258 



NA JURE 



[January 14, 1892 



it had contained one-tenth per cent, of lead. Sir Lyon Playfair, 

 responding for the past professors, in the course of his speech 

 remarked, " We are looking to the promise of the Government 

 hat increased accommodation will be given by the erection of 

 new buildings behind the British Museum at South Kensington. 

 A public man is of no use unless he can look ahead and see the 

 wants of the future. I can take this credit to myself, that for 

 many years I have seen the need of your expansion, and, having 

 some influence in the destiny of the vacant land at South 

 Kensington, 1 always resisted granting any land opposite the 

 College of Science that might prevent the natural growth of the 

 science institutions at South Kensington. But there was a 

 greater man than myself, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who 

 very nearly succeeded in grabbing that land for an art gallery. 

 I hope that project is at an end, and that the land long destined 

 for the growth of science will only be applied to that purpose." 



Prof. Victor Horsley, F.R.S., will, on Tuesday next 

 (January 19), give the first of a course of twelve lectures, at the 

 Royal Institution,on the brain. Prof J. A. Fleming will on Satur- 

 day (January 23) give the first of a course of three lectures on 

 the induction coil and alternate current transformer. The Friday 

 evening meetings will begin on January 22, when the Right 

 Hon. Lord Rayleigh, F. R. S., will give a discourse on the com- 

 position of water. 



The Council of the Royal Meteorological Society have 

 arranged to hold at 25 Great George Street, S.W., from 

 March 15 to 18 an exhibition of instruments, charts, maps, and 

 photographs relating to climatology. The Exhibition Com- 

 mittee invite the co-operation of all who may be able and 

 willing to help them, as they are anxious to obtain as large a 

 collection as possible of such exhibits. They will be glad to 

 show any new meteorological instruments or apparatus invented 

 or first constructed since last March, as well as photographs 

 and drawings possessing meteorological interest. 



Medical science in France has lost one of its most prominent 

 representatives in Prof Richet, who died on December 30, 1891. 

 He was seventy- five years of age. M. Richet was a member of 

 the Academy of Sciences, and in 1879 acted as President of the 

 Academy of Medicine. 



The death of Dr. Ferdinand von Roemer, Professor of 

 Geology and Palaeontology in the University of Breslau, is 

 much regretted by all students of geologi'cal science. He was 

 in his seventy-fourth year, and proposed to celebrate his jubilee 

 as Professor on May 10, 1892. 



We regret to have to record the death, on the 5th inst., of 

 pneumonia, after a very short illness, of Dr. Albert J. Bernays, 

 Lecturer on Chemistry at St. Thomas's Hospital. He was the 

 author of several works of great value to medical students : 

 " Household Chemistry," " Lectures on Agricultural Che- 

 mistry," "First Lines in Chemistry/' "Notes for Students in 

 Chemistry," &c. 



The rich collection of dried mosses formed^by the late Prof 

 S. O. Lindberg has been acquired by the Botanical Museum of 

 the University of Helsingfors. 



Dr. H. Jagor, the well-known ethnologist, is about to pro- 

 ceed to Saigon, and will visit Cambodia and Tonquin. Dr. 

 Jagor recently spent some time in Java, renewing the impressions 

 which he formed nearly thirty-five years ago on his first exten- 

 sive scientific tour through the countries of the Far East. His 

 book on the Philippines is still a work of great value. 



The question of removing the Madras Observatory to a 



station in the Pulneys or Neilgherries is occupying the attention 



of the Governments of India and Madras. The transfer is 



recommended in order to obtain an atmosphere with the mini- 



NO. I 159. VOL. 45] 



mum of cloud. If this project is carried out, solar observations- 

 will be conducted there instead of at Dehra in the North-West 

 Provinces. The Meteorological Department has arranged for 

 a trial of observations in 1892, at Kodai Kanan, in the Pulneys, 

 and Kotaigiri, in the Neilgherries. 



It is stated that the Japanese Budget for the ne xt fiscal year 

 includes an appropriation for the construction of meteorological 

 observatories in all the prefectures not yet provided with such 

 establishments. Should the Parliament approve this item, the 

 Empire will be completely covered with a network of observa- 

 tories. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean, in its review 

 of December 1891, notes that along the American coast the 

 month began with cool pleasant weather, accompanying a strong 

 anticyclone that hung persistently about Hatteras for several' 

 days, giving northerly winds and clear weather off the Atlantic 

 coast and as far south as the Caribbean Sea, and warm south- 

 easterly and southerly winds in the Gulf of Mexico. On the 

 Atlantic, however, December opened with very stormy weather, 

 prevailing throughout almost the entire region from Bermuda to- 

 Rockall and the Bay of Biscay. One hurricane was central 

 about 700 miles north-east from Bermuda, and another storm — 

 one of great extent and severity — central about lat. 58° N., 

 long. 25° W. On December 6 and 7 fresh to strong southerly 

 winds prevailed off the American Atlantic coast, whilst a norther 

 set in over the Gulf of Mexico, attending the approach from 

 the westward of an anticyclone that caused northerly gales in 

 the Gulf Stream region and as far south as the Caribbean Sea on 

 the 8th and 9th, with persistent northerly winds and cold weather 

 until the 14th. Various storms reached the Atlantic from the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence. No ice was reported south of the lati- 

 tude of Cape Race. There was very little fog, none having, 

 been reported until toward the end of the month. On the 22nd a. 

 large fog bank extended from about Sable Island to Sandy Hook,, 

 accompanying an anticyclone. Reference is made by the Pilot 

 Chart to "the extremely dense fog that overhung London from 

 the 22nd to the 26th." 



It is perhaps not generally known that the Annual Reports- 

 relating to H.M. colonial possessions frequently contain meteoro- 

 logical observations in addition to other useful information. We 

 extract the following particulars from the Annual Report for the 

 Leeward Islands for 1890. From the records of the temperature, 

 pressure, and rainfall at the Government Laboratory, Antigua, 

 the hottest month there, during that year, was September, with 

 an average maximum temperature of 88°. The absolute maxi- 

 mum was 91°, in June, and the minimum 62", in April. The- 

 average rainfall at 45 stations in the island was 33 inches, and 

 was very much below the usual amount. There were several 

 slight shocks of earthquake during the year, but no damage was- 

 done. 



In i\\t. Repertorium fiir Meteorologie (vol. xiv. No. 10), M. E. 

 Berg discusses the frequency and geographical distribution of 

 heavy daily rainfalls in European Russia, excepting Finland and' 

 the Caucasus. The observations refer to the years 1886-90, a. 

 rather short period ; but in previous years there were not sufficient 

 stations for such an investigation. The paper deals exclusively 

 with falls of between i "4 and 3 inches, distributed according to- 

 months, for the various Governments of the Empire. The results 

 show that the frequency of heavy falls is subject to considerable 

 fluctuation from year to year. The regions of greatest frequency 

 occur on the south-east coast of the Crimea and the extreme 

 south-west of the Empire ; on the eastern side of the Dnieper, 

 the region extending to Smolensk and further northwards is also 

 subject to very heavy falls. The northern limit of daily falls of 

 over 3 inches, so far as relates to Central Russia, is the Govern- 

 ment of Moscow. The yearly range of frequency reaches a 



