298 
NATURE 
[ Fan. 25, 1883 
December 7, 1830, saw a very bright patch of double the 
dimensions of the moon’s disc, moving with great velocity 
behind the common auroral beams. Further, Prof. 
Bischoff, in Burgbrohl (p. 461), observed, on the occasion 
of the aurora of January 7, 1831, a moving cloud as bright 
as the milky way, from E. to W., in five minutes. Prof. 
Moll saw, in Utrecht a similar object, rising from N.E., 
through the Pleiades, to S.E. (S.W.?). Similar observa- 
tions are to be found during the same aurora, p. 471 (one 
advancing arch), p. 472 (four similar arches, and a dark 
streak). 
In several articles on the aurora of November 17, 
1882, the height of aurorze is spoken of. Mr. W. M. 
F. P.(p. 173) says that the strange object observed is 
physically impossible to auroral nature, because of its 
height of about 170 miles. It was already observed by Mr. 
Backhouse that aurore are often observed at very great 
heights. The same is also the case with shooting stars. I 
take the liberty to refer once again to an article of mine 
in this journal entitled ‘‘ The Height of the Aurora,” where 
I refer to the beautiful determinations by Prof. Heis 
and Dr. Flégel, published in the Zeztschrift der Oesterr. 
Gesellsch. f. Meteor., vii. p. 73. The heights were found 
from Io to 100 geogr. miles (46 to 461 Engl. miles). Dr. 
Sophus Tromholt found, besides apparent low heights 
of some aurore in Norway, the height of that of March 
17, 1880, to be 17 geogr. miles (“ Wochenschrift redigirt,” 
von Dr. H. J. K'ein, 1880, p. 172). Prof. Galle of Breslau 
calculated by his method, described in the Zeztschr. /. 
Met., vii. p. 73, and in the Astr. Nachrichten, Bd. 79, 
No. 1882, 40 to 60 geogr. miles, and I found for the 
great aurora of May 13, 1862, 59 geogr. miles. 
H. J. H. GRONEMAN 
Groningen (Netherlands), January 14 
NOTES 
THE Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers have 
arranged for the delivery at the Institution of a series of six 
lectures, on the Applications of Electricity, on the following 
Thursday evenings, at 8 o’clock :—February 15—The Progress 
of Telegraphy, by Mr. W. H. Preece, F.R.S., M.Inst. C.E. 
March 1—Telephones, by Sir Frederick Bramwell, F.R.S., 
V.P.Inst., C.E. March 15—The Electrical Transmission and 
Storage of Power, by Dr. C. William Siemens, F.R.S., M. Inst. 
C.E. April 5—Some Points in Electric Lighting, by Dr. J. 
Hopkinson, F.R.S., M.Inst. C.E. April 19—Electricity 
applied to Explosive Purposes, by Prof. F. A. Abel, C.B., 
F.R.S., Hon. M.Inst. C.E. May 3—Electrical Units of 
Measurement, by Sir W. Thomson, F.R.S., M.Inst. C.E. This 
is an excellent step which the enterprising Institution has taken, 
and we are sure will be productive of good both to science and 
to engineering. 
Mr. ERNEsT H. GLAIsHER, B.A., Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, has been appointed Curator of the British Guiana 
Museum, George Town, Demerara. 
Mr. W. H. Wuire, one of the Chief Constructors to the 
Navy, has resigned his position to take up a managerial appoint- 
ment in the firm of Sir Joseph Whitworth. 
AN interesting boring through the chalk is now about to be 
resumed at Southampton. At the last meeting of the | ritish Asso- 
ciation a paper by Mr. T, W. Shore and Mr. E. Westlake on the 
Artesian well on Southampton Common was read in the Geo- 
logical Section. The Town Council has now accepted a tender 
for continuing the boring which was abandoned in 1851, after a 
depth of 1317 feet had been reached. The boring was then 
passing through the lower chalk or chalk marl, and we believe 
it is now intended to continue it to the Lower Greensand. The 
well at the bottom of which the boring commences is 563 feet 
deep, and this was reopened last week, after having been 
closed for thirty-two years. Some observations on the tempe- 
rature of the water were at once made by Mr. T. W. Shore and 
Mr. J. Blount Thomas, of Southampton, for the Underground 
Temperature Committee of the British Association. By means 
of a heavy elongated sinking weight and a registering windlass, a 
thermometer was passed down the bore shaft to a depth of 1210 
feet, when it was stopped by chalk mud. An outer case which 
was attached to the sinking we ght was much scratched in passing 
through the Upper Chalk. A temperature of 71°°9 F. was 
registered at the bottom, that of the outer air being 49° F. 
Tue City of Neuchatel celebrated in the beginning of the 
present month the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of its 
Natural History Society. The leader among its founders, who 
first met for the purpose on December 6, 1832, was Louis 
Agassiz. 
THE biennial Hunterian oration will be delivered on Wednes- 
day, February 14, at three o’clock, by the President of the 
College of Surgeons, Mr. Spencer Wells, in the theatre of that 
institution. The biennial festival will be given in the library 
the same evening, to which the president and vice-presidents 
have, as usual, invited several distinguished visitors. 
THE Pontifical Academy of the Nuovi Lincei have appointed 
a Committee to take steps for the erection of a monument in 
Rome to the late eminent astronomer, Father Secchi. The 
monument will be of a meteorological character. The sculptor 
Prinzi has already made a model which combines convenience for 
arranging the meteorological apparatus with features recalling the 
work of Father Secchi. The statue of the astronomer crowns 
the monument, and among other emblematical figures will be 
one of Meteorology holding in one hand a gigantic barometer, 
which can be seen from a great distance, and another of Physics 
holding up to view an equally large thermometer, 
THE rumour that the fragments of the unfortunate Mr. 
Powell’s balloon have been found in the Sierra del Pedroso, 
in the far south of Spain, is too vague and incredible to deserve 
much attention. 
Av the meeting of the Essex Ficld Club, to be held on 
Saturday evening next, January 27, the attention of the members 
and the public generally will be directed to the Bill about to be 
introduced into Parliament for the construction of a line of 
railway from Chingford to High Beach. In January, 1881, the 
Club, in conjunction with other Natural History Societies in and 
around London, strongly protested against any portion of Epping 
Forest being occupied by a Railway or other Company, to the 
prejudice of the provisions of the Epping Forest Act, and cer- 
tainly no sufficient arguments or expressions of public opinion 
have since been brought forward in favour of the scheme. It is 
believed that the proposed line is quite unnecessary, as no part 
of the forest is more than two miles from a railway station, and 
moreover a railway and its concomitants could not fail to destroy 
the chief interest and charm of the district—its seclusion and 
naturalness ; qualities of inestimable value so near a large city. 
Tue following papers are set down for reading at the meetings 
of the Socizty of Arts during the part of the Session after 
Christmas :—At the Ordinary Meetings—W. K. Burton, The 
Sanitary Inspection of Houses; General Rundall, The Suez 
Canal ; Prof. Thorold Rogers, M.P., Ensilage in the United 
States ; Sir Frederick Bramwell, F.R.S., Some Points in the 
Practice of the American Patent Office; J. H. Evans, The 
Modern Lathe ; A. J. Hipkins, The History of the Pianoforte ; 
Prof. George Forbes, The Electrical Transmission of Power ; 
