September 13, 1894] 



NATURE 



4^3 



cent, of the radiant energy. When the sky was of a light blue 

 colour, but quite cloudless, the absorption was greater than in the 

 case of a deep azure sky. The ratio of the amounts of heat trans- 

 mitted ranged from 77 per cent, with an altitude of 10° above 

 the horizon, to 96 per cent, at 50 . The effect of a slight mist 

 equally distributed in every direction was somewhat undefined, 

 since the ratio of the absorptions does not appear to vary 

 regularly with the thickness of the stratum of air. In one pair 

 of cases, with the sun at 45' 15', the quantity of heat received 

 during one second by i square cm. of the pyrheliometer surface 

 was 00237 with a deep blue sky, ando'0201 with a slight mist. 

 With the sun at 9" 42' the figures were 0'0l6l and 00093 

 respectively. In general, the ratio varied between 5S and 

 92 per cent. 



At the Adelaide meeting of the Australasian Association for 

 the Advancement of Science, the committee appointed to col- 

 lect evidence as to glacial action in Australasia, in Tertiary or 

 post-Tertiary time, presented their report. The conclusions 

 arrived at are as follows : — At the time of their greatest exten- 

 sion the ancient glaciers of New Zealand were larger and 

 descended lower the further they were south. The terminal 

 moraines in North-West Nelson go to 2700 feet above the 

 present sea-level ; Lake Rotoiti, in South Nelson, to 2000 feet ; 

 Lake Sumner, probably a glacier lake, is 1700 feet above the 

 sea. In South Canterbury the terminal moraines are 1000 

 feet, and in South Otago only 600 feet above the present sea- 

 level. In Westland and in the West Coast Sounds the glaciers 

 advanced to below the present sea-level. The glacier of 

 Boulder River was four, and that of Lake Rotoiti about twelve 

 miles in length ; the glacier at the head of the Waiauua or 

 Dillon, fourteen miles ; that of the Rakaia, fifty-five miles ; (he 

 Wanaka glacier, sixty ; that of Wakatipu, eighty ; and that of 

 Te Anau, sixty-five miles in length. There is, therefore, a con- 

 siderable difference in relative proportion between the ancient 

 ^;laciers and their present representatives. At present they 

 reach their maximum in South Canterbury, and get smalle;' 

 both to the north and to the south ; while in ancient times their 

 maximum was in Central Otago. The committee had little 

 biological evidence to report upon, but what there is indicates 

 th.at the ocean round New Zealand has not been much colder 

 than at present ever since the Miocene period. 



The Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College has 

 issued its Calendar for the session 1S94-95. -Another Calendar 

 lust received refers to the Mining School at Houghton, 

 Michigan, and contains information concerning the institution 

 and its courses of instruction. 



The current number of the Qttaiio'lv yournal of the Royal 

 MeUoroio^ical Society contains a poi trait of Luke Howard, ihe 

 author of the system of cloud nomenclature in general use, 

 together with a biographical notice of him. The papers in the 

 7i)«r«a/ include one by Mr. W. H. Dines, on the duration and 

 lateral extent of gusts of wind, and the measurement of their 

 intensify ; and another, by the same author, on the relation 

 between the mean quarterly temperature .and the death-rate. 

 The calculation of photographic cloud measurements is described 

 V Dr. G. K. Olsson, and Mr. Inwards' address on phenomena 

 I ihe upper air, delivered before the .'society in .\pril last, is 

 printed in full. 



A CAl.liNDAU of the Evening Classes to be held at the 

 People's Palace, Mile End Road, during the Session 1894-95, 

 has been sent to \n. Under the direction of Mr. J. L. S. 

 Hatlon, the number of these classes has been largely increased. 

 In addition to the usual scientific and technological subjects, 

 instruction is offered in astronomy, brass-work, bookbinding, 

 instrument {making, differential and integral calculus, deter- 



NO. 1298, VOL. 50] 



minants, trilinear co-ordinates and advanced co-ordinate geo- 

 metry of three dimensions, and practical physics. The Drapers' 

 Company have voted the sum of £S'^<^° for the erection of new 

 engineering workshops, and several new laboratories have been 

 constructed. More than Sooo class-tickets were issued last 

 session, and there is every prospect of this number being 

 increased during the coming one. 



To the current number of Science Proi^ress, Prof. W. Halli- 

 burton, F.R.S., contributes a paper in which he emphasises 

 the importance of further study of blood coagulation and the 

 poisonous proteids secreted by snakes. Mr. A. C. Seward 

 shows that algoe have a much greater claim to the attention of 

 geologists as possible agents of rock construction than has 

 generally been admitted. Fossil algae is also the subject of a 

 paper by Mr. George Murray. Dr. George A. Buckmas'.er 

 describes the biological characters of Bacillus typhosus (Eberth) 

 and Bacterium coli commune (Escherich). In a paper on 

 ancient volcanic rocks, Mr. Alfred Harker compares the views 

 of continental petrologists, who hold that there is a funda- 

 mental distinction between the "older" (that is, pre-Tertiary) 

 volcanic rocks and the "younger " (Tertiary and Recent), 

 with the conviction of English students, that the supposed 

 differences are due to the fact that the former are, as a rule, 

 more affected than the latter by the changes which come with 

 lapse of time. Mr. E. H. Griffiths writes on the measure- 

 ment of temperature, and shows that mercury thermometers are 

 hardly comparable in point of accuracy with the platinum 

 thermometer. 



An account of the striking changes which the great lava lake 

 in Kilauea has undergone this year, appears in the Hawaiian 

 Gazelle for July 24, a copy of which the Hon. RoUo Russell 

 has sent us. The lava steadily rose after the last great break- 

 down of the floor of the crater in March 1891, when an area 

 of 2500 feet long, by 2000 feet wide, fell more than five 

 hundred feet in one night. Towards the end of last year, the 

 rising and overflowing of the lake filled the pit thus produced. 

 Since that time the activity of the lake has been intense, as 

 many as twenty-three overilows of liquid lava having taken 

 place in a single day, and the walls surrounding the lake have 

 been rapidly raised by continual|overflows. .\ccurate measure- 

 ments of the lake were made by Mr. F. E. Dodge, of the 

 Survey Department, in .\ugust 1892 and March 1S94. From 

 his observations it appears that in August 1S92 the outer rim 

 surrounding the lake was 2S2 feet below the level of the 

 Volcano House. The surface of the lake was 240 feet below 

 this line. In March, 1894, the surface of the lake was 207 

 feet above this line, making a rise of 447 feet in nineteen 

 months. But the most interesting observations relate to 

 the breaking down of the lake, witnessed by a number of 

 persons in July last. On July II the lava began to 

 sink steadily, falling at the rate of about twenty feet an 

 hour. This subsidence caused the banks to give way. We 

 quote from the Cizelle : — "From about noon until eight in 

 the evening there was scarcely a moment when the crash of 

 the falling banks was not going on. .\s the level of the lake 

 sank, the greater and greater height of the banks caused a 

 constantly increasing commotion in the lake as the banks struck 

 the surface of the molten lava in their fall. .\ number of times 

 a section of the bank from 200 to 500 feet long, 150 to 200 feet 

 high, and 20 to 30 feet thick, would split off from the adjoining 

 rocks, and with a tremendous roar, amid a blinding cloud of 

 steam and dust, fall with an appalling down-plunge into 

 the boiling lake, causing great waves to dash into the air, 

 and a mighty ' ground swell ' to sweep across the lake, 

 dashing against the opposite cliffs like storm waves upon 

 aa lee shore. Most ofithe? falling [rocks were immediately 



