230 



NA TURE 



[January 9, 1896 



A YORKSHIRE AEROLITE. 

 ■pOLLOWING my recent description of the "Yorkshire 

 ■*• Gypsey-Springs," I may say that the great Yorkshire 

 aerolite fell a century ago at the village of Wold Newton, where 

 these springs first rise to light. Wold Newton is ten miles west 

 from Bridlington Quay, no village on the Yorkshire Wolds 

 having so much to interest the students of archaiology and 

 natural phenomena. Here, at Wold Cottage, lived Edward 

 Topham, the retired "Tip-top Adjutant," who, in 1787, estab- 

 lished The World, and whose epilogue, spoken by Lee Lewis 

 in the character of Moliere's " Old Woman," created him a star 

 in the dramatic firmament. Two fields south-westerly from 

 Wold Cottage, and protected on the north side by a plantation, 

 you come to a flue- like column of bricks, which used to receive 

 its washing with white lime every year. A yellow slab in the 

 middle bears the following inscription : — 



Here, 



on this spot, December 13th, 1795, 



fell from the atmosphere 



An Extraordinary Stone. 



In breadth 28 inches, 



In length 30 inches, 



and 



whose weight was 56 pounds. 



This column 



was erected by 



Edward Topham, 



1799. 



Thus, it is scarcely more than a century since this meteoric 

 stone fell. The day was Sunday, the time about three o'clock 

 in the afternoon, the weather misty, thunder and lightning being 

 at a distance. Suddenly there came a noise like an explosion. 

 George Sawden, a carpenter, was passing within sixty yards of 

 the spot where the aerolite fell ; and so much nearer was John 

 Shipley, a farm servant, that he was struck by some soft earth 

 thrown up by the stone when it plunged into the earth. While 

 it was still passing in a north-easterly direction from the sea- 

 coast, a number of persons at Reighton, who, while "turniping" 

 their sheep in the fields, saw it moving down the clouds, made 

 hasty steps for the top of their church-tower to see where it fell, 

 while others spread the tale that it was a cannon-ball shot by a 

 ship-load of French giants who were supposed to have landed 

 to invade the island. Two sons of the Vicar of Wold Newton 

 heard the same body whizz over their heads, and they were 

 among the first on the spot where it fell. It excavated a place 

 19 inches deep and of something more than 3 feet in diameter, 

 embedding itself so fast in the chalk rock that considerable force 

 was required to dislodge it. A piece split off was, sixty years 

 ago, in the possession of the Rev. Francis Wrangham, F.R.S., 

 Vicar of Hunmanby. It had a black, vitrified surface, and 

 exhibited marks of having been exposed to the action of fire. 

 The inside was white and of a granulated but very compact 

 texture, its composition having no resemblance to any natural 

 stone of the terrestrial sphere. Sent originally to Sowerby's 

 Museum, London, now the aerolite occupies a conspicuous 

 position in the British Museum. It is about the size of a man's 

 head. Harwood Brierley. 



PRIZE SUBJECTS OF THE PARIS ACADEMY 

 OF SCIENCES. 



/\ T the recent annual meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences* 

 the following prizes were announced for the year 1896. In 

 Mathematics the subjects proposed are : the Grand prize for an 

 important improvement in the algebraic theory of groups of sub- 

 stitutions between n letters ; the Bordin prize (3000 fr. ) for an 

 important advance in the theory of geodesic lines ; the Fran- 

 coeur prize (1000 fr.) and the Poncelet prize (2000 fr.) will be 

 awarded for discoveries useful in pure and applied mathematics. 

 In Mechanics, the extraordinary prize of 6000 fr. will be given 

 as a reward for an invention tending to increase the efficiency 

 of the French naval forces, the Montyon for the improvement 

 or invention of instruments useful to the progress of agriculture 

 or the mechanical arts, and the Plumey prize (2500 fr. ) for 

 improvements in steam engines or any invention contributing to 

 the progress of steam navigation. 



In Astronomy, the Lalande prize (540 fr.) wi 1 be awarded to 

 any one (in France or elsewhere) who shall have made the most 

 interesting observation, or have published the most useful work 



earing on astronomy ; the conditions for the Valz prize (460 fr. ) 



NO. 1367, VOL. 53] 



are similar. The subject announced for the Damoiseau prize 

 (1500 fr.) is to connect together by the theory of disturbances 

 the various appearances of Ilalley's comet, going back as far as 

 1456 (Toscanelli), taking account of the attraction of Neptune, 

 and also to calculate exactly the next return in 19 10. The 

 Janssen prize (a gold medal) is offered for an important result in 

 Physical Astronomy; a Montyon prize (500 fr.) for studies in 

 French statistics, and the Jecker prize (10,000 fr.) for researches 

 in organic chemistry. In Mineralogy and Geology, the subjects 

 for the Vaillant prize (4000 fr. ) are to study the physical and 

 chemical causes which determine the existence of rotatory 

 power in transparent substances, especially from an experimental 

 point of view, and to improve, theoretically or practically, 

 methods relating to geodesy or topography; the Fontannes 

 prize (2Q0O fr.) is offered for contributions to palaeontology. 



In Botany, there will be awarded the Demazieres prize 

 (1600 fr.) for the best contribution, to our knowledge of the 

 Cryptogamia, the Barbier prize (2000 fr.) for a botanical dis- 

 covery having special reference to medicine, two Montagne 

 prizes (1000 fr. and 500 fr. ) for work bearing on the anatomy, 

 physiology, development, or description of the lower Crypto- 

 gams, and the Thore prize (200 fr. ) for the best memoir on 

 European cellular Cryptogams. In Anatomy and Zoology, the 

 Savigny prize (975 fr.) is given to aid young travellers, who, 

 not receiving Government assistance, specially occupy themselves 

 with the Syrian and Egyptian invertebrates. One or more 

 Montyon prizes will be awarded for discoveries in Medicine and 

 Surgery, the Breant prize (100,000 fr.) for a specific cure for 

 Asiatic cholera. Other prizes offered in Medicine are the Godard 

 prize (1000 fr.) for the best memoir on the anatomy, physiology, 

 and pathology of the genito-urinary organs, the Serres prize 

 (7500 fr.) for the best work on general embryology applied to 

 physiology and medicine, the Bellion prize (1400 fr.) for work 

 of especial value to the public health, the Mege prize (10,000 fr.) 

 for an essay on the causes which 'have helped or retarded the 

 progress of medicine, and the Lallemand prize (1800 fr. ) for re- 

 searches on the nervous system. In Physiology, besides a 

 Montyon prize (750 fr.), there is offered the Philipeaux prize 

 (890 fr.) for experimental physiologj', and the Pourat prize 

 (1800 fr.). 



In Physical Geography, the subject announced for the Gay 

 prize (2500 fr.) is a study of the J"rench lakes from a chemical, 

 physical, and geological point of view. Besides the Arago 

 medal, which is only occasionally awarded for discoveries of 

 special value, the following general prizes are offered for 1896. 

 The Montyon prize (unhealthy trades) for a means of rendering 

 less dangerous an unhealthy trade, the Tremont prize (iioofr.) 

 the Gegner prize (4000 fr.), the Delalande-Guerineau prize 

 (1000 fr. ), the Jean Reynard prize ( 10,000 fr.), the Jerome Ponti 

 prize (3500 fr.), the Tchihatchef prize (3000 fr.) for the explora- 

 tion of imperfectly known regions of Asia, the Houllevigue 

 prize (5000 fr.), the Cahours prize (3000 fr. ) for the encourage- 

 ment of young men already known as having done interesting 

 work, especially in chemistry, the Saintour prize (3000 fr. ), 

 the Laplace prize of books, and the Rivot prize (2500 fr.). 



In the case of the prizes bearing the names of La Caze, 

 Delesse, Desmazieres, Lalande, and Leconte (in 1898), it is 

 specially stated that they are awarded entirely without preference 

 of nationality, and of the remainder only two or three are restricted 

 to French subjects. All memoirs for this year must be sent in 

 to the Academy before June i. 



AMATEUR CLOUD PHOTOGRAPHY.^ 

 ''PHE blue colour of the sky has as much action on an ordinary 

 •*- sensitive plate as the white colour of light clouds (cirrus 

 and cirro-cumulus) ; it is therefore necessary to diminish the 

 action of the blue background of the sky. For this purpose a 

 yellow screen is placed so as to intercept the rays ; the light 

 coming from the sky contains very few yellow and green rays, 

 and is thus extinguished to a great extent ; but, on the other 

 hand, the great proportion of yellow and green rays which exists 

 in the white light of the clouds passes the screen and makes an 

 impression on the plate, if it has been made more sensitive to 

 the action of yellow and green rays than the ordinary plates. 



There are, therefore, three points to be considered : (l) the 

 coloured screen ; (2) the sensitive plate ; (3) the method of 

 development of the images. 



( I ) The Coloured Screens. — Coloured screens formed of films of 

 J liy M. Angot. (Translated from Cosmos, Novemb2r 23, 1895.) 



