30- 



NATURE 



[July 25, 189 = 



Reports upon ihe circumstances attending an^'explosion 

 which occurred in the Timsbur)- Collier)- last Febniar)-, pre- 

 pared by Mr. J. Roskill and Mr. J- S. Martin, have just been 

 published in a Blue Book. The explosion is interesting because 

 firedamp is practically unknown in the collier)'. In this col- 

 liery, as throughout the Radstock series of the Somersetshire 

 coalfield, naked lights are used : it is exempted from the appli- 

 cation of the section of the Rule which prohibits explosives being 

 taken down in mines except in cartridges, and gunpowder alone 

 is used for blasting. It is evident from the inquiry that this 

 exemption should be cancelled, and Mr. Roskill recommends 

 that the use of gunpowder, except in cartridges, should be pro- 

 hibited. Although before the explosion parts of the colliery 

 were known to be dry, while more or less dust occurred in 

 places, yet the mine was not regarded as a "dry and dusty 

 mine." Judging from the explosion, however, the mine should 

 ccme within that catcgoiy. The explosion occurred at a spot 

 which was apparently not dry and dusty within the meaning of 

 the Act ; tut it was, if not caused, certainly intensified, by the 

 presence of dust at much greater distances than twenty yards 

 from the spot, though the Rule relating to shot-firing in a dry 

 and dusty place, only prescribes watering within a radius of 

 twenty yaids. The moral drawn from the disaster is (l) that 

 roburite, or one of the so-called flanieless explosives, should, in 

 future, be used instead of powder, and (2) that when places in a 

 mine aie admittedly diy and du.sty, ever)- place in the mine 

 should be considered to be so, for^lhe purpose of shot-firing, in 

 order to make it imperative that, in such mines, the precautions 

 prescribed by General Rule 12 should be observed in all places 

 of firing. 



We have received a copy of the Report of the Epping Korest 

 Committee presented to the Court of Common Council on June 

 13, of the present year, and containing the memorials which 

 were reprinted in these columns a short time i^o (June 13, 

 p. 158). In presenting the Report the chairman, Mr. Deputy 

 liaise, said that " if the action of ycur Committee were judged 

 alone by the weight of authority attaching to those who have 

 expressed themselves to be so entirely in accord with the past 

 management of the Forest, a complete answer to the charges 

 has already been made ; tut we prefer to await and present to 

 your Honourable Ccurt the Report of the eminent experts in 

 Forcslr)- whom we consulted last year, and by whose opinion and 

 decision we are perfectly ]>re] ared to be judged and bound." 

 We understand that the Ccmmittce of experts visited the Forest 

 last week, and their judgment will be awaited with interest. 

 Nothing cculd, however, strengthen the hands of the Committee 

 more than the memorials which are now made public with their 

 attached signatures. The value of the Report from a public 

 I»int of view is greatly enhanced by a set of photographs 

 reproduced from the illustrations in one of the daily jiapers, and 

 placed opposite the views of the actual ])laccs which the news- 

 paper artist is .'upposed to have repre,sented. The article from 

 the paper itself is reprinted in cxicnso, with a note stating that 

 " the a bove article was accompanied by the illustrations re- 

 prcduced on the annexed photographic sheet. Its accuracy may 

 Ic judged fr( m the photographs of those portions of the Forest 

 EO professed to tc illustiated, which were taken within two days 

 of the appearance of the article." The absurdity of ithe clamour, 

 which is raided year after year by a small and irresp<jnsible body 

 of agitators, is well brought out by the article and its illustrations 

 thus confu.nlcd with the true representations. Any |>aper that 

 lends il.scif in future to such perversions will justly forfeit public 

 confidence. The keen interest taken by the people in the 

 management of Epping Forest is a very healthy sign, but the 

 ca'C against the present Conservators must indeed have l>een 

 feeble if it was founil necessary to resort to such pictorial 



NO. 1343, VOL. 52] 



artifices as7are exposed in the Report issued by the Common 

 Council. '^ ^ 



Unsettled weather has jirevailed in most parts of the British 

 Islands during the last week, and thunderstorms have occurred in 

 various places, while falls of rain exceeding an inch in twenty-four 

 hours have been recorded on several days. In London, there 

 were two distinct thunderstorms on Sunday 1,-vst, one of which, 

 between two and three i\m. , was accompanied by .an exceptionally 

 heavy fall of hail. The amount of lain in London on that day 

 was about I -3 inch, w hich is the heaviest fall in twenty-four hours 

 since last October. 



A-r the recent meeting of the .-Uistralasian .Vssoriation for the 

 Advancement of Science at Brisbane, Mr. C. L. Wr.-igge pro- 

 posed the erection of a meteorological station on Mount Welling- 

 ton, Hobart. The proiiosal was supported by Mr. II. C. Russell, 

 Government .■\strononicr of New- South Wales, an.l by the 

 Royal Society of Tasmania, in consequence of which the Govern- 

 ment voted the necessary funds. .\n experimental station has 

 just been established by Mr. Wragge on the summit of the 

 mountain at a height of 4166 feet alxive sea-level, and .a perma- 

 nent observatory-house is now in course of erection. There are 

 also corres|X)nding stations at the Springs (2495 feet), and at 

 Hobart (160 feet) ; we have no doubt, therefore, that results of 

 importance will be derived from them. Mount Wellington is 

 about four miles distant from Hobart, in a straight line, and 

 rises almost directly from tlie level of the sea ; it cons-jquenlly 

 offers considerable advantages for meteorological research. 



The Pilot Chart of the North .\tlantic Oce.in for July con- 

 tains monthly charts, representing gra|>hically the regions 

 where fog was experienced most frequently on the North 

 Atlantic during 1S94. As this year can be taken as a ty|->ical one 

 to illustrate the distribution at dificrent scisoivs, it is interesting 

 to note that during the first three months of the ye.xr fog is 

 exjierienced on the Grand Hanks and to the westwaril, but not 

 in large quantities. During April it begins to extend to the 

 northward and eastward, increasing in frequcnc)- as the spring 

 advances, and reaching its maximum, generallj', in June or July, 

 during which months it may be expected anywhere between the 

 American coast and this country in large areas and of long dura- 

 tion. In .-Vugust the fog begins to dissi]xite in the e.Tstern part 

 of the ocean, and in September the decrease is very ]>erceptible. 

 During the remaining three months the charts show that it 

 reaches its minimum again, and is mostly restricted to the west- 

 ward of 40° west longitude. 



So.ME brief telegrams in the ilaily |iapers ,-uinounced the 

 occurrence of an earthipi.-ike in the Meshed district of I'ersia oiv 

 January 17, but gave little indication of its destructive char.icter. 

 The centre of the earthcpuike ap|X'ars to liave Iwen near 

 Kiich.-in, a town which has l)ccn ilamaged or destroyed by earth- 

 i]uakes several limes during Ihe present century, the last occasion 

 being in 1893, when it was completely reduced to ruins. .\fter 

 this the town w.as rebuilt on the old site, but the houses were 

 made very largely of wood. At the beginning of this year, the 

 new town contained about 2000 houses and 8000 inhabitants. 

 On January 17, shortly before noon, another disastrous earth- 

 quake occurred. It lasteel about a minute, and the shock was so- 

 severe that it completely destroyeel every house in the town, 

 with the exception of a few .small shinties. The wooden 

 pillars of the Ijetter-built houses were all broken in the 

 middle. Numbers of people were buried in the ruins, but, 

 owing to the lightness of the materials, the loss of life was 

 much less than it would otherwise have been. The local 

 authorities estimated the number of deaths from two to six 

 thousand, but the careful inquiries of an att.ach; at the British 

 Consulate-General at Meshed have reduced this figure to abnut 



