tst 7, 1884] 



NA TURE 



35i 



of about 100 < 40 feet ground area, and of tw 



ill be simple and unpretentious. The building will be 



placed close to the sea-shore, so that sea water can be readily 



into the laboratory tank, and in order that there may 



communication with fishing-boats. It will also 



-irable to have a Hotting barge anchored near the laboratory 



for special experiments on the breeding of fish, &c, and, in 



amity, it will be necessary to erect tanks on the fore- 



n to the tidal water, but arranged so as to prevent the 



escape of the animals confined in their, for study. 



The basement of the building will contain a reservoir tank 

 holding several thousand gallons of sea water; on the ground 

 floor there will be two large rooms paved with stone ; one fitted 

 with large tanks and a service of sea water, the other used for 

 the reception and examination of a day's trawling or dredging, 

 sed for keeping stores and for carrying out the pick- 

 ting and proper preservation of specimens to be sent, as re- 

 quired, to naturalists at a distance. The upper floor will be 

 livided into a series of larger and smaller working rooms fitted 

 tble tables, with reagents and apparatus required in 

 microscopy, and with a constant supply of sea water pumped 

 from the reservoir tank. Accommodation for ten workers will 

 be tint- provided. One of the rooms on this floor must be set 

 apart as a library and writing room, and must contain 

 pi'ete a series of works on marine zoology and botany, piscicul- 

 such matters as can be brought together. The pro- 

 such a library is one of the special conveniences which 

 • offered to naturalists working in the laboratory. 

 The building must also necessarily contain bed-room and 

 sitting-room for a resident superintendent, and accoi . 

 or caretaker. 

 ami Boats. — These need not at first be very 

 extensile. Glass tanks, pumping engine and supply tubes are 

 essential. There will be necessarily one small steam-launch for 

 dredging in quiet weather at no great distance from shore, and ,1 

 row-boat. For special expeditions larger boats or steamers 

 could be either hired or borrowed from time to time. The local 

 would also greatly aid the laboratory if regularly paid, 

 supplement the special boats of the Association. 

 tried Staff'. — The Council would propose to begin work 

 with the smallest possible number of permanent employes. 

 rhese would be — (a) a resident superintendent, who should be a 



fair education and some knowledge of natural I 

 a salary of 150/. a year, supplemented by free quarters ; (b) a 

 servant of the fisherman class, wdio would look after the tanks 

 \nd workrooms, go out in search of specimens, and manage a 

 boat and dredging apparatus when required. Other fishermen 

 iid boys might be hired from time to time. A sum of 100/. a 

 year would be required for such service at tin 



4. Condi/ions of Admission fo Use of Laboratory Work to 

 'here. — The Council would propose to admit to the use 

 of a table and other resources of the laboratory, so far as the 

 space shall permit, any British or foreign naturalist who might 

 make application and furnish evidence of his capability to make 

 good use of the opportunities of the place. A preference would 

 be given to a member of the Association, A fee might in some 

 charged for the use of a table, and other tables might 

 be let out at an annual rental to such bodies as the Universities, 

 ing the system adopted at Naples by Dr. Dohrn. 

 The Council will endeavour, when the laboratory is erected 

 and in operation, to obtain grants of money from scientific 

 and from the Government, for the purpose of carrying 

 . -.' investigations on a given subject, e.g., the conditions 

 affecting the fall of oyster-spat, the reproduction and general 

 economy of the common sole, the complete determination and 

 enumeration of the fauna and flora of the marine area adjacent 

 to the site of the laboratory, its distribution within that area, 

 and its relation to physical conditions. Xatural: 

 nominated by the Council of the Association or by the authori- 

 al find the money by which such naturalists are paid, to 

 make such researches at the laboratory of the Association. When 

 cial investigation is thus started at the laboratory, the 

 other naturalists, who from time to time come there, will be sure to 

 1 in the inquiry, and so help to carry it on to completion. 

 It would be the business of the resident superintendent to 

 facilitate this continuity of work, whilst the Council of the 

 Association will make it a special object to bring together the 

 results attained in the laboratory each year, in the form of a 



o as to gradually organise 'and direct toward 

 ends the work done through its agency. 



In the course of time, and with increased provision of funds 

 for the special pur Association might expect to be the 



means of produci 



1. A thorough the life and condition, of the 



ea adjacent to the laboi 



2. A complete and detailed account of the natural history of 

 certain fishes, mollusc., and crustaceans of economic importance 



1 .cial reference to their increased supply. 



3. Contributions to the knowdedge of the growth from the egg, 

 adult structure and physiology of such rare or otherwise scien- 

 tificially interesting animals and plants as occur near the 

 laboratory. 



It is not supposed that this can be immediately accomplished 

 by the 10,000/. which the Association now seeks to raise. That 

 sum will be expended in erecting the laboratory and in starting 

 it on its career of activity. The laboratory will necessarily at- 

 tract support and increased means of usefulness as, year by 

 year, its work becomes known, and the facilities which its offers 

 to working naturalists appreciated. 



Signed (by order of the Council of the 

 Marine Biological Association), 



E. Ray Lankestek, M.A., F.R.S., 



July 25 Hon. Secretary 



THE METEOROLOGICAL CONFERENCE 



A 



METEOROLOGICAL conference was held at the Health 

 Exhibition on July 17 and IS ; the following is an 

 of the leading papers read at the conference. 



1 h: T. YV. Tripe read a paper of much interest on some 

 of meteorological phenomena to health. 



In ages long past these relations excited much attention, but 

 the knowledge concerning them was of the vaguest kind ; and 

 indeed, even now, no very great advance has been made, 

 because it is only quite recently that we have been able to 

 compare a fairly accurate record of deaths with observations 

 taken at a number of reliable meteorological stations. The 

 more useful and searching comparison between cases of sickness, 

 instead of deaths, and meteorological phenomena has yet to be 

 accomplished on a large scale in this country, and especially as 

 regards zymotic diseases. In Belgium there is a Society of 

 Medical Practitioners, embracing nearly the whole country, that 

 publishes a monthly record of cases of sickness, of deaths, and 

 of meteorological observations ; but the only attempt on a large, 

 scale in this country, which was started by the Society of 

 Medical Officers of Health for the whole of London, failed 

 partly from want of funds, and partly from irregularity in the 

 returns. My remarks, which must necessarily be very brief, 

 will refer to the relations between (1) meteorological phenomena 

 and the bodily functions of man, and (2) between varying 

 meteorological conditions and death-rates from certain diseases. 



As regards the first, I will commence with a few brief remarks 

 on the effects of varying barometric pressures. A great deal too 

 much attention is paid to the barometer if we regard it as 

 indicating only, as it really does, variations in the weight of the 

 column of air pressing upon our bodies, because, except at 

 considerable elevations, where the barometer is always much 

 lower than at sea-level, these variations produce but little 

 effect on health. At considerable elevations the diminished 

 pressure frequently causes a great feeling of malaise, giddiness, 

 loss of strength-, palpitation, and even nausea ; and at greater 

 heights, as was noticed by Mr. Glaisher in a very lofty balloon 

 ascent, loss of sight, feeling, and consciousness. These were 

 caused by want of a sufficient supply of oxygen to remove effete 

 matters from the system, and to carry on the organic functions 

 necessary for the maintenance of life. On elevated mountain 

 plateaus, or even in high residences amongst the Alps, an 

 increased rapidity in the number of respirations and of the pulse, 

 as well as increased evaporation from the lungs and skin, 

 occur. 



For some years past, many persons suffering from consumption, 

 gout, rheumatism, and ar.emic affections have gone to mountain 

 stations, chiefly in Switzerland, for relief, and many have 

 derived much benefit from the change. It must not however, 

 be supposed that diminished atmospheric pie-sure was the chief 

 . cause of the improvement in health, as its concomitants, viz., a 

 diminution in the quantity of oxygen and moisture contained in 

 each cubic foot of air, probably the low temperature, with a 



