Nov. 23, 1882] 
‘Weather Forecasts ” 
I HAVE recently designed and patented ‘‘ An improved floating 
vessel for automatically compressing air by the action of the 
waves of the sea, and also for the generation of electricity by 
the agency of this compressed air.” This vessel is capable of 
being moored in roco fathoms, and can be connected with the 
shore by means of an insulated electric cable. Such a vessel 
moored in the mid-Atlantic in the usual track of the cyclones 
which approach these islands from the west, would be of immense 
advantage to the Meteorological Office in determining the yelocity 
of advance and direction taken by these cyclonic centres. I 
purpose exhibiting a model and drawings of the vessel at the 
Winter Electric Exhibition, to be held at the Westminster 
Aquarium next month. CHARLES W, HARDING 
King’s Lynn, November 14 
Age of Dogs 
TAM acquainted with a black retriever dog aged thirty-one 
years, and should like to know whether this age is often atiained 
by dogs. RK, CORDINER 
Oxford, November 15 
Waterspouts on Land 
WHEN on a fishing expedition this year, in the mountainous 
district of Minnigaff, in this country, my attention was-drawn 
to the effects of two waterspouts, which had taken place, 
one in July last, and the other some six months previously. 
The effects of both are to be seen in the faces of two moun- 
tains a mile apart. One is on a hill-farm called Blac Klaggan, 
about 100 yards above a mountain-stream, where an exca- 
vation, by the force of the spout, had been made to the 
depth of ten or twelve feet, and about twenty yards wide. 
Stones—boulder-stones from 10 cwt. to 3 tons, were spread out, 
in the course of the torrent, down to the ‘‘burn,” which runs 
below—one boulder, lying in the bed, being quite 3 tons weight. 
The other waterspout had struck on White Laggan, ona steep 
mountain side, facing the upper part of Loch Dee. It was 
higher up on the hill, and had cut to the depth of about 15 feet, 
and was Io yards wide, scattering the earth and boulders before 
it, to a distance of 150 yards below, and spreading out the 
smaller stones and grayel over a flat moor, in varied tracks, 
more than 100 yards further. I have not heard of anyone who 
saw either waterspout, and both are supposed to have taken 
place at night. All the otber parts of both mountains are 
covered with heather and grass, above, cn each side, and below, 
except in the direct course cut by the torrent from each water- 
spout. No one remembers any previous case of the sort in the 
district. Perhaps some of your readers can give other instances 
of this kind, and some information that may prove interesting 
and useful, James Hosack 
Ellerslie, Kirkcudbright, N.B., November 13 
METEOROLOGY OF THE MALAY 
ARCHIPELAGO* 
ale two systems of meteorological observations carried 
on under the direction of the late Dr. Bergsma pre- 
sent us, in these two serial publications, with what must 
be classed among the most remarkable contributions 
made in recent years to observational science, and they 
are all the more valuable on account of the new and exact 
information they give as to the different climates of the 
Malay Archipelago, about which so little was previously 
known. 
The first and longest continued series of observations 
made at the observatory at Batavia take rank among the 
very best yet made. They embrace hourly observations 
for the fifteen years ending with 1880, of atmospheric 
pressure, temperature, humidity, rain, wind, cloud, &c., 
which have been published 77 extenso. During the first 
thirteen years the recoids consisted wholly of eye-obser- 
vations, but from the beginning of 1879 the observations 
were made by photographically and other self-recording 
* Observations made at the Magnetical and Meteorological Observatory 
at Batavia, 1866 to 1880. Regenwaarnemingen in Nederlandsch-Indie, 
1879-80-81. Door Dr. P. A. Bergsma, D.recteur van het Observatorium te 
Batavia. 
NATURE 
79 
instruments. In vol. v., in addition to the hourly obser- 
vations for 1579 and 1880, there is given a discussion of 
the fifteen years’ observations, which fiom the excellence 
of its design and execution, represents the meteorology 
of Batavia with a fulness and completeness at least equal 
to what has yet been done for any other place on the 
globe. 
Among the more interesting results, those of the rain- 
fall may be pointed to, particularly the tables showing 
the mean amounts for the different hours of the day. 
These reveal two daily maxima and two minima. The 
larger maximum occurs from 2 to 7 p.m., when 32 per 
cent. of the whole daily fall takes place, and the larger 
minimum from 6 to 11 a.m., when only 13 per cent. of 
the daily amount falls. The smaller maximum is from 
10 p.m. to 2 a.m., when 17 per cent. falls, and the smaller 
minimum during the two hours from 8 to 10 p.m., when 
7 per cent falls. 
The most remarkable, if not the most important of the 
results arrived at are perbaps those referring to the influ- 
ence of the moon on the pressure and temperature of the 
atmosphere and the rainfall, which establish the fact of a 
distinct lunar atmospheric tide. Assuming the lunar day 
to commence with the time of the upper transit of the 
moon, the following are the phases above or below the 
mean expressed in millimetres :— 
mm. 
Ist max. +0°057 at lunar hour 1 
», Min. —0*053 at oD 7 
2nd max. +0°064 at 55 13 
>» Win, —o'060 at n 19 
The lunar tide has been determined for each of the four 
quarters, and also at perigee and apogee, and the results 
show differences of great interest. As regards the rain- 
fall, while the mean amount in 24 hours during the 17 
years ending with 1880 was 5:19 mm., at the time of 
new moon there was a mean excess of 0794 mm., and at 
full moon also an excess of o'19mm., but on the other 
hand, at the third octant there was a deficiency of o'61 
mm., and at the fifth octant also a deficiency amounting 
to 0°55 mm. 
The result is that the atmospheric pressure at Batavia 
has a lunar daily tide quite as distinctly marked as the 
ordinary diurnal barometer tide, except that its amplitude 
is much less, the lunar daily tide being as compared 
with the mean solar daily tide nearly in the proportion of 
a millimetre to an English inch. The lunar tide has also 
the important difference in that its phases follow the 
moon’s apparent course much more closely than the diur- 
nal barometric fluctuations follow that of sun. The two 
maxima occur about the Ist and 13th, and the two minima 
about the 7th and 19th lunar hours, whereas these four 
daily phases of the diurnal barometric fluctuation occur 
with respect to the sun’s apparent course from one to six 
hours later, The influence of the moon’s phases on the 
rainfall is quite decided ; for while the mean daily rain- 
fall is 0'205 inches, it rises at full moon to 0°248 inch, 
from which time it gradually falls to o-181 inch at the 
third octant, rises to 0°212 inch at the fourth octant, then 
falls to 0184 inch at the fifth octant, and finally rises 
gradually to the maximum at the time of new moon. The 
important conclusion follows that the attractive influence 
of the moon, and consequently that of the sun, must be 
taken into account as factors concerned in bringing about 
oscillations of the barometer. In this connection it is 
interesting to note that in the higher latitudes in inland 
situations during winter, or at times and situations where 
the disturbing influences of temperature and humidity 
tend towards a minimum, the times of occurrence of the 
four phases of the daily oscillation of barometer approxi- 
mate to those of the daily lunar atmospheric tide. 
The second series of observations, giving the rainfall 
for the three years 1879, 1880, and 1881, form an extremely 
valuable contribution to our knowledge of the climates of 
