6o 



NA TURE 



[May 19, 1904 



coveries to the east of the Andes, while in command of a 

 Peruvian exploring expedition ; the Gill memorial for 1904 

 to Captain Irizar, Argentine Navy, for his very successful 

 expedition for the rescue of the Nordenskjold Antarctic 

 Expedition ; the Back grant for 1904 to Dr. M. A. Stein, for 

 his valuable geographical work in Central Asia, and 

 especially for his mapping in the Sarikol and Kwen-Lun 

 ranges. 



The Russian papers report that a rather severe shock of 

 earthquake occurred at Shemakha (Caucasus) on April 28 

 at 6.30 p.m. 



A MEW expedition, under M. Tolmachoff, is being 

 organised by the Russian Geographical Society for the ex- 

 ploration of the region between the mouths of the Yenisei 

 and the Lena. 



Records obtained by observers in several parts of the 

 world suggest that an appreciable general diminution of 

 the transparency of the earth's atmosphere took place some 

 time during the year 1902, but disappeared at some time 

 during 1903. As this is an important matter and may 

 possibly be made the basis of an explanation of other meteor- 

 ological phenomena, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture (Weather Bureau), Washington, D.C., 

 asks observers to send him any records that will assist in 

 defining the dates of beginning and ending, and the extent 

 of this change in transparency. Such records may consist 

 of photometric or photographic observations of the bright- 

 ness of the stars, changes in the solar or stellar spectra, 

 unusual prevalence of halos, large Bishop's ring, or haze ; 

 observations of heat received from the sun, as made with 

 actinometers or pyrheliometers ; observations of the polar- 

 isation of the blue sky light and of scintillation of the stars. 

 It is proposed to incorporate the results of the inquiry in a 

 general article on the subject of atmospheric transparency. 



We have received notice from Dr. H. Hergesell, president 

 of the International Committee for Scientific Balloon 

 Ascents, that a new edition of the useful cloud atlas, pre- 

 pared at the request of the International Meteorological 

 Committee by MM. L. Teisserenc de Bort, H. Hilde- 

 brandsson and A. Riggenbach, and issued in Paris, under 

 the special superintendence of the first named gentleman in 

 1896, will be undertaken if sufficient interest is taken in the 

 matter by scientific men. We believe the atlas in question 

 to be the best of the kind, and that the beautiful represent- 

 ations of various types of clouds have been of great use in 

 connection with the scientific balloon and kite observations 

 to which we have frequently directed attention. Dr. 

 Hergesell (Strassburg) states that he will be glad to receive 

 and to send to M. Teisserenc de Bort any suggestions from 

 persons who have used the atlas, with the view of improving 

 the proposed new edition. 



The report and results of observations for the year 1903, 

 issued by Mr. J. Baxendell, meteorologist to the Southport 

 Corporation, shows that the high-class work carried on at 

 the Fernley Observatory has been fully maintained. The 

 various experiments on anemometers have been continued, 

 and several improvements in connection with self-registering 

 apparatus have been effected. A new instrument for con- 

 tinuously recording the variations in the inclination of the 

 wind was designed and constructed by Mr. Halliwell, chief 

 assistant at the observatory, and is now at work at the 

 anemograph station. .\ useful article on the meteorology of 

 Southport was prepared during the year for the " British 

 Association Handbook " of local information for the South- 

 port meeting. The usual interesting comparison of statistics 

 ot various health resorts is appended to the report. 



NO. 1803, '^OL. 70] 



At Leeds on May 12 Prof. Clifford Allbutt, F.R.S., opened 

 a new public dispensary, the building of which has cost 

 33,oooi. In the course of an address Prof. Allbutt remarkedi 

 that medical men are engaged in destroying their own 

 means of livelihood by preventing disease, and have attained' 

 very remarkable success. Diseases which were once 

 rampant are now diminishing. Typhus has never been 

 seen by some members of the medical profession. Typhoid 

 fever has been reduced to a nominal amount, and there has 

 been a reduction of pulmonary consumption all over 

 England. Discoveries as to the nature of malaria have 

 changed the face of important countries. Prof. Allbutt 

 urged that preventing disease is more congenial than curing 

 it, and suggested that a rise of the standard of general 

 health would be achieved by the careful study of the origin 

 and causes of disease in such an institution as that of the 

 Leeds General Infirmary. 



A COPY of the Peterborough Advertiser of May 7 has been 

 sent to us, containing the announcement that radium has 

 been found in beds of Oxford Clay near Fletton, Hunt- 

 ingdonshire. No particulars are given, but a long de- 

 scriptive article on the discovery suggests that it will make 

 " brickfields better than gold mines." These sanguine 

 anticipations will perhaps be tempered by the following 

 extract from a paper by Prof. J. J. Thomson, read before 

 the Cambridge Philosophical Society on February 15 : — 

 " Radium was found in garden soil from the laboratory 

 garden, in the Cambridge gault, in gravel from a pit at 

 Chesterton, in still greater quantities in sand from the 

 sea-shore at Whitby, in the blue lias at Whitby, in powdered 

 glass, in one specimen of flour, and in a specimen of pre- 

 cipitated silica." 



A NOTE in Nature of May 5 (p. 12) refers to some results 

 obtained by Prof. A. Stefanini and Dr. L. Magri concern- 

 ing the action of radium on the electric spark. Mr. R. S. 

 Willows writes from the Cass Institute, Jewry Street, E.C., 

 to say that he has been making observations on this subject 

 for some time, and has come to practically the same con- 

 clusions as those arrived at by the Italian physicists. He 

 remarks : — " My experiments are not sufficiently advanced 

 to justify me in stating completely my results, but since 

 the action can be greatly hindered by a magnetic field, I 

 have come to the conclusion that it arises from the 3 rays 

 given off by the radium." 



In continuation of notes in previous numbers recording 

 the progress of geographical research in Madagascar, the 

 April issue of La Geographic contains an account of the 

 geodetic and cartographical work carried out during 1902 

 and 1903. A sketch map showing the different triangu- 

 lations and a table of determined positions accompany the 

 article. 



The May number of the Geographical Journal contains 

 short articles of varied interest ranging over many parts 

 of the subject. The president summarises the second 

 season's work of the Discovery in the Antarctic regions. 

 Captain Philip Maud writes on the exploration of the 

 southern borderland of .Abyssinia; Lieutenant Irizar on the 

 rescue of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition ; Colonel G. E. 

 Church on the Acre territory and the caoutchouc region 

 of south-western Amazonia ; and Mr. Claud Russell on a 

 journey from Peking to Tsitsihar. Dr. Vaughan Cornish 

 contributes an elaborate discussion of observations on the 

 dimensions of deep-sea waves, and there are papers on a 

 bathymetrical survey of the lakes of New Zealand by Mr. 

 Keith Lucas, and on peat moors of the Pennines by Mr. 

 C. E. Moss. 



