398 



NATURE 



[FeBRUAKV 22, 1900 



income of the Fund for that year shall be invested in manner 

 aforesaid and added to the capital of the David Hughes Scholar- 

 ship Fund. 



Prof. H. A. Hazen, a prominent official of the U.S. 

 Weather Bureau, whose name will be familiar to many readers 

 of Nature, was, we regret to learn, thrown from his bicycle 

 on January 22, and died on the following day, from the 

 injuries received. Referring to his lamented death, the 

 National Geographic Xagazine states that he was born on 

 January 12, 1849, in Sirur, India, about one hundred miles 

 east of Bombay, and went to America when ten years old. He 

 graduated from Dartmouth College in 187 1, and for some 

 years after was instructor in drawing in the Sheffield Scientific 

 School, New Haven, and later was assistant in meteorology and 

 physics under Prof. EHas Loomis. He received an appoint- 

 ment in the U.S. Weather Bureau in May, 1881, being 

 assigned to. special duty on such problems as the investigation of 

 ■the psychrometer and the proper exposures of thermometers, 

 the study of thunderstorms, and other important questions. At 

 a later period Prof. Hazen was assigned to duties of a broader 

 aspect, including weather forecasting and occasional editorial work 

 on the Monthly Weather Review. In addition to his official work in 

 the Weather Bureau, Prof. Hazen was a frequent contributor to 

 meteorological and other scientific journals. He was one of 

 ■the supporters oi Science during the years 1882 -1889, and of the 

 American Meteorological Journal, 1884- 1 886. Among his 

 4arger publications are the " Reduction of Air Pressure to Sea 

 L.evel " and the " Climate of Chicago." 



The address which Dr. Morris delivered at the opening of 

 the second West Indian Agricultural Conference, of which an 

 :account is given in another part of this issue, was a powerful 

 exposition of the aims of the Agricultural Department, and of 

 the success which had attended its efforts during the first brief 

 year of its existence. It is gratifying to find that, with regard 

 to the question of central factories. Dr. Morris gives the great 

 weight of his approval to the representations made by the 

 Barbados Agricultural Society in favour of the establishment of 

 factories on the basis of a division of profits between the planters 

 and the factory. Not the least interesting portion of the address 

 is that dealing with agricultural education. The education 

 which has drawn the Englishman from the soil at home, and 

 •so divorced him from agricultural pursuits that, even as an emi- 

 .grant, he is only a settler in towns, has been copied in the West 

 Indies ; and the results, although not so evident perhaps in 

 Barbados, have been identical. Dr. Morris shows that the 

 Aim of the Department will be to correct this system, not by 

 refusing education to the agricultural masses, or by restricting 

 their education to purely agricultural subjects, but by expanding 

 the teaching now afforded at elementary schools, so as to em- 

 brace a large amount of valuable agricultural knowledge. The 

 ultimate effect of the efforts of the Department in this direction 

 must be the creation of a sturdy and intelligent peasant pro- 

 prietary in the colony, most adapted to their requirements ; 

 whilst the supply of labour on the estates will be affected only 

 in the improved value, not cost, of the labourer. 



Many attempts have been made to construct a compass which 

 is independent of the permanent and transient sources of error 

 to which a ship's compass is subjected. The latest device is the 

 Evoy patent compass, which is so arranged that it can be placed 

 in a position where it is not subject to the magnetism of the ship 

 — that is to say, it is hauled up to nearly the height of the masts, 

 where it is supported on the jumper stay. To determine 

 whether the steering compass of a ship is showing the correct 

 magnetic course, the Evoy compass is hoisted up aloft, given 

 time to settle, and then brought down again, the reading of the 

 NO. 1582, VOL. 61] 



steering compass bejng taken at the same time. It is obvious, 

 however, that in the course of being lowered the overhead com- 

 pass would come again within the magnetic influences of the ship, 

 and thus be liable to have its reading disturbed before being in- 

 spected by the officer on duty. An automatic contrivance is 

 therefore provided which locks the compass card as soon as the 

 lowering is begun. Hence it is possible to check the indications 

 of the compass on the bridge, exposed to the perturbing in- 

 fluences of the ship's magnetism, by those given by the Evoy 

 compass high up beyond their reach. The instrument, which 

 is mounted in such a way as to protect it from the effects of 

 vibration and rolling, has been tested for some time on board a 

 number of vessels, and has, it is stated, given satisfaction to the 

 commanders. 



The recent falls of snow, which have been followed by heavy 

 rains and rapid thawing, have led to disastrous floods in several 

 parts of England. One lesson that is taught, is that homes 

 (usually of the poor) should never be erected on alluvial ground 

 In the Standard oi February 17, we read that the river Avon at 

 Bath has been greatly swollen, and in the low lying parts of the 

 city people have been driven into the upper rooms, and have 

 had to be supplied with food by means of boats. Interesting 

 and yet deplorable are the records of the floods in South Devon. 

 The thawing of snow on Dartmoor, accompanied by twenty-four 

 hours' continuous rain, rapidly swelled the waters of the river 

 Dart, and the outflow was checked by high spring-tides. Con- 

 sequently (as stated in the same newspaper) the alluvial meadows 

 were soon submerged, the floods being the highest within 

 living memory. Many hundreds of sheep, horses, pigs, and 

 other live stock were washed away by the force of the current. 

 From one farm on the borders of the Dart no less than 232 

 sheep were drowned, and the banks were strewn with dead 

 animals, trees, and other debris. We learn also that at Guild- 

 ford the ancient town bridge has been completely carried away 

 by a big baulk of timber, which was brought down by the 

 flooded river Wey, from a neighbouring timber-yard. 



A Bill for taking the census in Great Britain in 1901 was 

 read for the first time in the House of Commons on Monday. 

 The subject of census-taking and its limitations was brought 

 before the Royal Statistical Society at the meeting on Tuesday, 

 by Mr. J. A. Baines, who pointed out that the main interest of 

 the census from the statistical standpoint lies, of course, in the 

 schedule. The attempt to make the census the vehicle of a 

 plebiscite on any matter of opinion, whether of temperance, 

 volunteering, the empire, or such like, is foredoomed to failure, 

 and tends to discredit the rest of the inquiry. Purely personal 

 facts, such as sex, age, marriage and birthplace are the most im- 

 portant questions, and, luckily, the easiest to answer correctly. 

 On the other hand, they are those which, in the mass, tend to 

 vary more quickly in this country than any others. It is im- 

 perative, therefore, that for practical statistical work we should 

 have the two first, at least, revised at more frequent intervals 

 than ten years, and the Statistical Society has fortunately the co- 

 operation of actuaries, sanitary officers, economists, and all social 

 investigators in pressing upon the Government the need of either 

 a permanent quinquennial Census Act, or, at least, the prescrip- 

 tion of a quinquennial enumeration in the Bill now under 

 consideration. 



Prok. E. H. Barbour, proiessor of geology in the Uni- 

 versity of Nebraska, has recently given reasons for believing 

 that a rapid d<icline of geyser activity is taking place in the 

 Yellowstone National Park. If the present rate of decline con- 

 tinues, it seems possible that within a decade many of the well- 

 known geysers will have died out. As a result of an examina- 

 tion of the geyser area, after an interval of four years. Prof. 

 Barbour gives the following instances among others of the 



