August 2, 1894] 



NA rURE 



j^o 



•of the Society of Engineers of Hainaut ; and "On the Iron 

 , and Steel Industries of Belgium," by M. A. Gillon, President 

 ij -of the Society of Engineers of Liege. 



The Medical Congress which is to be held in Calcutta 

 from December 24 to 29 next, and to which we briefly referred 

 in our issue of July 5, is, according to present arrangements, to 

 be divided into six sections, viz. : I. Medicine and Pathology. 

 II. Surgery, including Ophthalmology. III. Obstetrics and 

 Diseases of Women and Children. IV. Public Health. V. 

 Medico-legal Medicine and Insanity. VI. Pharm.icology. 

 It is hoped that medical men from countries other than India 

 will co-operate to make the Congress a success. Special efforts 

 are being made to secure the comfort of visitors. 



The programme of the one hundred and eleventh meeting of 

 the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union has been issued. The meet- 

 ing will be held on .\ugust 6, at South Ca^e, for the investigation 

 of the neighbourhood of Drewton Dale, Weedley Springs, and 

 Wold Dale. The sciences of geology, botany, vertebrate 

 zoology, entomology, and conchology will be officially repre- 

 sented by members told off for the purpose ; and if the weather 

 be favourable, the meeting will, no doubt, prove as popular 

 as those on former occasions. 



The eighth meeting of the International Ophthalmological 

 Congress will be held at Edinburgh in the second week of 

 this month, under the presidency of Dr. .\rgyll Robertson. 

 It is thought that about 300 ophthalmic surgeons will be present. 

 The last meeting took place at Heidelberg in 188S. 



The spring of next year will see established at Earl's Court 

 .an exhibition, on a large scale, devoted to the products of 

 India. 



Thunderstorms occurred over the southern and midland 

 parts of England on Sunday, accompanied by heavy falls of 

 rain, amounting to nearly one inch in several places. Over the 

 southern and southwestern parts of England, as well as in the 

 south of Ireland, the total rainfall during July has greatly 

 exceeded the average, in many places being double the usual 

 amount, while at Jersey the total was about seven inches, which 

 is nearly three times the average for July, and it is the heaviest 

 fall in that month during the last twenty-nine years. In the 

 ■east of Scotland and north-east of England the rainfall for the 

 month was rather less than the average. 



We have received from Dr. W. Doberck, a copy of the obser- 

 vations and researches made at the Hong Kong Observatory in 

 the year 1893. The meteorological observations are given 

 for every hour, while the means and various deductions from 

 them have been carefully arranged in tables in a convenient 

 form for future use. The mean temperature during the last ten 

 years was 7'''3> 'he maximum was 93'''9, and the minimum 

 32°'0. The average rainfall for a period of thirty years was 

 90'17 inches ; rain mostly falls between May and -Vugust. Dr. 

 Doberck gives a useful summary of the climate investigated 

 from ten years' observations. There is a well-marked variation 

 of climate ; the winter is cool, its mean temperature being about 

 ■60°, while in summer it rises a little above 80^; at this season 

 Europeans suffer much from the excessive dampness of the air. 

 The solar radiation is very considerable in all months ; the 

 maximum during 1893 was 154°, in -Vugust. Much attention is 

 paid to the study and prediction of typhoons ; telegrams giving 

 information .about them were issued on eighty-seven days, and 

 with a view to the systematic study of these storms, observations 

 are regularly extracted from ships' logs. During the year no 

 Jess than 672 logs with entries during typhoons were received, 

 and these were supplemented by observations made at about 

 NO. 1292, VOL. 50] 



forty land stations. These various useful researches, in addi- 

 tion to the regular astronomical and magnetical observations, 

 try the powers of the small staff to the utmost, and Dr. Doberck 

 states that the work is much hampered by want of sufficient 

 office accommodation. 



The Lancet states that Dr. Bornand, the eminent Swiss 

 consultant lately deceased at Berne, bequeathed his fortune 

 (which was considerable) to the Acadcmie de Lausanne for the 

 endowment of a chair of Embryogeny in that school. His 

 armamentarium chirurgicum and his microscopical instruments 

 he also presented to the .\cadL-mie, while his magnificent library 

 become property of the bibliothique cantonale of his native 



Canton de Vaud. 



We learn from the Academy, that the Pengelly Memorial 

 Fund now amounts to about ^^1360; and the committee 

 have determined to proceed immediately with the erection 

 of a lecture theatre, as part of the proposed addition to the 

 Natural History Museum at Torquay, of which Mr. Pengelly 

 was the founder. 



A CIRCULAR has been sent to us announcing the proposed 

 formation of a society, whose headquarters are to be located at 

 Sydney, to be called "The Palaeographical Society of Aus- 

 tralasia.' The following are among the objects which the 

 society is being established to promote : — "To collect, illustrate, 

 and place on record, examples of all systems of old time written 

 characters, whether in the form of pictograms, symbolism=, or 

 phonograms, as also representations of the various mnemonic 

 aids to memory used by so many savage and barbarous peoples. 

 To undertake the collection and formation of a library, to con- 

 sist of works treating of or connected with Palaeography and 

 kindred sciences, as also collections of photographs and other 

 exact copies and illustrations of rock inscriptions, cave paint- 

 ings, &c. To afford a means of communication and co-opera- 

 tion between those interested in the science of Palaeography, 

 who are now unable to obtain this mutual aid. To assist 

 students as far as possible in the work of deciphering new or 

 unknown characters." The Society will, it is announced, be 

 formed as soon as the initial membership reaches a hundred ; 

 when, therefore, that number of intending members send in their 

 names, &c., to one or other of the gentlemen named below, a 

 meeting will be called for the purpose of electing officer*, 

 passing of rules, &c. The subscription fee is to be one pound 

 per annum. It is intended to establish a periodical as organ of 

 the society, in which will appear original articles on the science 

 of Palaeography, with illustrations of various scripts. Further 

 particulars may be obtained from Dr. A. Carroll, Kogarah, 

 Sydney, N.S.W. ; or Mr. Elsdon Best, Wellington, New 

 Zealand. 



A NUMEROUSLY attended meeting of the Essex Field Club 

 was held last Saturday, in the Navestock district, under the 

 conductorship of the Rev. S. Coode Ilore and Prof. R. 

 Meldola, F.R.S. Alighting at Brentwood Station, the party 

 were driven to the site of an ancient entrenchment, which the 

 conductors had identified with the "alate temple of the 

 Druids," described by Dr. Stukeley in the last century. A 

 fac-dmile of Stukeley's figure, made by Mr. Walter Crouch, 

 was handed round for inspection. Nothing of these ancient 

 remains is now to be seen, excepting a circular depression, and 

 a fosse connected with it, situated in a field bordering the road. 

 From this spot the parly proceeded to Navestock Park, the 

 estate of Lord Carlingford, where they were most hospitably 

 entertained at luncheon by Mr. and Mrs. D. P. Sellar, of 

 Dubrook. An ordinary meeting of the Club was held after 

 luncheon, and a discussion took place respecting the proposed 

 cession of certain Essex parishes to Hertfordshire and Cam- 



