August 17, 1893] 



NA TURE 



Z77 



The report of the chief of the United States Weather Bureau 

 for the year 1892 has recenlly been received, and shows that 

 mucli attention has been given to the improvement of weather 

 forecasts, the result being a success of 82 '9 per cent, in the 

 combined predictions of weather and temperature for twenty- 

 four h)urs in advance. Until recently the issue of predictions was 

 restricted to the Washington office, but now a number of compe- 

 tent observers make forecasts for their immediate vicinity. In 

 order to render this service as efficient as possible, telegraphic 

 reports are received when considered necessary from several of 

 the West India > islands. Various important investigations have 

 recintly been published, and at present the subject of the rain- 

 fall of the entire country is under discussion. The policy of 

 the Bureau favours the establishment of high-level stations, and 

 the observatory at Pike's Peak has been reopened ; advantage 

 has also been taken of one or two balloon ascents to obtain 

 observations made in free air. Every effort is being made 

 to advance the science of meteorology ; the entire territory 

 of the United States is now covered by local weather services 

 with the exception of Alaska, and the weekly and monthly 

 reports issued by them contain tables of meteorological 

 data and discussions of great value to immigrants, invalids 

 and to men of science generally. The Monlhly Weather 

 Review, issued by the Central Bureau, is a highly creditable 

 work, prepared fro n the reports of upwards of 2600 observers. 

 We also observe that frequent applications are made to the 

 Bureau for climitological statistics, and that theie are generally 

 satisfied without expanse to the applicants. Ttte number of 

 such applications during the year amounted to over 500 ; this 

 fact alone is sufficient to show .the liberal policy of the 

 Bureau. 



SO.ME elaborate investigations on the disinfecting powers of 

 hypochloride of soda, chloride of lime, and peroxide of hydrogen 

 have been recently published by Chamberland and Fernbach in 

 the Annales de I'lnstitut Pasteur, June, I S93. When these 

 materials were employed at a temperature of from 40-50° C. and 

 higher, their action was invariably more rapid than when they 

 were used at the ordinary temperature, thus affording a striking 

 confirmation of fielder's experiments on the greater efficiency of 

 disinfectantsat higher temperatures, reference to which was made 

 in NATUKEfor June 15. Micro-organisms in dry surroundings 

 were found far more capable of resisting the action of these 

 disinfectants than when exposed in a moist condition, that 

 whereas in the latter case they were destroyed in a few minutes, 

 in the former they defied an exposure of several hours, even to 

 hot disinfectants. If, however, such dried germs be subjected to 

 one hour's immersion in water they lose their power of resistance, 

 for on the subsequent application of the disinfectant they 

 succumb rapidly. These authors insist, therefore, on the im- 

 portance of first spraying the walls of a room with water before 

 commencing their disinfection. In conclusion a solution of 

 chloride of lime (prepared by extracting one part of chloride of 

 lime with ten parts of water and diluting the clear extract with 

 ten limes its volume of water) is recommended as an exceedingly 

 efficient as well as economical disinfectant for practical purposes. 



An interesting example of the degree of resistance to high 

 temperatures exhibited by some micro-organisms has lately 

 been published in the Centralblatt fiir Bakteriologie, May 17, 

 1893. Whilst preparing nutritive gelatin-peptone in the usual 

 manner, Ileim found that, despite all precaulions of sterilisation 

 &c. , numerous yellow or reddish-yellow centres subsequently 

 appeared in the culture material. On isolating out these colo- 

 nies and further studying them, these growths were ascertained 

 to be derived from two spore-producing bacilli which had resisted 

 the usual IO-20 minutes' exposure to steam on three successive 

 days. On further studying these organisms it was found that 



NO 1242. VOL. 48] 



one of them required three hours' continuous steaming before 

 being destroyed, whilst the other was not annihilated until this 

 had been prolonged for seven hours. These extremely hardy 

 spores were traced to the leaf-gelatin employed, and as in 

 many respects they resembled certain soil-microbes, Ileim 

 supposes that in some manner or other during its preparation the 

 gelatin must have come in contact with soil. Still more recently 

 a cladothrix has been found in water which, on account of its 

 ability to resist high temperatures has been called Ciadothrix 

 invulnerabilis (Centralblatt f. Bakteriologie, vol. xiv. p. 14). 

 It was still endowed with vitality after having undergone six 

 successive exposures to ordinary intermittent sterilisation at 

 100° C. 



M. Louis Boutan has succeeded in taking -submarine 

 photographs under various conditions, by a method de- 

 scribed in the Comptes Rendtis, No. 5. A ca iierA con 

 structed for several successive exposures was enclosed in a 

 metal box provided with plane-parallel glass windows mounted 

 in copper rings. The apparatus was mounted on a heavy 

 stand provided with weights, so as to give it a steady footing 

 on the sea bottom. Near the shore, in depths not exceeding I 

 or 2 m., the camera could be placed in position without the 

 necessity of the observer entering the water, and negatives n ere 

 obtained by direct sunlight in about 13 minute*. With an 

 exposure of 30 minutes negatives could be obtained at depths 

 of 6 or 7 m., the apparatus being put up by a diver. The best 

 imagts were obtained by placing a blue glass in front of the 

 lens, but even the best showed a want of depth which could 

 only be relieved by using a very small diaphragm. This difficulty 

 would disappear if the lenses were adapted to submarine work 

 to begin with. Pictures of the sea-bottom were also obtained 

 instantaneously during a storm by means of a flash-light, consist- 

 ing of an alcohol lamp fed by a reservoir of oxygen. Magnesiinif 

 powder was projected into the flame by pressing a rubber ball. 

 The depth at which these photographs can be taken is at 

 present limited to that which can be attained by the diver. 



The absorption of light by platinum at different temperatures 

 is discussed in a highly interesting paper recently communicated 

 to the Accademia delle Scienzedi Torino by Dr. G. B. Rizzo. 

 He succeeded in obtaining transparent films of platinum pro- 

 duced under such conditions as to exclude the possibility of 

 oxidation on raising the temperature. The apparatus employed 

 consisted of two glass cylinders joined by a thin tube. Another 

 tube was soldered to the middle of the latter, and connected 

 with an air-pump and a reservoir containing nitrogen. The 

 tubes were filled with nitrogen several limes, and exhausted, S) 

 as finally to contain a rarefied atmosphere of nitrogen. One of 

 the platinum electrodes was partly encased in glass, and con- 

 nected with the negative pole of a RhumkorlT coil excited by 

 six Bunsens, the other electrode being connected to the positive 

 pole. Under these conditions the negative pole was volatilised 

 and deposited as a thin film upon the walls of the glass cylinder 

 containing the electrode. The glass cylinder was then discon- 

 nected by filling the apparatus with nitrogen to atmospheiic 

 pressure, melting the thin tube under the blowpipe, and draw- 

 ing it out to a rod to be broken off. The platinum electrode 

 was bent out of the way by melting its glass sheath, and the 

 result was a cylinder of glass containing a fine deposit oi 

 platinum and filled with nitrogen. This cylinder was placed in 

 an iron cylinder in a small gypsum furnace, and heated by a 

 spiral tube of small gas jets. Light was transmitted through 

 windows in the iron tube, and a Kriiss universal spectroscope 

 was used to compare the spectra transmitted through the glass 

 and platinum, and through the glass only. The temperatures 

 were measured by the calorimetric method. After allowing (or 

 the various reflections undergone by the light, it was found that 



