548 



NATURE 



[October 6, 1892 



of the Queen's Faculty of Medicine in connection with Mason 

 Collie, Birmingham. The union of the two institutions is 

 likely to be of great service both to medicine and to pure science 

 in the Midlands. 



A MARINE biological station has been established at Bergen, 

 in Norway, the funds having been raised by private donations 

 and by subscriptions from learned societies. It will be under 

 the control of Dr. J. Brunchorst, and will supply ten places for 

 Norwegian and foreign workers. 



We regret to learn that M. Henri Douliot, who had been 

 commissioned by the French government with a botanical ex- 

 pedition to the western coast of Madagascar, has died there of 

 fever. 



Dr. B. L. Roijinson has been appointed Curator of the 

 Herbarium of Harvard University, Cambridge, U.S.A., in suc- 

 cession to the late Prof. Serreno Watson. 



Mr. Walter E. Collinge, late Assistant -Demonstrator in 

 Zoology in St. Andrew's University, has been appointed to the 

 vacant Demonstratorship in Zoology and Comparative Anatomy 

 and Botany in Mason College, Birmingham. 



A CIRCULAR appeal, dated September, 1892, and signed by 

 Mr. E. C. Pickering, Director of the Observatory of Harvard 

 College, has been issued, inviting the wealthy to consider the 

 opportunity offered for a donor of 200,000 dollars " to have his 

 name permanently attached to a refracting telescope, which, 

 besides being the largest in the world, would be more favourably 

 situated than almost any other, and would have a field of work 

 comparatively new." The telescope in question would be placed 

 in the station established by Harvard College Observatory, near 

 Arequipa in Peru, at an altitude of more than eight thousand 

 feet. " During a large part of the year," says Mr. Pickering, 

 " the sky of Arequipa is nearly cloudless. A telescope station 

 having an aperture of thirteen inches has been erected there, and 

 has shown a remarkable degree of steadiness in the atmosphere. 

 Night after night atmospheric conditions prevail which occur 

 only at rare intervals, if ever, in Cambridge. Several of the 

 diffraction rings surrounding the brighter stars are visible, close 

 doubles in which the components are much less than a second 

 apart are readily separated, and powers can be constantly em- 

 ployed which are so high as to be almost useless in Cambridge. 

 In many researches the gain is as great as if the aperture of the 

 instrument was doubled. Another important advantage of this 

 station is that, as it is sixteen degrees south of the equator, the 

 southern stars are all visible." The circular continues : " The 

 planet Mars, when nearest the earth, is always far south. The 

 study of the surface of this and of the other planets is greatly 

 impeded by the unsteadiness of the air at most of the existing 

 observatories. Even under the most favourable circumstances 

 startling discoveries— relating, for example, to the existence of 

 inhabitants in the planets— are not to be expected. Still, it is 

 believed that in no other way are we so likely to add to our 

 knowledge of planetary detail as by the plan here proposed." 

 We venture to hope that the wealthy donor for whom Harvard 

 is looking will soon be found. 



Baron Leon de Lenval, of Nice, offers a prize of 3,000 

 francs to the inventor of the best application of the principles of 

 the microphone in the construction of a portable apparatus for 

 the improvement of hearing in deaf persons. Instruments for 

 competition should be sent to Prof. Adam Politzer, or Prof. 

 Victor von Lang, Vienna, before December 31, 1892. The 

 prize will be awarded at the Fifth International Otological 

 Congress at Florence in September, 1893. If no instrument 

 is judged worthy of the prize, the jury reserve the right of 

 announcing another competition, unless Baron Lenval decides 

 NO. II 97, VOL. 46] 



to dispose of the prize otherwise. The following are the 

 members of the jury : — Prof. Adam Politzer (President), and 

 Prof. Victor v. Lang, Vienna ; Dr. Benni, Warsaw ; Dr. Gelle, 

 Paris ; Prof. Urban Pritchard, London ; Prof. St. John Roosa, 

 New York ; Prof. Grazzi, Florence. 



The weather during the past week has been much disturbed 

 by several depressions, which have caused heavy rainfalls over 

 the whole of the kingdom, with hail and thunderstorms in many 

 places. On the morning of September 30 the amount of rain 

 measured on the south coast was an inch and a half, or about 

 half the average for the month ; and on the west coast, 

 especially at Liverpool, much damage has been done by floods, 

 occasioned by the excessive amount of rain. Temperature has 

 been low for the season, the daily maxima rarely exceeding 60° 

 in any part of the country, while in the north and west the 

 readings have been m.uch lower ; frost has been recorded in the 

 shade in the east of London, and the nights have been very cold 

 generally. For several days a cyclonic area was situated over 

 the United Kingdom, and strong winds were experienced on 

 some coasts ; a temporary improvement, however, occurred on 

 Tuesday, although conditions remained very unstable. The 

 Weekly Weather Report of the 1st inst. shows that the rainfall 

 was in excess everywhere. In the south-west of England it 

 amounted to i '2 inch ; but there was still a deficiency of 74 

 inches since the beginning of the year. The temperature was 

 below its mean value in all districts except the south of England 

 and the Channel Islands, the deficiency being greatest in Scot- 

 land and Ireland. 



Some results of seven years' meteorological observations on 

 the Pic du Midi, at a height of about 9500 feet, have been 

 recently published by M. Klengel. The annual mean tempera- 

 ture is — 2.°2 C. The annual variation, I4.°3, is only one degree 

 less than at Tarbes on the plain, and is about that of the Sonn- 

 blick (which is some 800 feet higher than the Pic). April is 

 abnormally cold ( - 6-°2) ; and this is attributed to the fact that 

 the Pic stands in Van Bebber's fifth depression-path, which is 

 most frequented in that month. While Pipis Peak represents, 

 the extreme continental type of high mountain climates, and 

 Etna the oceanic type, in nearly the same latitude, the Sonn- 

 blick and the Pic du Midi represent transition types. The 

 maximum zone of precipitation on the Pic lies at about 7700 to 

 8000 feet ; above this there is marked diminution. The results 

 in general show that even at a height of nearly two miles the 

 distribution of land and water on the earth's surface has a con- 

 siderable influence on climate. 



A SHOCK of earthquake, lasting from three to five seconds^ 

 was felt at Huelva, between twelve and one o'clock on the 

 morning of September 29. According to a Renter telegram, 

 three shocks were noticed, the first being weaker than the suc- 

 ceeding disturbances. The direction of the seismic wave wa& 

 taken from north to south, and the subterranean rumblings were 

 heard very distinctly over a large area. The inhabitants were 

 greatly terrified, but nobody was injured. Many windows were 

 smashed, but beyond this the damage was insignificant.^ 



A CURIOUS instance of globular lightning is referred to in the 

 Meteorologische Zeitschrift for September 1892. On August 7, 

 during a thunderstorm at Altenmarkt, near Fiirstenfeld, - 

 while the priest was administering the sacrament, the church 

 was struck by lightning, followed by a loud explosion. A panic 

 immediately ensued, and the congregation rushed out, notwith- 

 standing the assurances of the priest that there was no danger. 

 There was nothing to show how the lightning entered the church, 

 but it is supposed it was by the conductor leading from the 

 steeple. It is said to have been a large globe, tapering towards 

 the upper part, and after the explosion it left a stiong sulphurous 

 smell. The explosion was very loud and shook the building. 



