JuNE 15, 1899] 
NATURE 
a7, 
The results of astronomical and meteorological observations are 
recorded, and mention is made of the latest addition to the 
equipment of the observatory—namely, a seismograph, which 
has been placed in the basement, upon the solid rock which 
forms the foundation of the observatory. The instrument re- 
corded a disturbance on September 17, 1898, probably having 
its origin in an earthquake near Tashkent, and it also regis- 
tered movements produced by an earthquake at Port-au-Prince 
on December 29. Mr. Plummer hopes that during the year he 
will be able to trace the effects of tidal motion in the estuaries 
of the Dee and Mersey upon the seismograph in the observatory. 
FroM an intemperate article in the /ouwrnal of Indian 
Engineering we learn of a regrettable state of feeling in Hong 
KKong concerning the comparative efficiencies of the Kowloon 
Observatory, of which Dr. Doberck is director, and the Jesuit 
Observatories of Manila and Zi-ka-wei. The Jesuit Fathers 
have long sent telegraphic messages connected with weather 
forecasts and storm warnings to the Spanish Consuls in Hong 
Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, who have forwarded the 
intelligence to the various newspaper offices in the respective 
districts, where they have been published for the benefit of the 
public at large. It is contended on behalf of the Jesuits that 
this voluntary service was of the greatest assistance to the 
mercantile marine and commerce of those ports: that the work 
was well organised and accurate and deserving of support and 
encouragement. But it is also alleged that the Secretary of 
War of the United States has peremptorily forbidden the 
despatch of these meteorological telegrams to any place outside 
the Philippines, and that this action has been put into operation 
onan appeal from Dr. Doberck. The charge uttered against 
Dr. Doberck is that he has used his influence with the U.S. 
Weather Bureau to move the Secretary of War (now the governing 
authority in Manila) to suppress the Jesuits’ correct telegrams 
in order that his own forecasts may pass unchallenged. But 
surely the public can test the accuracy and value of weather 
forecasts, with or without any assistance from the Manila 
authorities. It is ill-judged policy to limit the distribution of 
any scientific information ; and as in the present case the work 
is done voluntarily by the Jesuit Fathers, it is difficult to under- 
stand why the issue of the weather despatches has been forbidden. 
DurinG the last week of May, Mr. Walter Garstang, of the 
Marine Biological Association, carried out the second of his 
periodical surveys of the biological and physical conditions of 
the western region of the English Channel. The steam-tug 
Stormcock was again employed, and the same stations were 
visited as in February, viz., mid-Channel (50 fathoms), Ushant 
(60 fathoms), Parsons Bank, 50 miles W.N.W. from Ushant 
(75 fathoms), and Mounts Bay (45 fathoms). The distribution 
of temperature presented several noteworthy features. At the 
Ushant station, in spite of the depth of water, the temperature 
was found to be uniformly high from top to bottom; but at all 
other stations a surface layer of warm water overlay a deeper 
mass of cooler water. This warm surface layer was 7 fathoms 
deep in Mounts Bay, 10 to 15 fathoms deep in mid-Channel, 
and 15 to 20 fathoms deep over Parsons Bank. The temper- 
ature at 5 fathoms depth was 5370 F. in mid-Channel, 53°:2 in 
Mounts Bay, 54°1 off Ushant, and 54°°5 at Parsons Bank. 
Rich collections of plankton were made at all stations in a 
variety of ways. The apparatus employed consisted of a surface 
tow-net, a fine vertical net after Hensen’s pattern and a pump 
and 40 fathoms of hose for quantitative work, and a new form 
of opening and closing net for towing horizontally at any 
required depth. By means of this net many interesting features 
in the vertical distribution of plankton at the different stations 
were brought to light. Among the more interesting forms 
captured during the cruise may be mentioned the medusa 
NO. 1546, VOL. 60] 
Fybocodon prolifer (mid-Channel, and Mounts Bay, 40 fathoms), 
the siphonophore 4ga/mopsis (Parsons Bank, upper strata), the 
copepod Jséas clavzpes (Ushant, 3 fathoms), 7orzarza, the larva 
of Balanoglossus (Parsons Bank, surface), and the eggs and 
larvae of the pilchard (Ushant, 69 fathoms, and at the surface 
at all stations except Mounts Bay). 
THE director of the National Observatory of Athens has pub- 
lished (1898) a first large quarto volume of its 4za/s, containing 
(1) an elaborate discussion of the meteorological observations 
made from 1839 to 1893, and (2) the detailed observations for 
the years 1894 and 1895; for the latter year, observations are 
given for every hour, and means are calculated for daily, ten- 
daily, monthly and yearly periods. The present observatory 
was regularly established in 1840, at the expense of Baron 
Sinas, and he also supplied it with the necessary instruments. 
The first director was Prof. G. Bouris, and the present director 
is Prof D. Eginitis. As now constituted, the observatory is 
divided into three sections: astronomy, meteorology and 
geodynamics, with a separate chief for each service, under the 
general superintendence of the director. From this long series 
of observations we note that the maximum temperature recorded 
was 105°°3, and the mean of the maxima 100°'2 ; the minimum 
was 19°°6, and the mean of the minima 291. The average 
yearly rainfall (1858-94) was 16 inches; the driest month is 
July, and the wettest months November and December. The 
number of rainy days averages 99 in the year. In addition to 
the statements referring to observations made with instruments 
during the present century. the author gives, under each section, 
some interesting quotations relating to the ideas and observ- 
ations of ancient Greek and Latin writers. Many characteristics 
of the climate of Greece are contained in almanacs dating from 
the fifth century B.c., and they are frequently found to confirm 
the results deduced from modern observations. 
WE have received from Prof. H. Mohn, Director of the 
Norwegian Meteorological Service, a pamphlet on the 
employment of the boiling point thermometer in determining 
the pressure cf the air and the correction for gravity. 
As recommended by recent meteorological conferences, the 
correction for gravity is now generally applied or quoted 
in meteorological tables. But the correction calculated accord- 
ing to formule differs more or less from that determined by 
actual pendulum experiments, and there are comparatively few 
meteorological stations where such experiments have been made. 
It is therefore important for meteorologists to find another 
means of determining this correction, and in the work in ques- 
tion Prof. Mohn publishes the results of experiments made at 
a number of land stations; and he shows that the correction 
for gravity may be very accurately determined by the improved 
thermometers used in conjunction with a mercurial barometer, 
the difference of the reduced readings being the correction ree 
quired. It will be interesting to find whether the methods 
proposed could be employed at sea; at all events, a compar- 
atively smooth sea would be necessary for the experiments. 
AN ‘‘ Annual Review of Physics,” by M. Lucien Poincaré, 
is a valuable feature of the Revue générale des Sctences for May 
30. It contains a summary of the chief discoveries made by 
physicists during the past year, classified under their various 
headings. Speaking of progress generally, it is pointed out that 
our knowledge of physics has not been revolutionised by any 
epoch-making discoveries like those of Rontgen and Zeeman, 
but that the year has been spent chiefly in extending and 
completing the knowledge of known phenomena. 
THE latest researches on the propagation of malaria, by 
Prof. Grassi, in conjunction with Bignami and Bastianelli, show 
that all the species of the genus Avopheles hitherto observed by 
