December 26, 1895] 



NATURE 



18 



ology, aerial navigation, and allied subjects, with the particular 

 object — as we gather from the circular convening the con- 

 gress — of promoting the methodical and general observation 

 of aerial currents. Authorities propose, but contributors decide, 

 the result and character of the meeting, and the covipte rendu of 

 the congress, which has just reached us, shows that while a 

 variety of interesting topics was brought under the notice of the 

 members present, and discussed with greater or less detail, the 

 ultimate aim of the promoters does not seem to have been 

 materially advanced. Of course, the awakening of public opinion 

 and the diffusion of information are always desirable, and the 

 Committee responsible for the congress are to be congratulated 

 upon the general success which has attended their efforts, though 

 it may not be precisely in the direction they proposed to them- 

 selves. 



One circumstance certainly told against the development of 

 any complete plan, demanding the co-operation of many 

 nationalities. The date of the congress (August 16-18) was 

 unfortunately chosen. It clashed with the meeting of profes- 

 sional meteorologists, who were in session at Upsala, and thus 

 prevented the attendance of those who could have given 

 authority to any well-considered scheme, whose guidance would 

 have been welcome, and whose reputation would have added 

 weight. The President (Lieut. -General Wauwermans) had 

 to announce, therefore, many letters of apology for non-attendance 

 from men of science who had hoped to be present. His address 

 was in the main historical, dealing with the progress of aero- 

 nautics and ballooning from the time of Montgolfier to the 

 present, and a consideration of the benefits that would accrue 

 to many mechanical applications from the more perfect know- 

 ledge of atmospheric motion and aerial currents. This address 

 was delivered to the whole congress, which afterwards divided 

 into two Sections — one, under the presidency of M. Lancaster, 

 to discuss the subject of aerial currents ; the other, directed by 

 M. Van den Borren, more immediately concerning itself with 

 aerodynamics. 



To the first Section, M. Lagrange contributed a paper on the 

 sympathetic movements of freely-suspended needles, whether 

 magnetised or not. These practical experiments are the out- 

 come (jr completion of a mathematical inquiry, published by 

 the author in 1892, entitled, " 6tude sur le Systeme des Forces 

 du Monde physique." The experimental inquiry has been 

 spread over more than two years ; while two sets of apparatus — 

 one in the cellar of the observatory, the other on a level with 

 the ground — have been under observation. The direction in 

 which the needles point is not constant ; but both sets show a 

 tendency to travel in azimuth from north-west to south-east from 

 April to June, and then to retrograde towards the original 

 position. The reason for this oscillation is discussed at great 

 length ; the author attributes it to the mechanical conditions 

 under which a permeating fluid similar to ether would be placed 

 when affected by all the forces, gravitational and electrical, that 

 are continually operative. The practical result is, that further 

 observations, conducted at a depth 30 metres below the surface, 

 are to be prosecuted at the Royal Observatory, Brussels, and a 

 member of the congress will carry out similar observations at 

 the Meteorological Institute of Roumania. Canon Spee dis- 

 cussed the well-worn question of a possible connection between 

 the area of spotted surface on the sun and the temperature of 

 the earth, and, like others before him, is driven to the conclusion 

 that any connection is not apparent. The meeting closed with a 

 new theory of tides, both oceanic and atmospheric, but the 

 "new" theory was not well received, and is not described in 

 the Compte rendu. 



At he second meeting of the Section, some papers of minor 

 importance were read and discussed. One member read a note 

 on the treatment of diseases of the ear by compressed air, and 

 invoked the aid of meteorologists in a matter of aero-therapeutics. 

 Another had something to say on the forces that affect the 

 rotation of the earth, but this was summarily dismissed as a 

 theory " qui aboutit a la fois a des deductions d'ordre scientifique 

 et d'ordre philosophique." Another had arranged a system of 

 magnetic needles with a view to the solution of the problem of 

 weather prediction. The subjects, it will be seen, were suffi- 

 ciently varied ; we can only refer to two. One, by M. Lancaster, 

 on the preparation of synoptic charts, in which he insisted on 

 the regular publication of maps showing atmospheric currents. 

 He indicated the progress that had been made in investigations 

 of that character, and suggested the formation of an international 

 bureau for the consideration of the subject. A vote of the con- 



NO. 1365, VOL. 53] 



gress supporting his views was forwarded to the Meteorological 

 Congress sitting at Upsala. 



M. Plumandon, meteorologist to the Observatory of the Puy 

 de Dome, read a paper on the causes of storms and atmospheric 

 disturbances. He had availed himself of the difference of alti- 

 tude of the Puy de Dome (1467 m.) and of Clermont Ferrand 

 (388 m.) to compare the variations of barometric pressure at the 

 two levels. In summer the pressure is raised less above or falls 

 more below the mean value at Clermont than at the summit of 

 the Puy de Dome. The opposite rule obtains in the winter. 

 M. Plumandon deduces from his discussion that the production 

 of storms coincides with the greatest separation of the two 

 barometric curves, and that storms cease when the separation is 

 sufficiently small. Put otherwise, this means that storms occur 

 when the ascending currents reach a sufficient intensity, and, 

 further, that absolute values of the pressure are of less .import- 

 ance in producing storms than the magnitude of the separation 

 of the barometric curves at a high and low level. M. Plumandon 

 has also interesting remarks on the relative velocities of wind at 

 high and low stations in the same district, derived from observ- 

 ations at Pic du Midi and Toulouse, at Tour Eiffel and Pare 

 Saint Maur, Paris, and other places, from which it appears that 

 the higher station does not always suffer most from violent 

 winds, but that there are regions at considerable altitude where 

 the air is on the whole less agitated than at the surface of the 

 ground. 



In the Section devoted to aerodynamics, M. Van den Borren 

 gave an able address on the subject of aerial navigation as it 

 stands to-day, enriched by the experiments of many able 

 mechanicians. M. Borren, as chief of the military aerostatic 

 service of Belgium, and having charge of the School of Aeros- 

 tation at Antwerp, was able to give an interesting account of what 

 had been there accomplished under his own eye. Experiments 

 have been carried on to determine the resistance offered by the 

 air to planes at different inclinations, and to surfaces of various 

 figure, as well as to the preparation of machinery arranged for 

 different rates of locomotion and constructed of various materials 

 with the view of determining the friction of the air on different 

 substances. That is to say, the problem has been studied with 

 all the attention that experience has suggested, and the con- 

 clusion to which this expert arrives is, that the problem of 

 aerial locomotion no longer presents any serious difificulties, that 

 the theory is satisfactorily established, and that one may venture 

 to proceed to execution. Neither does size offer any insuperable 

 objection to this optimistic view. He calmly contemplates the 

 manufacture of an aerostat 300 metres long by 30 broad, 

 dimensions which approach, if they do not exceed, those of an 

 Atlantic liner. An historical sketch of the progress of 

 meteorology closed the sitting. 



At the second meeting, M. Lancaster gave an account of the 

 observations on the velocity of the wind in Belgium. In the 

 main the author agrees with the results to which M. Hann, of 

 Vienna, had been previously led. The paper, which is of great 

 interest, appears in full in an annexe, forming the second part of 

 the Compte rendu, being the memoirs presented to the congress. 

 Another paper, to which we give only a brief reference here, 

 is from M. Ventosa, astronomer at the Observatory- of Madrid. 

 It has for its object the determination of the direction of wind at 

 high levels from observation, of star images, and also that of the 

 sun. This subject came before the meteorological committee at 

 Upsala, and seems to have been well received, since M. Ventosa 

 was encouraged to continue his observations (see Nati'RE, vol. 

 li. p. 185 ; also p. 179 of this number). 



THE HUXLEY MEMORIAL. 



'T'HE following is the official report of the first meeting of the 

 General Committee, formed for the purpose of establishing 

 a memorial to the late Right Hon. T. H. Huxley, P.C., held in 

 the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, on Wednes- 

 day, November 27, 1895. Present— 250 Home Members of the 

 General Committee. His Grace the Duke of Devonshire, K.G., 

 in the chair. 



The Duke of Devonshire, in opening the proceedings, said : — 

 My Lords and Gentlemen, — It would be in the highest degree 

 presumptuous on my part if I were to attempt, in the presence of 

 so many distinguished men of science as I see around me, to 

 offer anything in the nature of an estimate of the character and 

 work of Prof. Huxley, or of the services which he has rendered 



