258 



NATURE 



[January io, 1901 



Corea," a work for which he accumulated a large collection 

 (part of which is now in the Natural History Museum) during 

 his travels in the countries mentioned. If, as seems probable, 

 his premature death was due to hardships and exposure during 

 those travels, his name may be added to the list of martyrs 

 in the cause of science. Mr. Leech was elected a fellow of 

 the Zoological Society in 1885, and was likewise a fellow of the 

 Linnean and the Royal Geographical Societies. 



The fall of two of the stones of the outer circle of Stone- 

 henge, on the last evening of the nineteenth century, directs 

 attention to the necessity for at once taking steps to preserve 

 this remarkable prehistoric monument. The stones ought to 

 be replaced while their original positions are clearly remem- 

 bered, and before public interest in their fall has subsided. An 

 engineer, writing to the Times, suggests a method of under- 

 min ing the stones and imbedding them in a foundation of con- 

 crete or cemeiit. A scheme of this kind would cost compara- 

 tively little, and there should be no diffi'^ulty in obtaining funds to 

 tarry it out. At any rate, the preservation of Stonehenge ought 

 to be given serious considerationjwithout delay, and archaeologists 

 should see that something is done to prevent the gradual 

 collapse of this wonderful memorial of the past. 



As already announced, a committee of the U.S. House of 

 Representatives has decided to report in favour of the adoption 

 of the metric system of weights and measures. Referring to 

 this, the Scientific American makes the suggestion that England 

 should join with the United States in introducing the system at 

 the same time. Our contemporary remarks: — "The pro- 

 bability of the Bill's becoming a law would be greatly increased 

 if the other great branch of the English-speaking race could be 

 induced to make the change simultaneously with this country. 

 The agitation in favour of the metric system is as strong, possibly 

 stronger, in Great Britain as it is here, and in view of the 

 close trade relations and the enormous volume of business be- 

 tween the two countries, it is well worth considering whether 

 an attempt at concerted, or rather simultaneous, adoption of the 

 metric system would not be advisable." 



The Brussels correspondent of the Times states that arrange- 

 ments are in progress for a series of experiments in wireless 

 telegraphy between Brussels and Antwerp, on the Guarini 

 system. The apparatus for transmitting messages is nearly 

 complete in both cities, and has been erected in Brussels in the 

 Place du Congres and at Antwerp on the tower of the well- 

 known cathedral of Notre Dame. M. Guarini is doubtful 

 whether local conditions will admit of direct communication, 

 and he proposes to utilise Malines Cathedral, situated midway 

 between the two cities, as an automatic repeating station. On 

 the other hand, if it is found practicable, Antwerp itself will 

 be made to serve as a repeating station for other points of the 

 •compass. The first trial is to take place on January 20. 



During the past week the type of weather over the British 

 Islands has entirely changed, the warm south-westerly current 

 having given way to cold north-easterly winds, with high baro- 

 metric pressure. During the latter part of last week the change 

 of conditions caused a large amount of fog, especially over the 

 southern parts of England, but this was quickly dispelled by a 

 piercing N.E. gale which set in on Saturday evening, and was 

 in turn followed by considerable falls of snow. The tempera- 

 ture was lowest over the midland and southern parts of the 

 kingdom, where readings exceeding 10° below the freezing point 

 have been recorded. This spell of wintry weather has spread 

 over this country from the Continent, where conditions during 

 the week have been abnormal. In Germany the thermometer 

 has fallen below zero, and in France readings of 20° below the 

 NO. 1628, VOL. 63] 



freezing point have been registered. Snow has fallen in ntany 

 parts, and also in Rome for the first time during the last seven 

 years. A rise of temperature occurred over the southern portion 

 of England on Wednesday. 



In the U. S. Monthly Weather Review for September last , 

 Mr. H. M. Watts discusses what he calls the Gulf Stream myth. 

 He points out that the mild climate of north-western Europe is 

 not due to the Gulf Stream, but to the prevailing eastward and 

 north-eastward drift of the atmosphere which distributes over 

 Europe the heat conserved by the whole Atl^intic Ocean north 

 of latitude 35° (roughly). The Gulf Stream is not distinguish- 

 able in temperature or "set," the author states, from the rest 

 of the ocean, by the time it gets east of Newfoundland ; and 

 if it were by any possibility to be diverted at the Straits of 

 Florida, no one in England would be a whit the wiser. If the 

 drift of the aerial currents were reversed, the Atlantic Coast 

 States, from North Carolina to Newfoundland, would have the 

 mildness of Bermuda, not on account of any one ocean current, 

 but because of the conserved warmth of the ocean as a whole. 

 As it is, the August hot waves, the mild spells in January and 

 February, and other anomalies which seem at times to reverse 

 the seasons on the eastern coasts of the United States, are due, 

 not to any shifting of the Gulf Stream, but to the intrusion of 

 the anticyclone (or system of high barometric pressure) from 

 the Atlantic Ocean. 



We have received the report of the Economical Society of 

 Livonia, containing the results of the rainfall and air- temperature 

 observations made at some 150 stations in the Russian Baltic 

 provinces during the year 1899. The stations are maintained 

 partly by the Central Physical Observatory of St. Petersburg 

 and partly by the Ministry of Marine, and, to a considerable 

 extent, the monthly and yearly results are included in the 

 publications of the Central Observatory. The Society does good 

 work in establishing a close network of stations, and in publish- 

 ing the results in more detail than is generally done in the 

 official year-books. The observations have been utilised during 

 the time of harvest by the issue of special forecasts to agricultur- 

 ists, and such a system is of great utility in endeavouring to dis- 

 cover the various anomalies that are found to exist in the 

 distribution of rainfall, which cannot always be explained by the 

 geographical conditions of the stations. 



An interesting contribution to our knowledge of the laws of 

 vortex motion is given by Herr K. ^^orawski in the Bulletin of 

 the Cracow Academy, viii., 1900. The deduction of these laws 

 from the equations of hydrodynamics, subject to certain physical 

 assumptions, is mainly due to Helmholtz ; the present paper 

 deals with the converse problem of finding the mathematical 

 conditions which must be satisfied by the velocity components 

 in order that the so-called "circulation theorems" may hold 

 good. 



Under the title of "The transfigurations of a Science," 

 Prof. Gino Loria has published a reprint of his academical 

 address to the University of Genoa, dealing with the history 

 of mathematics. It traces the gradual progress of mathematics 

 from the ancient Greeks to the present day ; the introduction of 

 algebra into Europe, the fusion of the two branches of mathe- 

 matics, algebra and geometry by the creation of analytical 

 geometry; and, lastly, the rising up of the science of non- Euclidian 

 geometry. 



Under the name of "The Astronomical Demonstrator," 

 Mr. W. H. Adams, of Wandsworth, has recently arranged a 

 series of lecture-models intended to provide a teacher with the 

 means of quickly illustrating, in a practical manner, most of the 

 dispositions and phenomena of the solar system. A large sheet 

 of cardboard or other material is provided with diagrams of the 

 orbits of the planets, &c., and small models of the sun, earth, 



