January 22, 1903] 



NA TURE 



■/ 1 



to be the largest yet fired, and a projectile weighing 2400 lb. 

 The shot struck the sea three miles from shore. The gun will 

 have a range of twenty miles. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times states that at a meet- 

 ing of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences on January 

 17, the incorporation of the British Academy with the Inter- 

 national Association of Academies was agreed to unanimously. 

 Lord Reay, the first president of the British Academy, who is 

 a correspondant of the Institute, expressed his thanks for the 

 decision. 



We learn from Science that the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington has made a grant to the Marine Biological Labor- 

 atory, and now has at its disposal twenty tables in the laboratory 

 at Woods Hole, Mass., for the season of 1903. These tables 

 are intended for the use of persons engaged in original research 

 in biology, and carry with them the right to be furnished with 

 the ordinary supplies and material of the laboratory. 



According to the Daily Mail, Mr. Edward Baily, of Pen- 

 zance, formerly of Mansfield, Notts, has presented to the Mans- 

 field Town Council, in trust for his native town as a nucleus of 

 a museum, a large and valuable collection of natural history 

 specimens and scientific apparatus, collected by him during the 

 past twenty years. 



The protection of the coasts from the inroads of the sea has 

 become a matter of great importance in Norfolk and Suffolk. 

 A meeting to consider what action should be taken was held at 

 Norwich on Saturday last, many representatives of local bodies 

 and public companies being present. Sir Samuel Hoare, M.P., 

 wrote that he would like to see the Government appoint an 

 experienced commissioner for Norfolk and Suffolk, or better 

 still, one for each county, to report .on the present encroach- 

 ments, after some months' work and experiments, and to have 

 under him officers in charge of certain portions of the coast who 

 should keep records of daily, weekly and monthly observations. 

 The following resolutions were adopted : — (1) "That the inroads 

 of the sea upon the coasts of Norfolk and Suffolk have increased 

 so much as to become a national danger ; that the existing 

 powers of the local authorities and the financial resources at 

 present available are insufficient for the construction and main- 

 tenance of adequate works of sea defence, and that the time has 

 arrived when measures should be taken with the least possible 

 delay to bring the subject, by petition or otherwise, to the 

 nolice of His Majesty's Government with the view of obtaining 

 a Government inquiry, and some relief towards, or allowance in 

 respect of, the cost of maintenance of such protection works." 

 {2) " That a committee be formed, consisting of the members 

 appointed by each of the local authorities concerned, with power 

 to add to their number, together with their representatives in 

 Parliament, to consider the best means for giving effect to the 

 foregoing resolution, and, if considered advisable, to confer 

 with other districts in the country similarly affected, and to 

 report thereon to the respective local authorities, and that when 

 necessary another conference be convened upon the subject." 



A new system of telegraphic time-signals has been adopted 

 by the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, and has many 

 advantages over the method followed in this country. Instead 

 of sending one signal at noon, as is done here for the noon 

 signal from Greenwich, a series of signals, beginning at five 

 minutes before noon and ending at noon, is sent out from the 

 Observatory. This series agrees with that in use on the Pacific 

 coast, so that the same system is now employed throughout the 

 United States. During the interval over which the time- 

 signals extend, every tick of the transmitting clock is signalled 

 electrically, except the twenty-ninth second of each minute, the 

 NO. I734, VOL. 67] 



last five seconds of the first four minutes and the last ten 

 seconds of the last minute. After this final break of ten seconds' 

 duration, the noon signal is given. The electric connections of 

 the transmitting clock at the Observatory emit certain sounds 

 which can be easily distinguished by anyone listening to a 

 sounder in a telegraph or telephone office. It is thus possible 

 to recognise, by means of the breaks in the record, the middle 

 and end of each minute, and especially the end of the minute 

 which terminates at noon. As the signal is seldom in error to 

 an amount greater than one- or two-tenths of a second, and 

 electric transmission over a continuous wire is practically 

 instantaneous, the series of noon signals provide a convenient 

 means of accurately regulating clocks to standard time through- 

 out the United States. The system is much to be preferred to 

 that of sending a single signal at noon, as is done in this 

 country for Greenwich time. 



During the greater part of the week ended January 17, 

 the British Isles were under the influence of an area of high 

 barometric pressure, and experienced very cold northerly and 

 easterly winds, the temperature being much below the average. 

 The Weekly Weather Report just issued by the Meteorological 

 Office states that the temperature was as much as 10° below the 

 normal in the midland counties, 9 in Scotland W. and the 

 western half of England, and between 8° and 6° in other parts 

 of the kingdom. The highest of the maxima were recorded, 

 as a general rule, towards the end of the period, and ranged 

 from 50° in the Channel Islands and 49° in Ireland S. to 40" 

 in Scotland E. , England N.E. and the midland counties. 

 At inland stations, the daily maxima during the week were fre- 

 quently below 32 , and at Lairg on January 13 the highest read- 

 ing was no more than 20°. The lowest of the minima were 

 mostly recorded about the middle of the week. In Scotland 

 N. (at Braemar on January 13), the screened thermometer regis- 

 tered a minimum of 1°, and on the following day, that at 

 Lairg, Scotland N., fell to 6'. Elsewhere, however, the 

 minima ranged from 12' in England N.W. and 13° in the 

 midland counties to 20° in Ireland S. and 26 in the Channel 

 Islands. In the neighbourhood of London, the greatest cold 

 during the present winter, 24° in the screen, occurred on the 

 night of Thursday to Friday, while at Greenwich the exposed 

 thermometer on grass registered 12°. On Saturday a sudden 

 thaw set in with snow and rain, which froze on touching the 

 cold ground and formed a layer of ice known as silver thaw, 

 owing to which very many accidents occurred to pedestrians. 



In his presidential address to the Institution of Engineers 

 and Shipbuilders in Scotland, reported in the Transactions,. 

 Mr. William Foulis stated that several important changes had 

 been made. The number of members of council was increased, 

 the class of students was placed on a more satisfactory basis and 

 a class of associate members was formed. The most important 

 points for future improvement were, first, that a member of 

 council should preside at students' meetings ; secondly, that a 

 research committee should be formed ; and, thirdly, that more 

 and better accommodation should be provided for the Institution 

 and especially its library. 



A mathematical investigation of the theory of railway 

 brakes is given by Prof. A. Sommerfeld in the Denkschrift o\ the 

 Technical College at Aachen, published in connection with the 

 Dusseldorf Exhibition. Prof. Sommerfeld divides the action 

 of the brake into three phases, the first characterised by pure 

 rolling of the wheels on the rails, the second by a mixture of 

 rolling and slipping, while in the third phase the wheels slip 

 along the rails without rolling. A consideration of the three 

 phases leads to an explanation of the property that an increase 

 of brake pressure sometimes reduces the efficacy of the brakes 



