io8 



NA TURE 



[June 2, 1892 



gress has been provisionally divided, are the following (the name 

 of the President being in each case given first, that of the Secre- 

 tary second) : — I. Aryan, Prof. Cowell, Prof A. A, Macdonell ; 



II. Semitic (a) Assyrian and Babylonian, Prof. A. H. Sayce, T. 

 G. Pinches, {b) General, Prof, Robertson Smith, A, A. Bevan ; 



III. China and the Far East, Sir Thomas Wade, (for China) 

 Prof. Douglas, (for Japan) Prof. B. H. Chamberlain ; IV. 

 Egypt and Africa, Prof. Le Page Renouf, E. Budge ; V. 

 Australasia and Oceania, Sir Arthur Gordon, Rev. R. H. 

 Codrington, D. D. ; VI. Anthropological and Mythological, Dr. 

 E. B. Tylor ; VII. Indian, Lord Reay, Prof. T. W. Rhys Davids ; 

 VIII. Geographical, Sir M. E. Grant Duff, Halford J. 

 Mackinder ; IX. Archaic Greece and the East, the Rt. Hon. 

 W. E. Gladstone. 



The Committee of the two International Congresses of Pre- 

 historic Archaeology and Zoology, which will be held at Moscow 

 this summer in connection with the Geographical and Anthro- 

 pological Exhibition, has announced, in accordance with a de- 

 cision of the Russian Railway Department, that all members 

 of the Congresses and exhibitors at the Exhibition may obtain 

 tickets with a 50 per cent, reduction for travelling to Moscow 

 and back. Exhibits may be sent and will be returned on the 

 same terms. As there are at Mosccu two different Societies, 

 the Societe des Naturalistes de Moscou and the Society of 

 Friends of Natural ^a.t.i\Zi{Obscheslvo Lubitelei Estestvoznaniya), 

 it may be worth while to note that it is the latter which is 

 organizing the Exhibition and the two Congresses, and to 

 which all applications for the Exhibition must be made. 



It is stated that the Secretary of State for the Colonies has 

 appointed Miss Doberck, formerly Government Meteorological 

 Observer in Sligo, to be Assistant Meteorologist in Hong Kong. 

 Miss Doberck's father has for some years past been the head of 

 the Meteorological Observatory in Hong Kong. 



Lieutenant-Colonel Holdich, of the Survey of India, 

 will, it is said, personally superintend the mapping out of Captain 

 Bower's journey across Tibet. The work will be done in the 

 Survey drawing offices at Simla, where Captain Bower is at pre- 

 sent engaged in preparing the report of his journey. 



It is bad news for farmers that the diamond-back moth has 

 made its appearance in Yorkshire and Northumberland. 

 Specimens from both counties have been identified by Miss 

 Ormerod. 



The weather during the past week has been noteworthy for 

 the occurrence of thunderstorms, copious rainfall at nearly all 

 places, and excessive temperatures at most of the English 

 stations. In Loudon a severe thunderstorm was experienced on 

 Thursday morning, May 26 (succeeding one that occurred the 

 previous evening), with a heavy downpour of rain varying from 

 o"7 inch to I'O inch in different parts of the metropolis. At 8h. 

 a.m. on Saturday the thermometer registered 76° in London, 

 being the highest recorded at that hour this year. The type of 

 wind has been cyclonic, with light or moderate south-westerly 

 breezes generally. The Meteorological Office report for the, 

 week ending May 28, shows that the rainfall was equal 

 to the normal value in the south and east of England, and ex- 

 ceeded it in all other districts ; while in the northern parts, in 

 Ireland and in Scotland, the fall was about three times as much 

 as the mean. On Sunday the temperature was considerably 

 lower, but since then it has again become abnormally high, the 

 maxima in the shade registering 75° and upwards in places over 

 the southern parts of the kingdom, 83° being registered in 

 London on Tuesday ; and thunder-showers occurred in various 

 places on that day. 



The detailed despatches brought to Marseilles from Port 

 Louis by the mail steamer Australien confirm all that was stated 

 NO. II 79, VOL. 46] 



in the telegrams relating to the hurricane which devastated 

 Mauritius on April 29. A Renter's telegram from Marseilles, 

 giving a summary of the despatches, says that the total number 

 of lives lost amounted to 1200, while the list of persons injured 

 exceeded 4000. Strong magnetic disturbances were noticed on 

 April 25, and continued with increasing intensity on the three 

 following days. Several well-defined groups of sun-spots were also 

 noticed at the same time. On the afternoon of the 28th, the eve 

 of the hurricane, there was a vivid display of lightning and 

 a good deal of thunder, while the air grew peculiarly heavy. 

 On the following morning the tempest broke over the 

 island in all its fury, the velocity of the wind at times reach- 

 ing 112 miles an hour. The sea rose 9 feet above its usual level, 

 a thing unknown since the terrible cyclone of i8i8, when the 

 water rose nearly four metres. In Port Louis itself houses fell 

 to the ground in nearly every street. In the Tringlar quarter 

 not a single house was left standing. In fact, there is scarcely 

 a house in the entire colony which does not show some signs 

 of the fury of the storm. Half the sugar crop has been 

 destroyed. An immense number of persons were over- 

 whelmed and killed by the ruins of the falling houses, or were 

 stricken down in the streets, as they fled, by the falling stones 

 and wreckage. 



A VERY destructive cyclone passed over various towns in 

 Kansas, on May 27. The storm gave no signs of its approach. 

 Travelling in a north-easterly direction, it struck Wellington (a 

 town containing a population of 10,000) at nine o'clock in the 

 evening, when most people were indoors. Within a few seconds 

 the central parts of the town coming within its track were 

 devastated from end to end. Wellington Avenue, the principal 

 business street, is lined on both sides with ruins, whole blocks 

 of buildings having been shaken and overthrown as violently as 

 if the place had been rocked by an earthquake Numbers of 

 victims were buried in the ruins, and of those who momentarily 

 survived many were found struggling for their lives in order to 

 escape from the flames which broke out in all directions in con- 

 sequence of the sudden escape of gas. The towns of Harper 

 and Argona were also visited by the cyclone. In the former 

 town seven people were killed in the wreck of the buildings, and 

 five at the latter. It is estimated that between twenty and 

 thirty people lost their lives in the cyclone ; while seventy others 

 have been more or less injured. 



On Tuesday, May 3, a fall of hail mixed with foreign par- 

 ticles was observed in Stockholm, and appears to have extended 

 as far as Christiania. The fall of dust lasted from i to 8 p.m., 

 and was abundant enough to allow of considerable quantities 

 being collected. At a meeting of the Geologiska Forening in 

 Stockholm, remarks were made by Baron Nordenskiold, and 

 Messrs. N. Hoist, E. Svedmark, and Tornebohm, from which it 

 appears that the dust contained glassy, isotropic, and various 

 anisotropic particles, hornblende, magnetite, minute scales of 

 mica, metallic iron, and some diatoms. 



The Tiflis Kavkaz gives the following description of a 

 meteor of great brilliancy which was observed at Tiflis, on May 

 10. It appeared at 11 p.m. in the west part of the sky, was 

 of a round shape, and very brilliant. Three seconds after its 

 appearance a part of it separated, moving towards the Mta- 

 tsminda Mountain, and disappeared below the horizon, after 

 lighting the slopes of the mountain, the central meteor continu- 

 ing to move, but having lost for a few seconds its great bril- 

 liancy, which, however, soon reappeared. In about 30 seconds 

 after the first appearance of the meteor, a second small part 

 separated from it, increasing in size as it approached the earth. 

 This also disappeared in the west, behind the same mountain, 

 after having brilliantly lighted for two or three seconds its slopes 

 and gorges. After that, the meteor took first a milky colora- 



