38o 



NATURE 



[May 26, 1910 



■second, the anemometer at Nice often showed velocities of 

 7 to 10 metres per second without interfering with the 

 flyers. It is interesting to note that the starting place 

 was close to the mast where the late Captain Ferber 

 made his early experiments. The writer also refers to the 

 liberality of the citizens of Nice and others in contributing 

 to the prize funds. 



A spell of really warm weather occurred over the British 

 Islands, and the weather report for the weekending May 21, 

 wsued by the Meteorological Office, shows that the shade 

 temperature was everywhere above the normal, the mean 

 for the period ranging from about 3° to 6° in excess of the 

 average in different parts of the kingdom. The warmest 

 •district was the south-cast of England, where the mean was 

 58°, and the absolutely highest temperature was 83°, at 

 Hillington, in the east of England, on May 20. The lowest 

 -shade temperature anywhere was 37°, but slight frost 

 •occurred in the open in several places. The mean tempera- 

 ture of the sea was considerably higher than during the 

 preceding week on many parts of the coast, and was 

 generally higher than in the corresponding week of last 

 year. The rainfall was mostly in excess of the average, 

 and the aggregate measurement since the commencement of 

 the year is largely in excess of the average, the excess 

 being more than 3 inches in several of the northern and 

 western districts. There was a good deal of sea fog and 

 mist along the east and north-east coasts of Great Britain. 

 Thunderstorms were very common in England, and rather 

 so in Scotland and the south of Ireland. On May 20 and 

 21 they occurred over a wide area in Great Britain, and 

 ■several persons were killed by lightning. 



In our issue of December 2 last full particulars were 

 given of the eighth International Zoological Congress which 

 IS to be held at Graz (Austria) on August 15-20 next, under 

 the presidency of Prof. Ludwig von Graff. We, have re- 

 ceived a second circular in connection with the congress 

 ■which gives much practical guidance to foreign visitors. 

 It is pointed out that as the most direct route to Graz is 

 via Vienna, many of the scientific institutions of that city 

 have made arrangements to receive foreign visitors during 

 August 12 and 13. Arrangements 'are being made to secure 

 a reduction of fares on the Austrian railways. The circular 

 also provides full details of the numerous e.xcursions which 

 have been arranged. We may remind zoologists that all 

 inquiries relative to the congress should be sent to the 

 Prasidium des VIII. Internationalen Zoologenkongresses 

 Graz (Osterreich) Universitatsplatz 2. 



It is with great regret that we have to announce the 

 death of M. Bernard Brunhes, the director of the observa- 

 tory of the Puy de D6me. M. Brunhes died at the early 

 age of forty-seven, and had been in charge of the 

 ■observatory for only the last nine years, but he brought to 

 its administration a high reputation for capacity and in- 

 dustry, qualities which were recognised while a student at 

 the Sorbonne, and had been further developed during his 

 occupancy of important scientific positions both at Dijon 

 ^nd Clermont-Ferrand. Under his directorship the 

 observatory won a prominent position for researches in the 

 «ev«ral departments of terrestrial magnetism, the physics of 

 the earth's crust, and the exploration of the upper atmo- 

 sphere. M. Brunhes will be particularly remembered for 

 his researches in meteorology, in which mechanical con- 

 trivances could be employed to elucidate physical pheno- 

 mena. With considerable ingenuity he discussed the 

 mechanical action exerted by a horizontal current of air 

 ■upon a whirlwind, having sinistrorsal and dextrorsal motion 

 .about a vertical axis susceptible of lateral displacement. 

 NO. 2 I 17, VOL. 83] 



.Another subject which engaged his attention was the effect 

 of a want of symmetry in the action of running water, as 

 exhibited in the erosion effects upon opposite banks of 

 rivers. His reputation must, however, rest mainly on the 

 work of weather forecasting, to which purpose the activities 

 of the observatory were chiefly directed. He held in scorn 

 those who attempted forecasting without any knowledge of 

 the general movement of the atmosphere, and on the occa- 

 sion ot the proposal of the sensational scheme for competi- 

 tion in \veather forecasting, his denunciation of those who, 

 to acquire a little brief notoriety, were willing to run the 

 risk of bringing science into disrepute was both merited 

 and timely. As a writer of scientific treatises intended to 

 make science popular, he was exceedingly successful. In 

 crystallography, terrestrial magnetism, and meteorology, 

 his books have been welcomed as models of clearness and 

 accuracy, while his latest work on "La degradation de 

 I'Energie " has won a well-deserved approval. 



The scientific side of geographical exploration has 

 suffered a severe loss by the death of Lieut. Boyd 

 .Alexander, in the Sudan, at thirty-seven years of age. 

 From information received at the Foreign Office it appears 

 that Lieut. Alexander was killed at Nyeri, about seventy 

 miles north-east of Abeshr, the capital of Wadai, on 

 April 2, a few days before the French troops met and 

 defeated the native bands opposed to the French occupa- 

 tion of the country. Lieut. Alexander began his career as 

 a traveller-naturalist in 1897 by an expedition to the Cape 

 Verde Islands, and in the following year he made expedi- 

 tions to the Zambezi and Kafue Rivers. In 1904 he visited 

 Fernando Po, and made some valuable ornithological 

 observations. His most important work, however, was 

 accomplished during the Alexander-Gosling expedition of 

 1904-7, which crossed the African continent from west to 

 east. One of the objects of this expedition was to study 

 the distribution of the fauna between the Niger and the 

 Nile from the point of view of zoological relationships 

 between the west coast region and the Nile basin. The 

 expedition mapped a large area, made systematic observa- 

 tions of the natural history and ethnology of the region 

 traversed, and secured collections of great value to science. 

 For this achievement Lieut. Alexander was awarded the 

 gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society. Toward 

 the end of 1908 he left England for further zoological and 

 geographical explorations, and was in the German 

 Kamerun Colony during the great earthquake in that part 

 of Africa about a year ago, and the subsequent eruption 

 of the Kamerun Mountain. He then passed to the Lake 

 Chad region, and at the time of his death appears to have 

 been making his way to the Nile by the north of Wadai 

 and Dafur. It is greatly to be deplored that this 

 adventurous journey has deprived science of an explorer 

 and naturalist of such great distinction and promise. 



We learn from the Builder for May 21 that next year, 

 in connection with her International Exhibition, Italy will 

 inaugurate the great national monument to Victor 

 Emmanuel, which has been a quarter of a centurj' in 

 building, and has cost an immense sum of money. By 

 its importance, and, on the whole, by its artistic excel- 

 lence, it is worthy of the patriot king. The breadth of 

 the monument is 460 feet and its depth 480 feet. Standing 

 on a spur of the Capitoline Hill, it is one of the most 

 prominent objects in the City of Rome. On a lofty 

 pedestal in the midst of a stately lay-out of steps and 

 terraces stands the colossal equestrian statue of *' il r^ 

 galant'uomo " by Enrico Chiaradia. It is approached 

 from below by a stair 130 feet wide in four flights of 

 convex plan, and as a background it has a gigantic 



