596 



NA TURE 



[Oct. 1 8, 1883 



but presenting a greater guarantee than the originals in 

 regard to their indefinite conservation and precision of com- 

 parisons, and which, being the common property of all the 

 signatory nations of the Convention, should be preserved 

 at the International Bureau, and serve henceforth as 

 prototypes and points of departure in the system of 

 weights and measures for the entire world. 



The task next following was to make a sufficient num- 

 ber of metres and kilogrammes for distribution among 

 the contracting Governments, after they had been com- 

 pared with the international standards. 



The choice of the material of which the new standards 

 should be constructed, the form to be imposed on them, 

 the nature and arrangement of the designs, the processes 

 to be employed in the comparisons, and a host of acces- 

 sory questions connected with the preceding matters — 

 have all been the subject of long and learned deliberations, 

 in which, besides the International Committee, the French 

 section of the International Commission, composed of the 

 best qualified French authorities, have played a great 

 part. Even with the utmost possible brevity it would 

 take too long to pass each of these points in review. 

 Suffice it to say that the material adopted for the new 

 standards, as much for the metre as the kilogramme, is 

 platinum alloyed with a tenth part of iridium, which will 

 impart to it greater hardness and resistance. The 

 labours which the choice of this material has called forth 

 have given rise to remarkable innrovements in the mode 

 of working and purifying the platinum and the metals 

 with which it is found allied in the ore. It is impossible 

 to recall them without at the same time bringing to re- 

 membrance Saint-Claire Deville, who with indefatigable 

 zeal devoted the last years of his life to this pursuit. 



The form fixed on for the metre is that of a bar, the 

 section of which has the shape of an X or rather an H, 

 the legs of which would straddle towards the top and 

 towards the bottom. This form, calculated to supply a 

 maximum rigidity for a given quantity of material, offers 

 various other advantages on which we cannot now 

 enlarge. It is 1 '02 m. in length, and on the upper surface 

 of the transversal limb (that is, on the neutral surface of a 

 deflected beam) are traced two very fine lines, the dis- 

 tance of which at z;ro represents just the length of the 

 metre. It is then a metre d traits. The metre of the 

 archives, on the other hand, is a metre d bouts, that is, a bar 

 measuring from one extremity to the other exactly the 

 length of a metre. The metre is then defined by the 

 distance at zero between the middles of the two terminal 

 planes. 



The comparisons between the international metre and 

 the metre of the archives have been made at the 

 Conservatoire des Arts el Mt'/icrs ; those between the inter- 

 national kilogramme and the kilogramme of the archives 

 have been made at the Observatoire. These labours, 

 lasting no less than several months, have been performed 

 by the care and under the direction of a mixed Commission 

 composed of members of the International Committee 

 and of members of the French section, under the 

 presidency of M. Dumas, perpetual secretary to the 

 Academy of Sciences, which represents France on the 

 Committee. The fabrication of the national standards is 

 in course of execution, and the definitive comparisons will 

 shortly be able to be entered on. 



NOTES 



We regret to announce the death of Dr. Oswald Heer of Zurich, 

 the well-known palaeontologist, at the age of seventy-five years. 

 In his earlier years Dr. Heer devoted himself to entomology. 

 We hope to give some notice of his life and work in our next 

 number. 



The w. -i-!. s in connection with the erection of the Ben Nevis 

 ■OI1serv.1t y are so far forward that the formal inauguration of the 



Observatory was to take place yesterday. With the view of 

 stimulating public interest in the Observatory, there has just 

 been published a small handbook giving an account of its origim 

 and describing the objects it is intended to promote. Mr. George 

 Reid, R. S.A., has contributed attractive drawing-; of Ben Nevis 

 from the sea, and of the Observatory building ; from Dr. Archi- 

 bald Geikie have been obtained bird's-eye views of the scenery 

 visible from tb.3 mountain top ; and there is also inserted an 

 excellent map, in which the new bridle-road is laid down and 

 the configuration of the district indicated by 11 merous contour 

 lines. From a statement given as to existing high-level meteoro- 

 logical stations in other parts of the world, it appears that 

 America maintains two such posts — namely, Pikes Peak, 14,151 

 feet, and Mount Washington, 6286 feet ; while France can claim 

 four, ranging from 39S9 to 12, 199 feet ; and Italy three, of which 

 the highest is 8386, and the lowest 7087 feet. Russia has one 

 as high a^ 3787 feet, and Switzerland two, of 7505 and 2875 feet 

 respectively. The highest in this island, so far, would seem to 

 be Hawes Junction, 1 135 feet, and Dalnaspidal, 1.150 feet. Ben 

 Nevis gives an elevation of 4406 feet, and, as has been repeatedly 

 explainei, important results are expected from the comparisons 

 it will enable meteorologists to make between the state of the 

 atmosphere at that height and the conditions prevailing at sea 

 level. No time will now be lost in commencing the work of the 

 Observatory, which has been intrusted to Mr. R. T. Omond, 

 with Mr. Angus Rankin, and another yet to be appointed, as 

 assistant observers. During the winter months the summit of 

 the Ben may for weeks together be inaccessible ; but certain 

 observations will be daily communicated by means of the tele- 

 graph now being laid by the Post Office. 



The announcement of the publication of the Berlin Catalogue 

 of Zonal Stars will have the effect of postponing the publication, 

 of the French catalogue, for which a credit of 400,000 francs 

 had been asked from the Budget Commission. 



The President of the Berlin Geological Society has received 

 a telegram from the Pentland Firth announcing the safe return 

 of the German schooner Gtrmania, which carried the German 

 Polar ob erving party from the Gulf of Cumberland, where it 

 has spent a year in successful observation and research. 



We have received a telegram from Herr Augu'tin Gamel of 

 Copenhagen, in which he informs us that the Dijmphna anchored 

 at Vardo, Norway, on October II, all bein» well on board. 



The Russian Geographical Society is taking an active part in 

 the International Congress which is to be convoke! by the 

 United States for the unification of the meridian. Delegates 

 from the Academy of Sciences and from the Russian Ministries 

 of War, and Posts and Telegraphs, will constitute a Committee 

 at St. Petersburg, and the conclusions of this Committee will be 

 supported at Washington by one or more Russian delegates. 



We learn from the annual reports of the West Siberian and 

 East Siberian branches of the Russian Geographical Society 

 (published in the Izrcstia) that the East Siberian branch busily 

 continues the exploration of the very rich remains from the stone 

 period around Lake Baikal. The valley of Tunka, which 

 seems to have been an immense workshop for the fabrication of 

 quartz, jade, and nephiite implements, has been visited again by 

 M. Vitkovsky, as well as the valley of the Angara. This last 

 consists of a succession of large plains separated by narrow 

 gorges ; the former was occupied during the Post Pliocene 

 period by a series of lakes, and subsequently it was the abode 

 of a numerous populati in of the Stone period. M. AgapitofT 

 discovered also a place on the Steppe of Ust-Unga which must 

 have been a large work-hop for the fabrication of stone-imple- 

 ments, pieces of which cover the steppe over a space of more 

 than twelve miles ; thousands of implements could be collected 



