December i, 1898] 



NA TURE 



105 



: The British liledical fournal states that the arrangements 

 'for providing a school of tropical medicine at the branch hos- 

 ^pital of the Seamen's Hospital Society, Victoria and Albert 

 'Dock, London, E., are making satisfactory progress. A sub- 

 committee, consisting of Mr. Nairne (chairman), Sir C. Gage 

 Brown, K.C.M.G., Mr. Macnamara, Dr. Lauder Brunton, Dr. 

 Stephen Mackenzie, Dr. Manson, Dr. James L. Maxwell, Mr. 

 Johnson Smith, Mr. William Turner, and Mr. James Cantlie, 

 is now engaged in drawing up a constitution for the school, and 

 defining the curriculum. The new buildings will, it is expected, 

 be completed by October i, 1S99, and it is announced that Mr. 

 Chamberlain intends to preside at a festival dinner to be held 

 during the coming parliamentary session. 



Referring to Mr. Chamberlain's scheme of establishing a 

 school of tropical medicine, the Lancet questions whether the 

 branch hospital at the Royal Albert Dock is the best nucleus 

 for such a school. After pointing out that a very small number 

 of persons suffering from tropical diseases have been under 

 treatment at the branch hospital, the Lancet remarks: "It is 

 intended that laboratories should be equipped at the new school 

 for the purposes of research. But surely that is unnecessary. 

 Laboratories already exist with every requisite appliance for 

 such work on the Victoria Embankment, at Chelsea, and at cer- 

 tain metropolitan medical schools. Here qualified medical men 

 already attend from all parts of the world, such as Uganda, 

 West Africa, Australia, Canada, &c. , and diseases of tropical 

 climates — such as malaria, leprosy, plague, cholera, Madura 

 foot, &c. — have especially been made the subjects of original 

 I research. A knowledge of bacteriology is essential to colonial 

 practitioners, but we doubt whether anything would be gained 

 by the establishment of new laboratories, as is laid down in the 

 scheme for the new school." 



We learn from the Trinidad Bulletin of Miscellaneous In- 

 formation that Dr. Morris, superintendent of the Botanical 

 Department for the Lesser Antilles, will have the control of the 

 following stations : Barbadoes, Grenada, St. Vincent, St. 

 Lucia, Dominica, Montserrat, Antigua, and St. Kitts. The 

 Jamaica, Demerara, and Trinidad stations will at present remain 

 independent, and it is proposed to establish a new station at 

 Tobago, which will be under the control of Trinidad. 



At the Meteorological Conference at Munich, in 1S91, a 

 Committee was formed for the establishment and direction of 

 stations for special cloud observations, and at the meeting of 

 the International Meteorological Committee at Upsala, in 1S94, 

 it was decided that regular observations should be made 

 during at least a year, commencing with May 1S96. Dr. 

 Hildebrandsson, director of the Upsala Observatory, has just 

 published the observations made there during that period, 

 consisting of nearly three thousand measurements of heights 

 and velocities, of which 1635 have been made by means of 

 photography. The discussion of the results shows that the 

 annual variation of the mean height of the clouds is very 

 pronounced, with a maximum during the months of June and 

 July, and a minimum during winter. During the summer 

 season the mean height of the cirrus is 8176 metres, and of the 

 cumulus 1685 metres. The heights of the upper and middle 

 level clouds are lower than at the Blue Hill Observatory in 

 Massachusetts, while the lower forms are at nearly the i;ame 

 level ; this is probably a natural effect of the difference of 

 position of the two stations. The velocity of the upper clouds 

 is greater than that of the lower, and the velocity of all clouds 

 is greater inwinter than in summer. 



The Dublin Journal of Medical Science for October con- 

 tains an interesting address delivered at the Congress of the 

 Royal Institute of Public Health, by Dr. J. W. Moore, entitled 

 NO. I 5 18, VOL. 59] 



" Ireland, its Capital and Scenery," in which a trustworthy sum- 

 mary of the climate of Dublin is given, based upon a long 

 series of observations made partly by Dr. Moore himself, and 

 partly collected from other sources. He states that the climate 

 of Dublin is, in the fullest sense, an insular one, free from ex- 

 tremes of heat and cold, except on very rare occasions. Since 

 January 1865, the extreme readings of the thermometer in a 

 properly protected screen have been S7°'2, in July 187O, and 

 i3'-3, in December 1882— a range of 73°'9. But these values 

 are very exceptional ; the average annual range of mean 

 temperature is not quite 20°, viz. January, 41°"!, and July, 6o°'3. 



Industries and Iron of November 25 is a special motor-car 

 number. Numerous kinds of motor vehicles are described, and 

 the facts brought together show that automobile locomotion has 

 passed through its first stage of experimentation, and is now 

 emerging into a strictly practical stage of definite manufacture. 

 The extension of this kind of traffic last year appears to have 

 been relatively greater than in the previous year. Apparently 

 but little has been done to improve electrical motor vehicles 

 during the past twelve months. In steam vehicles, on the other 

 hand, the advance has been great ; England being at the front 

 in this section of self-propelled locomotion. In the construction 

 of vehicles propelled by means of petroleum spirit motors, the 

 advance is quite as noteworthy from a constructional point of 

 view, for British makers are exporting such vehicles to all parts 

 of the world, as well as keeping their factories fully employed 

 in turning out vehicles for home requirements. In regard to 

 engines taking power from explosive admixtures of the vapours 

 of paraffin oils in conjunction with air, there has been little 

 advance. The difficulty which has yet to be overcome is in 

 regard to the fumes of the gases exhausted from the cylinders. 

 Kerosene has, however, proved a most useful servant when used 

 as fuel for steam generators. 



We learn from Science that Prof. J. K. Rees, of the Columbia 

 University Observatory, has received recently, from Miss 

 Catherine W. Bruce, of New York City, means for building 

 a special photographic telescope. This instrument will be 

 mounted at Helsingfors, and will be employed by Dr. Donnet 

 to make polar trail-plates for Dr. Jacoby, in accordance with 

 the plan suggested by him lately at the Astronomical Conference 

 in Boston. Miss Bruce also sent Prof. Rees funds for carrying 

 on the computing work of the observatory. Dr. H. S. Davis, 

 in his work on the re-reduction of Piazzi's star catalogue, has- 

 been generously aided by the same liberal giver. 



Mr. a. W^. Clayden's model of the world, constructed to 

 illustrate the production of ocean currents by constant winds 

 blowing upon the surface of the oceans, is very well known. A 

 large model of this kind, measuring six feet by four, has been 

 made in aluminium by Messrs. Philip and Sons for Mr. Samuel 

 Hordien, of Sydney, who proposes to present it to a museum in 

 that city. An interesting addition to the model is a simple 

 means by which the artificial monsoons can be made to blow 

 separately upon the water, so that the difference of direction of 

 oceanic movements in the monsoon area during the prevalence 

 of these winds can be exhibited. 



In ii\\s /oui-nal de P/iysiijue for November, M. Andre Broca 

 discusses the use of india-rubber supports for isolating physical 

 apparatus from earth-tremors. He points out that when galvano- 

 meters, or other apparatus having movable parts, are supported 

 in this way, the disturbances, so far from being reduced, may ia 

 some cases be increased tenfold. This is due to synchronisation 

 of the periods of free oscillation of the supported apparatus with 

 the periods of the disturbances, and this synchronisation is only 

 intensified by the rubber supports. On the other hand, when 



