22S 



NA rURE 



[July 5. 1894 



The death is announced of Dr. Louis de Coulon, one of the 

 founders of the Sacic.c des Sciences Naturelles de Neuchatel 

 in 1S32, and its president for more than half a century from j 

 lSj6 to 1S90, when he became " Prciident honoraire." Dr. de 

 Coulon was born July 2, 1S04, and died June 13, 1S94. 



A Medical Congress will be held at Calcutta at the end of 

 next December, under the patronage of the Viceroy, and the 

 presidency of Surgeon-Colonel Harvey. The objects of the 

 Congress are "to bring together men from all parts of the 

 Indian Empire, and to discuss msdical subjects connected with 

 Indian diseases, and to place on permanent record some of the 

 work which is now lost to science for want of proper publica- 

 tion." 



The seventy-seventh meeting of the Society Helvelique des 

 Sciences Naturelles will take place at Schaff hausen, from July ' 

 30 to .\ugust I inclusive. The Swiss botanical and geological 

 societies will also hold concurrent meetings. Papers intended 

 to be read before the different sections should be in the hands 

 of the Committee before July 15. The President for the year 

 is Prof. J. .Meister, and the Secretaries, Dr. J. NUesch and 11. 

 Wanner-Schachenmann. 



A NUMBER of papers were read at the meetings of the , 

 Museums Association, held in Dublin last week. Mr. F. W. 

 Rudler described the arrangement of a mineral collection, and \ 

 Mr. (1. H. Carpenter read a paper on collections to illustrate 

 the evolution and geographical distribution of animals. Among 

 the subjects dealt with on the concluding day, June 29, were 

 " Classified Cataloguing, as applied to Palccozoic Fossils," by 

 Mr. W. E. Hoyle, and "The Functionsof a Botanical Museum," 

 by Prof. T. Johnson. j 



The Register for 1S93-94 of the Johns Hopkins University | 

 of Kaltimore has been received. One of the changes we note j 

 is that Prof. Xewcomb terminated his active duties as Professor \ 

 of Mathematics and Astronomy at the beginning of this year, 

 the requirements of the Government service having obliged him 

 to do so. The instruction in higher mathematics is now 

 carried on by Profs. Craig and Franklin, and that in astronomy 

 by Drs. Poor and Chessin. In all the departments of the 

 University facilities are aflTordcd for original research. In 

 physics, Prof. Rowland expects all advanced students to devote 

 most of their time to laboratory work and to undertake investi- 

 gations designed to be of permanent value, .\gain, the chief 

 instruction in every course of chemistry is that given in the 

 laboratory. Prof. Remsen does not pander to those who merely 

 lake up chemistry in order to obtain a degree. " What is de- 

 sired," he says, " is a certain maturity of mind with reference 

 to the science of chemistry, and an ability to deal with chemical 

 problems intelligently. This condition of mini is reached, if 

 reached at all, by long-continued laboratory training accom- 

 panied by careful study of chemical journals and treatises. It 

 may be said that the arrangements of the laboratory are 

 made mainly with reference to those who wish to lake up the 

 »ludy of chemistry in a broad way, and that those who want 

 »hort courses in special branches of chemistry are not advised to 

 come here. It is believed that whatever object the student may 

 have in view, whether he intends to teach or to follow some 

 branch of applied chemistry, the best preparation he can have 

 is a thorough training in the pure science." We have seen few 

 prmpecluses in which the aims of study arc more clearly de- 

 fined. It is the tame in all the other branches of scientific 

 knowledge fostered at liallimorc ; after students have become 

 familiar with the melhodi of investigation through the study of 

 typical anfl described material, they are encouraged to under- 

 take original work. No wonder that the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity i> able to keep going journals of mathematics chemistry, 

 NO. I 288, VOL. 50] 



and biology, as well as numerous bulletins, circulars, and 

 memoirs. The training given is just that calculated to produce 

 results worthy of publication. 



The temperature in the shade exceeded 80° in several parts 

 of England and Wales during the three d.iys ending Monday 

 last, and reached 87° at Cambridge on Sunday. Thunderstorms 

 occurred on Sunday night and following days in many parts of 

 Great Britain, accompanied by very heavy rainfall in places. 

 At Jersey VI inch was measured on Monday morning, and 17 

 inch at Stornoway on Tuesday morning. These storms had the 

 effect of cooling the air ; the maximum shade temperature in 

 the neighbourhood of London had fallen about 10° on Tuesday 

 compared with that on the previous day. 



The report of the German Meteorological Institute for the 

 year 1893 coniains some interesting details of the activity of 

 that olTice, in addition to the routine work of dealing with 

 observations from nearly 2,000 stations. During the year the 

 important magnetic observatory of Potsdam became affiliated 

 to the central olfice in Berlin ; the very complete observations 

 made there will be included with regular yearly publications. 

 With the co-operation of the .Mpine clubs an attempt has 

 been made to reorganise a meteorological station on the 

 Brocken, but hitherto it has not been successful. Fifteen 

 scientific balloon ascents have been made during the year, 

 in which the officials of the Institute have taken part, .\fter 

 the sixth ascent the balloon was exploded by lightning, 

 but this only temporarily interfered with the work, as the 

 Emperor granted funds to continue it. .V complete account of 

 the results obtained will be published in a special volume, when 

 the work is discontinued. The introduction of Central 

 European lime into Germany has inleifered materially with the 

 meteorological work at the stations during the year. 



At the meeting of the Vienna Academy of Sciences on June 

 14, Dr. J. llann submitted an investigation on the daily period 

 of wind velocity on the summit of the Sonnblick t3ioo metres), 

 based on a careful and laborious calculation and discussion of 

 anemometrical observations for six years, and also on the range- 

 on mountain summits generally. The minimum of wind force 

 takes place on the Sonnblick very early, about Sh. or gh. a.m., 

 and the maximum occurs about 8h. p.m. On the S.intis (2500 

 metres), the minimum also takes place relatively early, between 

 loh. and llh. a.m. But from the accepted theories of the 

 cause of the daily period of wind force on mountain summits, 

 it might be supposed that the minimum would occur in the 

 afternoon. He therefore examined the records for several 

 other stations, and found that in the summer, for altitudes 

 ranging from 1400 to 4300 metres, the mean time of the 

 minimum occurred at noon. He then investigated these facts 

 to see how they fitted in with the assumed causes of the daily 

 range, and as he could not reconcile them, he suggests that the 

 possible explanation of the daily range on mountain peaks may 

 be that the surface of the mountain being much more warmed 

 than free air during the day affects the anemometers. It is 

 assumed, however, that the chief effect is only active for a few 

 hundred metres below the summit, in the morning, and that 

 later it would be interrupted by the wind coming from the 

 valley. If the minimum were due to the great ascending 

 current, it would occur during the afternoon. 



An apparatus for discovering internal flaws in iron and steel 

 is described in /ni/iiilries ami Iron. It is electrical, and con 

 sists of a small pneumatic tapper worked by the hand, with 

 which the sample of steel or iron is tapped all over. With the 

 tapper is connected a telephone with a microphone interposed 

 in the circuit. One operator is required to apply the tapper, 

 and the other to listen through the telephone to the sounds pro- 



