66 



NATURE 



[May 21, 1891 



young workman shall acquire "a knowledge of the scientific or 

 artistic principles which are applicable to his trade or industry," 

 and that by the development of his powers of observation and in- 

 sight into the laws which govern all things " he may afterwards be 

 enabled to effect improvements and excel to a greater extent 

 than heretofore in the work he desires to accomplish." 



The Gottingen Society of Sciences has recently offered the 

 following prize in physics for September 30, 1893:— From the 

 researches of W. kontgen and A. Kundt on variation of the 

 optical properties of quartz in the electric field, there appears to 

 be a close connection between the electro-optic phenomena and 

 the elastic deformations which that piezo- electric substance 

 shows under the action of electrostatic forces. An exten- 

 sion of these inquiries to a series of piezo-electric crystals with 

 various properties of symmetry seems highly desirable. The 

 investigation should also be directed to determining whether 

 the electro-optic phenomena in piezo-electric crystals are caused 

 exclusively by the deformations occurring in the electric field or, 

 besides, by a direct action of the electrostatic forces on the 

 light-motion. Prize, £2^. 



The German Society for the Encouragement of Industry 

 offers the following (among other) prizes: (i) How far is the 

 chemical composition, of steel, and especially the amount of 

 carbon present, a measure of the usefulness of cutting tools ? 

 Prize, a silver medal and ;^300 ; date, November 15, 1891. 

 (2) A silver medal and ;/fi50 for the best chemical and 

 physical investigation of the most common iron paints. Date, 

 November 15, 1894. (3) A gold medal and ;,^I50 for the best 

 work on the magnetism of iron. This should comprise a critical 

 comparison of previous observations ; also personal observations 

 on steel and wrought iron bars of the most various chemical 

 ■composition possible, examination being made both of the 

 strength of temporary magnetization with absolutely measured 

 and varying magnetizing force, and the strength of permanent 

 magnetism and its durability with regard to temperature-changes 

 and vibrations. Date, November 15, 1893. (4) Investigation 

 of the trustworthiness of the usual methods of determining the 

 carbon in iron. Prize, a silver medal and ^150 ; date, Novem- 

 ber 15, 1892). 



The extraordinary collection of mummies, papyri, and other 

 objects of antiquarian interest recovered last February at Deir-el- 

 Bahari is now safely housed in the Ghizeh Museum. According 

 to the Cairo correspondent of the Times, all the objects are in 

 good condition, although some anxiety was caused by the pro- 

 tracted journey by boats from Luxor. The correspondent says 

 that the mummies mostly belong to the 21st Dynasty, and, 

 though styled Priests of Ammon, are supposed to be the 

 ■corpses of generals and other official dignitaries who bore 

 ecclesiastical besides other titles. The 163 mummies and 

 the 75 papyri are not yet unrolled, and it is difficult to 

 form an estimate of their archaeological value, as many of the 

 sarcophagi bear different names on the outer and inner casings, 

 whilst others have the names usually inscribed on the outer 

 ■casings intentionally effaced. M. Grebaut thinks that, owing to 

 this circumstance and the magnitude of the collection, some 

 time will be required before any important communications can 

 be made to the scientific world. 



A SERIES of experiments has been lately made by Herr 

 Ruhner (Archiv fiir Hygiene), with regard to the familiar fact 

 that not only dry high temperatures are more easily borne than 

 moist, but dry cold causes much less discomfort than moist 

 cold. Dogs, fasting or fed, being observed in an air- calorimeter, 

 it appeared that, in all cases, moist air increased the loss of 

 heat by conduction and radiation. For every variation of the 

 air-moisture i per cent., heat was parted with to the extent 

 of o'32 per cent. In a previous investigation, Herr Rubner 

 NO. II 25, VOL. 44] 



demonstrated the lessened yield of water by evaporation from 

 animals where the air-moisture is increased, involving lessened 

 loss of heat. Here, then, are two antagonistic influences. He 

 is disposed to regard the increased radiation and conduction in 

 moist air as the primary action, and the diminished evaporation 

 as secondary. The colder feeling of moist cold than dry is 

 readily explained by the increased heat radiation. In moist 

 heat, with the sense of oppression it brings, this factor passes 

 rather into the background. The degree of temperature, an d 

 some other influences, of complex nature, also affect the amount 

 of radiation. 



The Meteorological Council have issued a publication con- 

 taining the hourly means obtained from the self-recording 

 instruments at their observatories for the year 1887. This work 

 constitutes a new departure in the use made of the records of 

 the self-registering instruments, and one which we think will be 

 of much practical use to meteorologists. The publication of 

 the hourly observations in extenso, at the request of a number of 

 scientific men, began with the year 1874, and was continued until 

 1880, in a lithographed form, and the daily means were added in 

 1879 ; fro"" the year 1881 to 1886 they were issued in a printed 

 form. The Council, after careful consideration, have now come 

 to the conclusion that it is preferable, for a time at least, to pub- 

 lish mean values only ; hitherto no hourly means had been 

 published by the Office, but in the present work these have been 

 grouped into five-day and other periods, in a convenient form 

 for discussion, and the necessity for dealing with an excessive 

 number of values has thereby been obviated, while many iiseful 

 tables not included in the old series have been added. It is pro- 

 posed to calculate the means similarly for earlier years, while 

 the original records will be carefully preserved, and will be 

 available, should they be needed, for any special research. 



The Annual Report of the Director of the Royal Alfred 

 Observatory, Mauritius, for the year 1889 shows that the island 

 has'again enjoyed immunity from storms ; the greatest hourly 

 velocity of the wind was 31 miles. The almost total absence 

 of tropical cyclones in the South Indian Ocean during the 

 year is considered by Dr. Meldrum as another confirmation of 

 the law that these cyclones are fewest in number and least 

 intense in the years of least solar activity. The mean tempera- 

 ture was o°7 below the average for the last fifteen years, and 

 below the average in every month except July and October. The 

 maximum shade temperature was 93°* i on March 27, and the 

 minimum 52° -4 on June 18. The rainfall was 8*56 inches above 

 the average; the greatest fall in one day was 3 '88 inches on 

 March li, although this amount was much exceeded in other 

 parts of the island. On January i, a waterspout burst on the 

 Pouce Mountain ; Port Louis was flooded, and some persons 

 were drowned. The collection of observations made at sea is 

 actively carried on ; 324 log-books were received, and the ob- 

 servations duly tabulated, The Report also contains observations 

 made at the Seychelles and Rodriguez. 



In a paper recently published in the Meteorologische Zeit- 

 schrift. Prof. Hellmann, of Berlin, shows, from observations 

 taken at different British, Continental, and American stations, 

 at which barographs are used, that ihere exists a close coinci- 

 dence in the daily range of the monthly extremes and in that of 

 the hourly values of the barometer. He finds that the hours of 

 occurrence of the highest and the lowest readings of the baro- 

 meter during a month agree almost completely with the times in 

 which the normal daily range has its maxima and minima, both 

 curves being so similar in shape that it may be possible to judge 

 of the general character of the daily range of the barometer 

 from knowing only the hours at which the monthly extremes 

 mostly occur. Hence, as the lowest readings of the barometer 

 are accompanied by cloudy and stormy weather, during which 



