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NATURE 



[May 31, 1877 



los^iqitc for 1875 is enough to show that it more than 

 sustains the high character of the pubHcatiors of previous 

 years. The thunderstorms and hailstorms of France for 

 1875 are elaborately and ably discussed, and to these 

 discussions are appended no fewer than twenty-six 

 memoirs on different meteorological subjects, by such 

 well-known meteorologists as the two Becquerels, R. P. 

 Denza, Brault, Crova, Moritz, Belgrande, Lemoine, 

 Raulin, Coumbary, Brito-Capello, and Fron. Several of 

 the more important of these memoirs not yet noticed by 

 us, we shall bring before our readers on an early occasion, 

 particularly those dealing with the climatology of Asia 

 Minor and of Portugal, and with the rainfall of Algiers. 



Weather Maps in Austrai.ia.— Mr. Russell, of the 

 -Sydney Observatory, began a few months ago to issue 

 daily weather maps for Australia. The plan of pre- 

 paring the maps, which possesses some novel features, is 

 briefly this : — There is a block of type metal with an 

 electro of the coast -line and mountains fixed on it, and at 

 the position of each station there is a slot in the metal 

 block for the placing of the wind and weather symbols 

 and figures which show the force of the wind, height of 

 the barometer, and the temperature. The sea symbols, 

 arrows, curves, words descriptive of the state of the 

 weather, and in short everything which may be re- 

 quired on the map as varying from day to day, are 

 glued on to the face of the metal block and held so fast 

 that printing from an ordinary letter-press may be begun 

 at once. The whole map is prepared in about two hours, 

 and after a few copies are printed off for the use of the 

 observatory, the block is sent to the Herald newspaper 

 and by them stereotyped with their other matter. Copies 

 of several weeks' weather maps, thus prepared and printed, 

 have been forwarded to us. A note in manuscript on the 

 map is sent to the Htrald every day giving remarks on 

 the weather of that day, and forecasts of coming weather. 

 A system of exchange has been already effected with 

 Melbourne, will soon be completed with Adelaide, and it 

 is expected that all the other colonies will join in the 

 effort to make the system as complete as possible so as to 

 secure for this region of the globe effective warnings of 

 coming storms. The colonial governments will no doubt 

 see that this system of weather telegraphy, so admirable 

 in itself and calculated to be highly beneficial to large 

 public interests, will be furnished with the funds necessary 

 for its efficient maintenance and further development. 



Stoneyhurst Meteorological and Magnetical 

 Observations, 1876.— This publication maintains the 

 high character of its predecessors for the care and ex- 

 haustiveness with which the results are worked out and 

 detailed in each of the monthly reports, and its value is 

 further enhanced by the notes and tables of agricultural 

 and horticultural results which have now been introduced. 

 We are glad to see that observations of cirrus clouds are 

 sent monthly to Dr. Hildebrandsson, of the Upsal Ob- 

 servatory ; and we hope that, from the great importance 

 of these observations in questions affecting atmospheric 

 circulation, Father Perry will be enabled to add them to 

 his future monthly reports. It was pointed out by us 

 last year that in discussing the hours of occurrence of 

 the minimum temperatures, the double inflexion m the 

 curve which was obtained was solely due to the adoption 

 in the discussion, of the civil day, beginning with i a.m., 

 and that while the civil day must be employed in discus- 

 sing the maximum temperatures, the astronomical day 

 must be employed for the minimum temperatures. The 

 minimum temperatures have now been discussed afresh, 

 the astronomical day being adopted, with the result that 

 there is only one inflexion in the time curve of the mini- 

 mum temperature, the hour of lowest daily temperature 

 falling in the annual curve between 4 and 5 a.m. 



Climate and Infant Mortality in Tasmania. — 

 A carefully prepared paper on this subject, bv Mr. F.. C. 



Nowell, Government Statistician, has been published in 

 the Report of the Royal Society of Tas7nania for 1875, in 

 which the statistics for Tasmania are compared with 

 those for South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and New 

 South Wales for the five years 1869-73. Among the in- 

 teresting results arrived at, the most important are these 

 two, viz., first, the average number of deaths of infants 

 under one year to 100 births for each colony was — South 

 Australia i4'24, Victoria ir86, Queensland ii'07. New 

 South Wales 9'57, and Tasmania 9'45 ; and secondly, the 

 proportions which the deaths of children under five years 

 of age bore to 100 deaths at all ages were — South Australia 

 54'i7, Queensland 46-33, Victoria 45'5o, New South Wales 

 42' 14, and Tasmania 28-08. These interesting and in- 

 structive results, showing the advantages possessed by 

 Tasmania in regard to the low rate of mortality among 

 infants and children, Mr. Nowell considers to be chiefly due 

 to the remarkable salubrity of its climate. It is highly pro- 

 bable that it is to the climate that this low infant mortality 

 must be ascribed, seeing that the suinmer heat of Tasmania 

 is not nearly so great as that of the other colonies, and 

 consequently the mortality from bowel complaints may 

 be expected to be much less, whilst in all these colonies 

 the temperature does not fall so low in the winter months 

 as to prove so seriously fatal to the very young, as is the 

 case in such climates as that of Great Britain. Mr. Nowell 

 would do a very valuable piece of work if he extended the 

 inquiry he has so well begun, in the directions we have 

 indicated, so as to ascertain the particular diseases, the 

 mortality from which is unusually low in Tasmania, and 

 the seasonal distribution of the deaths from different 

 diseases. 



ON THE PROPER LENGTH OF THE GYM- 

 NASIUM SWING 



"|\ /T ANY of the evolutions performed upon the gymna- 

 ■'■•-'- slum swing can be made equally well upon swings 

 of any length ; with others it is different. When the 

 evolution is such that the swing in one direction marks 

 a period of exertion, while the return is comparatively a 

 period of rest, then the evolution cannot be equally well 

 performed with swings of all length. 



One of the most useful exercises is made as follows : — 

 Reaching up and grasping the rings let the swing be 

 started, and at the beginning of a forward swing the feet 

 are thrown above the head, the legs being flexed. As the 

 forward swing closes the legs are extended and the arms 

 flexed, the body being thus thrown upward and outward. 

 Here, also, by some practice, one learns to accomplish 

 the swing with a minimum of exertion, which a good gym- 

 nast always does ; nevertheless, the number of swings 

 before exhaustion takes place varies with the length of 

 the ropes, as is shown in the following series of experi- 

 ments made upon myself : — 



Niplier. 



/ = distance from point of suspension to centre of hands ; 

 / = time of one complete oscillation (forward and back) ; 

 ;/ = No of oscillations before exhaustion. 



It will be observed that n reaches a maximum where / = 

 about 8-5 feet, or where the time of a full swing is between 

 3-9 and 4-0 seconds. 



