APRIL 2 



0> 



I903 



NA TURE 



59' 



A note in the Times refers to a report by Mr. Neville- 

 Kolfe, British Consul in Naples, in which he mentions the 

 widespread interest now being taken in Italy in the question 

 of reafforesting the country. In 1877 about four millions of 

 acres were withdrawn from the operation of the old forest 

 laws, as well as about one million acres in Sicily and 

 Sardinia. The consequence was a reckless destruction of 

 forests, and now it is generally admitted that the State must 

 step in to save those that are left and to aid in replanting. 

 The question now being discussed is what trees are to be 

 used for the latter purpose. 



The increase of temperature referred to in our last issue, 

 caused by the advance of a small cyclonic disturbance on 

 Tuesday, April 14, was of short duration ; by the morning 

 of April 15 the centre of the disturbance had reached the 

 Dutch coasts, and in its rear the winds had become 

 northerly ; the day temperatures again became abnormally 

 low. Severe frosts on the ground occurred at night, which, 

 up to Tuesday last, have been continuous at Greenwich for 

 ten days ; the mean of the terrestrial radiation temperatures 

 there for the week ending April 20 was 20°-8, being 10° 

 lower than the mean for the corresponding period last 

 vear. On the morning of April 18 a temperature of 24 was 

 registered at Newton Reigny and Dungeness. Such a low 

 temperature had not been registered in the neighbourhood 

 of the latter station, in April, in the values for thirty years 

 published by the Meteorological Office. 



A violent snowstorm passed over Berlin on Sunday night, 

 and the snow lay several inches deep in the streets on the 

 following morning, April 20. The Berlin correspondent of 

 the Times states that more than forty trees were blown 

 down in the Thiergarten. The Royal Park at Potsdam 

 has suffered very severely, and many valuable trees planted 

 in the time of Frederick the Great have been uprooted. 

 Telegraphic communication with Sweden and Russia was 

 interrupted, and many of the inland wires to the eastward 

 of Berlin have broken down. The trains from the provinces 

 of Posen, Silesia, and East and West Prussia arrived at 

 Berlin many hours late on Monday, and on many sections 

 of the railways in the eastern half of the Kingdom of 

 Prussia traffic was completely interrupted. In Denmark the 

 gale was even more severe. Trains could not proceed from 

 Copenhagen in any direction, and telegraphic and telephonic 

 communication was also interrupted. On Monday the 

 Danish capital was, in fact, almost entirely cut off from 

 communication with her immediate environs and with other 

 countries. Snow reached a depth of four to six feet, two 

 local trains sent from Copenhagen with snow-ploughs only 

 reached from ten to twenty miles from the capital. A severe 

 snowstorm swept over the whole province of Petrikovo, 

 Russia, on April 21. 



We have received the report of the Government Observ- 

 atory, Bombay, for the year 1902 ; the director, Mr. N. A. F. 

 Moos, is assisted by a native staff of ten members. The 

 observatory is well equipped with self-recording instru- 

 ments, and directs its attention chiefly to terrestrial mag- 

 netism, meteorology, and seismology, and to some extent 

 to astronomical observations. The work appears to have 

 been carried out with great efficiency ; the seismic observ- 

 ations show distinct evidence of sudden increased activity 

 during the year, and it is stated that the records promise 

 to be of considerable value in connection with the relation 

 which probably exists between earthquake phenomena and 

 terrestrial magnetism. Special magnetic observations have 



NO 1/4/, VOL. 67] 



been made (at times every twenty seconds) in connection 

 with the international programme decided on during the 

 period of the English and German Antarctic expeditions. 



Although the surface wind was from the east, the dust 

 cloud from the eruption of the Soufriere of St. Vincent at 

 6.30 a.m. on March 22 reached Bridgetown, Barbados, 100 

 miles to eastward, by 9 a.m., so that its rate of motion was 

 not less than forty miles an hour after having attained an 

 elevation of probably three miles at least above the Soufriere. 

 Its altitude above Barbados was estimated at about 8000 

 feet, or double the height of the Soufriere. At several 

 points the first fall of dust was observed at 11. 15 a.m., it 

 increased until 1.30 p.m., then diminished, and by 5 p.m. 

 it had ceased. In the neighbourhood of Bridgetown the 

 fall was at the rate of about 2! tons per acre ; considerably 

 less at Bathsheba, fourteen miles to the north-east ; while 

 at Codrington House, two miles north of the town, it 

 amounted to 6-52 tons per acre. Taking 3 tons per acre 

 as the average would give 300,000 tons for the whole island. 

 The May dust was a very light grey, that of March very 

 dark — almost black, Dr. Spencer describing the March dust 

 cloud as of a deep Prussian blue colour. 



The Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West 

 Indies has now published the complete report and statistical 

 information relating to the sugar-cane experiments in the 

 Leeward Islands, Antigua and St. Kitts, in the season 

 1901-02. Part i., 55 foolscap pages, deals with experiments 

 with varieties of sugar-cane, with an appendix on the 

 chemical selection of sugar-cane. Part ii., 115 pages and 

 six large diagrams, treats of manurial experiments. The 

 general results have already been noticed in these columns. 



The London County Council has now issued the complete 

 report upon the examination of the atmosphere of the Central 

 London Railway, carried out by Dr. Clowes and Dr. 

 Andrewes. A short statement of results submitted to the 

 Council has already been described (p. 488). Generally, the 

 amount of carbon dioxide was largest in the air of the 

 carriages, but not, as might have been expected, in the 

 smoking carriages. The highest proportion of carbon di- 

 oxide found was 147 volumes and the smallest proportion 

 9-6 volumes in 10,000 volumes of air. The air in the 

 passages leading to and from the stations was generally 

 better than in the lifts — on one occasion as much as 15 2 

 volumes of carbon dioxide in 10,000 volumes of air were 

 present in a lift ; but of all the samples 22 per cent, con- 

 tained less than twice as much, and 34 per cent, contained 

 less than 2J times as much carbon dioxide as that found in 

 outside air. Dr. Clowes suggests as a standard that air 

 taken at any point on the railway should not contain more 

 than 8 volumes of carbon dioxide in 10,000 of air. -The 

 bacteriological examination of the air by Dr. Andrewes 

 showed micro-organisms to be present in somewhat greater 

 proportion than in the fresh outside air in the ratio of 

 about 13 to 10, the number of organisms being proportional 

 to the concentration of human traffic. The air of the rail- 

 way does not in its bacterial content compare unfavourably 

 with inhabited rooms generally, and no pathogenic germs 

 were detected. 



In the April number of Climate Dr. Louis Sambon gives 

 an admirable popular account of malaria, illustrated by a 

 number of original drawings by Signor Terzi. Dr. Har- 

 ford discusses the physical qualifications necessary for resi- 

 dence or travel in the tropics, and there are other articles 

 upon the "Spread of Yellow Fever," "Surgical Emer- 

 gencies," and " Sanitary Reform in West Africa." 



