458 



NATURE 



[September 4, 1890 



Bosses, which is almost vertical, and bordered on both sides by 

 beds of snow ready to fall in avalanches at the slightest motion, 

 the guides begged him to leave the sledge. He did so, but 

 after taking five or six steps he fell exhausted on the snow and 

 had to return to the sledge. He went back to the Grands 

 Mulcts the same day, and on the following Sunday he reached 

 the Hotel de Mont Blanc, and rejoined Mme. and Mdlle. Janssen, 

 who had watched all his movements through a telescope. The 

 results obtained by M. Janssen on this occasion confirm those to 

 which he was led by his previous observations at the Grands 

 Mulcts. 



The medical profession loses much by the death of Dr. James 

 Matthews Duncan, F.R.S. He died of heart disease at Baden- 

 Baden, on Monday, September i. He was born at Aberdeen 

 in 1826. 



We regret to have to record the death of Prof. Carnelly. 

 He died suddenly on August 27, at the age of 38. He had 

 held the chair of chemistry at Firth College, and at the Dundee 

 University College ; and two years ago he was appointed 

 Professor of Chemistry at Aberdeen. 



Another death which we are sorry to have to record is 

 that of Miss North, who died on Saturday, August 30, at 

 Tier residence. Mount House, Alderley, Wotton-under-Edge, 

 Gloucestershire, after a prolonged illness. 



Orazio Silvestri, the distinguished chemist and vulcano- 

 logist, died at Catania on August 17. He was fifty-five years 

 -of age. In 1863 he was appointed to the professorship of 

 -chemistry at the University of Catania, whence he was transferred, 

 in 1874, to a corresponding chair at the University of Turin. 

 Afterwards he returned to Catania, where he became professor 

 of mineralogy, geology, and vulcanology. Prof. Silvestri was 

 an enthusiatic student of Mount Etna, and carried on many 

 important investigations during the eruptions of 1865, 1869, 

 1879, 1883, and 1886. Through his efforts an astronomical and 

 meteorological observatory has been constructed on Etna at a 

 height of 3000 metres. 



The British Pharmaceutical Association held its twenty- 

 seventh annual meeting in Leeds on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

 The chair was occupied by Mr. Charles Umney. The attendance 

 was unusually numerous. 



The Sanitary Institute had a most successful Congress at 

 Brighton last week. Among the presidential addresses was one 

 on *' Geology in its relation to hygiene, as illustrated by the 

 geology of Sussex," by Mr. W. Topley, F.R.S., President of 

 the Section for Chemistry, Meteorology, and Geology. The 

 discussions at the various meetings did much to foster the 

 interest of the public in the laws of public health ; and we 

 should have been glad to devote more attention to the proceed- 

 ings but for the pressure on our space due to the meeting of the 

 British Association. 



This week the International Congress of Agriculture and 

 Forestry is holding a series of meetings at Vienna. There are 

 delegates from Great Britain and many other countries. The 

 proceedings began on Monday evening with a reception given by 

 •the organizing committee. On Tuesday the opening address 

 was delivered by Count Christian Kinsky, President of the Diet 

 of Lower Austria. The final sitting will be held on Saturday. 



The fourth annual series of vacation science courses at 

 Edinburgh was brought to a close last Saturday with an excur- 

 sion to Melrose and Abbotsford. These courses corresponded 

 to the second part of the Oxford summer gathering, and were 

 remarkably successful. A similar series is being organized for 

 the winter months, and will be specially adapted to ' ' the edu- 

 cational requirements of teachers." 



NO. 1088, VOL, 42] 



On August 27 and 28 earthquake shocks were felt along the 

 Danube valley from Amstetten to Grein in Lower Austria. The 

 seismic movement on August 28 lasted ten minutes, and was 

 accompanied by a disturbance of the river, the water rising into 

 long lines of waves similar to those caused by the paddle-wheel 

 of a steamer. 



The Caucasus papers relate an interesting case of globular 

 lightning which was witnessed by a party of geodesists on the 

 summit of the Bohul Mountain, 12,000 feet above the sea. 

 About 3 p.m., dense clouds of a dark violet colour began to rise 

 from the gorges beneath. At 8 p.m., there was rain, which was 

 soon followed by hail and lightning. An extremely bright 

 violet ball, surrounded with rays which were, the party says, 

 about two yards long, struck the top of the peak. A second 

 and a third followed, and the whole summit of the peak was 

 soon covered with an electric light which lasted no less than four 

 hours. The party, with one exception, crawled down the slope 

 of the peak to a better sheltered place, situated a few yards 

 beneath. The one who remained was M. Tatosoff. He was 

 considered dead, but proved to have been only injured by the 

 first stroke of lightning, which had pierced his sheepskin coat 

 and shirt, and burned the skin on his chest, sides, and back. 

 At midnight the second camp was struck by globular lightning 

 of the same character, and two persons slightly felt its effects. 



A STUDY of five years' thunderstorms (1882-86) on the 

 Hungarian plain has been recently made by M. Hegyfoky. 

 We note the following points in his paper (communicated to the 

 Hungarian Academy). The days of thunderstorm were those 

 on which thunder was observed, and they formed 16 '4 per cent, 

 of all days from April to September. The air-pressure on 

 those days sank about 2 mm. under the normal, morning and 

 evening. The less the pressure, the greater the probability of 

 thunderstorm. The temperature (estimated by the maximum 

 thermometer) was higher than that of all days of the season 

 indicated ; and the moisture and cloudiness were similarly in 

 excess. The wind blew about mid-day more softly, and in the 

 evening more strongly than usual. It went round, as a rule, 

 from the south-east by the south to the west and north-west. 

 The clouds came oftener than usual from the south-east and 

 south-west quadrants ; so that the centre was generally north of 

 the station. Nearly half of the season's rainfall was on days of 

 thunderstorm. Hail fell on 11 days, on one of which there was 

 no thunderstorm. There were most thunderstorms in June (59 

 out of 199). The June of 1886 had as many as 26. The com- 

 mencement of a thunderstorm (first thunder) occurred most often 

 from 2 to 5 p.m. Towards the end of the season the thunder- 

 storms tend to come later in the day. When the pressure falls 

 under the mean of the season (752*4 mm.), the thunderstorms 

 last longer than when it is above the mean. The path was in 

 most cases from south-west or west, and in most cases coincided 

 with that of both lower and upper clouds, but in several cases 

 only with that of the lower or upper. After the first thunder 

 the meteorological elements are usually subject to great changes, 

 most marked as the storm nears the zenith : rain falls, wind 

 rises, and alters quickly in direction, temperature and vapour- 

 pressure fall, relative humidity, cloud, and pressure increase. As 

 the storm withdraws there is a return to the normal. Various 

 other points are considered. The author accepts Sohncke's 

 theory— that the electricity of thunderstorms is due to friction of 

 water-drops on ice. 



The Meteorological Council have just published a series of 

 observations made at Sanchez (Samana Bay), St. Domingo, in the 

 years 1886-88. They were made chiefly by the late Dr. W. Reid, 

 Medical Officer of the Samana and Santiago Railway Company. 

 The Council, recognizing the value of the observations, which 



