422 



NATURE 



[March 2, 189; 



Ernest Renan. This is only one of many indications of the re- 

 spect in which science is held in France. We shall probably 

 have to wait some time before it is decided by the municipal 

 authorities of London that streets shall be known by the names, 

 say, of Darwin and Joule. 



The atmospheric disturbance referred to in our last issue as 

 crossing this country on Tuesday, February 21, reached the 

 English Channel on the following day ; afterwards its progress 

 eastwards was unusually slow, and north-west winds belonging 

 to the rear of the disturbance were experienced. Frost occurred 

 during the night of the 22nd in many parts, and towards the 

 close of last week the daily maxima fell below 40°, except in 

 the extreme west and south-west, while in the midland counties 

 frost continued throughout the day, and hail and snow occurred 

 in many places. After a temporary improvement in the south 

 and south-east districts on Saturday, a deep depression reached 

 our south-west coasts from the Atlantic, causing strong gales on 

 Sunday, and very severe snowstorms in Scotland, with heavy 

 rain in other parts of the country, the fall exceeding an inch and 

 a quarter on the north-east coast. By Sunday evening the dis- 

 turbance had reached the north-east of England, where the 

 barometer had fallen to 28 '6 inches; this depression was pre- 

 ceded by severe frost in Scotland, the minimum temperature 

 recorded at Nairn being as low as u°. On Monday a north- 

 westerly gale, was blowing in Scotland, accompanied by 

 snow, and on the same day a new depression arrived over 

 the south-west of England, accompanied with further heavy 

 rainfall in the. southern half of the kingdom, and strong winds 

 and gales in the English Channel ; frost also occurred in many 

 parts. A fter these gales had subsided, the weather still remained 

 in a very disturbed and unsettled condition. The Wetkly 

 Weather Report issued on February 25 showed that the 

 temperature for that week was generally 1° to 2° below the 

 mean in Great Britain, and 3° to 4° below in Ireland ; also that 

 the rainfall was much in excess of the average in the southern 

 and eastern parts of England. 



The Report of the Meteorological Council for the year ending 

 March 31, 1892, just presented to Parliament, reviews the work 

 of the oiifice under four heads: (i) Ocean Meteorology. The 

 charts for the Red Sea were in an advanced state, and the extrac- 

 tion of data for the current charts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and 

 Indian Oceans, and of data referring to the southern ocean, 

 was being actively carried on. In this branch of the work the 

 supply of instruments to ships is supplemented by the supplies 

 to remote stations, when favourable opportunities occur. (2) 

 Weather Telegraphy and Forecasts. An important station has 

 been established at the North Foreland, and the work generally 

 in this branch continues to increase ; both the Daily and 

 Weekly Weather Reports have been extended and improved. 

 Weather forecasts are prepared three times daily ; the total 

 percentage of success of the 8h, 30m. p.m. forecasts which appear 

 in the morning newspapers was 80, being 2 lower' than in 1890- 

 91. The results were best in England south, and worst in 

 Scotland west. The percentage of success of the forecasts 

 issued during haymaking was 89 per cent. Although these fore- 

 casts are issued solely for the benefit of farmers, the Agricultural 

 Department does not at present aid in their dissemination. 

 (3) Land Meteorology of the British Isles. Under this head are 

 included all observatories, anemograph stations, and volunteer 

 stations, necessary for the study of the periodic variations of the 

 meteorological elements, and of climatology. Among the pub- 

 lications we may specially mention the " Harmonic Analysis of 

 the Hourly Observations at British Observatories," which is 

 probably the first systematic publication of the description that 

 has hitherto been brought out by any of the established meteoro- 

 logical institutions. (4) Miscellaneous. This head gives an 

 NO, I 2 18, VOL. 4.7] 



account of the various researches now in hand, among whicl) 

 are included investigations relating to rainfall, sunshine, 

 fog, &c. It also contains particulars relating to the work 

 done in cataloguing books and pamphlets, and also a classified 

 summary of expenditure. A special note contains an account 

 of the anemometer comparisons carried out by Mr. W. H. 

 Dines, with the aid of a grant from the Council. 



The Meteorological Council have just issued a summary of 

 the Weekly Weather Report, 1892, containing, among much 

 other information of importance to agricultural and hygienic 

 meteorology, an appendix showing the rainfall'and mean tempera- 

 ture for the 27 years 1866 to 1892, for each of the 12 districts 

 into which the United Kingdom is divided for the purpose of 

 weather forecasts. The values show that the average rainfall 

 for the whole of the British Islands is 34 9 inches ; in the 

 wheat-producing districts the average fall for the year is 28'2 

 inches, while for the grazing, &c., districts it is 41 '6 inches. 

 The wettest district is the west of Scotland, where the average 

 annual rainfall is 45 '5 inches, and the driest is the east of Eng- 

 land, where the average amount is 25*8 inches. The values for 

 the year 1892 varied considerably in different localities ; the 

 wettest district during the year was the north of Scotland, 

 where the fall was 5 '6 inches in excess of the average, while in 

 the south-west of England the deficiency was 12 '5 inches. As 

 regards temperature, the average for the vyhole area for the 27 

 years (omitting the Channel Islands) was 48° -4, and the mean 

 difference of temperature between the wheat-producing and 

 grazing districts scarcely amounted to a degree. The average 

 value for the whole area during 1892 was i°'6 below the mean 

 for the 27 years ; there was a deficiency in every district durinS 

 that year, the greatest amount being 2°'3 in the east of Scot- 

 land, and the least, o°'9 in the south of England ; in fact, it 

 was the coldest year experienced since 1879. 



An electrical actinometer was used . by Messrs. Elster and 

 Geitel.. of Wolfenbiittel, in their measurements of the sun's 

 ultraviolet radiation. The instrument, as described in Wiede- 

 mann's Annalen, was based upon the action of ultraviolet light 

 in accelerating the dissipation of an electric charge from a 

 cathode of amalgamated zinc. By exposing a plate of the 

 metal to the light from a stream of sparks from an induction 

 coil at various distances, and determining the dissipation of a 

 negative charge imparted to it, this was proved to be a linear 

 function of the light intensity. In its portable form the instru- 

 ment consists of a cylinder which can be directed towards the 

 sun, and into which a charged sphere of amalgamated zinc is . 

 introduced by means of an insulating handle. The fall of 

 potential during a few seconds' exposure is determined by means 

 of an Exner electroscope. Messrs. Elster and Geitel have 

 made observations for each month in the year, and found the 

 ultraviolet radiation to exhibit an inverse relation to atmo- 

 spheric electricity. Comparisons were also made of the results 

 at various heights above the sea-level, the stations being the 

 summit of the Sonnblick (3100 m.), Kolm-Saigurn, in the 

 adjoining valley (1600 m.), and Wolfenbiittel (80 m.). It was 

 found that 40 per cent, of perpendicular ultraviolet rays from 

 space reached the level of Sonnblick, 23 per cent, of these were 

 absorbed before reaching the next station, and only 47 per cent, 

 of the remainder arrived at the level of Wolfenbiittel. 



Ten years ago-there was some correspondence in Nature 

 on the subject of snow-rollers. The phenomenon does not seem 

 to occur very often, so that some interest attaches to a communi- 

 cation in Science (February 3), describing an instance noted last 

 year at Milledgeville, Ohio. Mr. W. S. Ford says that on the 

 morning of January 30, 1892, the clean level fields surrounding 

 that town were covered with balls of snow, varying in size from 

 three to five inches long and from one to two inches wide. 



