September 22, 1898J 



NATURE 



including the law of the recurving of the path of the hurricanes 

 in the different months of the cyclonic season. 



The Press Association states that on Thursday last Mr. 

 Stanley Spencer and Dr. Berson ascended from the Crystal 

 Palace in a balloon inflated with pure hydrogen gas, and 

 attained the remarkable altitude of 27,500 feet, or only 1500 

 feet less than Coxwell and Glaisher's highest in 1862. Numerous 

 scientific instruments, including a self-recording aneroid 

 barometer, were carried, and also compressed oxygen for 

 inhaling at the greatest height. The descent was near Romford. 

 At 25,000 feet the air became so rarefied that both explorers 

 had to breathe the compressed oxygen taken with them. The 

 balloon had a capacity of 56,500 cubic feet. 



It is reported through Reuter's Agency that a stream of lava 

 from Vesuvius has destroyed a part of the roadway leading 

 from the observatory to the lower station of the funicular 

 railway. A mass of molten rock is flowing down the mountain 

 side in three streams — one along the foot of Monte Somma, a 

 second through the middle of the Vetrana zone, and a third 

 along Monte Crocella. The stream running round the base of 

 Monte Somma continues to burn the chestnut woods, and 

 nearly reaches the observatory. The central flow has reached 

 a point close to the Carabinier barracks, while the Crocella 

 stream, after passing close to Messrs. Cook and Son's building, 

 has reached the northern edge of the Canteroni ridge, whence it 

 may also threaten the observatory. News from Naples on 

 Saturday states that the eruption is becoming hourly more 

 active and more menacing, and the streams of molten lava are 

 spreading in every direction. The most threatening is that 

 which is flowing down the immense valley of Vedrino, which 

 is now almost filled. The observatory, which was originally 

 situated at a height of 610 metres, is now said to have sunk over 

 27 metres owing to the sinking of the ground. Seven new 

 craters have formed round the central crater, without, however, 

 in any way diminishing the activity of the latter. The gravity 

 with which the outbreak is regarded is chiefly based on the 

 fact that the volcano is throwing out stones and scorire similar 

 to those ejected in the great eruption of April 1872, when the 

 lava streams covered an area of two square miles, averaging 13 

 feet in depth, and the damage to property exceeded three million 

 francs. 



The Berlin Academy of Science has made the following 

 grants for botanical work :— 2000 marks to Prof. Eichler, for 

 the continuation of his work on East African plants ; 600 marks 

 to Prof. Graebner for the continuation of his work on German 

 heaths ; 500 marks to Dr. Loesner, for the completion of his 

 monograph of the Aquifoliacece. 



Two Walker prizes, of the value of sixty dollars and fifty 

 dollars respectively, are annually offered by the Boston Society 

 of Natural History for the best memoirs written in the English 

 language on subjects proposed by a committee appointed by the 

 Council. The subjects for 1899 are : (i) Is there fundamental 

 difference between " equation division" and "reduction divi- 

 sion" in the division of cells? (2) The phenomena and laws of 

 hybridisation. The subjects for 1900 are : (i) Stratigraphy and 

 correlation of the sedimentary formations of any part of New 

 England. (2) A study in palaeozoic stratigraphy and correlation. 

 Memoirs must be sent in on or before April i of the year for 

 which the prize is offered. 



The Mayor of Angers has appointed M. Albert Gaillard 

 curator of the Lloyd herbarium in that town. 



We learn, from the Botanical Gazette, that Dr. A. MoUer, of 

 Eberswald, has undertaken the preparation of a memoir of Fritz 

 MuUer, so well known in connection with the Flora of Brazil, 

 and with problems connected with the pollination of plants. 

 NO. 1508, VOL. 58] 



The death is announced of Dr. H. Trimble, professor of 

 practical chemistry, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, and 

 editor of the American Journal of Pharmacy. 



News has been received that Mr. de Windt, the geologist 

 with the Belgian scientific expedition for the exploration of the 

 Congo, was drowned on Lake Tanganyika on August 9, with 

 Mr. Kaisley, a gold prospector. 



The Pall Mall Gazette announces that Mr. S. A. Rosenthal 

 and Dr. S. J. von Komocki have succeeded in preparing 

 matches which do not contain yellow phosphorus, and are 

 capable of ignition by friction upon any surface. It is claimed 

 that these matches can be manufactured as cheaply as the 

 ordinary ones. 



Sir W. Martin Conway has sent to the Daily Chronicle 

 the news that on September 9 he reached the top of Yllimani, a 

 peak of the Cordilleras which rises behind the town of La Paz, 

 at a height of 22,500 feet above sea-level. With Sir Martin 

 Conway are the two Swiss guides, Antoine Maquiguez and 

 Louis Pellissier, who last year were in Alaska with the Duke of 

 the Abruzzi, and made the ascent of Mount St. Elias. The 

 party took five days to reach the top of Yllimani from the 

 highest point of cultivation. 



Mrs. Hubbard has sent us the following translation of a 

 passage from the " Niva," recording an interesting observation : 

 "The naturalist, Ostrovomov, director of the biological station 

 at Sevastopol, last summer made some excursions along the 

 coast of the Crimea. One morning, the sea being at the time 

 calm and clear and the sky blue, he observed whole clouds of 

 small creatures, like moths, fluttering above the smooth surface 

 of the sea. Ostrovomov, with his son and a boy from the station, 

 observed that each of these small creatures rested for a while on 

 the surface of the water, as though gathering strength ; then 

 made a spring and flew high in the air, and plunged again into 

 the sea. They captured some of these, and examined them 

 under the microscope ; and what was Ostrovomov's astonishment 

 on discovering that these flying creatures were the soft-shelled 

 crablike Entomostraca, belonging to the family Pontellina 

 mediterranea.'''' 



The world's record for high kite flight was (says Science) 

 broken on August 26 at Mr, Rotch's observatory by Messrs. 

 Clayton and Ferguson, who despatched a tandem of kites into 

 the air until the highest one reached an altitude of 12,124 f'^t 

 above the sea-level, a height 277 feet greater than any kite had 

 previously reached. Five miles of line, weighing- 75 pounds, 

 was let out, while the weight of the kites, recording instruments 

 and secondary line, was 37 pounds, making a total of 112 pounds 

 lifted into the air. The recording instrument was made by Mr. 

 Ferguson and was of aluminum, weighing three pounds, and 

 registering temperature, pressure, humidity and wind velocity. 

 The ascent was begun at 11 o'clock, and the highest point 

 reached at 4,15 p.m. The kites passed through clouds when 

 about a mile above the surface of the earth, but while above the 

 clouds the instruments showed the air to be very dry. At the 

 highest point the temperature had fallen to 38°, and the wind 

 velocity was 32 miles an hour. At the ground at the same time 

 the temperature was 75" and the wind velocity 32 miles. The 

 highest wind velocity recorded was 40 miles an hour at a 

 height of 1 1,000 feet. The wind on the ground at this time was 

 from the west, while at the highest point reached by the kites 

 it was south-west. The flight was one of a series of high ascents 

 made during the spring and summer, averaging about a mile 

 and a half, while on several occasions a height of over 10,000 

 feet has been obtained. 



