July 14, 1892] 



NATURE 



255 



Channel, with a high sea ; and other depressions have subse- 

 quently travelled to the northward of our islands. The weather, 

 however, remained fair, but cloudy, in the southern parts of the 

 kingdom, and fog prevailed on the north-east coast on Monday. 

 The distribution of barometrical pressure has, for the most pirt, 

 been favourable to westerly winds, the high barometer being 

 situated over the north of France. A change, however, set in 

 I on Monday, accompanied by strong easterly winds and a falling 

 [ barometer, the highest readings having shifted northward, with 

 their centre situated to the eastward of our islands. These con- 

 ditions were followed by fresh disturbances, accompanied by 

 I rainy and unsettled weather. Temperature has been lower than 

 of late, although but little below the average ; the highest day 

 readings have seldom reached 70°. The Weekly Weather Report 

 issued on the 9th showed that, for that week, bright sunshine 

 continued fairly prevalent over the eastern and southern districts, 

 and that there was a considerable excess of rainfall in Ireland 

 and the northern and western parts of Scotland, 



The United States Weather Bureau has just published 

 Bulletin No. i, containing some interesting notes on the climate 

 and meteorology of Death Valley, California. This valley lies 

 between lats. 35° 40' and 36° 35' N. and longs. 116" 15' and 

 117° 5' W., and owes its name to the fate of a party of immi- 

 grants, who, about 1850, perished from thirst. The principal 

 feature of interest about the place is that, although situated 

 about 200 miles from the sea, it is said to lie 100 feet or more 



\ below the sea level, as determined from barometrical observa- 



' tions. The observations now published were commenced by the 

 Caological Survey and the Signal Service, and were continued 

 by the Weather Bureau during five months from May to Sep- 

 tember, 1891, and we believe these are the only regular obser- 



! vations, with trustworthy instruments, that have been made there. 



' The principal meteorological features are the excessive heat and 

 dryness ; the temperature rises occasionally to 122° in the shade, 

 and rarely falls during the hot season below 70°. It is said that 

 the thermometer has sometimes reached 130°, and once even 

 137°. The diurnal range of the barometer is characteristic of 

 the form found in continental valleys, being of the purest single 

 maximum type, and has the largest amplitude known. The 

 rainfall was extremely light, and was always either a slight 

 sprinkle or a thunderstorm. The total fall for the five months 

 was only 14 inches. It showed a distinct diurnal frequency ; 

 nearly all the hours of rain being during the night. Sand storms 

 were also observed on several occasions. 



The Deutsche Seewarte has just issued Part IV. of their 

 meteorological observations made at distant stations. The 

 observations are made three times daily, and monthly means 

 are added in the form agreed upon for international meteoro- 

 logical publications. These observations are especially valuable 

 both on account of the remoteness of the places and of the 

 details which are given about the stations and the instruments 

 used. This volume contains observations made (i) at six 

 stations in Labrador for 1887 ; (2) at Walfisch Bay for 1889 ; 



(3) in the Cameroon estuary, from April 1889 to June 1890; 



(4) at Bismarckburg, Togoland, West Africa, from June 1889 

 to May 1890 ; (5) at Chemulpo, Korea, from July 1888 to 

 December 1889; (6) at Mohammera, mouth of the Euphrates, 

 from June to August 1885 ; and (7) at Bushire, from September 

 1885 to March 1886. In some cases the introductory text con- 

 tains general remarks relating to the tides and prominent 

 features of the climate. 



In February 1888, Dr. E. Etienne was sent to Banana by the 



Congo Free State to direct the sanitary service, and he made 



regular meteorological observations there, six times daily from 



December i, 1889, to May 16, 1891, which have now been 



NO. T185, VOL. 46] 



published by the State. The range of temperature during the 

 year 1890 presented great regularity, the absolute maximum, 

 93°-6, occurred in March, and the minimum, 6i''-9, in July ; 

 the lowest maximum was 73° "9 in July, and the highest 

 minimum, 79° '2, in April. The greatest monthly variability 

 (the difference of the monthly mean from one month to another) 

 was s'-o between May and June. The winds are very uniform : 

 a land breeze from south-east to south at sunrise, then calm till 

 about iih. a.m. ; a sea-breeze from south-west till about 7h. 

 p.m., and a second calm about loh. p.m. The rainy season of 

 1889-90 numbered fifty days, with a mean daily fall of 0*49 

 inch. The most remarkable fall was i '2 inch in 45 minutes. 

 The rainy season of 1890-91 differed considerably from the 

 former ; the number of wet days was only 29, with a mean 

 daily fall of 0-52 inch, the total amount being about five-eighths 

 of that in the previous year. In addition to the above thefe is 

 a very small amount of rain in the dry season. 



That iron is always present in small quantities in chlorophyll 

 has been asserted over and over again in botanical text-books. 

 Dr. H. Molisch, who has recently investigated the subject of 

 the presence of iron in plants, disputes this, and asserts that he 

 has never found a trace of iron in the ash of chlorophyll. He 

 states that iron occurs in plants in two forms — in that of ordinary 

 iron-salts, and in the "masked" condition, in which it is so 

 closely combined with organic substances that the ordinary re- 

 agents fail to detect it. In this form iron occurs both in the 

 cell-wall and in the cell-contents, but it does not enter into 

 living protoplasm. 



In one of the alcoves of the Museum of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, there are various fossil bones 

 of extinct animals belonging to the Pleistocene period, and 

 along with them a human bone. These "finds" were pre- 

 sented to the Academy in 1846 by Dr. Dickeson, who dis- 

 covered them in a single deposit at the foot of the bluff 

 in the vicinity of Natchez, Mississippi. Specimens — one from 

 the human bone, the other from one of the bones of a 

 Mylodon — have been submitted for analysis to Prof. F. W. 

 Clarke, chemist of the U. S. Geological Survey ; and the 

 result is reported by Dr. Thomas Wilson, of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, in the current number of the Afnerican Naturalist. 

 The human bone is in a higher state of fossilization than the 

 Mylodon. It has less lime and more silica. In their other 

 chemical constituents they are without any great difference. 

 Of lime the bone of the Mylodon has 30-48 per cent., while 

 that of man has but 25*88 per cent. Of silica the Mylodon 

 has 371 per cent., while man has 22-59 per cent. Dr. Wilson 

 refers to the ordinary uncertainty of this test when applied to 

 specimens from different localities and subjected to different 

 conditions, but points out that in the present case no such 

 differences exist. The bones were all encased in the same 

 stratum of blue clay, and were subjected practically to the same 

 conditions and surroundings. 



Mr. a. J. Cook, of the Agricultural College, Michigan, has 

 been making experiments to determine how much honey is 

 needed to enable bees to secrete one pound of wax, and he has 

 found that the amount is eleven pounds of honey. This is less 

 than the amount given by Huber, and more than that stated by 

 Viallon and Hasty. An account of the experiments and of 

 many other interesting facts relating to apiculture will be found 

 in a report included in Bulletin 26 of the U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture. 



An interesting memoir. of John Hancock, with portrait, opens 

 the latest instalment (vol. xi. Part i) of the Natural History 

 Transactions of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle- 



