January 18, 1906] 



NA TURE 



275 



aim of the exhibition is to show results produced without 

 the intervention of half-tone blocks, or the aid of printing 

 machines. Flower and fruit studies, portraits, and land- 

 scapes are represented by three-colour prints produced by 

 various processes, and among the subjects of transparencies 

 are stained glass windows, diffraction grating spectrum, 

 micro-organisms and crystals, butterflies, and a Lippmann 

 spectrum. 



We learn from the British Medical Journal that an 

 international exhibition will be held under the patronage 

 of the King of Italy at Milan on the occasion of the open- 

 ing of the Simplon Tunnel. It will include a section of 

 hygiene embracing general hygiene, public health, sanitary 

 services, rural and industrial hygiene. The exhibition will 

 be open from April to November. The third International 

 Congress of Medical Electrology and Radiology will be 

 held at Milan on September 5-9. Information as to 

 membership may be obtained from Dr. Herschell, 36 Harley 

 Street, London, W. 



The Weekly Weather Report of the Meteorological Office 

 for the current year, which commenced with the issue of 

 the report for the week ending Saturday, January 6, on 

 Thursday last, has some novel features. The verbal de- 

 scription of the week's weather is placed in a more 

 prominent position on the front page, and a table of the 

 accumulated temperature, rainfall, and sunshine in the 

 various districts for the aggregate of weeks from the com- 

 mencement of the current season, winter, is given, in 

 addition to the usual tables for the week and the aggregates 

 from the commencement of the calendar year. In the table 

 of detailed statistics for stations the groups of names in- 

 cluded in the meteorological districts are subdivided to 

 fa. iliiatp the compilation of values for the divisions of 

 the country adopted for agricultural purposes by the Board 

 of Agriculture. There is no change in the part of the 

 report devoted to the daily summary of weather over 

 Europe, but at the end, in place of the tables of addenda 

 and errata, there appears an entirely new table of observ- 

 ation-; in the upper air. The first issue includes the 

 observations by Mr. W. H. Dines at Oxshott on the 3rd, 

 4th, and 5th of the month, the days of international 

 cooperation, and those of a kite ascent by Mr. C. J. P. 

 Cave at Ditcham Park on the first day of the year. The 

 last disclosed a remarkable temperature inversion, obviously 

 in the region of junction between an eastern and western 

 supply of south-easterly wind over the British Islands as 

 shown on the maps. The juxtaposition of these observ- 

 ations and the maps showing the distribution of pressure 

 over Europe make the inclusion of the week's results for 

 the upper air in the report a very interesting feature, and 

 it is to be hoped that in succeeding weeks the new 

 development may be as fortunate as in its first number. 



The Times of January 6 contained an interesting account 

 of despatches which have been received from the American 

 travellers Mr. R. L. Barrett and Mr. Ellsworth Huntington, 

 who are conducting an expedition in the Tarim basin. 

 The explorers have fully studied some of the river systems 

 between Khotan and Keriya, and made additions to our 

 knowledge of the Tarim basin which bring out the striking 

 resemblance of the basin to an inland sea. The examin- 

 ation of the ruins of abandoned villages appears to have 

 thrown a good deal of fresh light on the gradual desiccation 

 of Central Asia within historic times. 



In the issue of Nature for August 13, 1903 (vol. lxviii. 

 p 347), an illustrated account was given of the tetrahedral 

 cell kites designed by Dr. A. Graham Bell. We learn 

 NO. 189O, VOL 73] 



from a Canadian contemporary, the Halifax Herald, that 

 Dr. Bell thinks he is a step nearer the attainment of his 

 ambition to perfect a flying machine based on the tetra- 

 hedral kite principle. A new kite, constructed of 1300 

 tetrahedral cells, having a total area of 752 square feet 

 of silk, making a supporting surface of 440 square feet, 

 carried to a height of 30 feet, in a recent trial, not only 

 its own weight of 61 lb., but also a load comprising flying 

 lines, dangling ropes, and a rope ladder, making 62 lb. 

 more, together with a man weighing 168 lb., a total 

 altogether of 291 lb. 



In the Engineering and Mining Journal of New York 

 of December 23, 1903, there is a reproduction of the 

 selected design for the United Engineering Building, the 

 building presented by Mr. Andrew Carnegie to the 

 American Institute of Electrical Engineers, the American 

 Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute 

 of Mining Engineers, and the Engineers' Club. The site 

 has a frontage of 125 feet and a depth of 100 feet. The 

 contract for construction was signed in July, 1905, and 

 the contract limit is fifteen months to the date of expected 

 completion. The building will serve the convenience of 

 the four societies mentioned, and is also to furnish accom- 

 modation for other societies that have engineering or some 

 other department of science as their principal object. 



The disaster at Charing Cross Station at 3.30 p.m. on 

 December 5, 1905, caused by the sudden snapping of the 

 tie-bar in the truss next to the wind-screen at the southern 

 end of the station has caused much perturbation in 

 engineering circles, and is dealt with at considerable length 

 in the engineering journals. An excellent illustrated de- 

 scription of the roof is given in the January issue of the 

 Engineering Review, and photographs of the fracture of 

 the tie-bar are given in the Engineer and in Engineering 

 of January 12. The tie-bar was nominally 43 inches in 

 diameter, and it was found that at the point of fracture 

 there was an imperfect weld, the iron having been united 

 properly over only about one-third of the section, so that 

 the stress at that point was three times as great as it was 

 designed to be. In fact, it was more than this, for the 

 sound metal, being at one side of the line of tension, was 

 subject to a bending force, and the state of affairs was 

 somewhat similar to a notched bar under bending stress. 

 The verdict given at the coroner's inquest on January 8 

 was to the effect that the accident was due to the breaking 

 of the tie-rod through an unforeseen flaw, and that no 

 blame was attached to any of the railway company's 

 officials. 



We have received a copy of part v. of the " Marine Fauna 

 of Ireland," published by the fisheries branch of the Irish 

 Department of Agriculture, in which Mr. W. M. Tatter- 

 sall discusses the isopod crustaceans. Some difficulty has 

 been experienced in getting a good series of these creatures 

 owing to the fact that the majority are not pelagic, and 

 are, therefore, not taken in tow-nets. Nevertheless, the 

 author describes no less than ten species as new, half of 

 which are made the types of new genera, while one is 

 regarded as representing a new family. 



Among the numerous and varied contents of the Proceed- 

 ings of the Indiana Academy for 1904, attention may be 

 directed to a remarkably fine series of photographs of the 

 nests and eggs — in some instances also the young — of a 

 number of the birds of the district in their natural surround- 

 ings. Two of these are of special interest as showing the 

 nest of the little green heron, first with eggs and then 

 with the downy young. In many cases great difficulty 



