62 



NATURE 



[May 19, 1892 



year, the maxima varying from nearly 60° over Scotland to 65° 

 and 70° over England and Ireland. Solar halos were observed 

 on several days, and thunder was reported from the North Fore- 

 land on the 13th. Subsequently the westerly winds increased in 

 force, especially in Ireland, and the sea became rough on our 

 exposed western coasts. Some decrease of temperature also 

 occurred, the maximum readings after Sunday only reaching 

 about 60° in a few places. The conditions have been favour- 

 able to rain, but the fall has been slight, except in the north 

 and west, and there is still a large deficiency in nearly all parts 

 of the United Kingdom. 



The Royal Meteorological Society has published a third 

 edition of " Hints to Meteorological Observers " (42 pages large 

 octavo). It is pointed out in the preface that meteorological ob- 

 servations, to be of scientific value, must be made on a uniform 

 plan, otherwise the results will not be mutually comparable. 

 The directions given are clear and concise, and the various 

 instruments, both desirable or necessary, for a station of the 

 second order, at which observations are taken at least twice 

 daily, are plainly illustrated. The work also comprises several 

 tables which are essential to the proper reduction of the obser- 

 vations recorded. No one can doubt that, notwithstanding the 

 regulations laid down by several Conferences, there is still want 

 of uniformity, not only when comparing observations of one 

 country with another, bat even among the observers of our own 

 country. Take, for instance, the observation of rainfall, tem- 

 perature, sunshine, cloud, and fog. It would be easy to show 

 that the methods employed by various observers differ consider- 

 ably, especially as to what constitutes a rainy day and how snow 

 is measured, while the estimation of fog is very uncertain. 

 Sunshine values by various kinds of instruments are hardly 

 co:nparable inter se, and the accurate observation of clouds, 

 whether of height, motion, amount, or description, is un- 

 doubtedly difficult, and presents a stumbling-block to many 

 observers. Therefore, we cannot but welcome the exertions of 

 the Meteorological Society to obtain uniformity. The work in 

 question will be found very useful for the purpose, and might 

 perhaps be rendered more so, in future, by the addition of the 

 most approved pictures of clouds, and fuller information as to 

 the importance of their careful observation. 



The Report of the Department of Marine (Ottawa) for 

 the fiscal year ended June 1891, contains a report upon the 

 Meteorological Service of Canada for the period extending from 

 October 1, 1890, to October 31, 1891. This Service is divided 

 into two branches : (i) the collection and utilization of obser- 

 vations taken simultaneously for the purposes of weather pre- 

 diction, and (2) the reduction of observations taken by 

 volunteer observers and otliers for climatological purposes. 

 The publication of the results obtained from the second division 

 has been continued annually, since the establishment of the 

 Service in 1872 ; but it is now proposed to deal with the 

 accumulated observations, and to publish them in a serviceable 

 and readable form. This will be the first authoritative Govern- 

 ment publication on the climate of Canada; and it will be 

 useful for immigration purposes, and for showing the suitability 

 of the climate, in various localities, for raising agricultural 

 crops. It is expected that the work will require three years 

 to complete. Among the stations in connection with the 

 Canadian Service is one at Bermuda, towards the maintenance 

 of which an annual contribution is paid to the Government of 

 that island, and cable messages are received daily in the 

 interests of the shipping on the Atlantic coast. The Cable 

 Company transmit the messages at half the ordiaary rates. 

 Many severe storms have occurred in Canada since the last 

 report, and in each instance warnings were issued from 

 Toronto ; of these 807 per cent, are stated to have been veri- 

 fied. Warnings of approaching snowstorms were also issued to 

 NO. II 77, VOL. 46] 



railways, and it is proposed to extend this service to Manitoba, 

 and as far west as Qu'Appelle. 



An excellent paper on " The Art of Internal Illumination of 

 Buildings by Electricity," was read by Mr. W. H. Preece, 

 F.R.S., in the rooms of the Royal Institute of British Archi- 

 tects on Monday evening. In the course of his remarks Mr. 

 Preece noted that the electric light was not always absolutely 

 safe. Security was to be obtained only by good design, perfect 

 materials, first-class workmanship, and rigid inspection. Im- 

 perfect materials erected by cheap contractors had led to many 

 disasters. On the other hand, it was stated that no fire had 

 occurred in buildings fitted up under the rules and regulations, 

 and inspected by the officers, of the insurance companies in this 

 country. In Mr. Preece's opinion, everything ought as much as 

 possible to be kept in view, and the conductors ought not to be 

 hidden under wainscots or floors or above ceilings. The glow 

 lamp excited by three watts per candle was at present the 

 most perfect source of domestic light, and when the patent ex- 

 pired — in a year or two — would be obtainable at about one-third 

 of the present price. 



Mr. W. B. L. Hamilton, writing in the American journal 

 Electricity on " Electricity in the United States Navy," says 

 the latest use of the electric motor in taking the place of human 

 energy in the manipulation of the death-dealing Galling gun 

 has been found to work with great success. The Crocker- 

 Wheeler Motor Company, at the request of the United States 

 Navy Bureau of Ordnance, constructed a special type of motor, 

 which is attached to the breech of the gun. Hitherto the 

 services of two men have been necessary in the working of these 

 guns — the gunner, whose duty is to train the gun and drop the 

 shot, and another man to operate the crank which sets in 

 motion the mechanism which causes the balls to hail down upon 

 the enemy. The adaptation of the Crocker- Wheeler motor not 

 only does away with the services of the latter, but enables the 

 gunner to train and operate the gun at will by touching an 

 electric button. So completely is the Catling gun under the 

 control of the gunner, that he is enabled to fire either a single 

 shot, or to fire them at the rate of 1200 per minute. 



Science of April 29 prints the following account of a fire- 

 ball, by C. C. Bayley :— " A telephone wire was supported on 

 cedar posts 20 feet high and 20 rods apart. During August, 

 1889, we had a thunderstorm, during which there was a sharp 

 and heavy crash. Several of the poles were found to have been 

 struck, and portions to have been taken out through their entire 

 length. One of these portions, of the size of a medium rail, 

 was thrown into an adjoining field some rods from the pole. 

 Portions from the others were smaller and more or less shattered. 

 Near the southernmost pole struck, a family were in a house 

 with doors and windows open, and a luminous ball seetned to 

 leap from the wire, pass through the open door and a window, 

 and pursue its course some rods through the open space behind 

 the house. A boy in the room grasped his thumb and cried out, 

 'I'm struck,' and Mr. Hewett felt a sensation of numbness in 

 his left arm for some time. A girl seized her shawl and rushed 

 out of the house to chase the ball. She reported that she pur- 

 sued it some distance, while it bounded lightly along, until it 

 seemed to be dissipated in the air without an explosion. The 

 size of the ball was about that of the two fists, and its velocity 

 about that of a ball thrown by the hand." 



We learn, from a Florentine source {La Nazione, May 3), 

 that in the spring of the year 1890, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, of the 

 Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, 

 Cambridge, Mass.— whose interesting memoir on "Ancient 

 Mexican Shields" was recently noticed in these columns— recog- 

 nized the great importance of an anonymous Spanish-Mexican 

 MS. preserved in the National Central Library of Florence. 



