Vol. XXII. No. 12.] 



POPULAR SCIENCE NEWS. 



183 



another to attract him. Geography offered the 

 latest results of African travel, with distinguished 

 explorers, such as Johnson and Mackensie, to relate 

 them; George St. Clair on " Jerusalem, Nehemiah's 

 Wall, and the Royal Sepulchres; " and a letter from 

 M. de Lesseps describing the work already done on 

 the Panama Canal, the ports and points of interest 

 upon it, with a cheerful estimate of the receipts 

 that will repay the investor when once the canal is 

 opened for navigation, an event that he confidently 

 promi-sed for 1890. Geology filled its room to over- 

 flowing with an exhibition of lirae-light photographs 

 of active volcanoes; and biology with an address 

 from Sir John Lubbock on " The Solitary Wasps 

 and Bees," and a report from Mr. G B. Poulton on 

 " Heredity in Cats," with an extra number of toes as 

 exhibited in one particular family, young members 

 of which were exhibited and presented to scien- 

 tists, who promised to keep a careful record of their 

 subsequent history. But it was the Section of 

 Mechanics, with Edison's improved phonograph 

 and the Tainter graphophone, that made the 

 strongest appeal to public curiosity. Those who 

 were fortunate enough to get into the hall when 

 these instruments were explained by Col. Gourand 

 and Mr. Henry Edmonds respectively will not 

 soon forget the scene. The platform was crowded 

 with eminent specialists from every section, the 

 body of the large hall was packed, every point of 

 vantage was taken up in the gallery, and even 

 ladies had scaled ladders, and were standing inse- 

 curely holding on to any thing that offered sup- 

 port. With easy manner and in clear tones Col. 

 Gourand described the original phonograph made 

 by Edison ten years ago, and contrasted with it the 

 instrument recently received. The story of his 

 first trial of the improved phonograph and of the 

 uses to which he put it for the amu.sement, instruc- 

 tion, and education of his family, was well told; 

 and when he said that it might even then be possi- 

 ble to give an illustration of the power of the 

 instrument, the hall seemed full of suppressed 

 excitement. The drum was made to revolve, a 

 wide-mouthed funnel was attached to it, and pres- 

 ently, amid breathless silence, a sound which was 

 at le:ist suggestive of a cornet went through the 

 notes of " The Last Rose of Summer." Every run, 

 every trill, was accurately given ; and when one con- 

 siders that the solo had been played into the instru- 

 ment in Edison's laboratory four months before, and 

 had been repeated already two thousand times by 

 actual count, the success of the reproduction must 

 be admitted, even though the tones were somewhat 

 ghostlike. Almost before the applause had sub- 

 sided, Mr. Henry Edmonds began to read his care- 

 fully prepared paper on "The Graphophone; " but.so 

 nervous was his manner, so indistinct his utterance, 

 that, whatever may be the respective merits of the 

 rival instruments, Edison's phonograph captured 

 the audience by the superior manner-of'its presen- 

 tation. Both instruments were afterwards put on 

 exhibition for certain hours during the meet- 

 ings, and were daily besieged by an eager crowd. 

 The verdict given by those who reached them 

 depended greatly on the hearer. Many scientific 

 men could Tind no substantial improvement in the 

 new phonograph over the old, and were inclined to 

 think the graphophone more satisfactory than 

 either, excepting for a burr of the machinery. Of 

 the general members, some wept over music that 

 seemed to others the product of an antiquated bar- 

 rel-organ. A voice repeating " Mary had a little 

 lamb " over and over again, now fast, now slow, 

 and now on suggestion of another voice called Edi- 

 .son's, with a chorus from the employees in the 

 laboratory, was to some proof positive of the 

 present perfection of the instrument, and a promise 

 of its future usefulness; while others asked for a 



few words on some subject more recondite, suggest- 

 ing that nursery rhymes were no fair test. 



The interdependence of the different branches 

 of science led to many joint meetings between the 

 sections. The rival theories of lightning-conduc- 

 tors championed by ]Mr. Preece and Professor 

 Lodge were fully discussed in a large assembly of 

 mechanical and mathematical specialists. The 

 geologists met the biologists to ventilate, and if 

 possible harmonize, conflicting theories as to the 

 formation of coral reefs; leaving the question, how- 

 ever, very much as they found it. The biologists 

 went in a body to the Chemical Section to ask for 

 light on some of the problems presented by living 

 bodies. These, lucidly stated by Professor Michael 

 P'oster on the zoological side and Mr. Thistleton 

 Dyer on the botanical, were considered by such 

 eminent chemists as Sir Henry Roscoe, Professors 

 Armstrong and Schiiffer, to be at present beyond 

 their solution, though they believed they would one 

 day attain that end, in spite of the i;reat difficulty, 

 that, as soon as they began to test a living unit, it 

 ceased to live. 



1 hough these pre-arianged discussions lacked the 

 warmth of spontaneity, many of those that arose 

 from time to time within the sections were marked 

 with vigor. Seismic phenomena and the condition 

 of the interior of the earth, for instance, stirred the 

 geologists, and elicited from one and another facts 

 of great interest and importance. The value of 

 chemistry as a means of developing schoolboy 

 intelligence was equally exciting to the chemists. 

 Questions connected with socialism, technical 

 education generally, and the technical education 

 of women in particular, were fought over among the 

 economists; many ladies entering valiantly into the 

 fray. But no one subject was discussed with so 

 much vivacity, such intensity of feeling, as the 

 breathing capacity of the average woman. The 

 subject was first brought forward when, iu a sub- 

 section of biology. Professors Roy and .F. G. Adams 

 delivered their views on the physiological bearing 

 of wai.st-belt and stays, defending on historic 

 grounds the wearing of these artificial supports. 

 All that has hitherto been said for and against this 

 custom was said again, with no satisfactory result. 

 Nor was a conclusion reached by further discussion 

 in the Anthropological Section over some of the 

 various physical measurements taken by Dr. J. G 

 Garson in the anthropometric laboratory last year 

 at Manchester. As these measurements are taken 

 from year to year, data are accumulated from 

 which much may be hoped, and Dr. Garson 

 promises to bring forward results of great signifi- 

 cance at some future meeting of the British 

 Association. 



[8i)ecially reported for The Popular Science NeW9.^ 



METEOROLOGY FOR OCTOBER, 188S. 



TEMPERATURE. 



The lowest point reached by the mercury at the 

 hour of observation _was 32°, on the 11th; the high- 

 est 67°, on the 2Sth. The coolest day of the month 

 averaged 38§°, on the 30th; the warmest 57°, on 

 the 28th. The extremes came near meeting. The 

 entire month was 4.15° cooler tlian the average of 

 the last eighteen Octobers, and the coldest without 

 an exception. Ten months of the year are now 

 past, seven of which have been cooler than the 



average, and only three above, leaving a net aver- 

 age loss thus far of 1.48° daily. We seem to be 

 having a cool year, truly. It has been cool enough 

 for frosts on nearly one-half the mornings of the 

 month, though not severe in my immediate lo- 

 cality. 



SKY. 



The face of the sky in 93 observations gave 46 

 fair, 16 cloudy, 27 overcast, and 8 rainy, with one 

 trace of snow between observations, — a percent- 

 age of 45 2 fair. The average fair for the last 

 eighteen Octobers has been 57.1, with extremes 

 of 43.0, iu 1882, and 73 1, in 1874. The present 

 has been the cloudiest October, with the above ex- 

 ception, in eighteen years. The morning of the 

 17th was foggy. The last three days of the month 

 were uniformly fair and fine, with westerly winds, 

 a small compensation for the preceding gloom. 



PRECIPITATION. 



The amount of rainfall the past month was 4.31 

 inches, while the average amount in October the 

 last twenty years has been 4.01, with extremes of 

 .75 inch, in 1874, and 13.20, in 1869. Over an 

 inch and a quarter fell on the 6th, and again on 

 the 24th. The first trace of snow appeared on the 

 afternoon of the 9th. The amount of precipitation 

 since Jan. 1 has been 50 58 inches, while the aver- 

 age for the first ten months in twenty years has 

 been only 38.54 inches, showing an excess thus far 

 this year of 12.04 inches. 



PRESSURE. 



The average pressure the past month was 29.883 

 inches, with extremes of 29.38, on the 8th, and 

 30 34, on the 27th, — a range of .96 inch. The 

 average for the last fifteen Octobers has been 

 29.994, with extremes of 29.826, in 1875, and 

 30.109, iu 1886. There have been but two in- 

 stances of so low pressure in October as the past 

 month. The sum of daily variations was 6.23 

 inches, giving an average daily movement of .201 

 inch. This average in fifteen Octobers has been 

 .165, with extremes of .113 and .211, the last- 

 named being the only exception above the present. 

 The largest daily movements were .47, on the 28th, 

 .46, on the 30th, and .38, on the 24th. The baro- 

 metric changes the last half of the month were 

 large and quite variable, ending with high press- 

 ure. 



WINDS. 



The direction of the wind in 93 observations 

 gave IG N., 3 S , 6 E , 17 W., 8 N E., 27 N.W., 

 2 S.E., and 14 S W., an excess of 32 northerly 

 and 42 westerly over the southerly and easterly, 

 and indicating the average direction of the month 

 to have been W. 37° 18' N. The westerly winds 

 in October have prevailed over the easterly, without 

 an exception, for nineteen years, by an average of 

 33 53 observations, and the northerly over the 

 .southerly, with four exceptions, by an average of 

 7.74; indicating the approximate general average 

 direction of the wind in October the last nineteen 

 years to be W. 13° 0' N. Comparing this with the 

 average of the past month, we find the latter to 

 have been 24° 18' more northerly than usual, and 

 evidently one cause of the unusual coolness. The 

 relative progressive distance travelled by the wind 

 the past month was 52 80 units, and during the 

 last nineteen Octobers 653.8 such units, — an aver- 

 ase of 34,41; showing less opposing winds the pa.st 

 month than usual. 



IN REVIEW. 



It may be said that October has been much like 

 the preceding month, very unusually cool, cloudy, 

 and rainy, with low pressure and northerly winds 

 So many extremes coming together has caused an 



