53 4 



NA TURE 



[April 5, 1906 



electrodynamii symmetry in the bivalent ion is different 

 from that in the monovalent ion; il is characterised bi the 

 emission (.1 triplets. 



Spectroscopically the chemical elements show a uniform 

 behaviour in a striking way. Their monovalent ions emit 

 series ol doublets ol analogous structure and identical 

 magnetic behaviour; their bivalent ions emit series of 

 triplets likewise of analogous structure and identical mag- 

 netic behaviour. From element to element the variables 

 are only the proportions of the spectra or the constants ol 

 the laws of the series of doublets and triplets. 



Gottingen, March 5. |. Stark. 



The Kew Bulletin. 



A FEW words of explanation may be useful to anyone 

 interested in the Kew Bulletin. It was started in 1887, 

 partly to meet a suggestion made in the House of Commons 

 and partly to serve as " an expeditious mode of communi- 

 cation to the numerous correspondents of Kew in distant 

 parts of the Empire." It has been the vehicle for the 

 publication of a vast amount of information of various 

 kinds, some on purely scientific, but mostly on economic 

 subjects. The number of copies printed has necessarilj 

 been limited, but it has always been hoped that the Press 

 would aid in the further diffusion of information of general 

 inten -1 to the public. 



The volumes before 1892 have Ion" been out of print. 

 To meet this difficulty, selected papers which proved to be 

 of permanent interest have been from time to time re- 

 printed. 



Since 1901 the Bulletin has been - what in abeyance, 



though the routine appendices which are required for 

 various purposes have been kept up. The fact is that to 



prod the Bulletin satisfactorily requires- what il has 



never had — some sort of staff which would be speciall) 

 charged with it. The volume of work which falls on Kew 

 is little understood. Besides its own routine and adminis- 

 trative duties, Kew acts as technical adviser to all Govern- 

 ment departments at home, as well as in a varying 

 measure to India and the colonies, for many years the 

 annual number of letters sent out lias averaged about 

 14,000, which is about two-thirds of that of the Commercial 

 Department of the Foreign Office. The publication of the 

 Bulletin has simply been crowded out. 



M\ [unctions as director ceased on December 15, 

 but 1 was retained in a consultative capacity until 

 March 31. In order to give my successor a clear start I 

 havi .II. ne my best in the interval to clear off arrears. 

 lie third and concluding volume of the "Index Flora: 

 S ii' 'I is " lias been issued. An eighth volume of the 



Flora of Tropical Africa " has been all but passed 

 the press. The long delayed "Wild Fauna and 

 Flora of the Royal Botanic Gardens" has been published. 

 A catalogue of the exhibited collection of portraits of 

 botanists lias been prepared and is in tvpe, and a second 

 edition of the " Hand-list ol Ferns and Fern-allies culti- 

 vated at Kew " is in the printers' hands. A third quin- 

 quennial supplement to the "Index Kewensis " is being 

 prepared for the press. 



The continuation of the " Flora Capensis " is being 

 activeh pushed forward, and other nun h needed under- 

 takings are in view-. 



In order to restore the Bulletin to something like 

 vitality, it was thought advisable to issue in one or more 

 numbers for each year such matter as was available, with 

 title and table of contents. This will allow the annual 



vol s to be bound, and the series madi continuo 



satisfaction of careful librarians. The volumes for 0,0,, 



and 1901 are already issued, and the succeeding M 



follow immediately. A word of acknowledgment must he 

 given to the generous aid of the new and active Controller 

 ol H.M. Stationery Office in expediting the work. 



'I'he director has taken up the publication of the Bulletin 



from the present year, and will, 1 hope, he able to continue 



ii. hui on a somewhat more elastic plan. Xo attempt will 



be made to issue it monthly, but material and documents 



general interest will be printed .1! once. 



Kew, March 30. W. T. Thiselton-Dyer. 



NO. I 90 I, VOL. J $] 



Inti rpretation of Meteorological Records. 



I QUITE agree with Mr. Omond's remarks in Nature of 

 March 29 with regard to the heating of downward moving 

 air, that if it had been simply a ease ol air which 

 had previously been in thermal equilibrium and moved 

 downwards its temperature would have been raised to 

 thai of the lower air; but in this case it was a mixture 

 of air and water, and the water would absorb the heat 

 produced by the compression ol the air, and, further, any 

 little heating that might not be so absorbed would in- 

 crease the dryness of the air, and so cause evaporation 

 and absorption of heal. 



With regard to the effei Is of electricity on rainfall, they 

 are much too little understood to he entered on here, but 

 it may be stated that a sudden fall of rain, or an increase 

 in rate of fall, is often observed very shortly after a flash 

 of lightning. Jons AlTKEN. 



Ardenlea, Falkirk, N.B., March 31. 



Request for Prints of Photographic Portraits. 



I should be grateful to your photographic readers, 

 whether amateur or professional, who would send me, 

 within the next two or three weeks, waste photographic 

 portraits, to be cut up, mounted, reduced to a miniature 

 scale, and so to be published without iitnucs. They are 

 wanted in considerable numbers to control results at 

 which I have already arrived, relating to resemblance. 

 Family portraits would be particularly acceptable. I 

 make this appeal, finding it extremely troublesome, as 

 well as costly, to obtain the needed material in other 

 ways. Francis Galton. 



42 Rutland Gate, London, S.W. 



Peculiar Ice Formation. 



As the question of earth-hearing ice-pillars has been 

 recently raised in your columns I pp. 4114, 485), there are 

 one or two points to which I should like to direct atten- 

 tion, as they may be of interest to your readers. While 

 working in company with a colleague en Divis Moun- 

 tain, Belfast, in 1002, our attention was attracted by 

 the peculiar formation ol ice so admirably described by 

 your correspondent of March 15. It seemed perfectly 

 obvious that the ice-pillars had, in growing, lifted the 

 earth and stones by exerting a pushing force in the direc- 

 tion of their length, and that without Literal support, 

 putting the expansive force of water on freezing out of the 

 question as an explanation. All doubt on this point was 

 removed by our finding an impression of a nailed boot, 

 made in the mud before the frost, and on which the pillars 

 had grown on all parts of the mud on which there were 

 no impressions of nails, and were wanting wherever the 

 nails had been. This gave a curious effect, as if the boot 

 had been shod with long spike -, each nail being represented 

 by a narrow cylindrical pit an inch and a half deep. The 

 pressure of the nails had evidently destroyed the conditions 

 which led to the formation of the pillars. 



I was unable to determine whether the ice in each pillar 

 was in crystalline continuity, but there was nothing to 

 lead one to suspect the contrary. I thought I could dis- 

 tinguish a rude hexagonal form in some of the pillars, but 

 tli is may have been merely chance. On the whole, it 

 would seem as if the idea that a growing crystal is 

 capable of exerting a mechanical force in some definite 

 direction is not entirely without support. Such a force 

 would go far towards explaining many peculiarities of the 

 natural growth of crystals. Take, for example, the hori- 

 oai il veins of fibrous gypsum so common in the Keuper 

 Marl. It is impossible to conceive of the formation in soft 

 rocks of a horizontal fissure of the extent of some of these 

 veins, and it is difficult to escape from the conclusion that 

 the growth of the fibrous crystals forced apart the sides of 

 the vein, lifting the enormous weight of rock above. This 

 suggestion is by no means a new one. 



W. B. Wright. 



28 Jermyn Street, SAW, March 27. 



