59 8 



NA TURE 



[I- KBRUARY 26, I9O3 



resembling the Aurora Borealis. Every train resembled a 

 blazing comet, being followed by a long stream of flame and 

 sparks. The whole line glistened with beautiful electrical 

 discharges. Thousands of persons walked the streets watch- 

 ing the strange spectacle." This seems to open out fresh 

 possibilities for electric railways in catering for the public. 



The preliminary account of the international balloon 

 ascents of December 4, published by Dr. Hergesell, show- 

 that France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia and the United 

 States (Blue Hill) took part in the experiments. Both 

 manned and unmanned balloons and kites were used ; the 

 highest altitudes attained were: — Itteville (near Paris), 

 14,823 metres, lowest temperature -52°'Q C, temperature 

 on the ground -4°'8; Strassburg, 16,500 metres, minimum 

 temperature — 65°'2, on the ground — 7°'8; Berlin, 14,465 

 metres, temperature — 35°, on the ground -n°'5, the lowest 

 temperature was — 46°'7 at an altitude of 9670 metres; 

 Pavlovsk, 17,700 metres, the lowest temperature was re- 

 corded at 11,220 metres, — 63°'5, on the ground — 20°7 ; 

 at Blue Hill the wind was not strong enough to raise the 

 kite higher than 1100 metres; an inversion of temperature 

 occurred at the height of 1000 metres. The European 

 ascents were made in an area of high barometric pressure. 



Symons's Meteorological Magazine for February contains 

 the first of a proposed series of articles on the Canadian 

 climate, by Mr. R. F. Stupart, director of the Meteorological 

 Service of Canada. These articles bid fair to be of consider- 

 able interest, and will dispel the popular idea that Canada 

 is an exceedingly cold country. Ordinary readers may not at 

 first realise that a large portion of Ontario lies as far south 

 as the south of France, that Toronto is further south than 

 Florence, and that the southern point of Ontario is further 

 south than Rome. Referring to Vancouver, the author 

 points out that the rainfall along the exposed western coast 

 exceeds 100 inches, but in the more eastern districts it is less 

 than half that amount. " The mean monthly and annual 

 temperatures correspond very closely with those found in 

 parts of England ; the summers are quite as long, and severe 

 frost scarcely ever occurs." Crossing to the mainland, 

 about 70 miles from Vancouver, the observations taken at 

 an experimental farm give the mean temperature of January 

 as 33°, and of July 64° ; the lowest temperature on record 

 is — 13 , and the highest 97°. Further eastward the summers 

 are warmer and the winters are colder, but bright, dry 

 weather is the rule. In the prairie country the winters are 

 at times very cold, but the air being dry, a temperature of 

 — 20° causes no inconvenience to ordinary daily avocations, 

 and early in May the prairies are carpeted with flowers. 



Mr. L. H. Murdoch describes (Monthly Weather Review, 

 October, 1902, vol. xxx. No. 10) some interesting facts re- 

 lative to the variation of precipitation at Salt Lake City, 

 the water-level of the Great Salt Lake and some rainfall 

 records from other localities in the States. The curves which 

 he gives in the paper show a good agreement between the 

 variation of the rainfall and the level of the lake, which led 

 him to deduce that from 1827 to 1864 there was a dry cycle, 

 from 1865 to 1886 a wet cycle, and from 1887 to the present 

 time another dry cycle. To investigate the universality of 

 these dry and wet periods he examined several American 

 stations of about the same latitude. He found that the 

 country west of the Rocky Mountains had its wettest cycle 

 from 1866 to 1887, while the middle Mississippi and Ohio 

 valleys had their heaviest precipitation from 1840 to 1859 ; 

 thus, while the central portion of the country was receiving 

 abundant rainfall, the west of the Rocky Mountains ex- 

 perienced " the longest dry cycle of which we have any 

 record." At the present time, from San Francisco to 



NO. 1739, VOL. 67] 



Baltimore a dry cycle is in progress, and it is stated that 

 " the past fifteen years have been the driest fifteen con- 

 secutive years on record for all the stations named, except 

 Sacramento, and the drought is equally well marked there, 

 but the fifteen years from 1851 to 1865 were a trifle drier." 

 Mr. Murdoch examined the sun-spot curve to see if he could 

 trace any connection between these periods of wetness and 

 drvness, but he found none, years of minimum spots being 

 sometimes excessively wet and sometimes excessively dry, and 

 the same for the years of maximum sun-spots. How long 

 will the present dry cycle continue? he asks, and he points 

 out that a correct answer to this question would be worth 

 millions of dollars to the people of the United States. 



In No. 13 (1902) of the Arinalen dcr Physik, Herr Hans 

 Lehmann publishes a list of the wave-lengths of the iron 

 spectrum between \ 68 11 30 and \ 8690-98, which should 

 prove a useful standard of reference for wave-lengths in 

 this region. Referring to Sir William Abney's conclusion 

 that there is an upper limit to the spectra of certain metals, 

 which the latter photographed during his experiments on 

 the ultra-red region, Herr Lehmann states that his own 

 experiments tend to confirm this conclusion. 



Prof. J. Trowbridge, who has been studying powerful 

 electric discharges from condensers through hydrogen con- 

 tained in silica-glass vacuum tubes, finds that by using 

 this material for his tubes he can obtain and examine the 

 most intense light yet studied in a laboratory (Electrical 

 Review, November 22, 1902). His experiments show that 

 to the eye the light of hydrogen appears to give a continuous 

 spectrum, though photography reveals many bright and 

 dark lines in the ultra-violet. Prof. Trowbridge considers 

 that his results have an important bearing upon theories 

 of the nature and constitution of stars and of the sun's 

 spectrum, and that they open a new field in spectrum 

 analysis. 



At Brescia in September, 1902, the Seismological Society 

 of Italy held its first congress. An account of the proceed- 

 ings, which extended over five days, and were largely de- 

 voted to seismometry, the Society publishes in its Bulletin, 

 Nos. 4 and 5, vol. viii. One important discussion referred 

 to the rate at which recording surfaces should be moved. 

 Experience suggests that the speed to be adopted depends 

 very largely upon the character of the earthquakes which 

 are being studied. With earthquakes of local origin, waves 

 with a period of 1/20 or 1/ 10 of a second may occur, whilst 

 earthquakes of distant origin consist of waves which vary in 

 period from 5 to 60 seconds. To obtain an open diagram 

 of the former, the speed required for the recording surface 

 should be so very much higher than for the latter that it 

 would seem necessary to employ different types of apparatus 

 for different types of earthquakes. Other discussions re- 

 lated to the form of unfelt seismic waves, modifications of 

 the Rossi-Forel scale, the probable value of continuous 

 determinations of the value of g in the vicinity of volca- 

 noes, the establishment of a magnetic observatory in 

 Sestola, to seismic periodicities and to other subjects. 

 Many instruments and diagrams were exhibited, and under 

 its able president, Prof. Pietro Tacchini, the Society is to 

 be congratulated on the encouragement it has given to 

 seismic research. 



We have received a paper by Father Algu£, S.J., director 

 of the Philippine Weather Bureau, on ground temperature 

 observations at Manila. Underground temperatures have 

 been regularly observed in Manila since the year 1895, with 

 four thermometers placed 59'o6 in., 29-53 m -i '7 7 2 m - anc ' 

 1378 in. below the surface of the ground, and more recently 

 three more have been added at depths of 984 in., 19-68 in. 



