28o 



NA TURE 



[January i8, 1900 



quite bright at the time ; it travelled for a short distance towards 

 he north-east, and left a marvellously luminous path of white 

 ight. The time of its appearance was as near 2.55 p.m. as 

 possible. I never heard of such a thing being seen in broad 

 daylight." Another observer writes: "At 2.55, in brilliant 

 sunlight, a remarkable meteor was seen by a party of five from 

 Reigate Heath Golf Ground. The course of the meteor was 

 south to north, and it traversed a considerable portion of the 

 heavens. In appearance it resembled a kite with a tail of a 

 luminous white colour. It was visible for about a second." 

 From the Drive, Brighton, the Rev. R. Hudson writes with re- 

 spect to the same meteor: " The colour was brilliant white, like 

 an incandescent gas-light. There was a nucleus and tail of con- 

 siderable length. The altitude was about half that of the moon, 

 which was visible at the same time. The sky was cloudless and 

 blue, and the sun was shining brightly. The general effect was 

 that of the falling stick of a rocket, and, indeed, my first im- 

 pression was that it was a peculiar daylight rocket, but a 

 moment's consideration of the direction of flight convinced me 

 that it was a very remarkable meteor." 



The Scientific American states that the American Museum 

 of Natural History has acquired, through the generosity of 

 President Jesup, the second half of the Cope collection of 

 fishes, amphibians and reptiles brought from Kansas, Colorado, 

 Wyoming, Montana and other sections of the West between 

 the years 1867 and 1896. In 1895 the first part of this 

 collection was presented to the Museum by the trustees, so that 

 now the entire life work of the late Prof. Cope will be per- 

 manently represented there. The proceeds of the sale of the 

 collection will form an endowment fund for a professorship of 

 natural science in Philadelphia. 



All the vertebrate collections of the late Prof. O. C. Marsh, 

 belonging to the U.S. Government have been transferred from 

 New Haven, Conn., to the U.S. National Museum at Wash- 

 ington. Such material as may be necessary will be used for 

 study and illustration in the completion of the monographs that 

 were in course of preparation by Prof. Marsh at the time of his 

 death. The actual number of specimens represented in this 

 collection cannot yet be stated. They range in size from minute 

 teeth of fossil mammals to individual specimens weighing from 

 500 to 2000 pounds each. The collections are rich in large 

 Dmosauria, especially in examples of Triccratops and Stego- 

 ^aurus, while the series of Titanotherium skulls is one of the 

 best, if not the best, in existence. It contains fifty or more 

 complete examples cleaned, and a number in the rough, besides 

 many hundreds of bones. Among the specimens transferred 

 are the types of forty or more species, including Dinosaurs, and 

 Jurassic, Cretaceous and Tertiary mammals. The value of the 

 entire collection is estimated at over 1 50,000 dollars. Refer- 

 ring to the transference, Prof. S. P. Langley remarks that the 

 addition of this immense collection of most important American 

 fossil remains to the treasures already assembled in the National 

 Museum will afford the greatest satisfaction to all workers in 

 the field of paljeontology both at home and abroad. 



An account of certain preliminary experiments conducted 

 with the view of establishing communication by wireless 

 telegraphy between Chamounix and the summit of Mont Blanc 

 has been detailed before the French Physical Society by MM. 

 Leon and Louis Lecarme, and is summarised in No. 140 of the 

 Bulletin of the Society. The experiments were conducted last 

 August. The chief difficulties from the point of view of the 

 propagation of Hertzian waves were : (i) the difference of altitude 

 of 3450 metres between the two stations, with a consequent 

 considerable difference of potential between the two masts ; (2) 

 the influence of cloud layers more than 200 metres thick in bad 

 weather, these clouds often consisting of snow in a dense state 

 NO. 1577, VOL. 61] 



of condensation ; (3) the intense electric phenomena which 

 frequently occur at high altitudes ; {4) the two earthed wires 

 whose extremities in this case could not be regarded as at a 

 common zero potential owing to the thick coating of ice and 

 hard snow covering the upper part of the mountain, whose high 

 resistance might cause a considerable difference of potential 

 between the " earth " of the summit and of Chamounix. The 

 transmitting apparatus at Chamounix consisted of a coil giving 

 an 18 cm. spark and a Hertzian oscillator, the balls were 2 cm. 

 apart for giving the best results. The manipulator sent the 

 current from a dynamo of 50 volts through the primary of the 

 coil, and an "antenna" 25 metres long concentrated the waves. 

 The receiver, situated at the Vallot observatory 4350 metres in 

 altitude, was 12 kilometres distant as the crow flies, and 

 consisted of a Branly radioconductor. The experiments were 

 carried on for six days, and gave satisfactory results, but the 

 three-phase currents employed in the electric lighting installa- 

 ation at Chamounix entirely stopped all communication. MM. 

 Lecarme, however, propose to make use of these currents in 

 future experiments. 



Attention has already been called in these columns to the 

 system of electrical and magnetic units advocated by Dr. Franz 

 Kerntler in his paper "Die Unitat des absoluten Maass 

 Systems. . . .'' (Budapest, 1899). An account of the Kerntler 

 system is now given by Prof. Rinaldo Ferrini, who, writing in 

 the Rendtconti del R. Istituto Lombardo, expresses himself as 

 distinctly in its favour. 



The established system of electrical units has been subjected 

 to analysis and criticism by Prof. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S., in 

 recent issues of the Electrician, and the concluding article of 

 the series appears in the current number. Prof Fleming does 

 not definitely advocate any particular system, but he gives the 

 outlines of a scheme of units which merits consideration both 

 from theoretical and practical points of view. In conclusion, 

 he remarks: "Those who have experience in teaching will 

 agree that a clear view of the fundamental facts and statements 

 is essential if the student is to make any satisfactory progress 

 in handling advanced problems and ideas. In the class-room, 

 no less than in the workshop, every one concerned with electro- 

 magnetic phenomena needs exact conceptions and not confused 

 ideas of first principles. Experience shows that our present 

 system of unitation and our existing terminology in describing 

 electric and magnetic effects are not well adapted to facilitate 

 this clearness. We may then ask : Should not the entrance 

 into the twentieth century be inaugurated by some attempt tc 

 organise, simplify, and render more symmetrical the language 

 and symbols in which are described the phenomena of elec- 

 tricity and magnetism, with the object of making calculation 

 more easy and thought more precise ? " 



The Pilot chart of the North Atlantic Ocean, issued by the 

 Hydrographic Office of Washington, for January contains, in 

 addition to the usual useful information, a sub-chart showing 

 the average tracks of 121 January storms over the North 

 Atlantic during the ten-year period of 1889-9S. The chart 

 shows that the region of maximum storm frequency for that 

 month lies to the north of the steamship routes, in a belt ex- 

 tending north-eastward from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland 

 across the Atlantic. Some of these storms are the most severe, 

 the largest in area and the longest in duration, and may be 

 traced entirely across the ocean, while others disappear to the 

 northward. The storms are divided into nine classes, according 

 to the regions in which they first appeared. 



The Central Meteorological Observatory of Moncalieri has 

 published Vol. II. of the A nnuario storico for the year 1900 (398 

 pages). The work contains a large amount of useful information, 



