October 8, 1891] 



NATURE 



549 



organizing committee will select a teacher or lecturer, and 

 endeavour to arrange a circuit for him comprising the centres 

 needing his services, apparatus and illustrations being provided 

 by means of the fund for that purpose. By this means the aid of 

 thoroughly qualified and equipped instructors may be obtained 

 by the local committees at a cost considerably less than would 

 be incurred if each centre were to act independently. 



Strenuous efforts are being made in Scotland to secure that 

 the country shall be supplied with a sound and adequate system 

 of technical instruction. An important public meeting will be 

 held at Edinburgh, on Thursday, October 29, for the considera- 

 tion of the subject. Lord Elgin will preside, and it is expected 

 that several members of both Houses of Parliament, and others 

 interested in the question, will take part in the proceedings. 

 The following are the provisional agenda :—(i) Chairman's 

 address ; (2) report on action taken up to this time by Town 

 and County Councils— (a) in England, [b) in Scotland— with 

 reference to the application of the sums available for technical 

 education under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 

 1890 ; (3) the relation of the Local Taxation Act to technical 

 (including commercial and agricultural) education ; (4) report 

 on various agencies already available for technical instruction in 

 Scotland— (a) in rural districts, {b) in towns ; (5) the amend- 

 ments necessary in the Technical Schools (Scotland) Act, 1887. 



The Nicholson Institute, Leek, of which Sir Philip Magnus 

 is President, has issued its Calendar for the session 1891-92 ; 

 and an admirable Calendar it is, presenting many varied elements 

 of interest. In the technical school connected with the Institute 

 there will be classes for the study of wood-carving, modelling, 

 bleaching, hygiene, and other subjects ; and in the "science 

 department" instruction will be given in botany, physiology, 

 physiography, machine construction and drawing, and practical 

 plane and solid geometry. 



An Agricultural and Mechanical College is about to be estab- 

 lished at Sao Paulo, in Brazil, an endowment of 200,000 dollars 

 having already been promised, and the further aid of the 

 Government secured. The Presidency of the College has been 

 offered to Prof. L. H. Bailey, the American botanist. 



In the Report for 1 891 of the Governors of the Baltimore Fish- 

 ing School, an interesting sketch of the history of the institution 

 is given. The progress of the school encourages the Governors 

 to believe that its success will prove of great advantage to Irish 

 fisheries. They point out, however, that its operations are not 

 on the enlarged scale originally contemplated ; and to all who 

 can appreciate the importance of the youth of the Irish coasts 

 being trained in remunerative industrial pursuits, the Governors 

 appeal for contributions to enable them to extend their work. 

 The boys are thoroughly instructed in everything that pertains to 

 the labours of fishermen. They also receive the literary educa- 

 tion usual in such establishments ; and a special class has been 

 formed for the teaching of elementary navigation in connec- 

 tion with the Science and Art Department. At the last exa- 

 mination in this subject twenty-four pupils presented themselves. 

 Of these, not one failed, twenty- two passing in the first division, 

 and two in the second. 



We have received from the Meteorological Council a copy of 

 the "Meteorological Observations at Stations of the Second 

 Order" for the year 1887, containing observations and results 

 for 66 stations. At 21 stations the observations taken at 

 9h. a.m. and gh. p.m. are printed in e.xlenso, and the whole 

 work is on the same plan as in the volume for 1886 (Nature, 

 vol. xliii. p. 20), viz. the barometer observations are given 

 without reduction to sea-level, and the differences between the 

 dry and wet bulb thermometer readings are given as the "de- 

 ipression of wet-bulb." The maximum and minimum thermo- 

 NO. II 45, VOL. 44] 



meters are read at gh. p.m., and the readings entered to the day 

 on which they were read. The rainfall is measured at 9h. a.m., 

 and the amount registered entered to the previous day. Fog is 

 only entered when the observer is quite enveloped in it. This 

 work has been continued in a more or less complete form since 

 1866 (when, however, there was only one station) ; and the sum- 

 maries contain, inter alia, very useful rhumh of the state of the 

 weather and wind-distribution, and afford excellent materials 

 for preparing a revised climatology of the British Isles, The 

 work is accompanied by a key map, showing the distribution of 

 the stations, and indicating those which belong to the Royal 

 and Scottish Meteorological Societies : it will be seen that all 

 districts are well represented except, perhaps, on the more ex- 

 posed western coasts and islands. A special table is also given, 

 showing the number of hours of bright sunshine in each month for 

 those stations at which sunshine-recorders exist. 



The Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army has, just before the 

 transfer of the Meteorological Service to the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment, issued three atlases, bearing upon the meteorology of the 

 United States, showing— (i) The isobars, isotherms, and winds for 

 each month from January to December for the years 1871-73, a 

 period prior to the regular publication of the monthly charts. The 

 data used include all the materials possessed by the Smithsonian 

 Institution. (2) The probability of rainy days, prepared from 

 observations for 18 years (1871-88). The average number of 

 such days for all months and for each station has been calcu- 

 lated, and the percentages thus obtained are graphically shown 

 on the charts. The data show great differences of distribution 

 of rainfall in localities not far distant from each other ; the in- 

 fluence of the prevailing direction of the wind in increasing the 

 number of rainy days is particularly noticeable in the Lake 

 region. (3) The average monthly cloudiness for the period 1871- 

 88. Cloud observations show indirectly the relative amount of 

 sunshine, as it may be assumed, within reasonable limits, that 

 the complement of cloudiness will be sunshine. The investiga- 

 tion of this element is useful in determining the suitableness of 

 certain localities for health resorts, or for the ripening of crops, 

 and the charts may be considered as standard cloud maps of the 

 United States. 



Dr. King, Director of the Bjtanical Survey of India, has 

 issued a Report on the working of the Botanical Survey in 

 Assam and Burmah, for which 200d rupees are annually allowed, 

 with a view to arranging a plan for working by native collectors. 

 Dr. King visited Assam in the latter half of last year, and found 

 the local authorities ready to afford every assistance. Two native 

 collectors were secured, and set to work near Golaghat, and in 

 the Khasia Hills. The Conservator of Forests also sent a large 

 number of specimens to the Herbarium at Calcutta, and a 

 Eurasian collector was employed for a time in Cachar. Some 

 interesting plants were also obtained from the base of the 

 Eastern Himalayas. Fairly good work was done in Upper 

 Burmah by a native collector, and his specimens are now in 

 course of being arranged at the Calcutta Herbarium. The 

 collecting agencies continue working during the present year. 



Dr. Prain, the Curator of the Herbarium of the Calcutta 

 Botanical Gardens, accompanied the surveying ship Invisti- 

 gator during part of her operations in the Bay of Bengal last 

 year. By a special arrangement. Dr. Prain was put down on 

 the Great Coco Island for a few days, and was also enabled to 

 pay short visits to the Little Coco and to Rutland Islands. Ex- 

 cept for the visit made by Dr. Prain under similar circumstances 

 the previous year, the Great Coco had not before been explored 

 by a botanist, and the Little Coco and Rutland Islands were 

 this year visited for the first time. Accounts of these visits are 

 to be officially published in due course. 



