294 
said that if Mr. Solly’s paper were sent in it should receive 
careful consideration, é 
NoTWITHSTANDING the yast importance of St. Paul’s Cathe- 
dral and the impossibility of making up for its loss were it 
destroyed, until recently it was in imminent danger of being 
shattered by every thunderstorm that passed over it, The 
lightning-rods that were supplied to it 120 years ago have long 
been utterly useless, and from its position, size, and certain 
peculiarities of structure, the noble building formed a tempting 
object of attraction to the destructive stroke of lightning. Hap- 
pily, we learn from the Zilegraphic Journal, this is no longer the 
case. Theauthorities, dissatisfied with the electrical state of the 
building, upon the report of Mr, John Faulkner, Associate of 
the Society of Telegraph Engineers, of Manchester, commis- 
sioned him to prepare a plan for the fitting of the cathedral with 
an eflicient system of conductors. The plan submitted was 
approved, and the fitting is now completed. In metallic con- 
nection with cross and ball and scrolls are eight copper con- 
ductors, each being a 4-inch strand of copper wires. The 
octagonal strand has been adopted as giving most metal in 
the least space. These eight conductors then pass to the 
metallic railing of the Golden Gallery, with which they are in 
metallic connection. Thence they are carried down to the 
dome, to the metallic surface of which they are again connected | 
at several portions of their length. Then down the rain-falls, 
over the leaden roofs of the aisles, in the angles formed by the 
aisles themselves, again down the rain-falls to the sewers. 
Further, the choir and nave roofs are connected together by a 
saddle or conductor stretching over them both, and joined to 
the conductors proceeding from the summit of the west towers, 
Even this did not satisfy the zealous care of Mr. Faulkner, who 
tes'ed, sheet by sheet, the electrical condition of the leads, con- 
necting the worse insulated sheets by copper bands to the better 
conducting surfaces. Thus the dome, aisle-roofs, and ball and 
cross, and the two west towers, form one immense metallic con- 
ductor, and the danger arising from interior gas-piping is 
remoyed ; for Coulomb and Faraday haye proved beyond doubt 
that electricity accumulates upon the surface only of bodies. In 
the sewers, Which always afford a moist earth connection, the 
copper strands are riveted to copper plates, and these again are 
pegged into the earth. By this means as good an earth con- 
nection is obtained at the top of the cross, at the very summit 
of the Cathedral, as is found in the sewers at its base, 
THE Examinations in the Crystal Palace School of Practical 
Engineering, for the Easter term, commenced last Saturday, 
and will close on Friday, August 9th. The Autumn Term will 
commence on Monday, September 8, The Principal will 
attend in the school from ro till 4 each day, from Saturday, 
August 2nd, to Friday, the 8th, to pass Candidates for ad- 
mission, 
AN earthquake occurred at Jamaica at 0°30 A.M. on July 1, 
which created much alarm, It lasted nearly five seconds. 
Amonc Mr. Murray’s announcements of forthcoming works 
are—*‘ Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age,” 
by Mary Somerville; ‘‘ The Geography of India, Ancient and 
Modern,” by Colonel Yule, C.B.; ‘The Naturalist in Ni- 
caragua,” by Thomas Belt, F.G.S.; and a popular edition 
of Mr, H. W. Bates’s “ The River Amazons,” 
A NEw and cheap edition of Mr. James B, Jordan’s ‘‘Ele- 
mentary Crystallography ” has been published by Mr. Murby as 
one of his series of science manuals. To any one commencing 
the study of crystalldgraphy this manual wiil be very useful, 
especially as appended to the letterpress is a series of carefully 
drawn nets for the construction of models illustrative of the 
simple crystalline forms, 
NATURE 
Ger el se 
[Aug. 7, 1873 
THE report of the annual meeting of the Perthshire Society of 
Natural Science shows that Society to be in a prosperous and 
good working condition. The number of members is large, 
and among them is a fair proportion of workers. We are 
glad to see that excursions haye been started, and hope they 
will be continued ; no richer field, we are sure, than the County 
of Perth, especially for Botany, exists in this country. The 
Society, under the energetic management of Dr. Buchanan 
White, of Dunkeld, is publishing a Fauna and Flora of Perth- 
shire, and it is under its auspices the Sco/fish Naturalist is 
brought out. During the last summer Mr. J. Allen Harper 
turned out, for the purpose of acclimatisation, about 7,000 living 
specimens of the following molluscs : Aelix zirgata, H. pisana, 
and Bulimus accutus. The annual address of the president, 
Co]. Drummond Hay, occupies the greater part of the report, 
and gives many interesting details concerning the birds of Perth- 
shile. The Society has entered on the seventh year of its 
existence, . 
THE following are the chief additions to the Brighton Aqua- 
rium during the past week :—4 Corkwing Wrasse (Crenilabrus 
melops) ; 7 Pogge (Agonus cataphractus) 3 1,000 Prawns (Pa/e- 
mon serratus) ; several groups of Serpula contortuplicata and 
Alcyonium digitatum, Four young rough-hounds (Scy//inm cania 
cula) have been hatched from eggs laid during the last week in 
January. The period of their development in ovo is therefore 
six months. A large number of young Squid (Loliga vulgaris) 
haye also been hatched from spawn brought in by fishermen, 
THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the 
last week include an Ocelot (/v/is pardalis) from America, pre- 
sented by Mr, A. B. Keymer and Mr. C. C. Lovesy ; a Togue 
Monkey (AZacacus pileatus) from Ceylon, presented by the Ser- 
geants of the Ist Batt. Scots Fusiliers ; a grey Ichneumon (Hers 
estes griseus) from India, presented by Mr. G. S. Daintry ; a 
starred Tortoise ( Zzstudo stellata) from India, presented by Capt. 
C. S. Sturt ; two lesser black-backed Gulls (Larus Juscus), pre- 
sented by Mr. C. W. Wood ; two crested Pigeons (Ocyphaps 
/ophotes), hatched in the Gardens ; a Hoffmann’s Sloth (Cholopus 
hoffmanni) from Panama, and a black-eared Marmoset (Hepale 
jacchus) deposited. 
METEOROLOGY IN HAVANNA * 
/ T° judge from the pamphlets mentioned below, the prac- 
tical study of Meteorology seems to be pursued at the 
Cuba Observatory with diligence and a harvest of good results. 
The care and skill with which they are compiled must lead to 
the conclusion that science will receive very valuable aid both in 
meteorological and magnetic research from this station of the 
West Indies. 
The observatory is situated at a height of 19 ‘297 metres above 
the sea level, in N, lat. 23°8' 145, its longitude being 76° 9 428 
west of San Fernando, and therefore 82° 22’ 6-95 west of Green- 
wich. The first volume is a yearly meteorological and magnetic 
report, and consists entirely of monthly tables and curves of the 
daily mean results of the barometer, thermometer, tension, humi- 
dity, wind, evaporation, rain, and state of sky. For each month 
the daily maximum, minimum, and mean values are given, and 
then follows a table of the monthly means for every even-hour 
of the day and night. The direction and force of the wind are 
shown on a circular diagram, and the mean daily values of the 
barometer, thermometer, tension, and humidity are exhibited by - 
broken lines. Rain curves are added from May. 
Regular two-hourly obseryations of the Magnetic Declination 
were commenced on April 1, 1871, and the same details are 
given as for the barometer, &c. To these were added at the 
* Observaciones Magneticas y Meteorologicas del real Colegio de Belen 
de la compania de Jesus en la Habana, de 30 Nov. 1870 a 30 Nov. 1871. 
Memoria de la Marcha regular o periodica, et irregular, del Barometro en 
la Habana des de 1858 a 187x inclusive, porel R. P. B. Vines, S 
Observaciones correspondientes al mes de Octubre de 1870, con la de- 
scripcion de los huracanes ocurridos en la Isla en dicho mes. 
| 
| 
j 
; 
‘ 
- 
