42: 



NA TURE 



[February 28, 1895 



on ihe 14th insl. before the Stockholm Academy of Sciences. 

 In that paper the Swedish aeronaut described a scheme to go 

 to the North Pole in a balloon, and, to carry out his plans, he 

 asked for a sum equivalent to about £.'JZ20. Although M. 

 Fonirielle opposed a similar scheme put forward about seven 

 years ago by two of his countrymen, he expressed himself 

 favourable to the new undertaking, and his opinion seemed to 

 have been shared by the Society. M. Andrile has already 

 ixectited a number of ascents in very difficult circumstances. 

 He is well acquainted with all the peculiarities of Arctic 

 climates, having been one of the meteorologists of the Swedish 

 I SS2-S3 expedition for observing the transit of Venus from Cape 

 Thorsden. He hopes to start from this station in (he month of 

 July, 1S96, as it appears that there are no great variations of 

 temperature at that time of year. The balloon is to contain 

 i86,ocx} cubic feet of gas, and Ihe inflation process is to be carried 

 out at Cape Thorsden by means of compressed hydrogen. 



The Select Committee ofthe House of Commons appointed to 

 inquire into the existing systems of weights and measures in this 

 country had a meeting on Tuesday, under the presidency of Sir 

 Henry Roscoe. Evidence was given by Mr. II. J. Chaney, Super- 

 intendent ofthe Standards Department of the Board of Trade, 

 who described the system under which the verification of legal 

 standards is carried on at the Board uf Trade by experts ap- 

 pointed for the purpose, and also gave an account of the diflferent 

 systems of weights and measures now in use in the United 

 Kingdom. He stated that the Imperial and the metric systems 

 Acre the only ones with which the Department had to do in 

 England, but there were other local customary weights and 

 measures in use. There were many weights and measures in 

 use which were not legally recognised. .■Xmong these he men- 

 tioned Ihe carat, the boll (used in Scotland), the cU, the coomb 

 (used for measuring com), the Winchester bushel, the butchers' 

 stone of S lb., the miners'dish (used for weighing ore in Derby- 

 shire;, and the gauge (used in measuring plates) as examples of 

 weights and measures which were not recognised by law. A 

 number of anomalies which formerly existed — c.f. a ton of 

 stone being different from a Ion of other materials, &c. — had 

 disappeared to a great extent under the operation ofthe Weights 

 and Measures Acts of 1878 and 18S9. The Scotch and Irish mile 

 were still locally recognised, but for all statutory purposes a 

 mile was 1760 yards. Practically the only two countries of any 

 importance in Europe in which the metric system was not 

 adopted were Great Britain and Russia. In Germany, Austria, 

 France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal the metric system was the 

 only system in use. 



During recent years the advantages of work at biological 

 itationi have been recognised at various Universities. The In- 

 diana Univeriity has lately shown \U appreciation of Ihe need 

 for such research by deciding upon the establishment of an inland 

 biological >lalion on one nf the lakes of Northern Indiana, 

 probably Maxinkuckee. To begin wilh, the main object of the 

 Station will be Ihe study of variation. I'or this purpose it was 

 thought that a small lake would present a limited, well circum- 

 scril il locality, within which the differences of environmental 

 influences would be reduced to a minimum. The study will 

 cotiMst in the deleiminationof the extent of variation in the non- 

 mij;iatory vertebrate*, the kind of variation whether continuous 

 or discontinuuu;., the quantitative variation, and the direction 

 of variation. In Ihii way it i^ hoped to survey a base line 

 which can be utilised in itudying the variation of the same 

 ipecies throughout their distribution. This study should be 

 carried on for a scries of ycar>, or at least be repeated at defi- 

 nite interval! to dcteiminc the annual or periodic variation 

 from Ihe mean. A compariion of this variation in the same 

 animalf in other similarly limited and well'ciicumscribe<l areas, 



NO. 1322, vor, 51] 



and the correlation of the variation of a number of species in 

 these areas, will demonstrate the influence of the changed en- 

 vironment, and will be a simple, inexpensive substitute for 

 much expensive experimental w.ork. In connection with this 

 study of the developed forms the variation in the development 

 itself will receive attention; for instance, thevari.ition in segmen- 

 tation, the frequency of such variation, and the relation of such 

 variation in the development to the variation in the adult, and 

 the mechanical causes affecting variation. .-Vdmirable courses 

 of instruction have been drawn up by Prof Carl II. Eigenmann, 

 the Director ofthe Station, to lead to thespeci.il investigations, 

 and there is every indication that useful work will be accom. 

 plished. 



Dr. a. Peter gives, in the Machrichten von der KcniglicheH 

 Gesellschajt dcr IViisenschaften zii Goltingoi, the results of a 

 second series of cultural experiments with dormant seeds, taken 

 from various depths in the soil of woodlands or forest. The 

 forest in question of the present d.iy is the site of villages and 

 cultivation that disappeared several centuries ago ; and some of 

 the samples were taken fro;n dense forest, too to 150 years old, 

 under the shade of which there has been no surface vegetation 

 for years. The principal point to investigate was the probable 

 existence of seeds of cornfield weeds still possessing the power 

 of germinating and developing into reproductive plants. Dr. 

 Peters succeeded in raising a large number of plants belonging 

 to about fifty ditlerent species, including some that are essen- 

 tially weeds of cultivation ; and he believes he has good grounds 

 for supposing that the buried seeds of many pasture plants and 

 cornfield weeds retain the vitality much more than half a 

 century ; that is, under the conditions he describes. 



THEhundiels of Gulls that have lately come up the Thames 

 in search of food seem only matched by a remarkable invasion 

 of the north and north-east coasts, by the Little .\uk {Mergiiliit 

 alle) during January. Writing in the Zoologist, Mr. J. E. 

 Harling says that on Ihe 21st of that month, great numbers 

 were observed passing south, both at sea and along the coast, 

 and many were cast ashore in a helpless condition, exhausted 

 in their attempts to withstand Ihe stormy weather which has 

 recently prevailed. In Ihe neighbourhood of Redcar, as many 

 as two hundred and fifty of these little birds have been counted ; 

 at .Scarborough they were also numerous, and on the Norfolk 

 coast one hundred and twenty have been captured, .\nother 

 result of the severe weaiher and snow during the third week in 

 January, was that Ihe Grouse in Yorkshiie left Ihe moors in 

 packs, and migrated to the lower grounds in search of food and 

 shelter. It is pointed out that an exodus of this kind is of 

 extremely rare occurrence; the last one being during the severe 

 winter of 1S86. 



In the Mtlcorologisclte Zeitschtift for December last, I'rof. 

 G. Ilellmann gives a very interesting account of the invention 

 of the barometer which has now been in use 250 years. Torri- 

 cclli, who died at the early age of thirty-nine years, was loo 

 busily engaged in mathematical studies to publish an account 

 of his discovery, but on June il, 1644, he wrote a description 

 of it to his friend Ricci. This letter, and Ricci's objections to 

 Ihe experiment, were published in 1663 by C. Dati, a friend 

 of Torricclli's, and .is this work is now cxcecilingly scarce, 

 I'rof Ilellmann has reprinted the correspondence, in Ihe 

 original Italian, in the above-mentioned journal. Some of the 

 paragraphs are notewo'^thy, es[iecially those in which Torricelli 

 stales that il was not merely a (juestion of producing a vacuum, 

 but of making an instrument which would indicate the changes 

 ofthe atmosphere. The first continuous barometrical observa- 

 tions appear to have been made in France. In England they 

 were first taken by Robert Boyle, about the year 1659, to whom 

 wc owe the invention of the word " barometer." 



