October i i , i 900] 



NATURE 



591 



he had limited himself to indicating four grades of mean annual 

 humidity, the upper limits of which were respectively 50 per 

 cent, (very dry), 65 per cent., 80 per cent., and 100 per cent., 

 (very damp). The relative humidity over the oceans might 

 exceed 80 per cent,, but in certain regions (" horse latitudes ") 

 it was certainly much less, and in a portion of the Southern 

 Pacific it seemed not to exceed 65 per cent. One chart ex- 

 hibited the Annual Range of Humidity, viz. the difference 

 between the driest and the dampest months of the year. In 

 Britain, as in many other parts of the world, where the moder- 

 ating influence of the ocean was allowed free scope, this 

 difference did not exceed 16 per cent., but in the interior of the 

 continents it occasionally exceeded 45 per cent. , spring or summer 

 being exceedingly dry, whilst the winter was excessively damp, 

 as at Yarkand, where a humidity of 30 per cent, in May con- 

 trasted strikingly with a humidity of 84 per cent, in December. 

 This great range directed attention to the influence of tem- 

 perature (and of altitude) upon the amount of relative humidity, 

 for during temperate weather we were able to bear a great 

 humidity with equanimity, whilst the same degree of humidity, 

 accompanied by great heat, may prove disastrous to men and 

 beasts. Hence, combining humidity and temperature, the author 

 suggested mapping out the Earth according to sixteen hygro- 

 hernial types, 2l% follows: — (l) Hot (temperature 73° and over) 

 and very damp (humidity 81 per cent, or more) : Batavia, Cama- 

 roons, Mombasa. (2) Hot and moderately damp (66-80 per 

 cent.): Havana, Calcutta. (3) Hot and dry (51-65 per cent.): 

 Bagdad, Lahore, Khartum. (4) Hot and very dry (50 per 

 cent, or less) : Disa, Wadi Haifa, Kuka. (5) Warm (tempera- 

 ture 58^ to 72°) and very damp : Walvisch Bay, Arica. (6) 

 Warm and moderately damp : Lisbon, Rome, Damascus, Tokyo, 

 New Orleans. (7) Warm and dry : Cairo, Algiers, Kimberley. 

 (8) Warm and very dry : Mexico, Teheran. (9) Cool (tempera- 

 ture 33° to 57°) and very damp : Greenwich, Cochabambo, (10) 

 Cool and moderately damp : Vienna, Melbourne, Toronto, 

 Chicago. (11) Cool and dry: Tashkent, Simla, Cheyenne. 

 (12) Cool and very dry: Yarkand, Denver. (13) Cold (tem- 

 perature 32" or less) and very damp : Ben Nevis, Sagastyr, 

 Godthaab. (14) Cold and moderately damp : Tomsk, Pike's 

 Peak, Polaris House. (15) Cold and dry. (16) Cold and very 

 dry : Pamirs. 



The actual mean temperature of the Earth amounted, accord- 

 ing to his computation, to 57° F., and this isotherm, which 

 separated types 8 and 9, also divided De CandoUe's " Mikro- 

 thermes " from the plants requiring a greater amount of 

 warmth. 



Mr. Vaughan Cornish described his recent observations on 

 snow ripples with beautiful photographic illustrations, and Prof. 

 J. Milne gave an account of the large earthquakes recorded in 

 1899. Mr. R. T. Giinther described the peculiar character of 

 the coast of the Phlegroean Fields near Naples, and showed 

 that by observations of the numerous submerged buildings of 

 that district it might be possible to determine the date and 

 duration of the fluctuations of the land and sea level during the 

 last twenty centuries. The Association subsequently voted a 

 money grant to assist him in carrying out the researches which he 

 had suggested. 



Dr. H. R. Mill exhibited and described the new insulating 

 water-bottle designed by Profs. Pettersson and Nansen, and 

 made by Messrs. Ericsson, for obtaining water-samples from any 

 desired depth and bringing them up without change of tempera- 

 ture. The new apparatus was tested by Prof. Nansen last 

 August on board the Michael Sars in the North Atlantic, and 

 found to be completely satisfactory. 



Dr. Mill also read a paper on the treatment of regional 

 geography, in which he laid down the general principle that the 

 fixed conditions of the land surface had first to be described, 

 and then the mobile distributions, which were modified by the 

 fixed forms. As an example, he dwelt at some length on the 

 configuration of a section of the South Downs and the effect of 

 this configuration in determining the distribution of rainfall in 

 the district, a problem which he hoped to treat in greater detail 

 at a future date. 



Mr. J. E. Marr described the typical land form known as a 

 moel, with special reference to the forms it assumed when 

 dissected by sub-aerial erosion. 



Two educational papers of much interest were read. One by 

 Mr. T. G. Rooper dealt with the progress made in teaching of 

 geography in the elementary schools of the West Riding since 

 1883. He illustrated it by the exhibition of a series of remark- 



able relief models on different scales produced by school teachers 

 and used by them in their regular work. Some of these were 

 of typical features, such as the Red Tarn, to typify a mountain 

 lake, others of the actual school district taken from the Ordnance 

 map, and others, on a small scale, of large parts of the country. 

 The second paper was by Mr. E. R. Wethey, who gave a demon- 

 stration of his method of teaching commercial geography by the 

 use of lantern maps, diagrams and pictures, a large number of 

 which, in novel and striking forms, he showed upon the screen. 

 Educational questions have always occupied a considerable 

 share of the time of Section E, and the committee very cordially 

 supported the proposal to recommend the Council of the Associa- 

 tion to form a new Section for the discussion of education in a 

 more complete and technical manner than could be secured in a 

 gathering of votaries of one isolated branch of science. 



UNI VERS I TY AND ED UCA TIONA L 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— Mr. E. S. Goodrich has been elected to a fellow- 

 ship in natural science at Merton College. 



Cambridge. — In his annual address to the Senate at the 

 opening of the term, the Vice-Chancellor announced that the 

 Benefactor Fund amounted to 55,000/., and that the Squire 

 Trustees had agreed to contribute 15,000/. towards the erection 

 of the Law School. The plans for the Botanical and Medical 

 Departments have been approved, and building will shortly 

 commence ; but fresh benefactions are still needed to meet the 

 urgent demands for further accommodation. 



The new Department of Agriculture, under the able guidance 

 of Prof. Somerville, is now well started. The funds at its dis- 

 posal have enabled it to secure an efficient staff, and it is pro- 

 vided with an excellent experimental farm. The University 

 has sought to encourage the study by establishing a special 

 amination in agricultural science for the B.A. degree. 



Dr. L. Humphry has been appointed assessor to the Regius 

 Professor of Physic ; Sir G. G. Stokes and Prof. Darwin electors 

 to the Isaac Newton Studentship in Physical Astronomy ; and 

 Dr. Tatham an examiner for the diploma in Public Health. 

 Mr. Leathem (St. John's) and Mr. Grace (Peterhouse) have 

 been appointed moderators, and Mr. Whitehead (Trinity) an 

 examiner, for the Mathematical Tripos. 



Rooms for work in clinical pathology, bacteriology, &c., have 

 just been erected by the staff and presented as a gift to Adden- 

 brooke's Hospital. They will be open for work, under the 

 direction of Prof. Sims Woodhead, during the present term. 



At Emmanuel College a research studentship of 100/. has been 

 awarded to Mr. J. Mellanby. Grants have been made from the 

 studentship fund of 60/. to Mr. G. F. Abbott, and of 40/. to 

 Mr. D. G. Hall. At Queen's College the Rev. C. H. W. Johns 

 has been elected to the office of lecturer in Assyriology. 



Mr. C. R. p. Andrews, of St. John's Training College, 

 Battersea, has been appointed first principal of the new Govern- 

 ment training college to be opened at Perth, Western Australia. 



Dr. Samson Gemmell, of Anderson's College, Glasgow, has 

 been appointed professor of clinical medicine in the University 

 of Glasgow, in succession to Prof. McCall Anderson. 



Dr. Cullis, professor of mathematics at the Hartley College, 

 Southampton, has been appointed professor of mathematics at 

 the Presidency College, Calcutta. 



Mr. J. F. Hudson, late lecturer in mathematics at Jesus 

 College, Oxford, has been appointed professor of mathematics 

 at the Hartley College, Southampton. 



Mr. J. Stuart Thomson, formerly demonstrator of zoology 

 at the School of Medicine of the Royal Colleges, Edinburgh, has 

 been appointed lecturer in botany and zoology at the Municipal 

 Science, Art and Technical Schools, Plymouth. 



The School of Engineering of Columbia University, New 

 York, announces a new course of study dealing with the con- 

 struction of automobiles, self-propelling road engines and 

 railway cars. 



Prof, Goss has been made dean of the Engineering Schools 

 of Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind., and Prof. L. C. Glen, of 

 South Carolina College, has been appointed to the chair of 

 geology in Vanderbilt University, 



Mr. Percy H. Foulkes has been elected first principal of 

 the Harper Adams College, Newport, Salop. He will enter 



NO. 161 5, VOL. 62] 



