206 



NA TURE 



[July 2, 1903 



Sachs, as congress chairman, with Mr. Ellis Marsland as 

 honorary general secretary. The general opening meeting 

 will be' at the Empress Theatre, Earl's Court, lent 

 by the executive of the International Fire Exhibition. The 

 subject-matter is limited strictly to fire preventive questions, 

 and all internal fire brigade questions will be excluded, as 

 these will be dealt with at separate meetings. 



A Paris correspondent writes : — M. Santos Dumont's 

 experiments in aerial navigation in Paris during the past 

 fifteen days have attracted public attention. M. Santos 

 Dumont was seen flying over the Longchamps Hippodrome 

 when a race was actually going on ; at another time he 

 went to his private residence in the Champs Elys^es, left 

 his balloon to the care of his assistants, who had followed 

 his aerial track in an automobile, took his customary break- 

 fast, and returned to the balloon shed near Puteaux Gate, 

 in the Bois de Boulogne. On another occasion he sailed 

 from the Puteaux Gate to Bagatelle, where he landed during 

 a parade. But the area of his promenades is very limited, 

 and sometimes the balloon has to be carried by hand for a 

 part of the way ; so it is not possible to say if M. Santos- 

 Duniont has really improved his speed and stability. 



The fifty-sixth annual meeting of the Palajontographical 

 Society was held at the Geological Society's apartments, 

 Burlington House, on June 27. The report of the council 

 referred to the activity of the contributors to the Society's 

 monographs, which extended over a wider field than usual. 

 Volumes on Pleistocene Mammalia, Carboniferous and 

 Cretaceous fishes, Carboniferous and Cretaceous Mollusca, 

 Trilobites, Graptolites, and Devonian corals were in course 

 of publication. The expenditure for the year exceeded the 

 income, which was nearly \ool. less than that of the pre- 

 ceding year. The withdrawal of several small libraries 

 was referred to, and an appeal for new personal subscribers 

 was made. The officers were re-elected. Dr. Henry Wood- 

 ward as president, Mr. Etheridge as treasurer, and Dr. 

 Smith Woodward as secretary. 



Twelve stations took part in the international scientific 

 balloon ascents on the morning of May 7, including Zurich, 

 for the first time, and Bath. The records for the latter 

 station had not been found at the time of the publication 

 of the preliminary results. The following are the most note- 

 worthy of the unmanned ascents : — Strassburg, 13,400 

 metres; at 9500 metres the temperature was — 58°-3 C, 

 above this height an inversion of temperature occurred. 

 The reading at starting was io°-5. At Berlin the balloon 

 rose to 13,360 metres, temperature at 7560 metres was 

 -43°, at starting ii^.g. At Vienna a temperature of 

 -54°-4 was recorded at 9020 metres, at starting i4°.8. At 

 the first two places the ascents were made about 4h. a.m., 

 at Vienna about 7h. a.m. Relatively high pressure pre- 

 vailed over south-east Europe, and a large area of low 

 pressure to the northward, with its centre (29-5 inches) over 

 the North Sea. 



The Meteorological Office pilot chart for July contains, 

 in addition to the usual information, a most useful series 

 of twelve maps exhibiting the direction of flow of the tidal 

 streams round the British Isles at each hour from high 

 water at Dover. They are reduced from the more detailed 

 large Admiralty charts in three volumes of 36 sheets. 

 To seamen the handy form in which the streams are now 

 shown on the pilot chart will be invaluable, as the whole 

 circulation is seen at a glance. Early in April last it is 

 shown, by means of a small map, that there was a remark- 

 able displacement of the Atlantic anticyclone, which was 

 transferred northward beyond the 50th parallel. As a re- 

 sult, the Transatlantic liners, to and fro on the northern 



routes, experienced easterly winds right across the ocean, 

 instead of the usual westerly and south-westerly winds. 

 I'here were numerous reports of ice during May and the 

 early part of June. 



The German Government has erected a new lighthouse 

 on the island of Heligoland, which will supplant the old 

 petroleum lamp that has long directed the commerce at 

 the mouth of the Elbe. It is claimed for this light that 

 it is one of the most powerful in operation. The dis- 

 tinguishing feature is the return that has been made to 

 the old form of parabolic reflector, with a powerful 

 illuminant in the focus, in place of the Fresnel lenses and 

 prisms. The mirror in this case is of glass, 75cm. in 

 diameter, and silvered at the back. An arc light with a 

 current of 34 amperes is the illuminant. The positive pole 

 of the carbon is so near the focus that it is estimated that 

 the beam is not more than two degrees in diameter, and 

 its candle-power is quoted as thirty millions. No protection 

 against weather is provided in front of the light, and it 

 is asserted that none is needed. Three similar mirrors 

 and lamps are mounted in one plane round an axis, and 

 the whole revolves four times in a minute, so that a flash 

 is given every five seconds. A fourth mirror and lamp is 

 provided in case of necessity, which will turn three times 

 as rapidly, but it is not proposed to use this except in case 

 of emergency. The duration of the flash is only one-tenth 

 of a second. Herein the German firm of Schuckert and 

 Co., the manufacturers, have followed the lead of the 

 French authorities. It is, however, a question whether 

 these brief durations have not been carried to an extreme. 

 Undoubtedly one-tenth of a second is sufficient to make 

 the maximum impression on the eye, when the light is 

 brilliant. But with a hazy atmosphere, and the light much 

 diminished, it is doubtful whether a longer duration should 

 not be allowed. The experiment will be watched with 

 great interest, both on account of the bold deviation from 

 the ordinary, plan which has been so long followed, and 

 also on the ground of economy, which is claimed for the 

 new method. It is stated that on the first night of trial 

 the light was seen at the pier of Biisum, a distance of 64 

 kilometres, or 40 miles. 



" The Cure of Consumption," a popular account of the 

 open-air treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, and a de- 

 scription of " An Experiment in Nature-study," carried out 

 among village lads, are two articles of scientific interest 

 that appear in the current issue of the Fall Mall Magazine. 



Several cases of fatal illness have occurred in connection 

 with the Mond process for the extraction of nickel from its 

 ores, which is based upon the conversion of the metal into 

 gaseous nickel carbonyl. It is net yet known whrthrr th° 

 nickel carbonyl is itself poisonous, or whether some other 

 deleterious gas or substance is generated in the process, 

 but the subject is being investigated by several experts. 



The statistics of the anti-rabic inoculations carried out 

 at the Pasteur Institute, Paris, during 1902 have just been 

 published. The number of persons treated was 1106, of 

 whom three died, but one of these had not completed the 

 treatment, leaving 1105 cases with two deaths, a mortality 

 rate of only 018 per cent. This is the lowest mortality 

 rate recorded since the commencement of the treatment in 



The new method for sewage disposal by bacterial treat- 

 ment in a septic tank is not altogether free from danger. 

 In this process the sewage is stored in closed tanks for a 

 variable period, during which time it is acted upon and 

 dissolved by the agency of the bacteria present. Probably 



NO. 1757, VOL. C»8J 



