356 



NA TURE 



\August 9, 1 88;: 



1 88 1 ; that is to say, at periods of three and three and a half 

 months later. Then again the minimum movement B, b', and b" 

 which occurred at Zanz : bar in the mon'h of May, 1S81, did not 

 appear at Bombay and Belgaum until the month of November 

 of the same year ; that is to say, after an interval of six months. 

 Again, the maximum movement c, c', and c" occurred at Zanzibar 

 in the month of September, 1881, but not at Belgaum until 

 January, 1SS2, and at Bombay until February, 18S2 ; that is to 

 say, until after intervals of four and five months respectively. 

 Again, on examining the minimum D, d', and d", which is 

 divisible into two minor minima, the first of these minor move- 

 ments appears at Zanzibar in the month of November, 1SS1, 

 but at Belgaum between the month of April and May, and at 

 Bombay in the month of April, 1882 ; that is to say, afier inter- 

 vals of five and a half and five months respectively. Lastly, the 

 second minor movement of the minimum D, D', and d" occurred 

 at Zanzibar in the month of February, 1882, and at Belgaum 

 and Bombay in July of the same year ; that is, after an interval 

 of five months. 



These facts may be presented briefly and concisely thus : — 



In the case before us, then, it does appear to be matter of 

 fact that there are movements taking place at the two station-', 

 Belgaum and Bombay, similar in character to movements which 

 have taken place at Zanzibar on an average about five months 

 previously. And assuming that the same cour.-e of events will 

 occur in the future, it may be expected that from the month of 

 August to the month of December, 1882, the abnormal varia- 

 tions of the barometer at Bombay and Belgaum will in a general 

 way follow the same cours; as was taken by the variations at 

 Zanzibar during the months of April, May, June, and July ; 

 that is to say, an upward movement. 



This prediction might be considered fairly reliable to within 

 about a month one way or the other, were there no modifying 

 condition'. But the curves are seen at a glance to present most 

 decided departures from absolute parallelism ; there are move- 

 ments at Zanzibar which do not reappear at the eastern stations, 

 whil-t the eastern stations experience movements which do not 

 appear to have been previously experienced at Zanzibar. More- 

 over, the rate of transmission of movements from Zanzibar to 

 the west of India has been shown to vary from three to six 

 months. And further, the movements at the eastern stations are 

 sometimes much le s or much greater than those which took 

 place at the western statbn. Evidently, then, there is some 

 influence which tends to produce it regularities in the eastward 

 transmission of the abnormal movements ; and this influence 

 must be discovered and its occurrence foreseen and allowed for 

 before the Zanzibar curve could be used for the purpose of pre- 

 dicting the nature of the movements at Belgaum and Bombay, 

 and, as a consequence, the nature of the seasons in We- tern 

 India. 



A second inspection of the curves seems to indicate that not 

 only are there abnormal movements which travel from the 

 western station to the eastern ones, but there are also variations 

 which are felt at all the three stations simultaneously. Thus 

 in the months of July, 1880, June, 1881, and January, 1SS2, 

 there are simultaneous upward bends of the curves at all the 

 three stations. And again in the months of May, August, and 

 November, 1S81, there are simultaneous downward movements 

 at all the three stations. These simultaneous movements are 

 especially observable if the unsmoothed monthly abnormals (the 

 thin dotted lines) be referred to instead of ihe :moothed curve 

 (the thick continuous line). They are then seen to be exceed- 

 ingly numerous— so numerous, indeed, that they may well be 

 supposed to frequently mask the non-simultaneous or travelling 

 movements, and cause those movements apparently to present 

 many irregularities. The following table shows concisely the 



times when upward and downward movements have taken place 

 at all the three stations simultaneously : — 



Table III. — At Zanzibar, Belgaum, and Bombay simultaneous 

 Barometric Abnormal Movements 



Thus out of thirty-two months there were nineteen in which 

 it can be seen that simultaneous movements occurred at the 

 three stations ; and out of the.-e nineteen months there were eight 

 in which the movements were very distinct. In the remaining 

 eleven months out of the nineteen the movements were not so 

 prominent or well marked, but were always distinct enough to 

 be readily recognised, and it does not seem unreasonable to 

 suppo-e that the influence of such movements may have been 

 felt in some if not all of those months in which they cannot he 

 easily traced ; that in fact the simultaneous movements may have 

 been so small as to show themselves only in an excessive or 

 deficient movement, upward or downward as the case may have 

 been, of the curve which represents the non-simultaneous or 

 travelling movements. In any case eight of these movements 

 appear to be sufficiently distinct to disallow of doubt ; and 

 considering that Zanzibar is about 2500 miles distant from 

 Belgaum, the fact seems to be interesting. 



A. N. Pearson, 

 Acg. Meteorological Reporter for 



Bombay, January 10 Western India 



( To be continued.) 



THE INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL 

 ENGINEERS IN BELGIUM 



"\" HE Institution of Mechanical Engineers has this year held 

 ■*• its summer meeting in Belgium — the first time that it has 

 crossed the Channel, except on the two occasions of the ex- 

 hibitions in Paris. The reception was organised by the Asso- 

 ciation of Engineers from Liege University (Honorary Secretary, 

 M. Edouard de Laveleye), and was of the most cordial character. 

 The great works of Belgium were thrown open without reserve, 

 and numerous excursions were organised to visit them. Amongst 

 those specially to be noticed are the colossal establishment of the 

 Cockerill Society at Seraing, the great iron and steel works at 

 Ougree and Scles^in, the vast zinc works of the Vieille Montagne 

 Company, the cloth factories at Venders, and the splendid collieries 

 of Mariemont, probably the finest examples of colliery plant in 

 the world. Space forbids our entering into a description of 

 these works, and we shall confine ourselves to the papers read, 

 so far as these possess more than a technical interest. 



The proceedings opened on Monday evening, July 23, with a 

 reception by the Mayor of Liege, after which the president, Mr. 

 Percy Westmacott, delivered an interesting and suggestive 

 address. After speaking of the great modern extension of 

 Belgian industries, and of the debt which the world owes to the 

 inventive skill of the engineer for providing those processes on 

 w hich all trades are dependent for cheap and rapid production, 

 he went on to develop his special theme, namely, the advantage 

 of High Speed and its connection with high workmanship. The 

 following extracts are well worth quoting : — 



" The keen and continual attention bestowed upon the work 

 to be done, and the means of doing it, has led engineers in 

 general to regard speed of production as one of the fir.-t elements 

 of success. There is indeed a proverb, 'more haste, less 

 speed ; ' but this, though true of human labour, which ceases to 

 1 In the-e months the movements are very distinct. 



