494 



NA TURE 



[March 26, 190J 



Prof. H. Hildebrand Hildebrandsson has just issued the 

 first portion of his report to the International Meteorological 

 Committee on the International observations of clouds, which 

 contain-, as an introduction, an interesting summary of 

 the history of the general circulation of the atmosphere. 

 The volume includes the results of computation of all observ- 

 alions of cloud movements which he has been able to collect, 

 the mean directions being determined by the " r^sultanto- 

 metre " of M. Sandstrbm, which gives them to one or two 

 degrees. Numerous plates, twenty-two in all, accompany 

 the report, twenty of which give the mean directions of the 

 wind each month, and for several places scattered over the 

 earth's surface. The book is a valuable contribution to this 

 branch of meteorology. 



The Danish Meteorological . Institute has published its 

 valuable annual statement relating to the state of the ice 

 in the Arctic seas in 1902, with charts for each month, from 

 March to August. Some of the general results show that 

 the winter ice broke up very late, that the Polar ice 

 lay nearer Asia and Europe than usually, and that the 

 number of icebergs carried from Greenland to the temperate 

 seas was notably smaller than usual. Also that the summer 

 of 1902 has been rough and unsettled in nearly all Arctic 

 and sub-Arctic regions, northerly and easterly winds pre- 

 dominating in Atlantic Arctic seas. No safe conclusions 

 for 1903 can be drawn from the limited data available, but 

 conditions appear favourable for the passage of a consider- 

 able number of icebergs east of Labrador and Newfoundland. 



We have received the " Instructions to Observers of the 

 Indian Meteorological Department," by Sir John Eliot. This 

 book, which is the second edition, is intended to supersede 

 the Indian meteorologist's vade-mecum, now out of print. 

 It is confined simply to a description of the various instru- 

 ments in use at the meteorological stations in India, the 

 precautions to preserve them in good condition, the methods 

 to restore them to good order when it is possible for the 

 observer to do so, and the proper methods of reading the 

 instruments and of taking and recording the observations. 

 It may be mentioned that these " instructions " are so 

 limited because at the present time the observers in India 

 merely take the readings of certain instruments and forward 

 them on suitable forms to the head office, all the work of 

 reduction and preparation for subsequent use and discussion 

 being done there. For this reason explanations as to the 

 methods of applying corrections, and the procedure of 

 reduction, &c, are absent. The book, however, will be 

 useful nevertheless to observers not stationed in India, 

 especially that portion showing the conditions to be fulfilled 

 in the selection of a site for a meteorological station. 



According to the Daily Mail, six of the Cunard Steam- 

 ship Company's liners have been equipped with printing 

 machinery for the publication of a paper the news of which 

 is supplied by wireless telegraphy. A facsimile of the front 

 page of the paper published on board the Etruria and called 

 the Cunard Bulletin was printed in the Dailv Mail of 

 March 14. 



An interesting paper on distribution losses in electricity 

 supply was read by Messrs. Constable and Fawssett before 

 the Institution of Electrical Engineers. The figures given 

 in the paper have been obtained from the working of the 

 Croydon central station, which has an output of 1250 k.w. 

 Roughly, the total losses amount to 21 per cent, of the units 

 generated, and are divided up as follows : — Switchboards 

 and connections, 05 per cent. ; cable losses, S'5 per cent. ; 

 transformer losses, 9 per cent. ; and meter losses, 3 per 



NO. 1 743, VOL. 67] 



cent. The authors consider the losses under each heading 

 separately, and suggest ways in which they may be reduced ; 

 the greater part of the paper is devoted to the cable losses, 

 which are the most important and the least easy to reduce. 



Some measurements of the temperature coefficients of 

 magnets made of chilled cast iron are described by Mr. 

 B. O. Peirce in the Proceedings of the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences. Castings of a size and shape suitable 

 for instrument magnets gave for the temperature coefficient 

 between io° C. and ioo° C. mean values of from o'ooo3 to 

 o'ooo4- These castings had been subjected to a chilling 

 process at the Jefferson Physical Laboratory ; another similar 

 magnet treated by an outside maker had the coefficient 

 o'oooS. Unchilled castings were found to have a coefficient 

 five or six times as large as the chilled magnets. The 

 temperature coefficient generally increases with the tempera- 

 ture, the value between io° C. and 40 C. being possibly 

 only about one-third of the mean value between io° C. and 

 ioo° C. Using such magnets as these in conjunction with 

 galvanometer coils of copper and manganin it is easy, 

 according to the author, to construct a cheap ammeter 

 almost wholly independent of the room temperature. 



Our contemporary the Electrical Review has recently pub- 

 lished some particulars of the new storage battery invented 

 by Mr. Edison which we described in Nature more than 

 eighteen months ago (vol. lxiv. p. 241). It seems that the 

 cell is likely soon to be put on the market, and Mr. Edison 

 is reported as having expressed himself as fully satisfied 

 with the trials, and confident of its ultimate success. " The 

 experimenting with the new battery has all been done," he 

 said, " and the only thing that remains is to adapt it to 

 the use of the public." Mr. Hibbert, in the articles referred 

 to above, publishes some discharge curves communicated 

 to him by Mr. Edison's associate, Mr. Dick, which are very 

 similar to the curve which was published in Nature; the 

 most noticeable point is the large percentage of the ampere- 

 hour discharge obtained at high discharge rates ; with eight 

 times the normal discharge rate the cell has 75 per cent, 

 of its normal capacity, which is a very much better per- 

 formance than that of any lead cell. The watt-hour capacity 

 per pound is the same as originally claimed — about 11 — 

 and the cells are said to be of very good mechanical con- 

 struction and durability. The result of practical experience 

 of the cell in ordinary working will be awaited with great 

 interest ; it certainly seems as if we are a step nearer to the 

 production of a satisfactory automobile cell, and to the 

 ousting of lead from its present position as the only material 

 suitable for secondary batteries. 



The December issue of the Bulletin de V Academic des 

 Sciences de Cracovie contains a paper by Prof. Olszewski 

 dealing with three forms of apparatus for the liquefaction 

 of air and hydrogen. Each apparatus is based on the 

 principle of Dr. Hampson's well-known machine; two of 

 them serve to liquefy air, the third is a hydrogen liquefier 

 which can also, if necessary, be used to liquefy air. The 

 first apparatus is intended for use in laboratories when 

 greater quantities of liquid air are to be prepared in a 

 shorter time than it is possible to do by means of the 

 Hampson liquefier. This result is attained by dividing 

 the coil of the Hampson machine into two parts, and in- 

 serting between them a CO, cooler. The yield of the 

 apparatus is thus doubled. The second apparatus is a true 

 Hampson liquefier, simplified and reduced in size, and wholly 

 enclosed in a partly silvered vacuum vessel. This serves 

 to demonstrate the liquefaction of air during a lecture, 

 without use of a compressor, by means of air compressed 



