368 



NATURE 



[August 20, 1903 



had previously been nearly calm, freshened into a strong 

 breeze, which blew fro;n the south-west down the valley, 

 but died down after the illumination faded away. The 

 cloud above the mountain began to assume irregular dark 

 cumulus shapes, and the sky became generally overcast. 

 Early this morning rain was falling heavily. The moun- 

 tains have been all day shrouded in dripping cloud, and the 

 deluge still continues. Arch. Geikie. 



Miirren, August 15. 



A Mirage at Putney. 



Perhaps the phenomenon of mirage is not sufficiently 

 rare in England to make its occurrence noteworthy, but 

 I should like to mention a singularly beautiful example 

 that I noticed on Sunday last (August 16). I was riding 

 on my bicycle along the Upper Richmond Road towards 

 the west, and against a fairly steady breeze, and had 

 arrived at that part of the road lying between the railway 

 bridge and the Putney High Street — about opposite house 

 No. no — when I noticed that the road beyond, some fifty 

 yards in front of me, was apparently flooded ankle deep 

 in water. I was somewhat disconcerted at the prospect of 

 riding through such a quantity of water, but I found to 

 my astonishment that when I arrived at the supposed lake 

 the road was perfectly dry. I thereupon turned and rode 

 back to my previous station, and, dismounting, watched the 

 phenomenon for some while. To assure myself that it was 

 no personal illusion upon my part, I directed the attention 

 of a passing stranger to the scene, and he was impressed 

 as I had been. I should mention that the road sloped 

 slightly downhill from me, and the sun was high (12.50 

 p.m.) above on my left. The line of sight must therefore 

 have met the dividing surface between the layers of hot 

 and cold air lying above the wooden paving almost at 

 grazing incidence. The surface of the " water " was still, 

 and the reflection of the gay dresses and sunshades of the 

 ladies just from church was remarkably and beautifully 

 cle^r. H. E. Wimperis. • 



London, S.W., August 17. 



THE SOUTHPORT MEETING OF ^FHE • 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 



Sectional Arrangements. 



'yHE arrangements of the various sections of the 



-■■ British Association for the forthcoming meeting 



at Southport have now been practically completed. 



The following summary shows the chief points of the 



programmes, so far as they are at present known :— 



Mathematical and Physical Sciences. -^The phvsical 

 portion of Section A will be mainly occupied iii' dis- 

 cussmg three questions of considerable interest to 

 physicists at the present time. The nature of the 

 emanations from radio-active substances will be intro- 

 duced as one of the subjects for discussion by Prof. 

 Rutherford, of Montreal, and it is expected that several 

 visitors from the Continent will take part. Mr. 

 Swinburne will introduce a discussion of the method of 

 treatment of non-reversible processes in thermo- 

 dynamics, in which Prof. Perry and others will have 

 something to say, and Prof. Henrici will direct atten- 

 tion to the desirability of introducing vectorial methods 

 into physics to a much larger extent than has been 

 done hitherto. The fact that the International 

 Meteorological Congress meets at Southport under the 

 presidency of Prof. Mascart, of Paris, at the same time 

 as the Association, will make the work in the depart- 

 ment of Section A devoted, to meteorology and 

 astronomy of special importance this vear. Contribu- 

 tions to the proceedings of the department have been 

 promised by several of the members of the congress, 

 including Hildebrandsson, Paulsen, and Pernter, and 

 Sir Norman Lockyer will discuss the agreement in time 

 between certain solar and terrestrial phenomena. 

 Papers have been promised bv Prof. Turner, Dr. 

 W. J. S. Lockyer, the Rev. A. L. Cortie and Mr. Hinks, 

 and there will be an exhibition of photographs from 

 the Yerkes Observatory. 



NO. 1764, VOL. 68] 



Chemistry. — In his opening address to the section, 

 the president. Prof. W. N. hartley, F.R.S., proposes 

 to give a brief account of twenty-five years' work in 

 spectroscopy applied to the investigation of the com- 

 position and constitution of terrestrial substances, both 

 organic and inorganic, and to review the present posi- 

 tion of spectroscopy chiefly in relation to chemical 

 theories, indicating where it may be usefully and 

 profitably extended. The following papers will be 

 read : — " Dynamic Isomerism," by Dr. T. M. Lowry ; 

 " Hydroaromatic Compounds," by Dr. A. VV. 

 Crossley; " The Cause of the Lustre produced during 

 the Mercerising of Cotton," by Mr. J. Hiibner and 

 Prof. W. J. Pope, F.R.S. ; " Mutirotation, and the 

 Glucoside Formula of Glucose," by Dr. E. F. Arm- 

 strong; "A Contribution to the Constitution of the 

 Disaccharides," by Mr. T. Purdie, F.R.S., and Dr. 

 J. C. Irvine; " Some Derivatives of Fluorine," by Miss 

 Ida Smedley ; " Fluorescence as Related to the Consti- 

 tution of Organic Substances," bv Dr. J. T. Hewitt; 

 "The Cholesterol Group," by Dr. R. H. Pickard ; 

 " On Essential Oils," by Dr. 6. Silberrad ; " Freezing 

 Point Curves of Binary Compounds," by Dr. J. C. 

 Philip; "Action of Diastase on the Starch Granules 

 of Raw and Malted Barley," by Mr. A. R. Ling; 

 "Action of Malt Diastase on Potato Starch Paste," 

 part i., by Mr. B. F. Davis and Mr. A. R. Ling; 

 "Action of Malt Diastase on Potato Starch Paste," 

 part ii., by Mr. A. R. Ling; "Some Properties of 

 Sodium, Hydride," by Mr. A. Holt; "On a Method 

 of Separating Cobalt and Nickel and the Volumetric 

 Determination of Cobalt," by Mr. R. L. Taylor; " The 

 Influence of Small Quantities of Water in bringing 

 about Chemical Reaction between Salts," by Dr. 

 E. P. Perman ; " Sur le Spectre du Silicium " and 

 " Sur les Procedes de Photographic Spectrales applic- 

 ables a la Pratique des Laboratoires de Chimie," by 

 M. le Comte Arnaud de Gramont. Dr. W. A. Bone 

 will open a discussion on the general subject of com- 

 bustion by a paper on the combustion of methane and 

 ethane. 



Geology. — The following papers have been promised 

 in this section : — " On the Disturbance of Junction- 

 beds from DifTerential Shrinkage during Consolida- 

 tion," by Mr. G. VV. Lamplugh ; "On the Igneous 

 Rocks of Weston-super-Mare," by Mr. William 

 Boulton ; "On the Igneous Rocks of the Berwyn 

 Mountain," by Mr. T. H. Cope and Mr. J. Lomas ; 

 " On the Recent Work of the Geological Survey," by 

 Dr. J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S. ; " Lower Ordovician Rocks 

 in the Neighbourhood of Snov^'don and Llanberis," 

 by Mr. W. G. Fernsides; (i) "On the Origin of 

 Certain Quartz Dykes at Foxdale, Isle of Man," (2) 

 "On some Glacial Lakes in Switzerland," (3) "On 

 the Geology of the Country Around Southport," by 

 Mr. J. Lomas; " On the Porosity of Rocks," by Mr. 

 C. C. Moore; " Notes on Sarsen Stones, with Special 

 Reference to the Stones at Stonehenge," by Mr. H. W. 

 Monckton ; "On the Geology of Martin Mere," by 

 Mr. H. Brodrick; (i) "On the Origin of Eruptive 

 Rocks," (2) Observations on the Metalliferous De- 

 posits of the South of Scotland," by Mr. J. G. Good- 

 child; (i) "On the Origin of the Drift Deposits of 

 Lancashire and Cheshire," (2) " On the Striation of 

 Boulders on Modern Beaches," (3) " Observations upon 

 the Evidences for the Former Existence of Glacier- 

 Lakes in N. England and S. Scotland," by Mr. P. F. 

 Kendall. Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., has pro- 

 mised a paper, but the title is not yet known. There 

 will also be the first report of the committee appointed 

 at Belfast to report upon the fauna and flora of the 

 Trias of the British Isles. The greater part of this 

 first report is furnished by Mr. Beasley, and deals with 

 footprints. 



