'6.;6 



NATURE 



[February 3, 1911 



medicine; the Alhumbert prize (looo francs), question 

 proposed for 1917, tlie study of the action of the mag- 

 snetic field on crystalline liquids ; the prize founded by 

 Mme. la Marquise de Laplace, to the pupil holding the 

 ■first place leaving the Ecole Polytechnique ; the Felix 

 Rivot prize (2500 francs), between the four pupils leav- 

 ing the Ecole Polytechnique with first and second 

 places in mines and ^onts et chaussdes. 



The Loutreuil Foundation. 



As this is the first distribution of this fund, a sum- 

 mary is given of the regulations formulated by the 

 committee for dealing with applications. 



The grants recommended fall into three classes : — 



(i) To institutions specially mentioned in the will 

 of the founder. 



The Natural History Museum, 1000 francs for the 

 •continuation of researches on orchids undertaken by 

 Prof. J. Costantin, and 5700 francs for the purchase 

 •of accumulators, and 4300 francs for a radiographic 

 installation needed in the laboratory of Prof. Jean 

 Becquerel. 



The College de France, 4000 francs to G. Gley, for 

 the installation of an apparatus in his laboratory for 

 the production of cold ; 5000 francs to L. Cayeux, for 

 completing the equipment of his geological laboratory 

 for petrographical researches ; 2400 francs to M. 

 Miintz, director of the laboratory of vegetable. chem- 

 istry of Meudon ; 2000 francs to L. Nattan-Larrier for 

 the purchase of a centrifuge and incubator for cultures 

 of micro-organisms. 



As the provincial observatories are all attached to 

 the universities which have already received a special 

 legacy from M. Loutreuil, the council will only con- 

 sider claims for grants relating to researches of a per- 

 sonal order. Under this head 3000 francs is granted 

 to M. Gonessiat, director of the Algiers Observatory, 

 for the construction of an apparatus designed to 

 measure the intensity of Hertzian waves and for a 

 vertical seismograph. 



Polytechnic School, 3000 francs to E. Carvallo, for 

 the continuation of his researches on a method of 

 shooting at airships. 



The veterinary schools of Lyons and Alfort, each 

 5000 francs, for the upkeep of their libraries; the 

 •veterinary school of Toulouse, 3000 francs for the same 

 purpose, and 1000 francs to M. Montane, for the 

 reorganisation of the anatomical collections of this 

 school. 



(2) To institutions admitted by the president of the 

 academy to participate in grants from the Loutreuil 

 Fund. 



The Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers : 3000 francs 

 to Marcel Deprez, for his experiments relating to the 

 transmission of the heat of gases to metallic walls, 

 constantly cooled, and for experiments on electrical 

 phenomena arising from internal-combustion motors ; 

 4500 francs to A. Job, for the purchase of a calorimetric 

 ■bomb, an electric transformer, and other apparatus 

 necessary to his researches on the velocities of oxidis- 

 ing reactions ; 6000 francs to Jules Amar, for improv- 

 ing his equipment for the study of the muscular forces 

 of man at work by the graphic and chronophoto- [ 

 graphic methods. } 



(3) To other societies and to Individuals. i 

 The Socl^t^ de documentation bibllographique, 2000 1 



francs ; 2000 francs to Henri Pi^ron, for the equipment j 

 of his laboratory at the Sorbonne for physiological ! 

 psychology; 2400 francs to Louis Mengaud, professor | 

 at the Lycee of Toulouse, for exploratory work In the | 

 province of Santander ; 10,000 francs to Charles Marie, ; 

 for assistance in the publication of tables of physical 

 constants; 3000 francs to Camille Flammarlon, for his 

 private observatory at Juvisy ; 4000 francs to Emile 

 NO. 2414, VOL. 96] 



Mi^ge, for experiments at Rennes ; 1000 francs for the 

 preparation of plates illustrating fossils collected by 

 J. Couyat-Barthoux. 



The total grants recommended amount to 82,300 

 francs, and this does not exhaust the sum available. 

 During the war it has been impossible for all the 

 investigators to carry on work already commenced or 

 to undertake new researches, and other expenditure 

 considered desirable by the council has been excluded 

 by the terms of the legacy. 



BRITISH METEOROLOGY.-^ 



OWING to the war every side of the work of the 

 Meteorological Office has been affected, and 

 many alterations in the staff have taken place, although 

 it is highly satisfactory to note that in this period of 

 emergency the office has risen in every way to the ever- 

 increasing demands made on it by the Admiralty. 

 This high efllciency Is the outcome of the progressive 

 development, organisation, and co-ordination of the 

 work In all the divisional sections of the office and of 

 the observations attached to it, gradually and sys- 

 tematically carried out, under the direction of Sir 

 Napier Shaw, in the years preceding the outbreak of 

 hostilities. Although all branches have supplied their 

 quota of Indispensable information to the authorities, 

 the services rendered by the forecast division are more 

 conspicuous than In other directions, so that it occa- 

 sions no surprise to read that this division " has not 

 failed to meet promptly and efficiently whatever wishes 

 the Admiralty has expressed for Information as to the 

 weather over any part of the British Isles and neigh- 

 bouring seas, for the use of the Navy, the Air Depart- 

 ment, or the officials at headquarters." 



The C.G.S. system of units for the expression of 

 meteorological measurements has continued to make 

 headway, and Is being gradually Introduced into all 

 the publications. In this connection it is noted that 

 the substitution of the millimetre for the inch in 

 the measurement of rainfall "has met with less appre- 

 ciation " than the other radical changes in progress. 

 The necessity of uniformity is well shown by the 

 publication of data dealing with the meteorology of 

 the globe for 191 1 on the basis of two stations for 

 each 10° square, which is at present passing through 

 the press under the title of the " Roseau Mondial, 

 191 1." In this publication pressure is given in milli- 

 bars, temperature In degrees absolute, and rainfall in 

 millimetres for all stations. 



A request received early in 19 14 through the Foreign 

 Office and the Board of Agriculture "and Fisheries 

 regarding the application in this country of. meteoro- 

 logy to agriculture, forms the subject of an exhaustive 

 reply given in extenso In appendix 2. It is pointed 

 out that the line hitherto taken by the Meteorological 

 Office, "as guided by tradition and precedent," has 

 been to supply Information likely to be of value to 

 agriculturists In the form of weather forecasts and 

 statistical reports, leaving the application of the data 

 to the problems on hand to any who are disposed to 

 take advantage of the material provided. The office 

 resources do not include a staff to elucidate the ques- 

 tions Involved, and a similar position obtains at the 

 Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. The data pro- 

 vided are but little used by agriculturists. "Many 

 persons are willing to receive forecasts by telegraph, but 

 are unwilling to pay for the telegrams," and as the 

 British race Is not In the habit of paying for anything 

 until its value has been amply demonstrated, both the 

 Government and the farmer are waiting for the prac- 



1 Tenth Annual Report of the Meteorological Comrnittee to the L.irds 

 Commissioners of His Maiestv's Treasur- for the Year ended M.arch 31, 

 1Q15. Pp. 91. (London : H.M S.O. ; Wyman and Sons, Ltd., 1915,) 

 Price sJrt'. 



