June 23, 1892] 



NA TURE 



77 



During the latter i>art of last week an area of high pressure 

 lay over the Bay of Biscay and the west of France, and an area 

 of low pressure over Scandinavia and the North Sea, causing 

 moderate north-westerly and westerly winds over these islands. 

 The temperature had continued low, the maxima only exceed- 

 ing 60° at a few places, chiefly in the southern parts of the 

 kingdom, while the nights were very cold for the time of the 

 year, with ground frosts over the inland parts of England. 

 Thunderstorms occurred in many parts, with heavy showers of 

 rain, and hail in the south-east of England. At the beginning 

 of the present week the low barometer extended gradually over 

 the kingdom, and shallow depressions were travelling from 

 west to east. With this distribution of barometric pressure, the 

 winds were from north and east over Scotland, and chiefly from 

 between north-west and south-west over England and the Chan- 

 nel ; subsequently the barometer readings became more uniform, 

 and the winds light and variable. The weather continued very 

 unsettled, although there was some increase of temperature. 

 The report issued by the Meteorological Council for the week 

 ended the i8th instant shows that the mean temperature was 

 below the average for the week in all districts, the deficit 

 ranging from 3° in the Channel Islands to 8° in the Midland 

 and Eastern Counties of England. Rainfall was only slightly 

 above the mean in the east of Scotland. 



The Washington Weather Bureau has just distributed two 

 important meteorological papers prepared by General A. W. 

 Greely, Chief Signal Officer, (i) A series of thirty-seven charts 

 showing the absolute maximum and minimum temperatures in the 

 United States for decades, and for all years combined, com- 

 piled from observations taken from 1872 to June 1891. The 

 values, together with the date of occurrence, are printed over 

 the names of the stations on ordinary maps, and show very 

 clearly for each locality the limits within which the temperature 

 may be expected to range. (2) Diurnal fluctuations of atmo- 

 spheric pressure at twenty-nine selected stations in the United 

 States, The tables give the corrections necessary to reduce the 

 mean pressure at any hour of the day to the true daily mean. 

 The values have been obtained by freehand curves from all the 

 available observations from January 1877 to June 1888. It is 

 found that the fluctuations of the secondary maxima and minima 

 diminish from south to north, especially during the summer 

 months. The daily variation in pressure decreases with increas- 

 ing latitude, especially in the winter months ; in summer the 

 same conditions exist, except that the daily range increases 

 inland from the coast. The principal maximum occurs over the 

 whole of the United States in January, about gh. 45m. a.m. 

 (local time), except along the New England coast, where it is 

 earlier ; as the year advances the hour gradually shifts towards 

 the earlier morning until June, after which a reversal gradually 

 occurs. The delay in the hour of the principal minimum is 

 more marked : it gradually becomes later with increasing 

 longitude ; the most decided lagging in the summer minimum 

 is in the neighbourhood of the Great Lakes. 



Prof. R. Kobert gives, in the Chemiker Zeilung (1892; 

 16, No. 39), an account of Williams's frog heart apparatus. 

 The apparatus, as modified by Maki, Perles, and Kobert, con- 

 sists of an arrangement of glass vessels and india-rubber tubes, 

 whereby a heart taken from a newly-killed frog can be made to 

 maintain an artificial circulation of blood, fresh or injected with 

 any poison the effect of which it is sought to determine. The 

 tubes and vessels are mounted on a stand about i foot high. 

 The heart is suspended by a cannula leading into a three-way 

 tube communicating with two vertical glass cylinders fitted with 

 glass valves. Through one of these the heart is supplied with 

 blood, either fresh from a rabbit, calf, or dog, and diluted with 

 075 per cent, salt solution, or poisoned. The other vertical 

 NO. II 82, VOL. 46] 



cylinder leads back from the heart to the vessel from which the 

 fresh blood is supplied. To start the action, fresh blood is 

 allowed to enter the heart, which is thereby excited to a contrac- 

 tion, and pumps it back into the reservoir. The height through 

 which it is raised, and the quantity that is raised in a given 

 time, gives the work done, and the number of pulsations, and 

 the volume raised in a given time determines the pulse-volume. 

 The force exerted is measured by a small mercurial manometer, 

 which may be rendered self-registering. To study the action of 

 poisons on the power and vitality of the heart it is only necessary 

 to admit the poisoned blood from the second reservoir. When 

 the pulsation has ceased or diminished, fresh blood may be re- 

 admitted, which in many cases restores the pulsation. We have 

 received a letter on this subject from Count F. Berg, of Livonia, 

 who says Prof. Kobert is of opinion that the apparatus, if it 

 were more generally known, would be of great service for the 

 advancement of science, and would render unnecessary many 

 an otherwise indispensable experiment in vivisection. 



Wk have received a new planisphere, which is being sold by 

 the Register Publishing Company, Ann Arbor, Mich. The 

 rotary disk, on which the constellations are clearly marked, is 

 made of good stiff cardboard, and ihe days of the year round 

 the edge are neatly printed in white figures on a blue back- 

 ground. The planisphere is arranged for latitudes 38' to 48°, 

 and shows on its disk all the principal stars in each constellation, 

 with their lettering, and in some cases their names ; thus, 

 o Bootis = Arcturus, a Lyrae = Vega, &c. By simply turning 

 the disk round until the day of the month comes opposite the 

 time of day, the stars above the horizon at that time can at once 

 be seen. On the back is a table for finding the times of visibility 

 and positions of the planets, while there is also a key to enable 

 one to determine the name of a planet which cannot be re- 

 cognized. When once used, the handiness of sach a planisphere 

 as this will soon make itself apparent ; and not only will it be 

 adopted by possessors of telescopes, but it should be in the hands 

 of all those who wish to be able to find and correctly name the 

 various constellations. 



Inquiries have recently been made by the British Consuls in 

 Japan as to the various native industries that have sprung up for 

 the production of articles which have hitherto been imported 

 into that country from abroad. A summary of the information 

 thus obtained has been prepared by Mr. Gubbins, Secretary of 

 Legation at Tokio, and has been printed in the Foreign Office 

 Miscellaneous Series. Mr. Gubbins says that in the case of 

 some of the industries introduced into Japan, the country is now 

 self-supporting, foreign competition being no longer possible ,* 

 in others so much has been accomplished as to render it certain 

 that the time is not far off when importation will altogether 

 cease. The future of other industries again — such as that of 

 cotton-spinning — though not so assured, is still hopeful ; while 

 even in those branches in which the least results have been ob- 

 tained she possesses a constant advantage in the great cheapness 

 of labour. Mr. Gubbins thinks that this progress has not been 

 made at the sacrifice of any of the various artistic industries 

 which are more peculiarly her own. While admitting that there 

 is truth in the criticism that would disparage her progress for the 

 reason that it is imitative and not constructive, he holds that the 

 fact that Japan, an Oriental country, has been able to dissociate 

 herself from her sister countries of the East and to profit by 

 Western inventions to the extent that is in evidence augurs well 

 for the years to come. 



In the new number of the Records of the Australian Museum 

 (vol. ii., No. I), Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S., has a note which 

 may be of interest to ornithologists in Australia. Having lately 

 occasion to investigate the range of the sanderling {CaliJris 

 arenaria), he came across a memorandum made in the year 



