 under instructions from the head-quarters of the Congo Free 

 State at Brussels, for the purpose of solving the problem as to 

 the connexion, if any, which exists between the Welle and the 

 Mobangi. It is clear that Mr. Stanley does not mean to face 

 this problem, as it was hoped he would do. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES. 



The new Chief Signal Officer of the United States is making 

 some sweeping changes in the meteorological service. We regret 

 that the series of simultaneous meteorological observations taken 

 at noon, Greenwich time, which began in 1875, at the instiga- 

 tion of the Vienna Meteorological Congress, is to be given up 

 at the close of the present year, from lack of funds. This service 

 has developed from a comparatively limited work to one of great 

 magnitude, covering almost the whole of the northern, and part 

 of the southern, hemisphere. For some time the observations 

 were reduced, and published in the form of daily bulletins and 

 maps, but the continued reduction of the amount at the disposal of 

 the Chief Signal Officer rendered it necessary to give up this great 

 and useful publication, and to limit the work to the issue of a 

 monthly "Summary and Review of International Meteorological 

 Observations," containing the monthly means of all the obser- 

 vations, with explanatory text and maps of the average isobars, 

 isotherms, winds, and tracks of areas of low pressure. This 

 valuable publication will be continued up to December 1887, to 

 complete the data for ten consecutive years in a shape convenient 

 for further research. General Greely states that it is further 

 intended to publish charts of the average monthly pressure and 

 temperature for each month of the year, based on ten years' 

 international observations. 



For some years Prof Cleveland Abbe has been engaged, 

 under the superintendence of the Chief Signal Officer of the 

 United States, in the preparation of a general bibliography of 

 meteorology, which has been very largely contributed to by Mr. 

 Symons, by Dr. Hellmann of Berlin, and others ; the number of 

 books and pamphlets now catalogued amounts to about 52,000. 

 Prof Abbe stated, at the recent meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion, that the work is now practically complete, and ready for 

 publication. The General Committee of the Association fully 

 recognized the high importance of the work, and expressed a 

 hope that its publication by the Signal Office would speedily 

 render it accessible to all nations. 



The last number of the Annuaire de la Societe Meteorologiqiie 

 de France for April and May contains two interesting papers. 

 (i) On the distance of the arc of the aurora borealis from the 

 ground, deduced from the variation of its angular velocity, or 

 from its breadth, by M. Carlheim-Gyllenskjold. The author 

 states that the observations made during the Swedish expedition 

 to Cape Thorsden prove that the angular velocity of the move- 

 ment of the arc increases according to a regular law as the arc 

 rises from the horizon towards the zenith, and that its more or 

 less rapid change depends chiefly on the vertical elevation of the 

 arc above the ground. The formula employed in the calculation 

 is fully explained, and the result arrived at is that the mean 

 height of the aurora borealis is from 30 to 45 miles above the 

 earth, which agrees very closely with the results obtained at Ice 

 Fjord by the Swedish Expedition. (2) A paper by M. G. Guilbert 

 on the prediction of clouds and their succession throughout the 

 day. The author finds that the first arrival of clouds, their 

 movement over us, and their disappearance below the horizon 



are not left to chance, but on the contrary follow a regular order 

 which renders prediction possible. Several examples are given 

 of the connexion between the succession of the clouds and baro- 

 metric depressions. The same journal also contains a communi- 

 cation by M. G. Tissandier on an extraordinary decrease of 

 temperature observed in a captive balloon, on January 15 last, 

 near the Champ-de-Mars. The wind was very strong from 

 norih-east, and the temperature at the ground was 24" '8 F. at 

 ih. 30m. p.m., while at about 330 feet it fell to 2o''"3. At 

 ih. 50m. a second ascent of nearly 600 feet was made, where 

 the temperature was ig"'!, showing an unusual diminution in 

 the upper regions, especially as the weather at the time was very 

 cloudy. 



The. Annuaire defObsej'valoire de Montsouris, near Paris, for 

 the year 1887, has been somewhat late in publication, apparently 

 owing to recent changes in the management of the Observatory. 

 M. Marie-Davy, who had charge of it since 1873, ^^^ retired, 

 and from January i last the Observatory has ceased to be a 

 Government establishment, and has been taken over by the 

 Municipal Council of Paris. The work of the Observatory is, 

 as before, divided under three heads : (i) Meteorology properly 

 so called, and its application to agriculture and hygiene, together 

 with magnetism and electricity ; (2) chemical analysis of the air 

 and of the rain-water collected at Montsouris ; (3) microscopic 

 study of the organic dust held in suspension in the air and water, 

 each of these services being intrusted to a separate scientific man 

 under the supervision of a special Commission. The Annuaire 

 contains elaborate discussions under each of these heads ; the 

 temperature ob ervations date from 1699. and rainfall observa- 

 tions extend from 1689 to 18S6 ; those prior to 1873 were taken 

 at the Paris Observatory. The highest shade temperature last 

 year was 9i°'o on July 21, and the lowest l8''"l on January 24 ; 

 the mean for the year was 52°o. The thermometer screen is an 

 open stand sheltered at top and sides, unlike those used in this 

 country, and the year dates from October or December, being 

 what is called the agricultural or meteorological year ; this want 

 cf uniformity renders it difficult to compare the observations 

 with others. The greatest monthly rainfall was in June, being 

 4'57 inches, and the least in February, 0'7i inches. The 

 apparatus used in the different investigations is clearly illus- 

 trated. 



Prof. Hugo Meyer discusses, in the Nachrichten der k. 

 Gesellschaft d. Wissenschaften of Gottingen (No. 9, 1887), the 

 thunder-storms at that place during the years 1857-80. The 

 discussions of thunder-storms have hitherto mostly been for 

 large areas, hence the results of a long series of observations 

 referring to a single place have a special interest. The observa- 

 tions now in question were carefully made by M. Listing, 

 and are preserved in the Physical Institute at Gottingen. 

 They show, with regard to the yearly period, two principal 

 maxima : the first occurring about the beginning of July, being 

 later than at many other places — for instance at Prague and 

 Munich, which have their second maximum about that time ; the 

 second maximum at Gottingen being about the middle of 

 August. These observations also show two secondary maxima 

 of thunder-storm frequency, one in the spring (April i-io) and 

 another in the autumn (September 28 to October 7) : the first 

 being a period of unusually rapid increase of temperature ; and 

 the second, one of a relatively slight fall of temperature ; such a 

 late autumn maximum being of rare occurrence. With regard 

 to the daily period, two maxima occur in all months, one at the 

 warmest part of the day, and one at midnight. In the winter 

 half-year both the maxima occur some hours earlier than in the 

 summer half-year, and the afternoon maximum in winter is 

 divided into two parts. The occurrence of these double maxima, 

 both in the yearly and daily periods, has been previously pointed out 

 by Prof, .von Bezold with regard to the thunder-storms in Bavaria. 

 The tables show that thunder-storms at Gottingen only come 

 from between N.W., through N., and round to S.E. in the 

 warm daily and yearly periods, which tends to prove that they 

 are heat thunder-storms. The cyclonic thunder-storms come 

 almost exclusively from a westerly and south-westerly direction. 

 The yearly march of thunderstonn frequency at Gottingen and 

 various other places for the eight principal points of the compass 

 is clearly shown by graphical representations, in the form of 

 wind-roses ; the mean direction of motion of all the storms at 

 Gottingen is nearly from S. 68° W. 



The American Meteorological Journal for August contains an 

 imjportant article by Prof. W. Ferrel, on the relation of the 



