Oct. 25, 1877] 



NATURE 



557 



been established had quite justified by success the experiment of 

 their formation. The number of societies in union had increased 

 from twenty-one to twenty-five, and of members from 1,050 to 

 1,300. The change of name having been mentioned, the pro- 

 proposed issue of Transactions was spoken of. In response to 

 the council's appeal for funds, a liberal, though of course not as 

 yet suflicient, response had been made. There are at present 

 about 105 subscribers to the funds, which, after defraying the 

 expenses of the meetings, will be 'devoted to the publication of 

 Natural History Transactions for the county. The financial 

 statement showed a balance available for purposes of publication 

 of over 20/. Mr. Henry Chfton Sorby, F.R.S., of Sheffield, 

 was unanimously elected president. 



The Committee of the Chester Society o Natural Science 

 announces that in connection with the Gilchrist Educational 

 Trust, si.\ Popular Science Lectures will be given in the Town 

 Hall, Chester, on successive Tuesday evenings, commencing 

 Tuesday, November 6, by Ptof. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S., 

 Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.D., F.K.S., and Dr. William B. 

 Carpenter, C.B., F.R.S. The admission to each lecture is only 

 one penny. The Chester Society has founded a Kingsley 

 Memorial, which has taken the form of a number of prizes, 

 details concerning which will be found in our advertising 

 columns. 



The following is the title of the essay to which the Howard 

 Medal of the Statistical Society will be awarded in November, 

 1S7S, the essays to be sent in on or before June 30, 1S7S, 

 "The Effects of Health and Disease on Military and Naval 

 Operations." The council have decided to grant the sum of 

 20/. to the writer who may gain the "Howard Medal" in 

 November, 1S7S. 



M. DE FoNA'iELLE sends us an account of a balloon'ascent he 

 made on the iSth instant in the Hydrogoie. The departure took 

 place from the Champ de Mars at half-past three r. M. The balloon 

 at first was pushed by a gentle north-easterly wind blo%ving in 

 the direction of the valley of the Seine to an altitude of 600 

 metres, when it met with another aerial current coming from 

 north-west. The air was quite moist. The rays of the disap- 

 pearing sun covered the ground with a strong red colour, and 

 M. de Fonvielle suggests^that the planet Mars takes its reddish 

 shade owing to the large quantities of vapour disseminated in its 

 atmosphere. When the Hvi/roi^ciiew-as passing from the inferior 

 current to the superior it received a" sensible shock and vibrated 

 like a pendulum for some time. From 1,200 metres to 1,600 

 he found a wind blowing from the north-east like the first met 

 after starting. The air was cold and dry. The temperature, 

 when ascending, was 13° Cent, in the shade and at 1,600 meters 

 he found 3° Cent, undero. When landing at a quarter-past six 

 the thermometer gave 10° Cent, on the ground at Bonelle, about 

 forty kilometers from the Champ de Mars. During about twenty 

 minutes, having descended in the vicinity of land not above 300 

 metres, the balloon met a south-westerly^' wind which was 

 prevailing in the valleys of Bievre. That current of air was 

 obviously enough a modification of the principal wind in 

 consequence of the hilly character of the district. Such local 

 winds observed by meteorologists can lead to no practical 

 conclusions at all. If we consult the readings taken at the 

 stations of the International Service on October 18 at six p.m., 

 we find almost no two stations having the same wmd in 

 the Parisian district. The only wind worthy of note was 

 that shown by the direction of the clouds, and of which no 

 account was taken. M. de Fonvielle states he never met 

 in his many aerial journeys with circumstances so strongly in 

 favour of the introduction of cloud observations in weather 

 prognostications. The principles advocated by Buys BaUot, and 

 practised by Norwegiao observers, received a strong con- 

 firmation. 



On the map of Major W. F. Raynolds, embracing that portion 

 of the Missouri River country traversed by himself in 1S59 and 

 1S60, there was first recorded the peculiar hydrographical feature 

 known as the " Two-Ocean Water." Its position is there indi- 

 cated roughly by means of dotted lines, according to the account 

 given by Bridger, the guide of the patty. In the report of the 

 expedition Raynolds remarks that "having seen this phenomeon 

 on a small scale in the highlands of Maine, where f rivulet 

 discharges a portion of its waters into the Atlantic and the 

 remainder into the St. Lawrence, I am prepared to concede (hat 

 Bridger's 'Two-Ocean River' may be a verity." Dr. Hayden, 

 after a careful reconnaissance of the region, reported that such 

 a phenomenon was at least doubtful, at the same time suggesting 

 that the "low ridge in the great water"' divide of the continent 

 has doubtless given rise to the story of the Two-Ocean River, and 

 such a stream has found its way to most of our printed maps. The 

 expedition of Capt. W. A. Jones, in 1S73, ascended the valley of 

 the Upper Yellow-stone for twenty-five or thirty miles, the trail of 

 the party left the maishy bottom-lands to traverse the drier 

 portion about fifty feet above the stream upon the right bank. 

 The river at this point was then (early in September) rather 

 sluggish, the slope being somewhat gradual. Presently they 

 crossed a small, but rapid rivulet, coursing down the mountain 

 side, and falling abruptly into the valley just beneath them. 

 Beyond them the view was unobstructed, but the stream appeared 

 to ascend the slope towards them, until they observed that the 

 rivulet had divided in the plain below, one portion gliding silently 

 into the river behind them, to find its way at last into the Gulf 

 of Mexico, while the other branch had descended in front to join 

 the westward flowing waters of the Columbia, via Snake River, 

 finally reaching the Pacific Ocean. The true position of this 

 remarkable feature of physical geography is clearly shown on the 

 map which'illustrates the report of Capt. Jones (" Report upon the 

 Reconnaissance of N. W. Wyoming made in the summer of 1873, 

 by Wm. A. Jones, Captain of Engineers. Washington : Govern- 

 ment Printing Office, 1S74"). The mountain stream now bears the 

 name proposed by Raynolds — the "Two Ocean Creek" — and 

 its two branches are named respectively, Atlantic and Pacific 

 creeks. Thus is verified another of the stories of that faithful 

 guide and hunter — James Bridger — one of the most worthy of 

 Rocky Mountain pioneers. 



The Eleventh Annual Report of the Warden of the Standards 

 has been issued. The office of W^arden of the Standards, on 

 the retirement of the late Warden, Mr. Chisholm, was associated 

 with that pi the Permanent Secretary of the Board of Trade, 

 so that the Report is signed by "T. H. Farrer," as Warden of 

 the Standards. The practical duties of tlie department are 

 discharged by,Mr. H. J. Chaney. Among the subjects referred 

 to in the Report is the rude and antiquated method of teaching 

 weights and measures in our schools, which has been referred to 

 in previous papers of the department. It would appear, from 

 present arithmetic bcoks that the student may still be taught 

 the particulars of weights or measures which can be of no possible 

 use to him in after-life. Another interesting point referred to is 

 the merits of "short-arm" and "long-arm" balances. To 

 meet the requirements of modern science a balance is needed by 

 which the weights of bodies may be determined most accurately 

 and quickly. Prof. Mendeleef, of St. Petersburg, and Herr 

 Bunge, Mechanicus, Hamburg,'have shown that it is possible to 

 weigh quickly and accurately by the use of a balance whose beam 

 has much shorter arms than those now in general use. A prac- 

 tical test of the relative merits of a beam with long arms and oi 

 one with short arms has been made in the department. By this 

 test, as well as from the mathematical consideration of the ques- 

 tion, it has been ascertained that whilst the probable error of a 

 weighing made with the short-arm balance is slightly greater than 

 the probable error of a weighing made with the long-arm balance, 



