Oe at fl i 
JaNuARY 29, 1914] 
points in a speech moving its acceptance by the dele- 
gates. The convention must be ratified by the different 
States prior to December 31, 1914, and comes into 
force on July 1, 1915. 
An international service is to be established and 
placed under the control of the United States for the 
purpose of ice patrol and observation and for the 
destruction of derelicts in the North Atlantic. The 
masters of all vessels are to cooperate with this service. 
Safety of construction has been dealt with under the 
headings of ‘‘ New Vessels,” and “ Existing Vessels.” 
The convention provides that the degree of safety 
shall increase in'a regular and continuous manner 
with the length of the vessel, and that vessels shall 
be as efficiently subdivided as is possible having regard 
to the nature of the services for which they are 
intended. 
The convention provides that all merchant vessels 
of the contracting States when engaged upon inter- 
national (including Colonial) voyages, whether 
steamers or sailing vessels, and whether they carry 
passengers or not, must be equipped with wireless 
telegraphy apparatus if they have on board fifty per- 
sons or more (except where the number is exception- 
ally and temporarily increased to fifty or more owing 
to causes beyond the master’s control). There are 
certain exemptions to this regulation. A continuous 
watch for wireless telegraphy purposes is to be kept 
by all vessels required to be fitted with wireless 
apparatus, as soon as the Government of the State to 
which the vessels belong is satisfied that.such wateh» 
will be useful for the purpose of saving life at sea., 
Meanwhile certain classes of vessels are specified as 
being required to maintain a continuous watch. The 
wireless installations must have a range of at least 
100 miles. A transition period is provided to enable 
wireless apparatus to be fitted and operators and 
watchers obtained. 
The convention lays it down that there must be 
accommodation in lifeboats or their equivalents for all 
persons on board, and that as large a number as 
possible of the boats and rafts must be capable of 
being launched on either side of the ship, so that as 
few as possible need be launched on the weatherside. 
The convention specifies a minimum number of mem- 
bers of the crew competent to handle the boats and 
rafts. All ships are to have an adequate system of 
lighting, so that in an emergency the passengers may 
easily find their way to the exits from the interior of 
the ship. 
Ships of the contracting States which comply with 
the requirements of the convention are to have 
furnished to them certificates of the fact, which are to 
’ be accepted by all the States as having the same value 
as the certificates issued by them to their own ships. 
RECENT TEMPERATURES IN EUROPE. 
heap Snide features of especial interest were 
associated with the recent cold spell of 
weather experienced over the central and southern 
parts of western Europe. It is common enough 
in January for lower temperatures to prevail 
over Germany than in England, but in_ the 
coastal regions of the south of France the 
normal temperatures at this season of the year are 
warmer than in the British Isles. The temperatures 
taken from the Daily Weather Report of the Meteoro- 
logical Office show that for the twelve days January 
12-23, Which approximately comprise the cold spell, 
the mean temperature in London was 34°, the mean 
of the maxima being 36°, and of the minima 32°. 
At Biarritz the mean for the whole period was 33-5°, 
the mean of the maxima 38°, and the mean of the 
NO. 2309, VOL. 92] 
NATURE 
617 
minima 29°; nine nights out of the twelve were colder 
than in London; the lowest temperatures were 21° on 
January 16, and 22° on January 15, whilst in London 
the lowest temperature in the twelve days was 24° on 
January 23. The mean temperature at Perpignan for 
the period was 34-5°, the mean of the maxima 40°, 
and of the minima 29°, the latter being 3° colder than 
in London, and nine nights had lower minima; the 
lowest readings were 22° on January 20 and 22. At 
Nice the mean was 405°, the mean of the maxima 47°, 
and of the minima 34°; frost occurred on the three 
consecutive, nights, January 14-16. Paris had the 
mean temperature 24-5°, the mean of the maxima 30°, 
and the mean of the minima 19°; January 20 was the 
only day with the maximum above the freezing point. 
Much snow also occurred with the cold in parts of 
France. The cold spell was due to a region of high 
barometer readings, which maintained a position be- 
tween the British Isles, Denmark, and the north of 
Germany, and caused a flow of air over Germany and 
France from the colder regions of Russia. The Daily 
Weather Report on January 23 shows that at 7 a.m. 
the temperature was 50° at Seydisfjord in Iceland, 
which was the same as at Lisbon, and with this 
exception was warmer than any other station given for 
western Europe. Sevdisfjord was 25° warmer than 
London, 36° warmer than Paris, and 14° warmer than 
Nice. The southerly current of air which caused the 
anomaly was doubtless associated with the same dis- 
turbance which occasioned the rapid rise of tempera- 
ture and thaw over the British Isles. 
THE IMPORTATION OF BIRDS PLUMAGE. 
S is now well known, the United States Govern- 
ment has made the importation of birds’ plumage 
penal, as well as prohibited the wearing of feathers. 
Austria and Germany are in accord with England as 
to the necessity of putting a stop to this nefarious 
traffic by similar laws. France and Belgium stand on 
the other side, for the plumassiers are so influcntial 
that it is hopeless for the Government of either of 
these countries even to propose such a protective Bill. 
The French plumassiers, however, now very uneasy 
at the trend of popular opinion in Europe and America, 
have attempted to ward off the severe blow which 
their trade would suffer if the Société d’Acclimatation 
were to sympathise with the movement, by securing 
their admission, in considerable numbers, to the mem- 
bership of both that society and the Ligue Francaise 
pour la Protection des Oiseaux. Successful so far, 
they next brought forward a project before the former 
society for the appointment of a ‘‘comité d’ornithologie 
economique,” similar to the one in England, with the 
avowed purpose of inquiring into the mass of evidence 
as to the destruction of birds brought before the Eng- 
lish Parliament and the U.S. Congress, but the real 
object of which is the hope of checking the growing 
force of opinion against them on this question. It 
will be a matter of great satisfaction to all in sym- 
pathy with the movement in this country to learn 
that, at a meeting held in Paris on December 24, the 
ornithological section of the Acclimatisation Society 
of France, after giving careful and prolonged hearing 
to the plumassiers, were constrained to record that the 
arguments adduced before them were unable to modify 
the opinions hitherto held by bird protectors with 
regard to the plumage trade. Notwithstanding fierce 
opposition and grave discord raised by the plumassiers, 
the project for a committee was rejected, as no benefit 
from it could accrue to the protection of birds. The 
society declared also its conviction that the depositions 
which have led to the prohibition of the importation 
of birds’ plumage to the United States are unimpeach- 
able and trustworthy. 
