400 



NA 7 URh 



[August 23, 1S94 



five minutes after the meteor disappeared. According to the 

 news from Fresno, the meteor left a track of great beauty, con- 

 sUting of an irregular spiral curve, the lower end of which was 

 little more than a tangle of threads. The upper part of this 

 track was pale red, and farther down blue. The lower part 

 was almost yellow, and still farther down were two detached 

 bright red spots, like the sun breaking through clouds. — Ed. 

 Nati;re.] 



Heigfht of Barometer. 



Mr. Pe-IRSON will find much information as to extreme 

 readings of the barometer in two papers published in the 

 Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society ; one by 

 Mr. H. Sowerby Wallis, in vol. viii. p. 147, and the other by Mr. 

 C. Harding, in vol. xiii. p. 201. The lowest known reading is 

 stated, on the authority of Mr. Blanford (Nature, vol. x.xxv. 

 p. 344), to be 27135 ins. observed on September 22, 1S85, at 

 False Point, on the coast of Orissa ; this requires a subtractive 

 correction of '01 1 to bring it to English standards, reducing it 

 to 27"I24 ins. The highest known reading is given, on the 

 authority of Prof. Loomis, as 3172 ins. at Semipatalinsk, on 

 December 16, 1877, giving an extreme range of 46 ins. 



The lowest readmg recorded in these Islands is 27 '332 ins. at 

 Ochleriyre, near CriefT, on January 26, 18S4, while at Belfast 

 the barometer fell to 27'3S ins. on December 8, 1886, and on 

 the same day at Newton Keigny to 27'566 ins., which seems to 

 be the lowest recorded in England. The highest pressures 

 recorded in this country during recent years were on January iS, 

 18S2, when 30990 ins. was registered at St. Leonards, but on 

 January 9, 1820, 31 056 was recorded at Kinfauns, Perth, and 

 appears to be confirmed by other readings in Scotland. 



Henry Mellish. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



BY the kindness of the Secretary of the British 

 Association we were able to give in our last issue 

 a list of the grants awarded by the General Committee 

 just as we were going to press. Upon referring to this, 

 it will be seen that the grants amount to very nearly 

 ^1100, that is £^oo more than those awarded at the 

 previous meeting. The increase of funds available for 

 research is due to the large number who attended the 

 Oxford meeting, the receipts being as much as /2175. 

 In this matter, and indeed from every point of view, the 

 meeting was a most successful one. The membership 

 reached a total of 2321— a number greatly in excess of 

 the average. In moving a vote of thanks to the authori- 

 ties of the city for the hospitable reception accorded to 

 the Association, Sir John Evans remarked that the 

 meeting had been notable both for the large attendance 

 of members and associates, and for the great scientific 

 interest and importance of the papers read. In fact, it 

 was the opinion of all that rarely, if ever, has a more 

 brilliant meeting of the Association been held. Xo less 

 than seventy-seven foreign members, eminent in many 

 branches of scientific knowledge, honoured it with their 

 presence. The exchange of ideas, which results froin 

 the meeting of investigators from all parts of 

 the world, must lead to real progress. " Science," as 

 someone has said, " is cosmopolitan." She recognises 

 no differences of nationality between workers devoted to 

 extending her domains. Therefore men who live "for 

 the promotion of natural knowledge " meet on common 

 ground at the British Association, lor they know that any- 

 thing that will help on this object will be appreciated. 



Several changes in the constitution of the sections 

 were adopte '; by the tlcneral Committee. Section U 

 will in future be called /oology instead of Biology, and 

 •■"■"■ V.1II be a separate section for Botany. Section 

 li met this year for the first time, is to consist of 

 .. .logy, with Experimental Pathology and Experi- 

 mental Psychology. As pointed out by I'rof. Bayley 

 Balfijur in his address, Section D has had its constitu- 

 tion changed oftener than any other section of the 



NO. 1295, VOL. 50] 



Association. Experience will show whether the new 

 arrangement is the one best calculated to bring together 

 investigators with similar scientific interests. 



The continual division of this section suggests that 

 Astronomy should be removed from Section .A (Mathe- 

 matical and Physical Science), and have a section of its 

 own. It may also be well to point out that there should 

 be a sub-section of Section H (Anthropology) dealing 

 with large questions of Archaeology — that is to say, with 

 Assyrian and Egyptian Archaeology — and with the 

 various points which, from an archajological point of 

 view, are common to the earlier races. 



.Another matter worth the attention of the General 

 Committee is the introduction of evening reunions of 

 physicists and biologists, such as are provided in German 

 meetings. Under the present conditions it is verv 

 difficult to meet and talk with fellow-workers, especially 

 with foreign members, at each meeting. 



The meeting will be held next year at Ipswich, under 

 the presidency of Sir Douglas Galton, K.C.B., F.R.S. 

 Liverpool will be the place of meeting in 1S96. The 

 Association was invited to meet in Toronto in 1S97, but 

 as arrangements are never made more than two years in 

 advance, nothing definitely could be settled in the 

 matter. There was a strong feeling, however, in favour 

 of accepting the invitation when the proper time arrives 

 for doing so. 



The University testified to its interest in the welfare 

 of science by conferring the degree of D.C.L. honoris 

 causa on the following eorinent foreign investigators 

 present at the meeting: — Prof. Edouard \'an Beneden, 

 Prof. Ludwig Boltzmann, Dr. E. Chauveau, Prof 

 Cornu, Prof Theodor W. Engelmann, Prof Wilhelm 

 Forster, Prof C. Friedel. Prof L. Hermann, Prof 

 Gosta Mittag-Leftler, Prof S. P. Langley, Prof G. 

 Quincke, Prof E. .Strasburger. The degrees were con- 

 ferred by the Vice-Chancellor, and the Latin oration was 

 delivered by Prof Goudy. The following brief notes 

 show the character of the recipients' chief researches : — 

 Edouard Van Beneden, Professor of Zoology and Com- 

 parative Anatomy, has not only contributed a long series 

 of memoirs on the structure of various Invertebrata to 

 the literature of zoological science, but has especially 

 gained the highest recognition and esteem for his work 

 on the microscopic details of the process of fertilisation 

 in relation to karyokinesis and cell-structure. His in- 

 vestigations on this process in Ascaris megalocephala 

 form the starting-point of recent theories and researches 

 on the subject of the partition of the nuclear matter by 

 the splitting of the chromosomes in spermatozoon and 

 ovum and in the fertilised egg. In addition to these in- 

 vestigations. Prof Van Beneden's researches on the 

 formation of the blastoderm in the rabbit and the bat 

 have been of the greatest importance, and are cited in 

 all modern treatises as classical. Recently, Prof Van 

 Beneden has occupied himself largely with the study of 

 Anihozoa (especially Cerianthu* and its larva Arach- 

 nactis), and has arrived at most important conclusions 

 as to the relationship of these forms to the \'ertcbrata. 



Ludwig Boltzmann was born in \'ienna in 1 844, and is 

 now I'rofessor of Theoretical Physics in the University 

 there. His first paper was on the distribution of electricity 

 on a sphere and cylinder, and his second one on the 

 mechanical significance of the second law of Thermo- 

 dynamics. His subsequent papers are too numerous to 

 mention in detail, and have been published principally 

 by the Academy of Science at Vienna, and ncently at 

 Munich. The most important of these treat of the steady 

 state of kinetic energy in gas molecules and its con- 

 nection with the second law of Thermodynamics, of the 

 specific inductive capacity of solids and gases, and 

 other thermodynamic and electromagnetic subjects. 

 Along with Clausius and ^laxwell, he is a founder of 

 the kinetic theory of gases, especially in its more com- 



