632 



NATURE 



[October 29, 1891 



THE INTERNATIONAL METEOROLOGICAL 

 CONFERENCE. 



THIS meeting, which was more or less of a private character, 

 as it was not organized in any way through diplomatic 

 channels, took place at Munich from August 26 to September 2. 

 It was held in the building of the Technical High School, and 

 was attended by 32 members, representing most European and 

 some extra- European countries. As to the latter, the United 

 States contributed four members, while Brazil and Queensland 

 sent one each. Roumania and Bulgaria for the first time took 

 part in one of these meteorological gatherings. Dr. Lang, the 

 head of the Bavarian meteorological system, was appointed 

 President, and Prof. Mascart (Paris) with Prof. Harrington 

 ( Washington) Vice-Presidents. The Secretaries were Dr. Erk 

 (Munich), Mr. Scott, and M. Teisserenc de Bort (Paris). 



The folfowing is a brief summary of the most important 

 practical results and recommendations of the Conference. 



All temperatures published after 1901 are to be referred to 

 the readings of the air thermometer. Actinometrical observa- 

 tions are not held to be sufficiently certain to justify their general 

 introduction. The application of a ventilating arrangement to 

 wet-bulb thermometers was recommended. Rain. — It was 

 decided to count as days of rain those on which 0*005 inch 

 (o'l mm.) of rain was measured, and to print monthly the 

 number of days on which o'Oj inch (or r mm.) fell. Sno7v.—A 

 note is to be made in monthly schedules of the number of days 

 on which about half the country surrounding the station is under 

 snow. Clouds. — A new classification of clouds to replace 

 Howard's, proposed by Prof. Hildebrandsson and the Hon. R. 

 Abercromby, was adopted by a large majority, England and the 

 United States being dissentients. A committee was then ap- 

 pointed to consider the question of typical cloud pictures in 

 general, taking the above classification more or less as a basis of 

 arrangement. A report was also received and adopted on the 

 observation of the motions, &c. , of cirrus and other high-level 

 clouds. Wind. — Robinson's anemometer was the only form of 

 instrument discussed. It was decided that no instrumental 

 results should Jse published unless the instrument had been 

 previously compared with a standard, either directly or in- 

 directly. Time. — A proposal to recommend the adoption of 

 universal or zone time was emphatically rejected, on the ground 

 that local time can alone be used for climatological inquiry. It 

 was further decided in all publications to insist on commencing 

 the day with midnight as o hours. Gravity correction. — It was 

 decided to introduce the practice of correcting barometrical 

 readings for the force of gravity at lat. 45° after the beginning 

 of the year 1 901. 



Mr, Wragge, for Queensland, and Captain Pinheiro, for Brazil, 

 gave interesting notices of what is being done for meteoro- 

 logy in their respective countries. It was resolved that an 

 International Meteorological Committee should be constituted to 

 prepare for a possible Congress in Paris in the year 1896. The 

 Committee is to consist of 17 members, of whom 14 were elected, 

 and it was decided to fill the 3 vacancies by the co-option of 

 extra-European meteorologists. The officers of the Committee — 

 Messrs. Wild and Scott — were reappointed. 



The questions relating to terrestrial magnetism were referred 

 by the Conference to a special sub-committee, whose decisions 

 will appear in the published report of the proceedings, 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 19. — M. Duchartre in the 

 chair. — Memoir on the underground temperatures observed at 

 the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, during the winter 1890-91, 

 by M. Henri Becquerel. A thermo-electric arrangement was 

 used for the determination of the temperatures beneath two 

 surfaces, one of which was covered with sand and devoid of 

 vegetation, whilst the other had grass and some plants growing 

 upon it. The two soils were similar, and in each case the 

 temperatures were taken at five points, having depths ranging 

 between 5 cm, and about 60 cm. The observations extend 

 from November i, 1890, to March 31, 1891, the temperatures 

 being taken at 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. daily. These have been 

 plotted, and the resulting curves strikingly show the variations 

 which occurred in the interval, and the extinction of detail with 

 increased depth. The diurnal variation at the greatest depth 

 was a few tenths of a degree, whilst that of the air was about 

 14°. At a depth of 18 cm, beneath the sandy covering the 



I variation was the same as in air, but at all the other points the 

 effect was reversed — that is, the temperature fell from 6 a.m. to 

 3 p.m., and rose during the night. It also appears from the 

 observations that Fourier's theory of the diffisrenlial relation 

 existing between temperature, time, and depth of thermometer 

 represents very well the propagation of heat in a superficial 

 layer of soil, and that the coefficient of conductivity of 

 this layer for determined conditions of humidity may be 

 deduced from observations of underground temperatures. 

 A certain thickness of earth protects the roots of plants 

 from the effi^cts of a sharp frost, t.ut it may not be equally effi- 

 cacious against a long one of less intensity, for the velocity of 

 propagation of a variation of temperature, and the depth at 

 which this variation is felt, depends upon the duration of its 

 period. A layer of grass, covering soil, has the same protecting 

 effijct during the winter as that of about 50 cm, of mould. — Re- 

 searches on the cause of rheumatic diathesis, by M. F. P. le 

 Roux. — Observations of ^V'olf's periodic comet, made at Algiers 

 Observatory with the telescope of 0-50 m. aperture, by MM. Ram- 

 baud and Sy. Observations for position were made on August 

 4, 5, 8, and 31, and on September 7. — On the reduction, to a 

 canonical form, of equations from derived partials of the first 

 order and the seeond degree, by Mr. Elliot. — On cyclic systems, 

 and on the deformation of surfaces, by M. E. Cosserat. — Calcu- 

 lation of the magnetic rotation of the plane of polarization of 

 light, by M. G, Hinrichs. The simple law connecting the 

 rotation of the plane of polarization with the thickness of 

 the medium traversed is shown to be applicable to the mole- 

 cular rotation of a normal paraffin. — On a new method for 

 estimating nitric acid and the total nitrogen, by M, E. Boyer. 

 The method is founded upon the reduction of nitric acid to am- 

 monia, by oxalates and sulphur, in the presence of soda-lime. — 

 On the action of nitric acid on dimethyl ortho-anisidine, by M. 

 P. van Romburgh. — On \.\\^ glolndicide power of blood serum, 

 by M. G. Daremberg. The author terms " pouvoir globtilicide" 

 the power possessed by the serum of the blood of one animal to 

 destroy the red corpuscles of the blood of another of a different 

 species. And the destructive power of serum for microbes is 

 called "pouvoir microbicide." The effects produced in each case 

 have been studied. — On the nature of the movement of the 

 chrbmatophores of Cephalopods, by M. C. Phisalix, 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Coptic Palaeography 609 



British Museum (Natural History) Catalogues , . , 610 

 The Life and Work of a Norfolk Geologist, By 



W, W 612 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Codrington : " The Melanesians : Studies in their 



Anthropology and Folk- Lore" 613 



Harrison : " Guide to Examinations in Physiography " 613 

 Letters to the Editor :— 



A Difficulty in Weismannism,— Prof, Marcus 



Hartog 613 



Rain-making Experiments. — H 614 



A Rare Phenomenon.— W. Duppa-Crotch ; Prof. 



W. N, Hartley, F,R,S 614 



Earthquake at Bournemouth. — Henry Cecil .... 614 



W = M^,— W. Larden 614 



Some Notes on the Frankfort International Elec- 

 trical Exhibition. IV, {Illustrated.) 615 



The Oxford University Museum. By Prof. W. H. 



Flower, F.R.S 619 



Further Researches upon the Element Fluorine. 



{Illustrated.) By A. E. Tutton 622 



The Huxley Laboratory for Biological Research, 



and the Marshall Scholarship 627 



On Van der Waals's Treatment of Laplace's 

 Pressure in the Virial Equation : in Answer to 



Lord Rayleigh. By Prof, P. G, Tait 627 



Notes 628 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Zodiacal Light and Aurorse 631 



Cometh 1891 631 



Two New Asteroids 631 



Double Stars 631 



Jupiter's First Satellite 631 



The International Meteorological Conference . , . 632 

 Societies and Academies "632 



NO. II 48, VOL. 44] 



