March 19 1903] 



NA TURE 



469 



after inoculation the vessel becomes illuminated with a 

 wonderful bluish-green light, caused by the innumerable 

 bacteria which have developed in the time. The light will 

 burn brilliantly for from two to three weeks afterwards, 

 diminishing in brightness." 



The following annual awards have been decided by the 

 council of the Royal Geographical Society, and the King, 

 as patron, has approved of the award of the two Royal 

 medals. The founder's medal to Mr. Douglas W. Fresh- 

 field, for his explorations in the Caucasus and the Himalaya, 

 and for his persistent efforts to extend the scope and raise 

 the standard of geographical education. — The other Royal 

 medal to Captain Otto Sverdrup, the leader of the Fram 

 expedition, extending over a period of four years, which 

 has done much to complete our knowledge of the geography 

 of the Arctic regions. Captain Sverdrup was captain of 

 the Fram during Dr. Nansen's great expedition, and 

 assumed command when Nansen left the ship. — The Victoria 

 medal for geographical research to Dr. Sven Hedin. — The 

 Murchison grant to Mr. Isaachsen, a lieutenant in the 

 Norwegian army, who accompanied Captain Sverdrup on 

 his last expedition. — The Gill memorial to Mr. Ellsworth 

 Huntington, an American traveller, for his journey through 

 the Great Canon of the Euphrates River, during which he 

 made valuable observations in physical geography. — The 

 Back grant to Dr. W. G. Smith, of Yorkshire College, 

 Leeds, for his investigations into the geographical distribu- 

 tion of vegetation in Yorkshire, embodied in maps and a 

 paper which will shortly be published. — The Peek grant to 

 Major Burdon, who has compiled a number of excellent 

 route maps as the result of his journeys in Northern Nigeria. 



We have received a paper on " A Scale of Interference 

 Colours," by M. Camille Craft, reprinted from the Bulletin 

 de VAcadimie des Sciences de Cracovie. The object of the 

 author was to examine the interference colours produced by 

 thin films, and to observe the positions and breadths of the 

 black bands in the spectra of these colours. A Biot's com- 

 pensator was employed, composed of three quartz plates cut 

 parallel to the axis, two plates being slightly wedge-shaped 

 so that the thickness could be adjusted within considerable 

 limits. The plates were immersed in essence of anise, which 

 has a refractive index nearly equal to that of quartz, and 

 the light traversing the compensator was polarised and 

 analysed by means of Nicols. Spectra of the colours were 

 formed by the aid of a Rowland grating. Tables and 

 curves are given for five different sources of white light. 

 Further, the correspondence of the interference colours pro- 

 duced in the above manner with those due to a thin air 

 film are also tabulated. 



The first part of the report of the expedition, consisting 

 of Dr. Tempest Anderson and Dr. J. S. Flett, that was 

 sent out last year by the Royal Society to investigate the 

 eruptions of the Soufriere in St. Vincent has just been 

 published as a separate paper from the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions. The report occupies two hundred pages, and is 

 illustrated by eighteen fine plates representing the charac- 

 teristics and effects of the eruptions. The preliminary re- 

 port of the expedition was summarised in Nature of August 

 21, 1902 (vol. lxvi. p. 402). 



The dust fall recently recorded in many parts of the south 

 of England and Wales seems to have been more extensive 

 than was at first supposed. Information is now coming to 

 hand to show that some parts of the Continent were also 

 visited. In Austria (Meteorologische Zeitschrift, Heft ii., 

 February, 1903) the dust fall seems to have been on quite a 

 large scale, judging by the accounts given in the above- 



NO. 1742, VOL. 67] 



mentioned journal. At Kremsmiinster, for instance, dust 

 fell both on February 22 and 23, with the wind in the west, 

 and there was a haze described as smoke-like. In Lower 

 Austria, at Loosdorf, on the afternoon of February 23, all 

 the trees were covered with a yellow dust. Similar 

 phenomena were recorded at Pyhrn (Upper Austria), at Graz 

 and other places. 



We have received in the form of a supplement to 

 "Wragge," January 22, 1903, a letter addressed to the 

 people of the Australian Commonwealth by Mr. C. L. 

 Wragge. It deals with the circumstances under which the 

 grant for the maintenance of the observatory, established in 

 December, 1897, through Mr. Wragge's exertions, upon the 

 summit of Mount Kosciusko, was withdrawn. It protests 

 against the treatment which the enterprise has received from 

 various Government authorities, and appeals to the Austra- 

 lian people to take over the pecuniary obligations in con- 

 nection with the maintenance and dismantling of the observ- 

 atory, which have apparently been surcharged upon the 

 director. 



The summary of the weekly weather report (appendix i.), 

 issued by the Meteorological Council, giving the rainfall 

 values for the whole year 1902, and the means for thirty- 

 seven years, 1866 to 1902, shows very clearly the differences 

 from the average in the eleven districts into which the 

 British Islands are divided for the purposes of weather fore- 

 casts. It is seen that in only two districts, the north and 

 west of Scotland, the rainfall exceeded the average (in the 

 latter case to the extent of nearly seven inches). In the 

 north-west of England the deficit was nearly nine inches, 

 and in the south-west of England nearly eight inches ; in 

 all other districts the deficit varied from two to four inches. 

 In the principal wheat-producing and grazing districts, and 

 for the whole of the British Islands, the general means for 

 the year 1902 were about three inches below the average. 



Father Baur, director of the Ignatius College Observ- 

 atory at Valkenburg, Holland, and Father Cortie, of Stony- 

 hurst College, have written to us with reference to the 

 English version of Dr. Paul Bergholz's " Orkane des fernen 

 Ostens," revised by Dr. R. H. Scott and reviewed in Nature 

 of May 13, 1902 (vol. lxvi. p. 51). They point out that Dr. 

 Bergholz's work is itself an abridged translation of one by 

 Father Jos£ Algu£, director of the Manila Observatory, 

 entitled " Baguios 6 Ciclones Filipinos," which appeared 

 in 1897. Dr. Bergholz acknowledges his indebtedness to 

 Father Algu£ in his preface, but the relationship between 

 the German and the Spanish books is not clearly stated, and 

 neither our reviewer of the English edition nor meteor- 

 ologists generally were aware of it. The following letter, 

 which Dr. Scott has kindly sent us, shows that Father 

 Algue" must be given the credit for the original work : — 

 " With reference to the work by Dr. Bergholz, I can only 

 sav that when, in March, 1900, I commenced the revision of 

 the English version of the book, ' Hurricanes of the Far 

 East,' to correct the German idioms in the sheets sent to 

 me, I had not seen the work by Padre Algu^, ' Baguios 6 

 Ciclones Filipinos,' for no copy of it had reached th< 

 Meteorological Office at that date. I noticed frequent 

 reference to the Spanish work in Dr. Bergholz's proofs, and 

 supposed that an understanding existed between him and 

 Padre Algue\ which it appears is not the case. Dr. Berg- 

 holz, in his preface, acknowledges that he has used Padre 

 Algu6's work freely." 



Prof. G. Hellmann, of the Prussian Meteorological In- 

 stitute, has recently published another rain-chart in addition 

 to those that have already appeared. In the present instance 



