January i i, 1900J 



NA TURE 



257 



The Board of Trade Journal st&ics that nettle fibre has of late 

 come greatly into favour in the manufacture of fine yarns and 

 tissues. In Germany there are factories which use these fibres 

 both in spinning and also for ulterior purposes. Nettle fibre 

 produces one of the finest tissues obtainable from any known 

 kind of vegetable fibre. In view of the importance which this 

 seems likely to attain in connection with the weaving industries, 

 it is intended to introduce the cultivation of nettles, if possible, 

 into the Cameroons. The idea is to prepare the products of this 

 experimental culture at the place where they are obtained, and 

 test them in German factories. Should favourable results follow 

 from these experiments, it is intended to organise nettle-growing 

 enterprises on an extensive scale. 



A NEW commercial intelligence branch of the Board of Trade 

 has been established with a view to meet the constantly increas- 

 ing demand for prompt and accurate information on commercial 

 matters, so far as it can be met by Government action. In 

 deciding to establish this new branch, the Board of Trade have 

 been largely influenced by the recommendations contained in 

 the report of a departmental committee appointed to consider 

 and advise as to the best means of collecting and of dissemin- 

 ating among those interested prompt and accurate information 

 upon commercial subjects, and as to ;the collection of samples, 

 especially of goods of foreign manufacture competing with 

 British productions, and the exhibition of such samples to manu- 

 facturers and traders in this country. The principal officer is Mr. 

 T. Worthington, who recently acted as Special Commissioner to 

 the Board in an inquiry into the condition and prospects of 

 British trade in certain South American countries. The Board 

 of Trade Journal will be the chief medium through which in- 

 telligence collected by the Branch and intended for general 

 information will be conveyed to the public. The journal, which 

 has up to the present been published monthly, is now issued 

 weekly. 



The science of aerostatics has just lost one of its pioneers 

 by the death of Mr. H. T. Coxwell, at the age of eighty-one. 

 Mr. Coxwell's balloon ascents with Mr. James Glaisher, F.R S., 

 for the investigation of the meteorological conditions of the 

 atmosphere at high altitudes, have long been prominent in scien- 

 tific history. The circumstances which led him to take part in 

 the work are described in an obituary notice in the Times. It 

 appears that in 1862, hearing that a committee of the British 

 Asociation at Wolverhampton had been making some unsatisfac- 

 tory experiments with a Cremorne balloon, in order to take 

 meteorological observations in the upper regions, he set about 

 the construction of a special balloon for this purpose, finally 

 producing one that stood 80 feet from the ground, had a 

 diameter of 55 feet, and was capable of containing, when fully 

 inflated, 93,000 cubic feet of gas. Mr. James Glaisher, F.R.S., 

 who had not previously made an ascent, was to go up with Mr. 

 Coxwell and take charge of the observations, while Mr. 

 Coxwell himself was to attend to the balloon. The first of the 

 long series of ascents thus carried out by them under the aus- 

 pices of the British Association took place at Wolverhampton on 

 July 17, 1862, and on that occasion they travelled sixty miles in 

 two hours, and attained a height of four miles. It was on 

 September 5, in the same year, that the pair made the record 

 journey of rising to a height of no less than seven miles above 

 thesurfaceoftheearth ; and the story of this exciting exploit shows 

 that the intrepid investigators had a very narrow escape indeed 

 of their lives. The result of the many ascents by Mr. Coxwell 

 and Mr. Glaisher was some important contributions to the 

 science of meteorology. Moreover, they proved more clearly 

 than had ever been done before, that ballooning was not merely 

 a pleasant pastime, but might be rendered of great practical 

 utility. From the same point of view Mr. Coxwell was most 

 NO. 1576, VOL. 61] 



persistent in urging the adyantages of employing balloons in 

 times of war. 



The advantages-of cremation as a means of disposing of the 

 dead are too well known to need to be stated here. Neglecting 

 sentimental considerations, the problem is, as Sir Henry 

 Thompson puts it : — "Given a dead body: to resolve it into 

 carbonic acid, water, and ammonia and the mineral elements 

 rapidly, safely, and not unpleasantly." The present mode of 

 burial is neither a satisfactory nor sanitary means of accom- 

 plishing this ; and some of its dangers were pointed out by Dr. 

 R. Farquharson in an address recently delivered at Aberdeen, 

 and reported at length in the Court Circular of December 23, 

 1S99. The lecture will be of service in enlightening people 

 upon the subject of cremation, and directing their attention to- 

 the terrible condition of many old burial grounds. 



In the course of an interesting paper on lightning and its 

 effect on trees, Mr. F. J. Brodie remarks in the Journal of the 

 Royal Agricultural Society that in America much damage to 

 live stock by lightning is believed to have arisen from the in- 

 creasing adoption of wire fences. The director of the Iowa 

 Weather and Crop Service, in his report on the thunderstorms 

 of 1898, says : " Unquestionably wire fences, as now con- 

 structed, serve as death-traps to live stock, causing a vast 

 amount of loss every year. And it is also quite evident that a 

 considerable percentage of danger may be avoided by the use 

 of ground wires at frequent intervals in the construction of wire 

 fences." The point appears to be a practical one, deserving 

 the notice not only of American but of English farmers, the 

 means of protection from a real source of danger being after 

 all very simple. 



The Meteorological Reporter to the Government of India 

 has published a statement of the meteorology and rainfall of 

 India during the past six months, and a forecast of the cold 

 weather rains in Northern and Central India for the three 

 months ending February 1900. The forecast issued in June 

 last, from the conditions antecedent to the south-west mon- 

 soon, anticipated a rainfall slightly above the normal. This 

 prediction was unfortunately not verified, as an area comprising 

 nearly two-thirds of India is suffering from the most severe 

 drought of the century. It is to be regretted that the meteoro- 

 logical conditions of October and November of last year strongly 

 indicate the probability that the general character of the winter 

 rains in the Persian area and North-Western India will be 

 I similar to that of the past four cold winters, and that the amount 

 of the precipitation will probably be in general defect. The 

 chief chance of the occurrence of more favourable rain than is 

 anticipated lies in the early termination of the unknown causes 

 which have produced abnormal conditions in the Persian and 

 Upper India areas. 



The twenty-first yearly report of the Deutsche Seewarte, for 

 1898, has just been issued. The department of maritime 

 meteorology continues to show great activity ; the number of 

 complete logs received from the mercantile marine alone 

 amounted to 470, exclusive of 258 abstract-registers containing 

 less complete observations. The great majority of the voyages 

 were in the North Atlantic, but other oceans were fairly repre- 

 sented. In order to obtain as many observers as possible, 

 agencies are established in many ports outside Germany, in- 

 cluding the Consulates at Glasgow, London, Liverpool and 

 Cardiff. The results of the observations are published in various 

 ways useful to sailors, and have been frequently referred to in 

 our columns. The system of weather telegraphy, and the 

 possible acceleration and improvement of telegraphic weather 

 reports receive considerable attention ; storm warnings were 

 issued to the various ports on 74 days, but the amount of 

 success is not stated. In March last a conference was held 



