AuvcustT 10, 1899] 
may be devoid of danger. Explosions of coal-dust alone appear 
to be impossible of production by electricity, unless indeed 
specially dangerous classes of coal-dust behave differently from 
those tried. 
A copy of a paper by Dr. J. S. Haldane, F.R.S., and Mr. 
F. G. Meachem, containing observations on the relation of 
underground temperature and spontaneous fires in the coal to 
oxidation and to the causes which favour it, has been received 
from the Institution of Mining Engineers. The conclusions to 
which the results of the investigations have led the authors are 
as follows: (1) A very large amount of heat, sufficient often 
(if not otherwise absorbed) to heat the air-current to boiling 
point, is always being formed in a mine, and this heat is 
almost entirely produced by oxidation of material in the mine. 
(2) The heat formed greatly exceeds in amount, as a rule, 
the heat withdrawn by the air-current, so that the temper- 
ature of the mine, or of some parts of it, is above that of the 
strata. (3) The disappearance of oxygen and liberation of heat 
in the mine are probably due, largely at least, to oxidation of 
iron pyrites ; and the liberation of carbonic acid in the mine is 
probably due to the action on carbonates of the sulphuric acid 
thus formed. (4) Coal, when exposed to air, absorbs oxygen, 
and may also give off carbonic acid and fire-damp, and a very 
small amount of carbonic oxide. (5) The rate of absorption of 
oxygen by coal varies directly with the proportion of oxygen 
present in the air; and as the temperature of the coal increases 
in arithmetical progression the rate of oxygen-absorption in- 
creases in geometrical progression, the ratio of increase (for the 
coal experimented upon) being about 1/10 for every 4° Fahr. of 
increase in temperature. 
THE engineering papers publish particulars of the series of 
trials made at Liverpool last week of self-propelled vehicles 
suitable for heavy traffic. The chief object of the trials was to 
encourage the development of types of heavy motor wagons 
suitable for trade and agricultural requirements. The trial runs 
were made from Liverpool, over distances of from thirty to forty 
miles, on two successive days. All vehicles were required to 
traverse the prescribed routes without alternative, and to per- 
form other manceuvres. The distance between any two of the 
depots provided for the supply of water did not exceed twelve 
miles. Steam was used as the motive power in the six vehicles 
entered for competition this year. Oil was used for fuel in 
three, coal in two, and coke in one. Electricity and oil motors 
were unrepresented in the competition. The following awards 
were made by the judges:—In Class B, for vehicles having a 
minimum load, 2 tons; maximum tare, 2 tons ; minimum level 
platform area, 50 square feet, a gold medal to the Steam Carriage 
and Wagon Company (Thorneycroft), Chiswick, and_ silver 
medals to Bayley’s, Limited, and the Lancashire Steam Motor 
Company. In Class D, for vehicles with a minimum load of 64 
tons ; maximum tare, 4 tons ; minimum level platform area, 110 
square feet, the gold medal was awarded to the Steam Carriage 
and Wagon Company (Thorneycroft). 
A CoMMITTEE of the British Association was appvinted in 
1896 to take any possible measures to secure uniformity in the 
pages of scientific transactions and serials, so that parts of 
various publications can be bound together by those interested 
in particular subjects. The Committee has already issued one 
report, and has since been taking steps to bring before the 
various societies which publish Proceedings and Transactions 
the advisability of bringing their publications into harmony, so 
far as size of paper is concerned, with the standard sizes which 
already prevail in a great majority of scientific journals and 
almost uniformly in the case of those longest established. As 
the result of the inquiries the Committee has issued a circular 
NO. 1554, VOL. 60] 
NATURE 351 
giving the dimensions of the standard octavo and standard 
quarto size recommended for scientific publications. It is 
strongly recommended that every article should always begin 
at the top of a right-hand page, even if that involves a blank 
left-hand page, so that a paper can be extracted from a 
journal without mutilating one or two others. 
THE Deutsche Seewarte has published a discussion of the 
storms experienced in the North Atlantic Ocean during the last 
week of January and the first weeks of February last. It will 
be remembered that it was during this exceptionally stormy 
period that the liners Pavonza and Bulgaria suffered so severely. 
The investigation shows that very unusual weather extended 
from the Rocky Mountains across the whole of the North 
Atlantic to the Ural Mountains, and that the storms over the 
British Islands and North-west Europe were accompanied by 
unusually high temperature, and blizzards occurred over the 
United States. The principal features of the storms were their 
great intensity and almost uninterrupted succession, and the 
period was characterised by the relatively southerly position of 
the zone in which the principal barometric minima occurred, and 
pursued the easterly direction in which they usually travel. The 
work has been prepared by Dr. E. Herrmann, and is illustrated 
by several charts. We understand that the Meteorological 
Council are also preparing for publication a more elaborate 
discussion of this stormy period. 
THE Central Physical Observatory and the Geographical 
Society of St. Petersburg sent up an unmanned balloon on 
March 24, with duly verified meteorograph. The balloon 
started about 8 a.m. ; in the course of an hour it had attained 
a height of 10 kilometres and was travelling at the rate of 75 
kilometres an hour, according to photogrammetric observations 
made at Pavlovsk Observatory. The balloon was not found 
until May 9, 700 kilometres to the east of St. Petersburg. The 
instruments were in good condition, but the trace had suffered 
from exposure to the weather. The legible portion showed that 
at starting the temperature was —3°'S F. ; at 3900 metres it 
had fallen to —29°°6, at 4925 metres to —41°°3, and at 6559 
metres to —60°'1 ; at 6878 metres the temperature was — 62°°9, 
while at the highest point shown by the curve, 7223 metres, the 
reading had risen to —61°°4. 
A REPORT on clock-rates and barometric pressure as illus- 
trated by the mean-time clock and three chronometers at Mare’s 
Island Observatory, together with a brief account of the observ- 
atory, is contributed to the Pud/icatéons of the Astronomical 
Society of the Pacific, No. 68, by Ensign Everett Hayden, of the 
U.S. Navy. The paper is illustrated by a diagram of the baro- 
meter-rate curve of the mean-time clock, and from this and 
other tables it is inferred that the best chronometers show a 
remarkably regular change of rate for differences of pressure, 
running about ‘tos. faster for a decrease of ‘10-inch of mean 
barometer. It is suggested that the rate curves of such chrono- 
meters should be drawn for a mean pressure of 30°00 inches, 
with similar curves to the right and left for each tenth lower and 
higher pressures, respectively, for, say, five-tenths of an inch, 
for the practical use of navigators. 
A LENGTHY paper on the influence of magnetism on the 
luminescence of gases has been contributed to the Budletin de 
Ja Classe des Sciences of the Belgian Academy (part 6), by M. 
A. de Hemptinne. The author has studied the action of mag- 
netism on tubes without electrodes excited by electric vibrations ; 
and he examines in succession the influence of the pressure of 
the gas, the length of the electric wave, the nature of the gas, 
and the influence of the medium. The paper concludes with 
theoretical considerations relating to the observed facts. 
