. lugust 7, 18S4] 



NA TURE 



The method of determining the effective temperature; which 

 may briefly be called the accumulated temperature, is fully ex- 

 plained in a paper by General Strachey, which will appear in 

 the forthcoming volume of the "Quarterly Weather Report," 

 that for 1S7S. Meanwhile it is extremely interesting to examine 

 the diagrams in the Annexe somewhat minutely, and to observe 

 how the total accumulated temperature, say, up to July I, is 

 made up in very different ways in the two years, 1SS1 and 1884, 

 there exhibited. 



The year 1881 v in the winter, and its accumu- 



lated temperature was made up in the spring and early summer. 

 In the present year we had practically no frost, but then we had 

 lly cold weather at Easter and at the end of May. 



The practical application of the data thus obtained as stan- 

 dards of comparison for the growth and ripening of various 

 agricultural products must of course be left to the agriculturists, 

 and it will be interesting to learn how far a correspondence be- 

 tween the character of the several crops and the accumulated 

 temperature of the year can be established. 



The measure of temperature afforded by this system of com- 



ppears to be as well suited to supply a standard of 



n of climates for hygienic purposes as for agriculture, 



and the diagrams indicate in a forcible manner the characteristic 



differences of climate, in respect of temperature, of the portions 



our islands to which they refer. 



Mr. William Marriott read a paper on "Some Occasional 

 Winds and their Influence on Health." After referring briefly 

 to the causes of winds, Mr. Marriott spoke of the East wind, 

 the Mistral, the Sirocco, and other well-known occasional winds. 

 Of the East wind, Mr. Marriott said it was the most dreaded 

 in this country. It is usually dry, cold, and very penetrating, 

 well described in the old saying — 

 " When the wind is in the East 

 'Tis neither good for man n 



Dr. Arthur Mitchell, in a " Note on the Weather of 1867, 

 ind on some effects of East winds," says, '-Such winds 

 blowing over a moist surface, like that, for instance, of the 

 human body, tend to reduce the temperature of that sur- 

 face to the temperature of evaporation, which in this case 

 is much below that of the air itself. In licking up the 

 moisture — that is, in causing its evaporation — a large 

 amount of heat is rendered latent. This heat must be taken 

 from something, and, in point of fact, our bodies are, and 

 must be, atmost its entire source. A cold and dry wind, 

 therefore, cools the surface of our bodies, not simply by 

 enveloping them in a cool medium, and warming itself by 

 conduction at their expense. It does this of course ; but, being 

 dry as well as cold, it does it with less activity than it would if 

 moist and cold — damp air being a better conductor than dry air. 

 It is chiefly, however, by the other mode that dry cold winds 

 abstract heat from our bodies, — that is, by using their heat in 

 the cr nversion of moisture into vapour. The heat so used 

 becomes latent, and is for the time being lost. It does not raise 

 the temperature of the air in immediate contact with the body. 

 On the contrary, that air itself, low as its temperature may be, 

 gives up some of its heat to become latent in the vaporised 

 moisture, and probably gives up more than it gains 

 from our bodies by conduction, so that the temperature of the 

 film of air actually in contact with our bodies may be, and pro- 

 bably is, a little lower than the temperature of the bulk. The 

 quantity of heat which our bodies lose in this way is far from 

 insignificant, and the loss cannot be sustained without involving 

 extensive and important physiological actions, and without in- 

 fluencing the state of health. In feeble and delicate constitu- 

 tions, the resources of nature prove insufficient to meet the 

 demand made on them, and a condition of disease then ensues." 

 — (Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society, vol. ii. 

 p. 80.) 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Proceedings of the Linnean Society of Neiu South Wales, vol. 

 viii. part iv. contains : — Occasional notes on plants indigenous 

 in the neighbourhood of Sydney, by E. Haviland. — Tempera- 

 ture of the body of Echidna hystrix, by N. de Miklouho- 

 Maclay. — Plagiostomata of the Pacific, part 2, by N. de 

 Miklouho-Maclay and W T . Macleay, F.L.S. — Notes on some 

 reptiles of the Herbert River, by W. Macleay, F.L.S. — Notes 

 on some customs of the aborigines of the Albert district, by C. 



S. Wilkinson, F.G.S., F.L.S. — On the brain of Grey's whale, 

 by W. A. Haswell, M.A., B.Sc. — On a new genus of fish from 

 Port Jackson, by W. Macleay, F.L.S. — Fishes from the South 

 Sea Islands, by Charles De Vis, M.A. — Some results of trawl- 

 fishing outside Port Jackson, by W. Macleay, F. L, S. — The 

 "Barometro Araucano " from the Chiloe Islands, by N. de 

 Miklouho-Maclay. — Far southern localities of New South Wales 

 plants, by Baron Sir F. von Miiller, K.C.M.G., F.R.S.— De- 

 scription of Australian Micro-lepidoptera, part 10, by E. Mey- 

 rick, B.A. — Notes on the geology of the southern portion of the 

 Clarence River basin, by Prof. Stephens, M.A. — Dimensions 

 of some gigantic land-tortoises, by J. C. Cox, M.D., F.L.S. 



The Zeitschrift fur wiisensckaftliche Zoologie, vol. xl. part I, 

 contains : — P. M. Fischer, upon the structure of Opisthotrema 

 cochleare, nov. genus et spec. : a contribution to the anatoi 

 the Trematoda. — F. Blochmann, remarks upon some Flagellates. 

 — A. Korotneff, the budding of Anchinia. — L. Ddderlein, studies 

 of Japanese Lithistidae. — J. Brock, the male of Sepk 

 lineolata, d'Orb. (Sepiola lineolata, Quoy and Gaim ), with gene- 

 ral remarks upon the family of Sepioladae. — A. Gruber, upon 

 the nucleus and nuclear-fission in the Protozoa. — O. E. Irnhof, 

 results of a study of the pelagic fauna of the Swiss fresh-water 

 lakes and tarns. 



Part 2 contains : — A. Kolliker, the embryonic germinal 

 layer, and tissues (with a postscript). — C. R. Hoffmann, con- 

 tribution to the history of the development of reptiles. — P. 

 Langerhans, the worm-fauna of Madeira. — F. Ahlborn, (i)upon 

 the origin and exit of the cerebral nerves in Petromyzon ; 

 (2) upon the segmentation of the body in Vertebrates ; (3) upon 

 the importance of the pineal gland (conarium, epiphysis cerebri). 

 — C. Emery, study of Luciola italica, L. 



The Morphologisches Jahrbuch, vol. ix. part 3, contains the 

 following : — G. Ruge, contributions to the study of the haemal 

 system in man. — J. E. V. Boas, a contribution to the morpho- 

 logy of the nails, claws, and hoofs of the Mammalia. — M. 

 Davidoff, on the variations of the' plexus lumbosacralis of Sola- 

 mandra maculosa. — O. Biitschli, remarks upon the gastraea 

 theory. — C. Gegenbaur, on the accessory tongue ( Plica fimbriala) 

 of man and other mammals. 



Vol. ix. part4contains : — M. Sagemehl, contributionstothecom- 

 parative anatomy of fishes, ii. , some remarks upon the membranes 

 of the brain in bony fishes. — P. Lesshaft, upon the muscles and 

 fascia; of the female perineum. — H. Klaatsch, contributions 

 to a more exact knowledge of the Campanularia. — G. Baur, the 

 carpus of the Artiodactyles : a morphogenetic study. — G. Gegen- 

 baur, contributions to the anatomy of the mammary organs in 

 Echidna. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 Edinburgh 

 Mathematical Society, July 11. — Dr. R. M. Ferguson in 

 the chair. — Prof. Chrystal contributed three papers on the appli- 

 cation of the multiplication of matrices to prove a theorem in 

 spherical geometry, on the discrimination of conies enveloped by 

 rays joining the corresponding points of two projective ranges, 

 and on the partition of numbers ; in connection with the second 

 of these he indicated a solution he had received in a note from 

 Signor Cremona of Rome. — Dr. Alexander Macfarlane gave 

 illustrations of a common error in geological calculations ; and 

 Mr. A. Y. Fraser explained two solutions (by himself and Mr. 

 R. E. Allardice) of a problem of arrangements entitled La Tour 

 d'Hanoi, which appeared in the Journal des Debuts for December 

 27, 1883. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, July 28. — M. Rolland, President, in 

 the chair. — On the rule of Newton as demonstrated by Syl- 

 vester ; a sequel to the two previous communications, by M. de 

 Jonquieres. Here two cases of indeterminants are dealt with : 

 (1) That in which several consecutive terms are wanting in the 

 equation, the absence of one or more non-consecutive terms 

 giving rise to no uncertainty ; (2) that in which one or more of 

 the quadratic functions intervening in the operation are identi- 

 cally mil. —A study of the deviations of the pendulum at Fort 

 Loreto, Puebla, Mexico, two illustrations, by M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye. These observations were conducted by means of a 

 multiplying seismograph set up in connection with the expedi- 

 tion sent out to observe the transit of Venus. Their object was 



