88 



NA TURE 



[May 24, 1883 



I propose to employ this arrangement for the measure- 

 ment of the rate of diffusion, but for particulars I must 

 refer to my forthcoming paper. 



Wollaston's experiment with the red-hot poker was 

 probably, his experiment with the long red-hot bar of 

 iron almost certainly, similar to that above described with 

 the long tank and the weak brine ; and not to that with 

 the short tank, though the latter is usually cited as Wol- 

 laston's contribution to the explanation of the Vince phe- 

 nomenon. We have seen how essentially different they 

 are, and that the latter does not correspond to the condi- 

 tions presented in nature. P. G. Tait 



NOTES 



The Council of the Scottish Meteorological Society are 

 ; oliciting subscriptions, however small, for the proposed Ben 

 Nevis Observatory. It is essential to the success of this im- 

 portant national undertaking that the buildings should be erected 

 during the present siimme', and several thousand pounds are 

 required before operations can be commenced. A considerable 

 sum has already been received in liberal subscriptions from a 

 few individuals, but not nearly enough for the purpose. We 

 trust that many of our readers w ill send what they can to the 

 Scottish Meteorological Society, Edinburgh. 



Dr. Wild, president of the International Circumpolar obser- 

 vation parties, announces that in conformity with the request of 

 several Governments, the observations now goi"g on round the 

 Pole will not be prolonged beyond the time originally fixed, viz. 

 September, and that all the parties, if not prevented by ice, will 

 be back within that month. 



A letter read at the Paris Geographical Society states that 

 P. Vidal, French mi-sionary to Samoa, has discovered the 

 remains of La Perouse and his unfortunate companions. 



The Rev. S. J. Perry, S.J., has lately been elected a Corre- 

 sponding Member of the Accademia dei Lincei. 



Dr. Henry Schliemann has been elected an Honorary 

 Fellow of Queen's College, Oxford. 



Last week we announced that a baronetcy had deservedly 

 been conferred on Dr. William Chambers, and this week we 

 regret to announce the death of the veteran publisher in his 

 eighty-fourth year. As the head of the firm of Messrs. W. and 

 R. Chambers, he has through a long life done splendid service 

 in the spread of education, and of a knowledge of science. In 

 his " Information for the People," his " Tracts," his text-books 

 of science, among the first of their kind, and by various other 

 means, he did good pioneer work in scientific literature and 

 education. 



In reference to our note last week (p. 63), a correspondent 

 writes that the American table at Naples is being used by its 

 first occupant, Dr. E. B. Wilson, of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity, Baltimore. Dr. Wilson has been working during a part 

 of the year at Cambridge on early mammalian embryology, and 

 at Naples his work will probably be cither on certain points in 

 the development of some of the Ccelenterata or upon the em- 

 bryology of the Dicegemida; as available material permits. 

 Williams College, Mass., which holds the American table, 

 receives a brief course of lectures from each worker whom it 

 appoints to the privileges of the Naples Station. 



On the evening of Friday last week several tornadoes swept 

 over the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Missouri, 

 «hich were exceptionally destructive to life and property even 

 for that tornado-troubled region. It is reported that 83 persons 

 have been killed and 340 injured, many of them fatally, and a 

 very large number of houses reduced to ruins. Of these torna- 



does the most terrible in its destructivenesS would appear to have 

 been the one which passed over Racine in the south-east of 

 Wisconsin, killing 25 and injuring 100 persons, and wrecking 

 150 buildings. The path of the tornado was about 400 yards 

 wide and half a mile long, and all buildings, particularly those 

 in the central line of its path, collapsed into mere masses of 

 ruins. Waggons and other movable articles were blown into 

 Lake Michigan, over which the tornado passed on leaving the 

 town, the whirling columns of clouds and the violent commo- 

 tions of the lake presenting a grand and impressive spectacle. 

 The recently published " Professional Papers of the Signal 

 Service, No. VII." show that the region over which these tor- 

 nadoes passed is comprehended within that portion of the United 

 States where tornadoes are of most frequent occurrence. 



Mr. Brunlees, the President of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, has sent out invitations for a conversazioni at the 

 South Kensington Museum on Wednesday, the 30th inst. 



On Saturday last, May 19, the Essex Field Club held its first 

 meeting of the session. The party, nearly ninety in number, 

 alighted at Theydon Bois Station on the Ongar branch of the 

 Great Eastern Railway, and proceeded through Epping Forest 

 to Amhresbury Banks, where they were met by Sir T. Fowell 

 Buxton. The party was then conducted through the splendid 

 park belonging to the Copt Hall Estate, and finally assembled 

 at Warlies, Waltham Abbey, the seat of Sir Foivell Buxton, 

 who had kindly invited the Club for the occasion. In the 

 course of the evening a paper on "English Plant Names" was 

 read by Mr. J. Britten, F.L.S. 



The Paris Aeronautical Exhibition will be opened at th~ 

 Trocadero on June 5 and close on the iSth. MM. Jans^en, 

 Berthelot, Paul Bert, and Hervi Mangon are among the members 

 of the committee, as well as a number of senators and deputies. 

 The festival will take place at Annonay on July 29, and statues 

 of the two brothers Montgolfier will be erected on the public 

 place of the city. A competition has been opened in Paris, and 

 the w orks of competitors are on view at the Cercle de la Librairie. 

 The jurymen, mostly members of the Academy of Beaux Arts, 

 will give their award on Saturday next. The height of the 

 monument and pedestal will be 7 metres. The prize is 3C00 

 francs for the plaster model to be exhibited at Annonay on 

 July 29, and 40,000 francs for the bronze. The marble for the 

 pedestal will be given by Government. A public banquet will 

 be given in Paris, M. Gaston Tissandier being in the chair. 



On April 29, at 10.30 p.m., a brilliant meteor was observed 

 in Joi.dalen in Norway. It appeared in the east, and went in a 

 southerly direction, where it passed out of sight. Its size to the 

 eye was about the same as the moon's, while its shape appeared 

 to be csnic. The colour of its track was deep red, and it shone 

 so brilliantly that the smallest objects could be seen on the 

 ground. It lasted several seconds, and disappeared behind some 

 mountains. 



On the 13th, at 8 o'clock in the evening, a large meteor was 

 observed at Epinal, travelling from south-east to north-west ; it 

 had a disk which has been estimated at a decimeter. The tail 

 was of a pinky colour ; a noise from explosion was heard. It 

 was also observed at Mulhausen. 



The Reports on the Public Gardens and Plantations in 

 Jamaica are becoming yearly of more importance. That for the 

 year ending September 30 last is now before us. Mr. Morris opens 

 his report by bearing testimony to the liberality of the Steam- 

 ship and Railway Companies in conveying plants free of charge 

 to the different ports and railway stations. " By these means," it 

 is stated, "districts, formerly beyond the reach of the Public 

 Gardens, have been able to obtain plants as conveniently and as 



