- Aprit 18, 1907] 
NATURE 589 
country, but neglected until too late the precautions and 
organisation indicated by sanitary science.’’ It is remark- 
able that our statesmen learn with such difficulty the value 
of the application of the methods of science to adminis- 
trative matters, especially in view of the object-lessons 
provided by neighbouring nations, lessons sufficient to con- 
vince the least thoughtful of the use of science in deciding 
national difficulties. It cannot be repeated too often, in 
the hope that eventually our legislators and administrators 
may learn the truth, that the nation which makes the most 
intelligent use of scientific discoveries and systematically 
approaches all questions in a_ scientific manner will 
assuredly occupy the most honoured place among the 
peoples of the werld. 
Tue Upsala commemoration of the Linnzus bicentenary 
will take place on May 23-25. The celebrations, which 
are to be held under the auspices of the University of 
Upsala, will begin on May 23, in the Aula of the Uni- 
versity, with a formal reception of the guests. On the 
evening of the same day a further reception will be held 
in the University buildings. On May 24 there will be a 
promotion to degrees, only Swedish doctors being pro- 
moted. It is proposed this year to revive the ancient 
custom of conferring degrees in the cathedral instead of 
in the University Aula. The evening of May 24 will be 
taken up by a dinner given to the guests by the University, 
and it is probable there will also be demonstrations on 
the part of the students. On May 25 the Royal Academy 
of Sciences, Stockholm, will also commemorate the 
bicentenary in Stockholm. All foreign delegates invited by 
the Upsala University will be provided with free hotel 
accommodation during their stay in Upsala and Stockholm. 
MaGNetocrarns of Prof. Watson’s pattern have been 
installed recently in the Helwan Observatory near Cairo. 
Mr. F. E. Bevparp, F.R.S., has been appointed an 
honorary member of the New Zealand Institute. 
M. DesLanpREs has been elected president of the Astro- 
nomical Society of France for the year 1907-8. 
THE summer meeting of the British Archzological 
Association will be held this year in Dorset, with Wey- 
mouth as the headquarters. 
Tue Croonian lecture of the Royal Society will be 
delivered by Prof. J. B. Farmer, F.R.S., on Thursday 
next, April 25, ‘‘On the Essential Constituents of the 
Nucleus and their Relation to the Organisation of the 
Individual.” 
A REUTER message from Mexico states that the towns 
of Chilpancingo and Chilapa, in the State of Guerrero, 
have been destroyed by an earthquake. 
Tue British Science League and the British Empire 
League will give a complimentary dinner to the Colonial 
Prime Ministers at the Whitehall Rooms on Thursday, 
May 2, at 8 p.m. , 
Tue annual dinner of the Institution of Mining and 
Metallurgy will be held at the Hotel Cecil on Friday, 
May 3. Prof. W. Gowland, president of the institution, 
will occupy the chair, and many leading representatives 
of pure and applied science have accepted invitations to be 
present. 
On Tuesday next, April 23, Prof. W. Stirling will 
deliver the first of a course of three lectures at the Royal 
Institution on ‘* Stimulation, Luminous and Chemical.’’ 
The Friday evening discourse on April 26 will be delivered 
NO. 1955, VOL. 75} 
by Mr. J. Swinburne, on ‘‘ New Illuminants,’’ and on 
May 3 by Sir James Crichton Browne, on ‘* Dexterity and 
the Bend Sinister.” 
Tue International Commission of Scientific Aérostation 
at its last meeting at Milan in October, 
on the recommendation of M. Teisserenc de Bort, to carry 
1906, resolved, 
on during the years 1907 and 1908 the investigation of the 
upper atmosphere in the northern hemisphere on a much 
more extended scale than has hitherto been attempted. 
The Royal Meteorological Society has been invited to take 
part in this scheme, and the council proposes, if possible, 
to organise and equip special stations in different parts 
of the British Empire north of the equator. Unmanned 
“registering ’’ balloons carrying self-recording instruments, 
and also smaller ‘“ pilot ’’ balloons, are to be used, the 
heights and drift of which will be determiged by theo- 
dolites. The ascents in 1907 are to be made on three 
consecutive days in each of the months July, September, 
and November. 
“Brack rain’? fell in Pembrokeshire on April 10. It 
was accompanied by a violent thunderstorm and a darkened 
atmosphere. The ominous darkness was observed as far 
east as Cardiff, but the violent thunder, &c., was confined 
to districts further west. Discoloured rain is also said to 
have fallen at Carmarthen. There have been several such 
falls in South Wales of recent years. One of these 
occurred round Barry, as well as in the west of England, 
on January 23, 1902, and. the matter was carefully dis- 
cussed by Dr. Mill before the Royal Meteorological Society. 
A second fall took place on February 21, 1903. This was 
more extensive than the other, and. the dust differed 
appreciably from that of the previous fall. Analysis of the 
1903 dust made at Cardiff College led to the belief that 
it was probably volcanic. Traditional accounts of falls of 
frogs, snails, and fish occur in the annals of Glamorgan. 
Tue Daily Chronicle of April 10 contained the following 
paragraph :—‘‘ A thunderbolt fell at Birkenhead yester- 
day, and several persons had narrow escapes from death. 
When a storm seemed about to burst over the town a ball 
of fire swept over the Bidston Observatory, and struck a 
mound of earth, whence it rebounded into a field, and set 
fire to some gorse there. A vanman who was near at the 
time was knocked down, and a florist working in his 
garden. was enveloped in a ring of flame and whirled 
several yards, while the spade with which he was working 
was hurled over the hedge. A cow grazing in a field was 
brought to the ground by the shock, and*several workmen 
in the vicinity, who had trowels in their hands, were con- 
siderably alarmed at being knocked off the ladders on 
which they were working. People who were several 
hundred yards away from the spot where the bolt fell 
received violent shocks, and were last night suffering from 
nervous prostration.”” Inquiries made at the Bidston 
Observatory with reference to the so-called “‘ thunderbolt ”” 
and the amount of damage occasioned, show that there is 
little foundation for this somewhat sensational report. 
Some of the features associated with the presence of 
“ball lightning’? seem to have been noticed. There 
does not seem to be any evidence that a globe of 
light was seen, but there were some signs of hori- 
zontal motion, and the characters of the after effects 
resemble those produced by this unexplained pheno- 
menon. But the essential mark of slow motion 
common to “ ball lightning ’’ was. certainly not noticed, 
and the injury to workmen at some distance, though 
slight, points to the more ordinary effects of lightning. 
