34 
or fully four inches in excess of Ventnor. While the 
rainfall of the comparatively low-lying coasts of the Isle 
of Wight and Hants is about 30°00 inches, the amount 
along the coast from Selsey Bill eastward as far as 
Folkestone is two inches less, but on the coast of Devon, 
from Lyme Regis to Start Point, it rises to from 33’0 to | 
37°6 inches—figures of some importance in their relations 
to the sanataria of these coasts. 
One of the most interesting results disclosed by these 
forty years’ observations is the successive gradual increase 
of the rainfall decade by decade, the means being | 
respectively, beginning with the decade 1840-49, 25°72, | 
This feature of the rain- | 
28°45, 29°16, and 31°11 inches. 
fall holds also in several other districts of the United 
Kingdom ; whereas on the other hand other districts pre- 
sent a very different distribution during these forty years, 
that of some districts being just the reverse of Ventnor. 
The mean rainfall of Ventnor for the twenty years ending 
1859 being 2708 inches, and for the twenty years ending 
1879 being 30°14 inches, points to the necessity there is 
that care be taken to employ the same terms of years in 
comparing the rainfall of different districts. 
The mean temperature for the forty years is 51°6; the 
coldest month being January, 41°°9, and the warmest 
August, 62°77. As January may be taken to represent the 
coldest months of the year, or the season when the climate 
of the Undercliff affords the greatest advantages to 
invalids, the following comparison of its temperature with 
that of other places in the South of England may be 
stated :—It exceeds the temperature of Sidmouth by 0%2; 
Bournemouth by 06; Osborne by 1°'2 ; and Folkestone, 
Eastbourne, Brighton, and Clifton by 1°°7; but on the 
other hand its January temperature is lower than that of 
Torquay by 1°'1 ; the extreme south-west of Cornwall by 
2°°6 ; and Scilly by 4°4. In this connection it is to be 
noted, as already pointed out, that along the coast to east- 
ward the rainfall is less, and the climate therefore some- 
what dryer; and to westward the rainfall is larger and the 
climate therefore wetter ; and this latter remark applies 
with increased force as respects all places to the westward 
of Prawle Point. 
The climatic advantages of the Undercliff, due to its 
southern insular position and distance eastward from the 
Land’s End, by which the force of the west-south-west 
winds are much weakened before arriving there, are per- 
haps most apparent on examining the columns of mini- 
mum night temperatures. In this remark we refer to the 
general teaching of the figures, which indicate a remark- 
able protection against the inroads of low temperatures, 
with their malignant influence as respects a large class 
of invalids; and not to such singular temperature phe- 
nomena as the occurrence of 17°°0 on January 22 last, 
during the great snowstorm of that period, for if great or 
exclusive weight be given to such temperatures the winter | 
climate of the Undercliff must yield to that of many 
insular situations in the north-west of Scotland. 
As compared with London the mean temperature of 
the Undercliff is 2°-4 less in July, 0°8 in August; but in | 
September it is 07, and in October 2°2 higher. In 
other words the heat of summer is greatly mitigated on 
the south shores of the Isle of Wight, and prolonged 
further into the autumn months, thus greatly extending 
the time during which invalids might sit out in the open 
air with impunity. 
Dr. Whitehead’s book is handsomely bound, carefully 
got up and printed, and the tables are introduced to the 
reader by a well-written and sensible preface. When the 
work, however, passes into a second edition, one or two 
improvements might be introduced. A table of monthly 
mean temperatures of the several years might be given 
similar to that of the rainfall on pp. 29, 30. In this 
edition no mean temperatures of the months are in- 
cluded, and to ascertain these the whole of the tem- 
peratures must be copied out from pp. § to and the 
22 
#2) 
NATURE 
[ Mov. 10, 1881 
averages struck, The table of monthly barometric means 
requires careful revision, several of them showing trans- 
posed and inverted figures, while a few others require to 
be compared with the original observations from which © 
they are calculated—transpositions and inversions of 
figures not being so readily seen in barometric as in ther- 
mometric and rainfall averages. The work, however, is 
an exceedingly valuable addition towards a correct know- 
ledge of the climatologies of the South of England, which 
holds out to invalids the best winter refuges of the British 
Islands. 
INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS 
Nee second session of the International Geological 
Congress was recently held at Bologna, commencing 
| on Monday, September 26. About 200 geologists were 
present, but only eight of them represented the English- 
speaking nations. These were: Prof. James Hall (repre- 
senting the United States), Dr. T. Sterry Hunt (Canada), 
W. T. Blanford (Geological Survey of India), W. Topley 
(Geological Survey of England), Prof. T. McK. Hughes, 
J. A. Phillips, E. B. Tawney, and Col. Tabuteau. 
The arrangements made for the Congress were admir- 
able in every respect, thanks to the energy and forethought 
of Prof. Capellini and M. Giordano. 
The first session of the Congress was held at Paris in 
1878. At that meeting certain geologists were nominated 
to organise committees in each country to discuss and re- 
port upon the various questions requiring attention. These 
are classed in three main divisions: (1) the unification of 
geological nomenclature (of this committee Prof. Hughes 
was nominated president for England) ; (2) the unification 
of colours, signs, &c., employed in geological maps and 
sections (of this Prof. Ramsay was nominated president for 
England) ; (3) nomenclature of species ; on this subject no 
action has been taken in England. Prof. Hughes’ com- 
mittee has been for some time at work, and notices of its 
progress have at various times appeared in this journal. 
The Committee on Geological Maps was started in Eng- 
land much later, but a report of its work was read at 
the York meeting of the British Association. At that 
meeting the Association gave a grant of 25/. in aid of the 
proposed International Map of Europe. 
Some preliminary meetings were held at Bologna on 
Sunday, September 25, but the real work of the week 
commenced next day, when the Congress was formally 
received by the Syndic and Municipality of Bologna. At 
the opening meeting the chair was occupied by M. Berti, 
Minister of Agriculture and Commerce, who had been 
deputed to represent the King. The chairman was sup- 
ported by M. Q. Sella, honorary president, and M. Ed. 
Hebert, ex-president. The bureau was formed as fol- 
lows :—President : Prof. Capellini; Vice-presidents, repre- 
senting various nations, amongst them—J. Hall (United 
States), Sterry Hunt (Canada), W. T. Blanford (India), 
Prof. Hughes (Great Britain), Prof. Daubrée (France), 
Prof. Torell (Sweden), &c.; General Secretary: F. 
Giordano; Secretaries: Bornemann, Delaire, Fon- 
tannes, Pelar, Taramelli, Topley, Uzielli, and Zezi. 
The Congress had offered prizes for the best essays 
upon the colouring, &c., of maps. These were awarded 
to MM. Heim of Ziirich, Carpinski of St. Petersburg, 
Maillard of Lausanne. 
At the conclusion of this meeting the Congress ad- 
journed to the excellent new Geological Museum which 
has been formed under the direction of Prof. Capellini. 
The Via Zamboni, in which the Museum is situated, was 
lined by representatives of all the ancient trade guilds 
of Bologna, each with its banner. M. Sella took especial 
pains to explain to the American and English visitors 
the history and present position of these interesting old 
societies, 
The first sittings of the Congress were devoted to a 
