April 19, 1894J 



NA TURE 



577 



without mingling, one ray seemed to cut another off abruptly, 

 only one ray ever appearing to pass the point of meeting. 

 About nine o'clock, rays could be faintly seen in the south ex- 

 tending up to the point of meeting. Then these rays grew 

 brighter, extending from about 30° above the soiiihern horizon, 

 and throbbing \i^ from there to the place near the zenith where 

 the northern, eastern, and western rays met. The southern rays 

 were fainter than the others. They may have extended further 

 towards the horizon than 30° above it, but, if they did, the lower 

 part of them was too faint to be seen, on account of the city 

 lights. I have never before seen or heard of an aurora in this 

 latitude, with rays coming upwards from the south. The whole 

 display seems to have been much farther south than usual. Il 

 was also much brighter than is usually seen here, even on 

 exceptional occasions. 



Finally, a mass of cloud about 12" long and 5° to 7^ wide, 

 foimed in the north and drifted very slowly away to the east- 

 waid. During the aurora the relative humidity seemed to in- 

 crease, and it grew quite misty. This I have noticed during 

 every exceptionally brilliant auroral display that I have seen. 

 The mass of cloud mentioned above was about 40' above the 

 horizon. No other cloud formed as high as this, though a few 

 very small rnes appeared in the north-west to north-east, from 

 20° to 30° above the horizon. F. R. WELSH. 



Philadelphia, U.S.A., April 2. 



Fireball. 



On Wednesday, April 11, a somewhat sudden and heavy 

 thunderstorm parsed over the Dunstable and Luton district. 

 The lightning, which was close overhead, killed several cows, 

 and did other damage. The storjn was ushered in by banks of 

 lurid coppery and dark grey clouds from the south-west. When 

 the storm was at its heaviest, bright blue sky could be seen 

 towards the north-east. 



Whilst watching the incessant forked lightning in the east at 

 2.30 p.m., I suddenly saw a broad spout of fire drop almost 

 vertically from the clouds to the earth. The band of fire was 

 not at all like lightning, as it was ten or twenty times as broad, 

 and formed a continuous, slightly curved line, without the 

 slightest trace of zig-zag. It was like a large ball of ribbon 

 being quickly unrolled, one end being retained in the clouds. 

 The fall was less rapid than lightning, and was accompanied by 

 a dazzling light. It was immediately preceded and followed by 

 the crash of thunder, but the thunder was at the time con- 

 tinuous. 



The fall appeared to be close by, and I soon after learned 

 that a "fireball'' had descended on the Dunstable side of 

 Luton, near Dallow Farm, about four miles from here. On 

 visiting the spot, and questioning two or three eye-witnesses of 

 the fall, I was told that the " thunderbolt " was seen as a large 

 " ball of fire," that the fall was accompanied by a loud rush- 

 ing sound and a dazzling intense light. 



The fire descended close to a well, and on to the roof of a 

 small wooden barn or shed packed with firewood, garden tools, 

 and potatoes. The roof was of red pantiles, and the contact 

 of the fire instantly smashed every tile to atoms, and broke up 

 and suddenly lighted the barn, so that every part, with the 

 contents, was totally destroyed. The men on the spot said the 

 sound of the impact on the tiles was so loud that they thought 

 all the cottages near by had had their roofs smashed in. Other 

 barns and sheds near by were visibly shaken. 



Immediately before the descent a workman was inside the 

 barn taking shelter from the storm, but being frightened at the 

 unusual violence of the tempest, he put a sack over his shoulders 

 and walked into the open ; as soon as he had done so, the 

 ball of fire fell on to the shed or barn, with the result described. 



Dunstable, April 15. Worthington G. Smith. 



Micro-Organisms and Fermentation. 

 In your issue dated April 5, in a review of JiJrgensen's 

 *' Micro-Organisms and Fermentation," occurs the following : — 

 " In England, however, we are slow in applying scientific re- 

 search to industrial pursuits, and though a number of breviers 

 already use Hansen's system, it can hardly be said that it has 



received the attention it deserves, and chance, tradition, and 

 blind empiricism still govern too much the manufacture of beer 

 in England." 



Strange to say, on the same evening a large number of brewers 

 and scientific workers were gathered together at the Hotel 

 Metropole to do honour to an English brewer, who has also 

 made his name known widely in the scientific world — Mr. 

 Horace T. Brown, F.R.S., &c., and the following quotations 

 from a report of the meeting, which I herewith enclose, appear 

 somewhat opposed to the statement above quoted : — 



"It is the boast of Englishmen that although behind some 

 other nations in the application of science to many branches of 

 manufacture, in regard to that of malt and beer they rank second 

 to none." Again, to quote Mr. Brown : — "The two really 

 great foundation stones of modern scientific brewing undoubt- 

 edly are the vitalistic views of fermentation initialed by Pasteur 

 and the important discoveries of our distinguished countryman, 

 Cornelius O'SuIlivan — discoveries which first enabled us to 

 explain the complex chemical changes of the mashing process." 



If such firms as Messrs. Bass and Co., Allsoppand Sons, and 

 Wm. Younger and Co., with their regular staff of scientifically 

 trained brewers and skilled analysts, can be accused of "blind 

 empiricism," even though they do not use Hansen's system, 

 the term must have a new meaning. 



Speaking from a knowledge of breweries in various parts 

 of the kingdom, one can affirm that there is almost a general 

 desire to hear the latest scientific suggestions for practical brew- 

 ing, and a marked willingness to adopt methods that can be 

 shown to be practically advantageous ; and Mr Kanthack must, 

 I think, be labouring under a total misapprehension of the 

 English brewers' attitude with regard to the science of brewing. 



On the other hand, the natural caution of English and Scotch 

 manufacturers, which has largely assisted in making our country 

 the commercial head of the world, prevents them adopting the 

 innumerable scientific suggestions which have not as yet been 

 demonstrated to be practical improvements as regards the 

 English process of brewing. Frank E. Lott. 



Burton-upon-Trent. 



The North-East Wind. — Devonian Schists. 



Absences from London and pressure of work in the intervals 

 have thrown me back in reading Nature ; hence my delay in 

 replying to Mr. Burbury's criticism. 



I have not made a special study of meteorology, and have had 

 to follow authorities, such as Scott, Abercrombie, and Hann, 

 but I believe my statements about the coldness of our spring 

 east winds accord generally with what they say. There is a 

 tendency, according to the first, for the air to flow from land to 

 sea in winter time, and from sea to land in summer ; and an 

 anticyclone, accordine to the last, usually extends in the winter 

 over north-eastern Europe and the adjacent region of Asia, 

 and a cyclonic areaover the northern Atlantic. The latterappears, 

 to move somewhat northward about or after the vernal equinox, 

 and to cause a more steady draught westward from the other 

 area. It must be remembered that the maximum of cold lags 

 after midwinter, and that the exceptional conditions of our 

 island — such as the frequent winter "bombardment" by 

 smaller and deeper cyclones, interferes with the regular 

 development of a winter east wind, such as my friend suggests. 

 Still, I speak with all submission, remembering the saying ne 

 sutor ultra. 



It may save time to add that I have observed how a remark 

 of mine has again stirred up Mr. A. R. Hunt in defence of 

 Devonian schists. In regard to his letter, I content myself with 

 repeating what I have already said : viz., that either I have 

 wasted a good many years in study bearing on this question, 

 both in the field and with the microscope, or his " evidence " is 

 of little value, and his knives of the wrong temper for the dis- 

 section which he has essayed. He will not succeed in drawing 

 me into a controversy with him on this question. Life is short. 



T. G. BONNEY. 



Are Birds on the Wing Killed by Lightning ? 



A LADY was looking out of the window when a flash of 

 lightning occurred, accompanied simultaneously by a clap of 

 thunder without reverberation. Immediately afterwards she 



NO. 1277, VOL. 49J 



