March 25, 1875] 



NA TURE 



405 



corrected the delineation of part of the coast-line in Prince 

 Regent's Inlet. Altogether the book is full of instruc- 

 tion and healthy entertainment ; the map and illustra- 

 tions add to its value in both respects. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

 [The Editor docs not hold himself resfonsibU for opinwns expressed 

 by his co-respondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 

 or to correspond tiith the uriltrs of, rejected manuscripts. 

 No noi:ee is taken oj anonymous ecmviunicalicns.'\ 



Antares 

 In reference to the apparent change in the angle of the com- 

 panion to a Scorpii as shown by the recent measures of Mr. 

 Wilson (Nature, vol. xi. p. 274), an arrangement of the follow- 

 ing, which, fo far as I am aware, are all the measures that have 

 been made of this beautiful pair since its discover)' by Mitchel in 

 1S45, may prove interesting. From a comparison of these 

 earlier results it is evident that no sensible variation has taken 

 place ; and it is probable that in the last, either a slight error has 

 been made in reading the position circle, or the observation was 

 taken under too unfavourable conditions to admit of a high 

 degree of accuracy. The details of these measures will be found 

 in the several publications mentioned below.* 



Dawes, in connection with his last measures, say.', "there is 

 very little, if any, ground for supposing change has occurred in 

 this splendid but difficult object." The difScidty of seeing the 

 small star in this latitude, as in the case of Sirius and its com- 

 panion, arises not from its closeness or faintness, but from atmo- 

 spheric causes due to its southern declination. Mitchel called 

 the small star 11 -12 magnitude, but Dawes, Secchi, and others 

 rate it at about 8 m., which is more nearly what it appears to be 

 at the present time. With a veiy steady air I have several times 

 seen it perfectly with a 6-inch Clark refractor contracted to 3J 

 inch, and on one or two occasions with 3.^ inch. 



Chicago, March 2 S. W. Burnham 



Storm -Warnings from the United States 

 Allusion has recently been made in Nature to a proposal 

 for the transmission of weather telegrams from the United Stales 

 to Europe, as likely to afford valuable data for forecasting the 

 weather on our coasts. Some misconception appears to me to 

 attach to this subject. 



Having w'oiked for a considerable time at the comparison of 

 United States with European weather charts and reports, I would 

 express my opinion that the project referred to would be unde- 

 sirable, on the following grounds : — 



1. Only a small proportion of the storms experienced on the 

 American side of the Atlantic can subsequently be distinctly 

 traced in Europe at all. 



2. Of those thus traceable, the majority are felt severely only 

 in the extreme north of Europe, and are not fproductive of 

 serious results on th.e coasts of Great Britain, France, or Den- 

 mark. 



* 1. Sidereal Messenger, Sept. 1S46. 



2. Memoiis of Ihe K.A.S., vol. .\,\xv. 



4. Communicated to Dawes. 



5. Memoirs of the R.A S., vol. xnxn. 



6. Memorie dell' Osservatorio del Collegia Romano, l8s3. 



7. Memoirs of the R.A.S., vol. xxviii. 



8. Memoirs cf the R A.S., vol. .xjcLx. 



9. Memoirs of the R.A.S., vol. xxxii. 



10. Memoirs of the R.A.S , vol. xjtxv. 



11. Astronomische Nachrichten, 1574. 



12. Astronomische Nachrichten, 1614. 



3. The rapidity of their progress varies indefinitely, and could 

 not be deduced, pace Mr. Draper, from the velocity of the 

 currents experienced in them, even if the latter were not variable 

 also. 



4. Many of our most destructive European storms occur when 

 pressures over the Eastern States are tolerably high and steady, 

 and appear to be developed on the Atlantic near the eastern 

 limits of the area of high pressure. In such instances attention 

 to the telegrams would in all probability mislead (at .least until 

 the relations of areas of high pressures to those of low pressures 

 be better understood), and thus lead to unfortunate conse- 

 quences. 



For these reasons I believe that the utility of a system of 

 weather telegrams from North America to Europe would be by 

 no means commensurate with the serious expense involved in it. 



The connection between the weather periods on this and on 

 the other side of the Atlantic is one of the problems which the 

 progress of research is steadily, though slowly, attacking. But 

 such research can be carried on without embarking on a system of 

 weather telegraphy which is unlikely to be practically beneficial, 

 and the failure of which might rather tend to bring this branch 

 of the science into disrepute. W. Clement Ley 



Ashby Parva, Lutterworth, March 12 



Meteorological Observations in the Pacific 



In the leader on "Meteorology — Present and Future" which 

 appeared in Nature, vol. x. p. 99, it is said: "In order to 

 complete the preliminary meteorological survey of the earth's 

 atmosphere and surface it is indi.spensable that measures be 

 taken to obtain observations from the less frequented regions of 

 the ocean, from Arctic and Antarctic regions, large portions of 

 British America, South America, Africa, and Polynesia." It is 

 also very correctly observed that " in working out the great 

 question of local climates it is absolutely indispensable that uni- 

 formity as regards instruments and methods of observation be 

 secured at the diflerent ftalions." 



The meteorology of the Pacific has often occupied my atten- 

 tion, and I have regretted that no systematic effort was made to 

 secure regular observations upon some uniform y)lan throughout 

 the islands occupied by missionaries. The principal fslands in 

 Ea.slern, Central, and Western Polynesia (as far as the New 

 Hebrides) have gendemen residing on them, many of whom 

 would (I have good reason to believe) be willing to render assist- 

 ance in this work. Indeed, many of them are accustomed, 

 already, to make more or less meteorological observations, so far 

 as the reading of the barometer and thermometer goe.s. But 

 the.-e observations, if collected, would at present be compara- 

 tively useless, owing to the want of "uniformity as regards 

 instruments and methods of observation." 



Should measures be taken to secure such observations as those 

 suggested in the article above mentioned, and should means be 

 found for supplying (say lending, under certain conditions) instru- 

 ments to those who are willing to become observers, I believe 

 the co-operation of missionaries in most, if not all, of the follow- 

 ing islands may be secured, viz , Society Islands, Hervey or 

 Cook's Islands, Niue or Savage Island, Friendly or Torgan 

 Islands, Samoa or Navigators' Islands, Fiji Islands, Loyalty 

 Islands, the New Hebrides, and the south-cast peninsula of New 

 Guinea. 



I shall be happy to do what I can to bring about such a 

 result. I am willing to correspond with any gentleman repre- 

 senting the " Central Department," or with the secretary of any 

 society which may undertake the work, with regard to details. 



Upolu, Samoa, Nov. 16, 1874 S. J. Whitmee 



Struck by Lightning 



The following is offered you for publication in the hope that 

 the facts were observed accurately enough to be of value, and in 

 the belief that reliable accounts of similar experiences are rare. 



The house, in which with my family I have spent the winter, 

 stands in the centre of Torbay and close to the sea. In the 

 garden, which gives access to the shore, is a flagstaff (once 

 belonging to the Coast Guard) 50 feet high, with a metal vane 

 at the top, and having the mast steadied at about 25 feet from 

 the ground in the usuil way with iron wire guys. About a foot 

 above groimd each wire rope terminates in a j-inch chain which 

 is anchored a few feet in the soil. These chains are much 



