September 29, 1892] 



NATURE 



521 



The American Academy of Arts and Sciences has published 

 an excellent " Memorial " of Joseph Lovering, who was a 

 Fellow of the Academy from 1839 to 1892, Corresponding 

 Secretary from 1869 to 1873, Vice-President from 1873 to 1880, 

 and President from 1880 to 1892. Mr. Lovering was born on 

 December 25, 1813, and died on January 18, 1892. The 

 " Memorial " consists chiefly of speeches delivered, and letters 

 read, at a meeting held for the commemoration of his life and 

 services, with a biographical sketch by Prof. J. P. Cooke, 

 Secretary of the Council, and a list of Prof. Lovering's publi- 

 cations. At this meeting the chair was taken by Dr. A. P. 

 Peabody, who said that there was a certain fitness in his leading 

 the proceedings, as Mr. Lovering had been his pupil. Speaking 

 of Prof. Lovering as a teacher of physical science, Prof. J. P. 

 Cooke said: "He was one of the best lecturers I have ever 

 known, and I have known the greatest masters of my time." 



During the past week the weather has been of a decidedly 

 cyclonic type ; large disturbances have reached us with consider- 

 able frequency from the Atlantic, and have mostly passed to the 

 northward of Scotland. The winds have been moderate to 

 strong from the south-west, but have at times attained the force 

 of a gale at places in the north and west, while on Tuesday they 

 were boisterous in all parts of the United Kingdom. The rain- 

 fall has been somewhat heavy in the north and west, but light in 

 the southern parts of the kingdom, where, during the first part 

 of the period, the weather was generally fine, with occasional 

 mist or fog in the mornings. The temperature has, on the 

 whole, been mild, the day readings ranging from 60° to 65° over 

 most parts, while in the extreme south they have exceeded 70° 

 on several occasions. The Weekly Weather Report published on 

 the 24th instant shows that some of the night minimum tem- 

 peratures during that week were very low for the time of 

 year, the shade thermometer falling to 25° in the east of Scotland, 

 and to between 28° and 31° in most other parts. 



Among the valuable discussions which appear in the 

 Repertorium fiir Meteorologie, issued under the authority of the 

 St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, is one in vol. xiv., 

 by B. von Nasackin, on the Storms of the Baltic, being in fact 

 a continuation of similar works (by other authors) for the Black 

 and White Seas. The data used in the discussion are taken 

 chiefly from lightkeepers' journals and stations on the coast. 

 The general results show that the yearly frequency of storms 

 differs considerably in different years, and the number of storms 

 at individual stations also varies considerably. In the 

 western part of the Gulf of Finland and in the south 

 of the Baltic storms are much more frequent than in 

 the other parts. The mean wind-direction lies between 

 south and west, and the principal storms occur from the same 

 direction, and also between west and north. The maximum 

 number occurs almost everywhere in December, and the 

 minimum in August. 



Das Wetter for August contains an article by Dr. R. 

 Assmann on the treatment of persons apparently killed by 

 lightning. The different effects on persons struck would prove 

 that the intensity of the flash is subject to considerable fluctua- 

 tions, and recent photographs of lightning, in fact, show that 

 in addition to the principal flash there are always weaker 

 ones branching out in all directions, like the roots of a 

 tree. It may therefore well be assumed that the intensity of the 

 latter is considerably less than that of the principal current. He 

 quotes a case near Berlin in the summer of 1891 where a number 

 of soldiers were struck by lightning ; among them an officer, and 

 a bugler holding his horse, were both struck. The officer shortly 

 afterwards recovered, while the bugler was to all appearances 

 dead, but the officer at once adopted the method of artificial 

 NO. II 96, VOL. 46] 



respiration as applied to the apparently drowned, by which 

 means the bugler was gradually brought back to life. Dr. 

 Assmann states that there can be little doubt that if this method 

 were applied soon after the stroke, and continued for at least a 

 quarter of an hour, many of those apparently killed might be 

 restored to life. 



A VALUABLE paper by Prof. E. W. Hilgard, on the relations 

 of soil to climate, has been published by the U.S. Department 

 of Agriculture. Soils being the residual product of the action 

 of meteorological agencies upon rocks, it is obvious, as Prof. 

 Hilgard says, that there must exist a more or less intimate 

 relation between the soils of a region and the climatic conditions 

 that prevail, or have prevailed, therein. Prof. Hilgard dis- 

 cusses, both from a theoretical and from a practical point of 

 view, some of the more important phenomena dependent on this 

 correlation, and their effects on the agricultural peculiarities of 

 the chief climatic subdivisions. 



Herr K. Flegel gives, in the Allgemeine Zeittmg for 

 September 12, an interesting account of archaeological dis- 

 coveries he has made this summer in the island of Kalymnos, 

 near the coast of Asia Minor. At a height of about 220 metres, 

 not far from Emporio, he found the remains of an ancient fortress 

 which seems to belong to the same class of buildings as those of 

 Mycence and Tiryns. The remains, which are comparatively 

 well preserved, include Cyclopean walls and a tower. A gate- 

 way (li metre in breadth), the forecourt, a cistern, and a stone 

 oil-press survive. In the valley of Vathy, Herr Flegel came 

 upon the remains of walls of an acropolis, which he describes as 

 older than the fortress of Emporio. 



In the new instalment of the proceedings of the Liverpool 

 Geological Society (Part 4, Vol. VI.), Mr. J. J. Fitzpatrick has 

 some interesting notes on the Deep Dale Bone Cave near 

 Buxton. In a paper read before the society in 1890, Mr. 

 Fitzpatrick called attention to this cave, and described the 

 various objects of interest which had been found in it up to that 

 time. In his present paper he gives an account of the results of 

 more recent researches carried on by Mr. W. Millet; of Buxton, 

 by whom the cave was discovered. At the entrance is a refuse 

 heap, three feet thick at the top, extending ten feet on either side 

 of the entrance, and sixty feet down to the stream at the bottom 

 of the dale. Among the objects found in this refuse heap are 

 bones of the horse, stag, Celtic shorthorn {Bos longifrons), dog, 

 pig, sheep, goat, wild boar, three flint flakes, a piece of 

 bronze with Celtic pattern, fragments of pottery, including 

 Samian ware, pseudo-Samian ware, Romano-British ware, coins 

 of the Emperor Claudius, and female ornaments, including 

 fibulae, earrings, brooches, and rings. At the bottom of the 

 heap were found two flint arrow-heads. In the second chamber 

 of the cave a hole, eight feet deep, has been dug. The upper 

 bed, three feet thick, is composed of dark clay, with angular 

 fragments of limestone. The second bed, which is from 

 six to sixteen inches thick, consists of broken fragments 

 of stalagmite, limestone, and gravel. In this a human 

 jawbone has been found. The third bed, the thickness of 

 which has not been ascertained, consists of a stiff yellow clay, 

 containing large pebbles, two of which have been artificially 

 pointed at one end. The human jawbone has twelve teeth, 

 with the enamel and dentine in an admirable state of preserva- 

 tion. There were originally fourteen teeth, the two "wisdom 

 teeth " not having been developed at the lime of the death of 

 the person to whom the jawbone belonged. The mark of the 

 weapon which gave what was perhaps the death wound is dis- 

 tinctly visible. The weapon penetrated deeply into the bone in 

 a slanting direction, with an upward inclination, and the blow 

 must have been struck from behind. Another object found 

 in the second chamber is a small bronze box, filled with 



