March i6, 1905] 



NA TURE 



467 



\polithic stone implements from many parts of the world, 

 an ethnological collection from New Guinea and the South 

 Sea Islands, the relics recovered from the Hastings kitchen 

 middens — numbering inany thousands of specimens — and 

 many worked flints of the PaU-eolithic period. The geo- 

 logical section is remarkable for its collection of animal 

 remains of the Pleistocene period from the Lewis Abbott 

 collection, and a collection of Wealden fossils from the 

 neighbourhood. The biological section has a representative 

 collection of the local fauna. After the museum had been 

 accepted by the Mayor on behalf of the Corporation of 

 Hastings, Sir Arthur Riicker, F.R.S., delivered a short 

 address, in which he emphasised the value of museums in 

 the study of natural science, and commended the active part 

 municipal authorities are now taking in educational work. 

 Dr. J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S., expressed the opinion that local 

 museums should illustrate local natural history, and out- 

 lined a plan which would secure this end. Sir Harry 

 Johnston, G.C.M.C;., K.C.B., also spoke on the value of 

 museums. 



A BOTTLE thrown overboard in latitude 2q° 30' N., long- 

 itude 68° 10' W., bv Colonel Swalm, U.S. Consul at South- 

 ampton, in May, 1903, has just been found on the Donegal 

 coast, Ireland, near Arranmore. The bottle had apparently 

 been carried by the Gulf Stream along the North .American 

 coast, then across the Atlantic to the Irish coast. To travel 

 this distance it had taken 662 days at an approximate speed 

 of five miles a day. 



According to a Reuter despatch from St. Petersburg, 

 dated March q, the North Pole Commission has officially 

 declared that the expedition under Baron Toll to the new 

 Siberian Islands, in the Arctic Ocean, has ended with the 

 death of all the members of the party. The party sent in 

 search of the expedition found in Benett Island a letter 

 written by Baron Toll saying that the members of the 

 expedition had continued on their journey though having 

 only eighteen or twenty days' provisions left. It is there- 

 fore believed that Baron Toll and his companions perished 

 of hunger. 



The ll'fcfc/y H'ci/ftfc Hefort of March 11 issued by 

 the Meteorological Office showed that the rainfall from 

 the beginning of the year was still deficient In all districts 

 except the north of Scotland and the north of Ireland ; 

 the deficiency amounted to 2 inches and upwards in 

 several parts of England and in the south of Ireland. 

 During the recent severe gales, however, falls of about 

 an inch in twenty-four hours have been recorded in several 

 localities. In the neighbourhood of London the rainfall 

 during the part of the present month already elapsed has 

 exceeded the mean for March, which is 1-5 inch. 



An exhibition of meteorological instruments with photo- 

 graphs and records of meteorological phenomena, under the 

 auspices of the Royal Meteorological Society, was opened 

 on Tuesday at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Great 

 George Street, Westminster, and the exhibition will remain 

 open until 5 p.m. to-morrow, Friday. The instruments e.x- 

 hibited represent all branches of meteorology, and show- 

 clearly the great advance which the science has made in 

 recent years. Continuous records can now be secured in 

 nearly all branches, and in many of these ample choice is 

 provided. There are several forms of self-recording rain- 

 gauges, notably the Beckley and the Richard patterns, 

 while Halliwell's improved float pattern pluviograph is of 

 more recent invention, and of exceptional scientific value. 

 The thermometer exhibits are fairly numerous, and of 

 various designs, from Callendar's electrically recording 

 NO. 1846, VOL. 71] 



thermometer to instruments of an ordinary character. 

 There are to be seen the thermometers in use in Sir J. C. 

 Ross's Antarctic Expedition, i83q-43, and in the Arctic ex- 

 peditions i85o-5q, as well as thermometers used by the 

 National Antarctic Expedition igoi-4. These instruments 

 show the greater degree of accuracy obtainable in manu- 

 facture now than was the case, say, half a century ago. 

 Barometers and barographs exhibit considerable advance. 

 An instrument of considerable value is Dines 's self-recording 

 mercurial barometer ; and a microbarograph, for the study 

 of minor variations of atmospheric pressure, under the joint 

 names of Mr. W. H. Dines and Dr. W. N. Shaw, is likely 

 to prove of much value. A typical climatological station is 

 shown, its enclosure containing all the necessary instru- 

 ments in position for observation. A prominent position 

 is given to aeronautics, and there are specimen kites with 

 meteorograph in position. There are anemometers of very 

 varied description, many of these being self-recording. 

 Sunshine recorders, past and present, are to be seen, from 

 the wooden bowl, by Campbell, used as early as 1853, to 

 the almost perfect instrument known as the Campbell- 

 Stokes. Among the many drawings and photographs 

 may be mentioned the water-colour drawings made during 

 the recent National Antarctic Expedition, exhibiting sky and 

 cloud effects. The Royal Meteorological Society is to be 

 congratulated on the thoroughly interesting character of 

 the exhibition. 



Prof. H. Hergesell has communicated to the Comptcs 

 renins of the Paris Academy of Sciences, January 30, some 

 of the preliminary results of the kite ascents made on the 

 yacht of the Prince of Monaco in the Mediterranean and 

 North Atlantic Ocean in the summer of 1904. Altogether, 

 twenty-five ascents were made, eight in the Mediterranean, 

 one in the Baltic, and sixteen in the Atlantic. The principal 

 object of the latter was the exploration of the meteorological 

 conditions in the region of the trade winds. The results 

 show that in the lowest strata of the air there is a con- 

 siderable decrease of temperature with increase of altitude ; 

 the adiabatic gradient [\° C. per 100 metres) Is always 

 attained, and even exceeded in the lowest stratum. The 

 depth of this adiabatic stratum varies from 100 to 600 

 metres ; the relative humidity at the sea-level is 70 or 80 

 per cent., and rises gradually to 95 or 100 per cent. At 

 the upper limit of this stratum a sudden change occurs ; 

 the temperature rises quickly by several degrees, and the 

 humidity suddenly diminishes to below 50 per cent. The 

 temperature continues to rise, through a stratum some- 

 times extending to a depth of 1000 metres, and the humidity 

 decreases to 10 or 20 per cent. ; at a height of 1000 metres, 

 temperatures of 30° C. are experienced, while at the sea- 

 level only 22° or 23° are recorded. Above this stratum the 

 adiabatic gradient again holds, but the humidity is low, 

 compared with that of the first adiabatic stratum. In the 

 lower stratum the N.E. trade is experienced, the velocity 

 being about sixteen miles an hour ; with increasing eleva- 

 tion the wind gradually shifted through N. to N.W., and in 

 two instances it shifted through E. to S.E. and S. .A 

 south-westerly current, which would correspond to the 

 theory of anti-trades, was never exhibited by the kites, 

 although thev several times exceeded the height of the Peak 

 of Tenerlffe. The velocity of the N.W. or S.E. winds ex- 

 perienced in the highest strata did not exceed seven or nine 

 miles an hour, and was generally still less in the inter- 

 mediate strata. 



The latest issues of the ProcccJini;s of the U.S. National 

 Museum include a description, by Dr. Stejneger, of a gecko 

 and three frogs from the Philippines, and an article by Mr. 



