43° 



NATURE 



[August 30, 1894 



WillUmT. Swinger, 19, engineer apprentice, Plumstead, Kent ; 

 Arthur W. Ashton, 21, fitter, Plumstead, Kent ; Arthur E. Mas- 

 call, 18, engineer, Woolwich ; William Rosbotham, 25, student 

 Belfast : Joseph J. Kirwin, 20, engine filter apprentice, Devon- 

 port ; Charlie W. Cairns, 21, apprentice engineer, Newcastle-on- 

 Tsrne; John W. Button, 23, fitter, Oldham ; Sydney Eraut, 22, 

 mechanical engineer, London ; Charles E. Pickles, iS, student, 

 Bradford: Richard G. Allen, 21, fitter apprentice, Southsea ; 

 Alexander Craig, 22, engineer, Crewe ; Thomas S. Usherwood, 

 20, engineer apprentice, London ; Walter Eraut, 19, mechanical 

 engineer apprentice, London ; Lewis E. Limming, 21, ship- 

 wright apprentice, Southsea ; Sidney E. Lamb, 20, fitter 

 apprentice, Devonport ; Francis J. Russell, 20, fitter apprentice, 

 Portsmouth ; Edgar R. Sutcliflfe, 19, draughtsman, Leeds ; 

 George F. Hambly, 20, engineer apprentice, London ; William 

 Gore, 23, engineer, King's Lynn ; Thomas S. Cockrill, 25, 

 marine engineer, London ; William II. James, 21, engineering 

 student, Cardiff: Harry J. Peachey, 18, engineer apprentice, 

 Stratford '^London) ; James N. Boot, 25, engineer, London, 



During a severe hailstorm at Vicksburg, in May last, a 

 remarkably large hailstone was found to have a solid nucleus, 

 consisting of a piece of alabaster from one-half to three- 

 quarters of an inch. During the same storm at Bovina, eight 

 miles east of Vicksburg, a gopher turtle, six by eight inches, 

 and entirely encased in ice, fell with the hail. Commenting 

 upon this, in the Monthly W'catlur Rcvitw, Prof. Cleveland 

 Abbe says that apparently some special local whirls or gusts 

 carried the enclosed objects from the earth's surface up to the 

 cloud region, where they were encased by successive layers of 

 snow and ice, until they fell as hailstones. He points out that the 

 fact that hailstones, as well as drops of water and fiakes of 

 snow, often contain nuclei that must have been carried up from 

 the earth's surface, is entirely in accord with the general 

 principle that ascending currents precede the formation of 

 cload and rain, and that solid nuclei are needed to initiate the 

 ordinary precipitation of moisture. 



Dr. Hergesell has sent us the results of the meteoro- 

 logical observations made in Alsace and Lorraine during 

 the year 1892, containing hourly values for Strassburg, and 

 monthly and yearly summaries at various other stations. The 

 results obtained from two anemometers at the central station 

 are very interesting ; one of the instruments is erected at about 

 170 feet, and the other at about 470 feet above the ground. 

 The wind velocity at the higher level has a daily range corres- 

 ponding exactly with that of mountain stations, the minimum 

 occurring in the morning, and the maximum during the night. 

 The results show that the indications of an anemometer fixed 

 more than 150 feet almve the ground are much more comparable 

 than those at a lower level, where the indications are afTected 

 by local conditions. We look forward to the promised pub- 

 lication in the next volume of a chart showing the distribution 

 of rainfall for a long scries of years. 



We have received from M. E. Durand-Greville two pamphlets 

 entitled " Les grains et les orages," in which the author has 

 endeavoured to show the connection between certain squalls, 

 which accompany large barometric depressions, and thunder- 

 storms. It is generally admitted that important thunderstorms 

 occur at the same lime on different points of an isochronous 

 line moving towards eastnorth-east. Before the storm there 

 is a gra'laal fall of the barometer, a rapid rise during the storm, 

 and a sudden change in the direction of wind. But opinions 

 differ considerably a> to the conditions under which the thunder- 

 storms occur. The author has investigated certain special cases, 

 and has endeavoured, with some success, to co-ordinate the 

 Tarious views. He shows that several of them, while con- 

 NO. 1296, VOL. 50] 



tradictory, at least in appearance, are capable of reconciliation, 

 and are founded upon facts, which have been diversely inter- 

 preted. The papers are accompanied by several explanatory 

 diagrams showing the line taken by the squalls, and the various 

 forms of the isobaric curves which accompany them. 



In an interesting report issued by the United States Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Mr. Alexander Mc.\die gives an account 

 of the statistics concerning the position, &c., of buildings 

 struck by lightning, and also of the best methods to be em- 

 ployed to protect buildings, &c., from being damaged by light- 

 ning. One interesting point which is very prominently brought 

 out by the statistics is the decreased liability to accident from 

 lightning strokes in thickly populated districts. In fact, it may 

 be said that, in general, the risk in the country is five times as 

 great as in a city. The report concludes with a number of 

 rules which ought to be observed with reference to lightning, 

 from which we may select the following : — If the conductor, at 

 any part of its path, goes near water or gas mains, it is best 

 to connect them to it. Independent grounds are better than con- 

 nection to w.ater or gas-pipes. Clusters of points or groups of two 

 or three along the ridge of the roof are recommended. The lop 

 of the rod should be pLited, or in some w.iy protected from rust, 

 and chain or linked conductors are of little or no use. Finally, 

 if you should be in the vicinity of a person who has just been 

 struck by lightning, no matter if the person struck appears to 

 be dead, go to work at once and try to restore consciousness. 

 There are many cases on record proving the wisdom of this 

 course, and there is reason for believing that lightning often 

 brings about suspended animation rather than somatic death. 

 Try to stimulate the respiration and circulation, and do not 

 ce.ase in the effort to restore animation for less than an hour's 

 time. 



At a recent meeting of the Vienna Academy of Science, Herr 

 Bruno Piesch gave an account of his recent work on the change 

 in the electrical resistance of aqueous solutions, and of the 

 electric polarisation with change of pressure. The .author has 

 examined a large number of li<|uids, both acids and salt solu- 

 tions. The apparatus was so arranged that the resistance and 

 polarisation would be simultaneously measured. The high 

 pressures used were obtained by means of a Cailletet's com- 

 pression apparatus, and experiments were carried on up to a 

 pressure of 600 atmospheres. The vessel in which the liquid to 

 l>e experimented upon was pLaccd was enclosed in the iron 

 receptacle of the pump, being insulated by means of an ebonite 

 plug. The following results have been obtained : — A change 

 in pressure is always accompanied by a change in the electrical 

 resistance, the resistance decreasing with increase of pressure. 

 No definite connection is observable between the amount of the 

 pressure change and the concentrate of the solution, but inihe 

 case of most of the substances investigated the change Wis 

 greater in the case of very dilute solutions th.an in more con- 

 centrated ones. The magnitude of the change in resistance 

 with change in pressure is very small, .as is also the case with 

 the change in the polarisation. In most cases an increase of 

 the polarisatiiin with increase of pressure w.as observed, but the 

 irregularities were in this case greater than those observed in the 

 resistance measurements. In conclusion the autlior examincil 

 solution of ammonium nitrate in alcohol, when he obtaini ' 

 changes in the same sense as in the case of aqueous solutioni. 



At the same meeting, Ilcrr J. Liznar read a paper on thi 

 26day period of the earth's magnetism. In a previous com 

 munlcation the author had compared the diurnal variation : 

 stations in miildleand high latitudes. In the present paper th 

 magnitude of the 26-day period v.iriation for declination and in 

 clination at the stations of Pulowsk and Jan Mayen arc compared 



