448 



NATURE 



{March ii, i8b6 



directions, differing much in their climatic qualities. On 

 the other hand, Western and Southern Europe was 

 marked by an atmospheric pressure persistently and 

 greatly lower, with an absence of anything approaching a 

 cyclone — usually a characteristic feature of the weather at 

 this season — if we except a cyclone, not very decidedly 

 marked, that appeared in the Bay of Biscay on February 

 25, and thence passed slowly eastwards across Italy and 

 Greece, towards Asia Minor, which was reached on 

 March 2. 



The inevitable consequence of this distribution of 

 atmospheric pressure was a prevalence of cahiis and of 

 easterly and northerly winds over the Continent, with 

 low temperatures. For five days, ending February 19, 

 the anticyclone had its centre near Moscow, during which 

 time the barometer, at 32 and sea-level, rose to 30965 

 inches. Meanwhile temperature steadily fell, and -7 '6 

 was recorded at Moscow on the morning of the 19th. 

 The anticyclone thence advanced northward to the White 

 Sea and westward to the Gulf of Bothnia, a pressure of 

 30'96l inches being recorded at Haparanda on the 22nd, 

 and 30'922 inches at Uleaborg, in Lapland, on the 24th ; 

 and thereafter southward to Stockholm with a pressure 

 of 30'6o3 inches on the 28th, to Riga with a pressure of 

 30742 inches on March i, and to Charkow with a pressure 

 of 30'39S inches on the 2nd. The central regions of the 

 anticyclone were throughout, as happens at this season, 

 marked by unusually low temperatures, the lowest being 

 - i6°-8 on the 23rd and — ]S°'S on the 24th at Arch- 

 angel, and - I5"'5 on the following morning at Hapa- 

 randa, these temperatures being about 3o''o below the 

 average for this time of the year at these places. 



The weather-maps show that an important change had 

 already set in on the morning of the last of February, 

 the curvings of the isobaric lines pointing to a cyclone 

 to the north-east of the White Sea, and to another 

 cyclone advancing to the south-west of the British 

 Islands. The anticyclone was thus now surrounded by 

 three cyclones, located respectively near the White Sea, 

 to the south-west of the British Islands, and in the Medi- 

 terranean. On the morning of March I the most northern 

 of the cyclones had travelled somewhat to westwards, 

 and the other two to eastward ; and these respective 

 movements were continued on the following day. In the 

 meantime the anticyclone had greatly shrunk in breadth, 

 and by the morning of the 2nd, when the snowstorm 

 raged most fiercely over an unusually extensive breadth 

 of country, it lay as a narrow tongue of high pressure 

 westwards over Scandinavia, and, meteorologically con- 

 sidered, perilously close on to the cyclone whose centre 

 was then about the H umber. It necessarily followed, 

 from the contiguity of the high-pressure area to the 

 cyclone on its north side, that the storm passed across the 

 British Islands with uncommon slowness, thus prolonging 

 its continuance in Great Britain ; and that the steepest 

 gradients were formed in the north-east quarter of the 

 cyclone, — a rather unusual feature of the storms of North- 

 western Europe, — thus exposing North Britain to one of 

 the worst easterly gales of recent years. 



Some snow fell in a few places on Sunday, but on 

 Monday it fell in almost all parts of England, the fall 

 being particularly severe in North Wales and the 

 northern counties. The Furness and Wigtownshire rail- 

 way lines were blocked and traffic suspended, a circum- 

 stance that has not occurred since these railways were 

 opened, which as regards the Furness line is twenty- 

 seven years ago. In the more southern counties the 

 storm was not quite so severe, and as the day advanced 

 the snow changed to sleet and at last to heavy rain. On 

 the Tuesday the storm spread northwards over all Scot- 

 land, and raged with a fury altogether unexampled. 

 Owing to the fineness of the snow-particles and the force 

 of the wind, snowdrifts in many places accumulated in a 

 degree quite unparalleled, and all transit was seriously 



paralysed. The most serious railway block occurred on 

 the East-Coast line, and it was computed that thirty 

 trains of various sorts were snowed up between Newcastle 

 and Berwick. Letters carried by the London Monday 

 mail were not delivered in Edinburgh till Friday morning. 

 The sensation produced by the rapidly-driven snow- 

 particles on the face resembled the sharp pricking of a 

 shower of needles ; and it was remarked that the effect of 

 the snow-drift on the eyes gave the feeling which would 

 be produced by the spray of dilute nitric acid. As 

 respects the singular character of the snowfall, it may be 

 suggested that it was in some way connected with the 

 remarkable meteorological conditions described above as 

 having overspread Eastern and Northern Europe during 

 the fortnight preceding the storm, and the proximity of 

 North Britain to the anticyclone when the storm raged in 

 all its fierceness. 



It is remarkable that, while the snowfall was large in 

 many western as well as in eastern districts, it was com- 

 paratively light over the higher midland parts of Scotland, 

 and that on Ben Nevis and surrounding mountains little 

 snow fell. It is to be noted, however, that at the Ben 

 Nevis Observatory the wind blew, not as is usual on such 

 occasions, from a different direction, but from precisely 

 the same direction as at lower levels, with a force, how- 

 ever, very greatly diminished, the mean wind-force for 

 the day being estimated by Mr. Omond at only 4 of the 

 Beaufort scale. For the week preceding the storm the 

 mean pressure and temperature of the air at the Obser- 

 vatory were respectively 25'482 inches and I4''9 ; and at 

 sea-level at Fort William, 30154 inches and 3i°'2. This 

 mean pressure at the Observatory is o'046 inch in excess 

 of what previous observations show to be the mean when 

 the sea-level pressure and temperature of the air is as 

 above. On the morning of the jtorm the e.xcess was 

 double that of the previous week. It is these departures 

 from the average in their relations to the cyclones and 

 anticyclones of this part of Europe that give the Ben 

 Nevis observations their great significance. 



NOTES 

 It will be remembered that the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 on Monday week, after hearing Prof. Pasteur's account of the 

 cases he has treated, appointed a Committee to consider the 

 question of the establishment at Paris of a vast international 

 hospital. On Monday last M. Vulpian communicated to the 

 Academy the following proposals, unanimously agreed upon by 

 the Committee :—(l) An establishment for the treatment of 

 rabies shall be founded at Paris under the name of I'lnstitut 

 Pasteur. (2) This Institution shall be open both to French 

 subjects and to foreigners bitten by dogs or other rabid animals. 

 (3) A public subscription is opened in France and abroad for 

 the foundation of this establishment. (4) The employment of 

 the funds subscribe 1 shall be made under the direction of a Com- 

 mittee, consisting of Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, President 

 of the Academy of Sciences ; M. Bertrand, M. Vulpian, M. 

 Marey, M. Paul Bert, M. Bichat, M. Charcot, M. Herve 

 Mangon, M. de Freycinet, M. Camille Doucet, M. Wallon, 

 Vicomte Delaborde, M. Jules Simon ; M. Magnin, Governor of 

 the Bank of France ; M. Christophile, Governor of the Credit 

 Foncier ; M. Alphonsede Rothschild ; M. Beclard, Doyen of the 

 Faculty of Medicine, and Perpetual Secretary of the .\cademy 

 ofMedicine; M. Brouardel, Professor to the Factdty of Medicine, 

 and President of the Consultative Hygienic Committee of 

 France ; M. Gaucher, Professor to the Faculty of Medicine of 

 Paris, (s) The subscriptions shall be received at the Bank of 

 France and its branches, at the Credit Foncier and its branches, 

 and at the Public Treasury Offices. The nnmes of all sub- 

 scribers shall be inserted in the Journal Offitiel. 



