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NA TURE 



[August 17, 1893 



more than fifty years with Sir J. B. Lawes in the agricultural 

 experiments conducted at Rothamsted. British and foreign 

 academies and learned societies have long recognised Dr. 

 Gilbert's claims to distinction, and have bestowed upon him 

 various marks of approval. We are glad now to be able to 

 record that his scientific work has been officially recognised. 



Prof. Max Muller has received from the Sultan of Turkey 

 the gold medal of the Order of Merit, the highest honour in 

 the Sultan's gift. 



Zoologists will learn with regret that Mr. Georre Brook, 

 lecturer on embryology to the University of Edinburgh, died 

 suddenly at Newcastle on Saturday night last. His death is a 

 loss to zoology and to those who knew and appreciated him. 



The Times announces the death of Rear-Admiral T. A. 

 Jenkins — oneof the ablest officers of the U.S. Navy — at the age of 

 eighty-two. In 1846 he prepared a report on the lighthouse sys- 

 tems of Great Britain and the continent. Shortly afterwards he 

 assisted Prof. Bache in making some meteorological and hydro- 

 graphical observations, and in determining deep-sea tempera- 

 tures in the Gulf Stream, the vessel in which the investigations 

 were carried on being built under his supervision. In 1852 he 

 was appointed naval secretary of the Lighthouse Board, and from 

 1869 to 1S71 was secretary of the Board. He was also for some 

 time Chief of the Bureau of Navigation. 



The Franklin Institute has awarded a medal and a premium 

 of twenty dollars, in accordance with the legacy of John Scott, 

 of Edinburgh, to each of the following gentlemen : — Dr. Adolph 

 Frank, Charlottenburg, Germany, for a composition of in- 

 fusorial earth as adapted for filtering purposes ; Frank 

 Reddaway, Manchester, fjr hi? invention of camel-hair belting ; 

 Henry L. Bridgman, Blue Island, Illinois, for his invention of 

 an ore sampling machine; and S. H. La Rue, Trenton, N.J., 

 for his improvements in stoves. An Elliot Gresson medal has 

 been awarded to Frederick E. Ives, Philadelphia, for his system 

 of colour photography knoAn as heliochromy. Any objections 

 to these awards, or evidence of want of originality of the inven- 

 tions named, should be lodged with the secretary of the Institute 

 before October. 



A Reijter's telegram, dated .\ugust 11, reports that a 

 violent shock of earthquake was felt on the previous evening 

 in the small coast town of Mattinata. It was followed during 

 the night by other shocks of less violence, which were felt also 

 at Monte Sant', Angelo, Manfredonia, and Rodia— all towns on 

 the shores of the Adriatic. Later information states that all 

 the buildings in .Mattinata were more or less seriously damaged 

 by the earthquake, and great cracks were caused in the walls 

 of the houses. Three persons were killed and four injured, 

 while others were shaken or bruised. The island of Strom boli 

 experienced a sharp shock, followed by an unusually violent 

 eruption of the volcano. 



The Iron and Steel Institute will hold its twenty-fifth 

 autumn meeting at Darlington, from September 26 to 28 in- 

 clusive, when several important papers will be read. Prof. 

 Roberts- Austen, F. R. S., will contribute a paper on the in- 

 fluence of the rating of the rupee on the world's iron trade ; 

 Mr. H. Bauerman will discourse on the " Metallurgical Ex- 

 hibits at the World's Fair" ; and Mr. Kupelwieser will com- 

 municate a paper on the recent developments of the steel 

 industry in Austria. A number of other subjects of technical 

 interest will also be discussed. The members will have the 

 advantage of visiting the numerous iron and steel works in the 

 vicinity of Darlington, and arrangements have been made for 

 excursions to Barnard Castle and Raby Castle. 



The Board of Agriculture have been requested to draw the 

 attention of fruit growers to an international exhibition, to be 

 held by the Russian Society of Fruit Culture, under the patron- 



NO. 1242, VOL. 48I 



age of the Czar, at St. Petersburg, in the autumn of 1894, with 

 the object of showing the present condition of the cultivation 

 of fruit and vegetables, of viticulture, of the cultivation of 

 various special plants, and the manufacture of their products. 

 A congress of pomologists will be convened simultaneously 

 with the exhibition. The exhibition will comprise sections 

 dealing, among other matters, with horticulture implements and 

 appliances, and technicality of production, and also literary, 

 scientific, and educational accessories, collections, plans, &c. 

 Detailed regulations of the exhibition and programmes of the 

 various competitions will be published and distributed towards 

 the end of this year. Persons interested in the progress 

 of horticulture and pomology, both in Russia and other coun- 

 tries, are invited by the Russian Government to take part 

 in this international exhibition and congress. Applications for 

 further information should be addressed to the offices of the 

 International Exhibition of Fruit Culture, Imperial Agri- 

 cultural Museum, Fontanka lo, St. Petersburg. 



Serious floods have occurred in Galicia (says Reuter's agency) 

 and they are exceeded in their gravity by disastrous inundations 

 which have visited Saras and Ung, two northern countries of 

 Hungary. The damage done in these districts is immens<;, and 

 there has been serious loss of life. According to the latest 

 accounts, the waters are now receding. Dispatches from Leraberg 

 describe the havoc that has been wrought in the valleys beneath 

 the Carpathians by the persistent rainfall. The rivers Dniester, 

 Stryi, San, and Dunajec have overflowed their banks, causing 

 great damage, especially in the districts of Zydaczow, Stryi, 

 Przemysl, and Rimanow. At Turka twenty-two houses have 

 been destroyed by the floods or struck by lightning, and many 

 persons lost their lives. 



During the past week the heat has been excessive in the 

 midland and southern parts of England ; it reached or exceeded 

 80^ at Greenwich Observatory on eight successive days from the 

 8th instant, which is the longest period this summer during 

 which such high temperatures have been recorded. On Wed- 

 nesday, the 9'h instant, and on Monday and Tuesday last, 

 the temperature exceeded 85° in several places, and reached 

 89° in the neighbourhood of London on the latter day. On 

 the 9th and loih this exceptional heat culminated in severe 

 thunderstorms in most parts of the country ; in Irelanl the 

 storms and rainfall were very heavy, the amount of rain measured 

 in the north of Ireland during the week ended the 12th instant 

 being '8 inch above the average. The heat on the continent 

 has been much greater than in this country ; the shade maximam 

 at Rochefort in France reached 106° on Monday last. 



Dr. W. Doberck has communicated to Hansa of July 29 

 and August 5 an interesting article on the typhoons of the China 

 Sea, a subject of which he has made a special study, and for 

 the collection of the necessary materials his position as director 

 of the Hong Kong observatory ofi^ers many advantages. So long 

 ago as September, 1886, he communicated to the Hong Kong 

 Telegrafk a paper on Ihe law of storms in the Eastern Seas. 

 The present article embodies the facts there set forth so far «s 

 they relate to the subject in question, together with the results 

 of the experience subsequently gained. The typhoons, like the 

 hurricanes of the West Indies and other parts, generally give 

 premonitory signs, such as the motions of cirrus clouds, the 

 \ swell of the sea, and motion of the barometer, but there appears 

 to be some difficulty in determining whether depressions will 

 result in ordinary gales or in typhoons, and it is essential to 

 determine quickly how a ship lies with respect to the advance 

 of the centre of the disturbance. In these and other details 

 which are of primary importance to the seaman navigating the 

 China Seas, the information contained in the paper will be very 

 useful. 



