October 17, 1895] 



N^ TURE 



599 



The effect proclucccl withoiu and witli tlio (liai)hra>4m 

 will be seen in Fig. 3. 



Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate shakes, and show clearly the 

 importance of equality of touch : they show, too, how 

 precisely the apparatus reproduces any irregularity. 



Many i[uestions have to be considered with regard to 

 (|uick playing, but one of the most striking features is 

 that the more quickly the notes are played, the more the 

 force of the movement diminishes, until' finally a certain 

 stage is reached, when the amplitude ceases to vary. 



Let us now consider the ad\antages of the instrument ; 

 ihey are threefold. 



11) Dealing with its advantage from the psychological 

 point of \iew, it is found that the voluntary movements of 

 the pianist can be observed « ithout putting him to any 

 restraint or embarrassment, for the small tube does not 

 aficct the resistance of the notes, nor is the exterior of 

 the piano altered. 



(2) For teaching purposes the device has been of great 

 use. The record on the roll of paper shows the faults so 

 precisely, that although they are scarcely perceptible to 

 the car, there is no denying their existence. 



13; We are well aware that written music cannot 

 show every slight change in the time the composer 

 might desire. By applying the graphical method, this 

 <lifficulty is eliminated, and the time will be reproduced 

 with the smallest details. 



THE XFAV MF.rEOROLOGICAL STATION ON 

 MOUNT WELLINGTON. 



A \'IE\V of the new meteorological observatory on 

 i V. .Mount Wellington, Tasmania, is shown in the 

 .iccompanying illustration. .\s we announced in a 

 |)revious issue 'July 25), the observatory was begun in 



Weather I?ureau, Brisbane, has organised the stations. 

 \'ery valuable results, bearing upon the distribution of pres- 

 sure, temperature and humidity attaching to anticyclonic 

 and cyclonic systems through vertical sections of the- 

 atmosphere in the northern and southern hemispheres 

 respectively, will probably be forthcoming when the 

 Mount Wellington and Hobart results appear and are 

 discussed side by side with those obtained at Ben Nevis 

 and Fort William. Except for a few degrees of latitude, 

 Mount Wellington and Hobart are geographically and 

 physiogra])hically almost the \ery counterparts in the 

 southern hemisplicre of Ben Xevis and Fort William in 

 the northern. Mr. Wragge has entirely reorganised the 

 Tasmanian (lovernment Meteorological Service on federal 

 principles in direct connection with the Queensland 

 Weather .Senice, and he was enabled to perform this 

 work through the courtesy of the Queensland (Jovern- 

 nient, who allowed him as their officer to render federal 

 aid in the cause of science to the sister colony. Mr. H. 

 C. Kingsmill has cliarge of the Tasmanian section. 



DR. E. VON REBEUR-PASCHWITZ. 



"P \ON REBEUR-PASCHWITZ was born in 1861, 

 -'-^' and died, after an illness of ten years, on the first 

 of the present month. In many ways he always seemed 

 to me to resemble our incarnation of the ideal man of 

 science. He had Darwin's lovable nature, as well as his 

 modesty and utter carelessness of his own fame. But the 

 likeness was closest in the unceasing energy with which 

 he laboured, in spite of the constant suflTering that would 

 have made many stronger men feel their life's work 

 was done. 



Forsometimcvon Rebeur-Baschwitiwasa I'rivat-docent 

 in .-\stronomy at the University of Halle. His first notable 



The b.^rometc^ c.iirn. now a larder, and baromete 

 transferred tu house (4166 feet). 



t 



lii-j ( )hs<r\;aMiy. Motlllt \VeUinctnlW4if^r> feet aho\e sea-le\eO. 



level of the sea. 

 mountain barometer 



May last, and it will be to the southern hemisphere what 

 the Ben Xevis and other high-level observatories are to 

 the northern. Mount Wellington is about four miles 

 ilistant from Hobart, and rises almost directly from the 

 The station is supplied with a " Kortin " 

 , "Richard" barograpli and thermo- 

 graph, dry-wet, and maximum and minimum, thermo- 

 meters, as well as a " 3-inch ' gauge with extra deep rim 

 tor retaining snow. .Similar nistruments are in use at the 

 Springs (2495 ft.) and at Hobart, 160 feet above sea-level. 

 Mr. Clement 1.. Wragge, Superintendent of the Chief 



NO. 1355, VOL. 52] 



achievenu-ni was, 1 belie\e, ilie modification of ZoUners 

 horizontal pendulum, the two springs by which it was 

 supported being replaced by agate cups resting on 

 fine steel points. The earlier investigations with this in- 

 strument were intended to be of an astronomical 

 character, but its wonderful sensitiveness to the pulsations 

 of distant earthquakes soon became apparent, and he was 

 gradually led to give more time to their study, until he 

 became the chief authority on this fascinating branch of 

 seismology. On two occasions he contributed articles to 

 Natukk on this subject (vol. xl. pp. 294-295 ; vol. li. pp 



