Vol. XXIV. No. i.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 
11 
former of which Sir John Lubbock, as usual, enter- 
tained large audiences; the latter being crowded to 
hear M. du Chaillu advocate the theory that the 
Vikings are the direct ancestors of the English 
speaking people — a theory that Dr. Evans, Canon 
Isaac Taylor, Professor Boyd Dawkins, and others 
found no evidence to support, though all agreed 
that the time is ripe for a perfectly new investigation 
of the whole question of the origin and migration of 
the races inhabiting Europe and Asia. In this 
section, also, a large crowd assembled to see the 
hero of the meeting, Dr. Nansen, and to hear from 
him a summary of what is known of the Eskimo. 
Dr. Nansen, accompanied by his bride, — herself an 
accomplished athlete and ski runner, who intends 
to take part in her husband's next exploration of 
Greenland, — appeared also in the geographical sec- 
tion, and, with an account of his experiences, 
exhibited pictures taken and curiosities collected in 
the expedition from which he has just returned. 
But it was the geologists — and notably among them 
the glacialists — who followed with keenest interest 
Dr. Nansen's description of the massive covering of 
snow and ice under which the mountains and val- 
leys of southern Greenland have disappeared. To 
them it was as if a man had come back from the 
Pleistocene period to tell them exactly how northern 
Kuropc looked during the Ice Age. The Pleistocene 
period had already been ablv treated by Professor 
James Geikie, who showed that the recent investi- 
gations of continental glacialists go far to prove 
that it was marked by great changes of climate. 
Eras in which more than half of Europe lay under 
Scandinavian ice alternated with others so mild that 
a temperate fauna and flora re-occupied the region, 
to disappear again at a fresh onset of Arctic cold. 
The climatic and geographical changes of this 
period were, without doubt, witnessed by our Pahc- 
olithic predecessors, who, however, with the mam- 
moth and giant deer, never revisited northwestern 
Europe after they were driven to southern France 
by the advance of the last great northern ice-sheet. 
Many lively discussions were elicited in the eco- 
nomic section by papers dealing ably with impor- 
tant social subjects, such as labor, the dwellings of 
the poor, and technical education. Topics of an 
exceedingly abstruse nature, however, predominated, 
and it is doubtful whether half a dozen of his 
hearers understood Mr. Edgeworth in his opening 
address on the points at which mathematical 
reasoning is applicable to political economy, al- 
though he evaded many difficulties by distributing 
to his audience printed notes illustrating the use of 
curves in special problems. The chemical section 
had, this year, a distinctly practical aspect. The 
manufacture of iron and steel received ample con- 
sideration, and, as also in the section of mechanical 
science, blast furnaces excited much discussion. In 
the last named section, deep interest was felt in Mr. 
Anderson's presidential address, which dealt with 
the conception of dynamic equilibrium in the ulti- 
mate particles of matter in all its forms. Inert 
solid masses he showed to be built up, like liquids 
and gases, of moving particles, and thus to be sub- 
ject to more or less permanent changes from exter- 
nal forces. The practical importance of these views 
lies in the explanation of such phenomena as the 
failure of pieces of machinery, which, theoretically, 
were abundantly strong for the work they had to 
perform ; spontaneous fractures, without any appar- 
ent cause, and often after long delay, in masses of 
metal manipulated by forging or by pressure in a 
heated condition, in such masses also as crank 
shafts, screw shafts, etc. ; long continued stresses, 
or stresses frequently applied, or the cooling of the 
mass, having imposed restrictions on the free 
movement of some, if not all, of the particles, 
developing internal stresses, which slowly assert 
themselves, with the disastrous consequences only 
too well known. 
This year being the jubilee of the practical intro- 
duction of photography by Daguerre and Fox 
Talbot, Captain Abney, in opening the section of 
mathematics and physics, discussed the effect of 
light on matter, especially on the salts of silver. 
The question as to the exact product of a silver 
salt by the action of light, led to the subject of 
photography in natural colors, which Captain 
Abney stated to have been already accomplished by 
a printing-out process. The spectrum, for instance, 
has been produced in all its natural tints by chlorin- 
izing a silver plate, exposing it to white light till it 
assumes a violet hue, heating it till it becomes 
ruddy, and then exposing it to a bright spectrum. 
The process is only interesting from a scientific 
point of view, as it requires not only a bright light, 
but also a prolonged exposure. The production by 
means of the camera of a negative in natural colors, 
from which prints in natural colors might be pro- 
duced, is quite another matter, and, in the present 
state of our knowledge, appears impossible. Cap- 
tain Abney explained the different steps by which, 
with the addition of various fugitive dyes to plates 
prepared by the gelatine process, it has been ren- 
dered possible to delineate those portions of the 
spectrum tfrat do not impress an ordinary photo- 
graphic plate. We have thus in photography a 
means of recording phenomena in the spectrum, 
from the ultra-violet to a very large wave in the 
infra-red, — a power which physicists may some day 
turn to account, possibly in a search for stars, dead 
or newly born, whose temperature — being below 
red-heat — renders them invisible to the eye in the 
telescope. Captain Abney concluded by the state- 
ment that if, as it deserves, photography had fol- 
lowers of the highest scientific calibre, it would 
soon prove itself the handmaid of Science as well as 
of Art. C. 
[Specially Observed for The Popular Science Jfews.] 
METEOROLOGY FOR NOVEMBER, 1889, 
WITH REVIEW OF THE AUTUMN. 
TEMfKRATURK. 
Average Thermometer, 
.\t 7 A.M. . 
At 2 P. M. 
At 9. P. M. 
Whole Month 
Last 19 Novembers 
Autumn of 1SS9 . . 
Last 19 Autumns . . 
ETER. 
Lowest. 
Highest. 
It- 
^s■6i• 
42.10' 
«.62' 
20' • 
38.58- 
t »n 1873. 
.43-62° 
in 1S89. 
51. 60- 
50.18° 
20° 
( in 1S7J. 
81° 
.5-J-57; j 
in iSSi. ( 
Range. 
44 
25° 
44 
12.50° 
61° 
5-73° 
The lowest point of the mercury the last month, 
at the hours of observation, was 20°, on the morning 
of the i6th, and this was also the coldest day, with 
an average of 27.33-^. The 30th was the next coolest, 
at 30". The highest point of the month was 64'-'. on 
the morning of the 3d, — a very unusual occurrence 
for the warmest observation of an entire month to 
be in the morning. The wind had been southwest, 
but changed to the northwest soon after that morn- 
ing observation, carrying the mercury down to 38" on 
the following morning, — a fall of 26° in twenty-four 
hours. The 3d was also the warmest day, at sS'-'. 
The entire month was 5.04-^ warmer than the aver- 
age, and the warmest November in nineteen years. 
The extremes of temperature in November have 
been 31.12° in 1873, and 43.62<^ in 1889,— a range of 
12.50" The frosts of the season have been very few 
and light, thus far : three in October, and seven in 
November, only two of which have been severe — 
those on the i6th and 17th. 
The average temperature the past autumn has 
been 51.60°, while the average in nineteen autumns 
has been 50. iS°, with extremes as shown in the table. 
Only three autumns in nineteen years have been 
warmer than the present, viz.: 5357° in 1881, 
52.51° in 1877, and 52.33° in 1878. 
SKY. 
The face of the sky, in 90 observations, gave 38 
fair, 16 cloudy, 26 overcast, and 10 rainy, with no 
trace of snow, — a percentage of 42.2 fair, while the 
average in nineteen Novembers has been 54. 2, with 
extremes of 400 in 1885, and 74.4 in 1874. Only 
one November in nineteen years has been more 
cloudy than the present. The following mornings 
were noted foggy: the ist, 9th, 13th, and 19th; that 
of the 9th was peculiarly dark, and the darkness 
continued through most of the day. And yet we 
had several very fine days in this very gloomy 
month; the 4th, 7th, 14th to i6th, 26th, and 29th 
were so noted. 
The per cent, fair in the last nineteen autumns 
was 56.3, with extremes of 41.8 in 1889, and 69.2 in 
1874, showing the present to be an extreme. Only 
three autumns in nineteen years have fallen below 
even 52 per cent. fair. 
PRECIPITATION. 
The amount of rainfall the past month was 5.76 
inches, while the average for the last twenty-one 
Novembers has been 417, with extremes of i.io in 
1SS2, and 7.45 in 1877. The amount in November 
has exceeded the present five times during this 
period, viz. : 6 87 in 1876, 7.45 in 1877, 6 25 in 
1878, 6.30 in 1885, and 7.28 in 1888. The largest 
amount the present November was 2.41 inches, on 
the 27th and 28th ; i 50 inches fell on the 19th, and 
the remainder in smallerquantities, well distributed. 
The amount of precipitation since January i has 
been 54.39 inches, while the average for the same 
months in twenty-one years has been only 43.16, 
showing an excess this year thus far of 11. 19 inches. 
The amount of rainfall the past autumn was 13.96 
inches, while the average for the last twenty-one 
autumns has been only 11. 11 inches, with extremes 
of 342 in 1874, and 21.47 '" 'S8S, — a remarkable 
range of 18 05 inches. 
PRESSURE. 
The average pressure the past month was 
30.011 inches, with extremes of 29.35 on the 22d, 
a'nd 30.52 on the 26th and 27th, — a range of 1.17 
inches. The average for the last sixteen Novembers 
has been 29.985 inches, with extremes of 29.840 in 
1878, and 30.193 in 1880, — a range of .353 inch. 
The sum of the daily variations the past month was 
6.45 inches, giving a mean daily movement of .215 
inch, while this average the last sixteen Novembers 
has been .232 inch, with extremes of .127 and .293. 
The largest daily movements were .56 on the 28th, 
•55 o" the 13th, and .50 on the 15th. There were 
five principal barometric waves during the month, 
with elevations on the ist, 5th, 12th, i6th, and 26th, 
and depressions on the 3d, loth, 14th, 22d, and 28th. 
The average barometer during the present autumn 
was 30.008 inches, while the average for the last 
sixteen autumns has been 30.001, with extremes of 
29.S81 in 1S75, and 30.070 in 1S80,— a range of .189 
inch. 
WINDS. 
The direction of the wind the last month gave 
II N., I S., 3 E., 34 W., 5 N. E., 18 N. W., 4 S. E., 
and 14 S. W.,— an excess of 15 northerly and ^4 
westerly over the southerly and easterly, and indi- 
cating the average direction the past month to 
have been W. 15" 32' N. The westerly winds in 
November, for the last twenty years, have uniformly 
prevailed over the easterly, by an average of 47.9 
observations, and the northerly over the southerly, 
