NoOvEMBER 5, 1896] 
WATURE = 
2) 
which the pendulum frame is tilted, the numbers contained in 
column 5. 
Unfortunately, between August 30 and September 4, the 
record is incomplete, some fifty hours having been lost by the 
photographic paper repeatedly running so much to one side as 
to stop the clock. This difficulty, it is hoped, has now been 
overcome. Tuomas HEaTH. 
Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, October 26. 
Whirlwind on ‘“ Rydal Water.” 
Some friends and myself were staying at Lowwood Hotel, 
Windermere, for a few days. and on Friday, October 16, we 
were walking by ‘‘ Rydal Water,” on the opposite side from 
the road, when we noticed a very curious and most unusual 
effect on the water, caused by a sudden very heavy squall of 
wind, which seemed to come from two directions at one time, 
creating a ‘‘ whirlwind,” and raising the water and spray on the 
lake fully 100 feet high or more. There were eight or ten of 
these disturbances during the time we stayed (probably about 
twenty minutes), and I was fortunate enough to have my hand- 
camera with me and to photograph the largest of them, which 
came sweeping down the lake towards the island (near the 
suggested any really better general plan of carrying on the 
business of the Section. The writer in your columns indicates, 
for instance, that the week should be devoted to discussions such 
as that upon the fracture of railway rails, or the report on tidal in- 
fluences. While admitting the value of these two communications, 
and others of a similar kind, there appear to be serious objections 
to limiting the work of the Section entirely to such matters, 
which work, I venture to think, your reporter entirely mistakes in 
its relation to technical societies. These societies, such as the 
Institutions of Mechanical Engineers, of Naval Architects, of 
Electrical Engineers, of Mining Engineers, and the Iron and 
Steel Institute, specialise their work, and deal often in a 
different way with quite different subjects. Now the 
British Association affords a common meeting ground 
for all interested in these and other branches of applied 
science, and, indeed, for many who may not have any special 
knowledge of any branch at all. Hence papers, or even lectures, 
upon which discussion is admitted and invited, dealing with 
dock works (which surely it is quibbling to exclude from the 
range of mechanical science), electric railways, the Tower 
Bridge, waterworks, not to say of armour and ordnance, of 
wreck-raising, of motor-carriages, &c.—in all of which an 
account was given of progress in applied science—seem to form 
an important part of the work of the Section. 
Indeed, those authors who took the trouble to 
prepare illustrations, lantern slides, and models to 
make their subject clear and interesting, or even, if 
you like, ‘* popular,” deserve the hearty thanks of 
those present. 
It might perhaps be a good thing to make some 
division in the day, so that the scientific papers and 
discussions which, to be frank, frequently empty the 
room, might be taken early before a certain hour, 
after which papers of a more popular character 
might be announced for reading and discussion. 
As for trade articles, it might be fairly argued 
that new inventions not coming under that head 
-even scientific instruments, for example—have 
generally no value or interest at all; and the Com- 
mittee of the Section seem always to try and 
ascertain, before accepting a communication of this 
sort, if there is sufficient novelty and scientific 
interest to warrant its acceptance; and in this 
matter, the ‘‘morality”’ of the Section need not be 
higher than that of technical societies. Indeed, if 
advertisement were a ban to acceptance, a good 
many of the authors themselves at most of the 
Sections would be hopelessly rejected. The ‘‘ touting 
circular” referred to, if indeed it can be called 
such, was given out by one of the secretaries to 
only a portion of the meeting, and the remaining 
copies withheld when his attention was called to 
Whirlwind on *‘ Rydal Water,” and smaller one in distance, October 16. 
centre), and finally broke on the shore with a boom like a 
cannon, which threw the débris, &c., at the side into the air 
quite 40 feet high. I have seen small whirlwinds strike on 
various lakes, but never anything of the magnitude of this. 
Thinking the incident might be of interest to you, I send youa 
photograph to make what use of you like. 
Had a small boat or ordinary Windermere yacht been caught 
in one of these whirlwinds, she must have been swamped. 
Henry J. C. ANDERSON. 
Rodono, Great Crosby, near Liverpool, October. 
The ‘*G”’ Section of the British Association. 
PERHAPS I may be allowed to make a few remarks concerning 
the above Section, and the strictures passed on October 22 upon 
its work, by the writer of the report in your columns. The writer 
is not singular in his criticisms, for others representing the 
scientific and practical sides of engineering also speak from time 
to time in a disparaging way, both of the subjects themselves, 
which are dealt with under the head of Mechanical Science at 
these annual gatherings, and of the methods of dealing with 
them, 
I am not in any way concerned in defending the present state 
of things, but I would point out that no one yet seems to have 
NO. 1410, VOL. 55] 
the contents. It is scarcely right to intimate that 
this sort of thing ever occurs except as a rare 
accident. 
H. S. HELE-SHAW. 
Walker Engineering Laboratories, University 
College, Liverpool, October 26. 
P.S.—Mr. Johnson, of Derby, is mentioned in mistake for Mr. 
Rk. E. Johnston, Engineer of the Joint London and North- 
Western and Great Western Railways. 
Suggested Reef Boring at the Bermuda Islands. 
Tue issue of NATURE containing the notice of the failure of 
the Royal Society boring expedition has just reached me, so I 
hasten to call attention to the great value of the Bermudas as a 
permanent home for a scientific station, and where borings 
might be readily conducted at any convenient time. A glance 
at the map will show that the fauna of the deep sea, of coral 
reefs, the avifauna of the ocean, and a complex meteorology, 
may all be studied at one and the same station, and in close 
proximity to New York and Halifax. 7 
Could the Smithsonian Institution or the Royal Society be 
induced to take the matter up, it would seem to be an easy 
matter to organise a station, as the funds required are not large. 
The town of St. George’s very probably would give a dock 
with house attached, and possibly the colony a small sum 
annually. If the Universities of America would take an interest 
in the matter, the enterprise might be immediately pushed along. 
