594 



NATURE 



\_AligUSt 21, \\ 



the summer temperature in general is only a few degre, 

 above the calculated ; Germany is crossed in July by the 

 isotherm of 68°, and Britain by that of 59° ; but the differ- 

 ence in vegetation is not caused by a difference in mean 

 temperature of 9°, but by the difference in the amount of 

 sunshine. 



Thus we come to the conclusion that a mixed climate, 

 with relatively mild winters (the anomaly of temperature 

 for January is for Germany about 19" on the 50th parallel 

 of latitude) and warm sunny summers, is the best 

 suited for the vegetation of the temperate zone. 



Flushing M. BERGSMAN 



NOTES 

 The International Congress of Hygiene will sit at the Hague 

 from to-day till the 27th inst. Papers will be read by 

 Messrs. Pasteur of Paris, Finkelberg of Bonn, Stephen Smith of 

 New York, Marcy of Paris,' W. H. Corfield of London, Emile 

 Tielat of Paris, J. Crocq of Brussels, and A. Corradi of Pavia. 



The International Medical Congress at Copenhagen has been 

 a great success. The next meeting will be held at Washington 

 in September 1887. On behalf of the Collective Investigation 

 Committee of the British Medical Association, Sir William Gull 

 delivered an interesting lecture on the International Collective 

 Investigation of Disease. A resolution for the establishment of 

 a Permanent International Committee for the Collective Inves- 

 tigation of Disease was received with acclamation. 



In an interesting descriptive article in the Times of yesterday 

 on the Health Exhibition Biological Laboratory, the writer 

 makes some forcible remarks on the position of research in this 

 country. "Just as the advantages of such an institution as the 

 projected Marine Biological Laboratory were illustrated and 

 brought home to the mind by the International Fisheries Ex- 

 hibition of 1883, so the present Health Exhibition should, as 

 one outcome of its usefulness, lead to the foundation of some 

 such institution for the extended and systematic study of the 

 minute organisms which there is reason to believe are the 

 causes of many forms of disease in plants, in animals, and in 

 man. In Germany the State, recognising the value of the 

 labours of Dr. Koch, contributes, though not very largely, to 

 the prosecution of researches which give promise of invaluable 

 results to all mankind. France, too, has acknowledged the 

 practical character of the benefits which have in some measure 

 already resulted from the experiments of M. Pasteur. In 

 this country, where the State endowment of research is 

 hardly admitted in principle, and where we have, perhaps too 

 long, been content to leave all scientific research which was not 

 directly remunerative to be pursued, with few attempts at or- 

 ganisation, by the few private individuals who, having the 

 means, care to devote time and money to such objects, students 

 of biological science are wondering whether the Royal College 

 of Surgeons will apply some portion of the splendid bequest of 

 Sir Erasmus Wilson to the purposes of research in this compara- 

 tively little-known but interesting field of inquiry. Without 

 entering upon debatable ground, it may be said that in the small 

 model laboratory for biological research, fitted up under the 

 direction and now under the charge of Mr. Watson Cheyne at 

 the Health Exhibition, the public may see and learn enough to 

 convince the most sceptical of the vital importance of the know- 

 ledge which it is the purpose of such observations and experi- 

 ments as are there exemplified to obtain." 



Prof. G. F. Armstrong, of the Yorkshire College, Leeds, and 

 formerly of Montreal University, writes to the Times of .Men-lay 

 last, drawing attention to the liberal provision made for technical 

 education in America. The Americans, he maintain.-, are a 

 generation ahead of us in this respect. At the same time lie 



draws attention to the danger of neglecting the preliminary 

 general culture which is absolutely necessary as a sound founda- 

 tion for any special training. 



It is worthy of note that the Roman Catholic Church of St. 

 John, built by the Marquis of Bute, at Old Cumnock, Ayrshire, 

 has recently been fitted throughout with the electric light under 

 the personal superintendence of Mr. William Massey, of Twy- 

 ford. There are in all about seventy glow lamps of twenty 

 candles each, and the effect is very perfect, the architectural 

 features of the building having been carefully studied and the 

 lamps arranged with due regard to the religious character of the 

 place. The necessary current is supplied by means of a dynamo 

 and steam-engine placed in a small house hidden among the 

 trees of the churchyard, where it is also intended to generate 

 electricity for working the organ bellows. 



The inauguration of the Jouffroy statue at Besancon took 

 place on Aug. 17. According to the French notion the Marquis 

 de Jouffroy is believed to have been the real inventor of steam 

 navigation, and the precursor of Fulton. M. de Lesseps was 

 present at the ceremony. 



The effect of cheap interior telegraphy has been felt most 

 happily in France, where the number of telegrams has multiplied 

 in the most extraordinary manner. Last year there were 58 

 telegrams for each 100 inhabitants. 



A French surveying vessel, the Hoiri Riviire, so called after 

 the great explorer who lost his life in Tonquin, is to be sent to 

 the higher waters of the Songkoi or Red River, not only to keep 

 order among the pirates there, but also to survey the districts 

 adjoining, and correct the inexactness of existing maps of the 

 course of the river. As the ancient Khmer kingdom, Cambodia, 

 has now been practically annexed to France, we may soon expect 

 that the centre and eastern coast of the Indo-Chinese peninsula 

 will be as well known to us as British India now is, for the 

 French spare no money or pains to study their colonial posses- 

 sions thoroughly. 



At the last meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, M. F. A. 

 Forel described some peculiar luminous phenomena frequently 

 observed by him and others during the spring and summer of 

 this year at Morges on the Lake of Geneva, and especially on 

 the Alps. When the sun was half veiled in white vapours, the 

 clouds at Morges presented a reddish appearance at a distance 

 of 20° or 25° from the solar disk. But the light effects were far 

 more vivid when seen in the pure atmosphere of the Alpine 

 1- ; and in clear weather, that is to say, almost every day 

 during the last fortnight, they were distinctly observed in the 

 upland valley of Saas-Fee, Canton of Valais. The sun ap- 

 peared as if encircled by a silvery white halo, very bright and 

 lustrous, somewhat similar in appearance to the weird glow 

 111 the first phase of the crepuscular displays so frequently 

 observed during last winter. This halo, whose radius may per- 

 haps have measured some 12", was itself surrounded by a broad, 

 reddish corona with badly defined limits, whose orange or violet 

 tints blended on the inner side with the silver halo, and out- 

 wardly with the azure sky. In breadth this corona was about 

 equal to the radius of the halo. For a considerable distance 

 from the sun the sky beyond these effects was of a deeper blue 

 than usual, as was evident especially in the evening, when the 

 setting sun disappearing behind the snowy Alpine crests seemed 

 to impart to the western regions the shifting hues of a stoi my 

 sky. One might fancy the sun visited by a great dust-cloud, 

 but for the fact that, beyond these displays of colour, it was as 

 luminous as ever, the firmament itself as serene, with deep azure 

 tints, the transparency of which nothing seemed to impair. The 

 phenomenon attained its greatest intensity on July 23, a lovely 

 midsummer day, when it was also observed at Sand-Alp in the 



