614 



NA TURE 



[April 26, 1906 



Company's cables between New Zealand and Australia 

 suddenly broke on April 23, as the result, it is presumed, 

 of submarine disturbances. A sharp earthquake shock was 

 felt at San Francisco at 10.39 p.m. on the same date. It 

 lasted about three seconds, and the motion was from east 

 to west. 



Dr. V. F. L. Matteucci, director of the Vesuvius 

 Observatory, has issued the following reports: — April [8. 

 \ very violent squall blew the plume of smoke which hung 

 over Vesuvius on to the observatory, bearing with it a 

 quantity of dust and asphyxiating gases. The crater, 

 though shrouded in thick mist and rain, seems to be quiet. 

 April 20. — The shower of ash has ceased and the cloud 

 of dust has dispersed, leaving visible the crater, which 

 continues to eject, though more calmly, globular masses 

 of vapour containing lesser quantities of dust, which fall 

 on the eastern slopes of the volcano. No further shocks 

 have occurred, only very slight movements being reported 

 by the more sensitive seismographs. April 23. — The seismic 

 instruments are very steady. The crater is emitting grey 

 vapour, together with small quantities of dust at intervals. 



According to the Chemiker Zeitung, the number of 

 patents applied for during 1905 in Germany was 30,085 

 as against 28,3(50 in 1004, whilst the number of patents 

 fully taken out was 9600 against 9189. Of the different 

 applications, 22,030 were by Germans, 1769 by Americans, 

 1410 by Frenchmen, 1264 by Englishmen, 873 from Austria, 

 707 from Switzerland, 473 from Belgium, 249 from Hun- 

 gary, 246 from Russia, 230 from Denmark, 188 from Italy, 

 174 from Sweden, 48 from Norway, &c. The largest 

 number of new patents for the year came under the head- 

 ing of electrotechnics. During the year 8623 patents ex- 

 pired or for other reasons ceased to be worked, while at the 

 end of the year 32,430 patents remained in force. 



From Budapest we learn that the director of the 

 Hungarian Chemical Agricultural Institute has presented 

 a strong petition to the Government urging the complete re- 

 organisation of the institute, which was opened twenty-live 

 years ago by the Minister of Agriculture as a central ex- 

 perimental station for agricultural chemistry. In the first 

 instance it is proposed that no further analyses for private 

 persons be undertaken, as this is not only unfair to the 

 private laboratories, but provides so much work for the 

 institute as to hinder members of the staff from following 

 up any line of scientific research. Great stress is laid upon 

 the advisability of bringing all the experimental stations 

 into intimate union with the Imperial Institute of Hungary. 

 According to the director's proposal, the reorganised insti- 

 tute shall be divided into seven departments, each under 

 the supervision of a head chemist. 



The Easter party of naturalists and students at the 

 Liverpool Marine Biology Committee's station at Port 

 Erin, in the Isle of Man, has been larger than usual, and 

 the available accommodation in both hatchery and labor- 

 atory has been fully occupied. In addition to senior students 

 from the botanical and zoological departments of the uni- 

 versities of Manchester and Liverpool, the following pro- 

 fessional workers have occupied tables in the laboratory : 



Dr. H. F. Roaf (bio-chemistry), Mr. J. Pearson, Mr. W. 

 Gunn and Prof. Herdman, and Mr. Chadwick, the curator 

 of the biological station. In the sea-fish hatchery the 

 season has been a good one. Although the first fertilised 

 plaice eggs were obtained from the spawning pond on 

 February 13, only one day earlier than last year, 

 embryos in large numbers appeared comparatively early 

 NO. I9O4, VOL. 73J 



in the season, and the output of young fish is now about a 

 million in advance of the corresponding date in 1905. 

 Five and three-quarter million plaice eggs have now been 

 obtained from the pond, and nearly three and a half 

 million larvae have been set free in the Irish Sea. The 

 largest number put out on one day was 470,000, on 

 April 20. 



The latest report of the Decimal Association, of which 

 Lord Kelvin is a vice-president, states that it is proposed 

 to open a new Parliamentary campaign to prepare the way 

 for the introduction of a Bill in the House of Commons, 

 on the lines of the Bill which has already passed the House 

 of Lords. The report goes on to point out that advocates 

 of the metric system of weights and measures in the United 

 States of America have been encouraged by the introduc- 

 tion of a Bill in the House of Representatives by Mr. 

 Littauer, which provides for the exclusive use of metric 

 weights and measures in all Government departments. 

 This Bill, as has been recorded already in these columns, 

 is now before a Standing Committee of the House of 

 Representatives, and there is every hope that it may be 

 reported on favourably. The executive committee of the 

 association records in the report its thanks to the Associ- 

 ation of Trade Protection Societies for its continued 

 advocacy of the compulsory adoption of metric weights and 

 measures. Since this association represents retail as well 

 as wholesale traders, its support may be taken as a distinct 

 refutation of the assertion that the shopkeepers of the 

 country do not wish to see the adoption of the decimal 

 system of measurement. The report mentions also that 

 the Canadian Government has appointed as lecturer a pro- 

 fessor of the University of Toronto to devote a year to the 

 task of explaining the metric weights and measures in all 

 the leading cities from Halifax to Vancouver. 



Reports are being received of twilight glows and of the 

 deposition of dust, supposed to be due to the recent erup- 

 tion of Vesuvius. Prof. Stanislas Meunier has collected on 

 the roof of his house in Paris dust said to be identical 

 with the dust of the eruption of 1872. At Southall, 

 Middlesex, Mr. G. Gibson has also collected dust appar- 

 ently of similar nature. Dr. F. A. Bather, writing from 

 Wimbledon, informs us that on the evening of April 18 

 the sunset was strongly reminiscent of the Krakatao glows. 

 It will be interesting to learn whether similar observations 

 have been recorded in other localities. The distribution of 

 the dust would depend chiefly upon the upper air currents, 

 which are usually different from those at the surface, and 

 although the surface winds have recently been from north 

 and north-east, the dust may have been carried to north- 

 west Europe by currents in the upper air. 



It is stated in the Cologne Gazette that the German 

 Government is making preparations for the issue shortly 

 of weather forecasts for agriculturists. The forecasts will 

 be sent free or at a nominal charge, and the success of the 

 undertaking will be judged from returns of the subsequent 

 weather supplied by the recipients of the information. We 

 think this is a step in the right direction ; the experiment 

 has already been made with much success in the United 

 States and elsewhere. Prof. Willis Moore, e.g. , in an 

 article in the National Geographic Magazine for June, 

 1905, says : — " No large grower of fruits or vegetables 

 is content to be excluded from the receipt of the frost 

 forecasts." During the hay and corn harvest (June- 

 September) special forecasts have been, for many years, 

 issued to farmers in this country by the Meteorological 



