622 



NA TURE 



{^April 20,, 1886 



The general mode of occurrence was very similar to that at 

 Bridlington. He further observed that the rocks were not 

 striated in the first instance by these shelly clays, but he be- 

 lieved the glaciation to have taken place through the action of 

 harder substances, and that afterwards a milder term set in, 

 when an Arctic fauna established itself in the neighbourhood, 

 after which fresh ice pushed the sea-bottom along with other 

 accumulations into its present position. The shell-beds in the 

 Fraser Valley are about 100 feet above sea-leve). Three sec- 

 tions of glacial beds were given. The stratified clay in which 

 the shells were found contains no pebbles, and, though soaie- 

 what disturbed, has evidently been deposited where it now 

 occurs. — On a lower jaw of Machairodus from the " Forest- 

 Bed," Kessingland, by James Backhouse, F.G.S. — A contribu- 

 tion to the history of the Cetacea of the Norfolk " Forest- Bed," 

 by E. Tulley Newton, F.G.S. ,; 



Edinburgh 

 1 Scottish Meteorological Society, March 29. — Half- 

 yearly Meeting. — Mr. John Murray read the Council's report, 

 which stated that since last July the only change that had taken 

 place in the Society's stations was the loss of the station at 

 Sandwick, in Orkney, and the establishment of a new station in 

 the neighbourhood, at Swanbister. The three Members of 

 Council who retired by rotation were Dr. J. B. Russell, Glas- 

 gow ; Dr. J. D. Marwick, Town Clerk, Glasgow ; and Prof. 

 Alexander Dickson ; and their re-election was recommended. 

 In July last the membership of the Society was 698 ; it was 

 now 712. In addition to the inspection of stations and the 

 ordinary work of the Office, the Secretary had been engaged 

 with the discussion of the Ben Nevis observations, and the work 

 was now far advanced. Some time had also been given to the 

 preparation of a fourth paper on the climate of the British Isles, 

 dealing with the mean monthly distribution of the rainfall, based 

 on the twenty years from 1S66 to 1885. Mr. Omond was also 

 engaged in the discussion of the Ben Nevis observations. 

 During the summer and autumn the Observatory on the Ben 

 had been utilised by Mr. H. N. Dickson for hygrometric 

 observations ; and Prof. Vernon-Harcourt ami Mr. Harold 

 Dickson, both of Oxford, had also spent some time at the 

 Observatory in August conducting experiments and observations 

 on the intensity of light in flames. The researches at the 

 Scottish Marine Station were being prosecutei.t with vigour and 

 success. Messrs. Mill and Morrison were engaged in collecting 

 and tabulating all the observations which had been made around 

 the coasts, and combining them with those made by the ob- 

 servers in connection with the Marine Station, the object being 

 to obtain a more exact statement of the temperature conditions 

 of the sea around the coast at different months of the year and 

 at different depths. Observations had alsi been continued 

 on the Firth of Forth by these gentlemen with very interesting 

 results. It was shown by Mr. Mill on a former occasion that 

 the winter condition of the Firth was one of uniformly-rising 

 temperature from the river to the sea, and from the surface of 

 the water to the bottom ; while the surrimer condition was one 

 of uniformly-falling temperature from river to sea, and from 

 surface to bottom. The winter condition commenced in Sep- 

 tember 18S5, nearly two months earlier than in 1S84; 

 the temperature of the water had been everywhere lower 

 than in the winter of 1884-85, and at the present date there was 

 no sign of the transition to the summer state. Two gentlemen 

 in the north had been observing the temperature of the River 

 Thurso at the mouth, and at a point twelve miles inland. The 

 river, it is shown, responded rapidly to changes of temperature. 

 During the greater part of the winter the water kept close to the 

 freezing-point, though never actually freezing, except at the 

 margin ; uhile the sea had been uniformly from 10° to 5° 

 warmer than the river, and its temperature had never been 

 below 40?. — The Treasurer, Dr. Sanderson, stated that a 

 member, who did not wish his name disclosed, had given 100/. 

 to be distributed — 50/. to Mr. Omond, 30'. to Mr. Rankin, and 

 20/. to Mr. Miller. The donation was "in acknowledgment of 

 their services in the important work in which they were engaged, 

 from an admirer of their indomitable pluck." — An interesting 

 paper by Mr. Omond was read on the rainfall and winds 

 at Ben Nevis Observatory. The winds, arranged in order of 

 greatest frequency, are N., S.W., W., S.E., S , N.E., N.W., and 

 E., — the N. E. and E. winds being remarkably few in number. In 

 their relation to the rainfall, the order of the winds for wet- 

 ness is W., N.W., S.W., N., S., N.E., S.E., and E. 



The direction from which most rain came during 18S5 was 

 probably a little to the north of west, and the quantity dimin- 

 ishes as we go round the compass in both directions, until the 

 driest point is reached a little to the south of east, the east 

 winds having thus a very low figure both as regards frequency 

 and the quantity of rain precipitated by them. Again, arranging 

 the data for the amount of rainfall per 100 hours of each wind, 

 the following is the order: N.W., W., S.W., S., N., N.E., 

 S.E., and E., — the E. and S.E. winds being very dry. With a 

 falling barometer the average daily rainfall amounted to 

 o'587 inch, while with a rising barometer it was 0'4S3 inch. 

 — The next paper was on rain-band observations on Ben Nevis, 

 by Mr. Rankin, first assistant at the Observatory. The obser- 

 vations have been made on a scale of o 10 5, and the mean 

 results of the rainfall for three and twelve hours respectively 

 after tlie observations showed that the rainfall increased steadily 

 in amount with the figures of the scale. Grouping the obser- 

 vations according to season, it is shown that the subsequent 

 rainfall was less with a higher, and greater with a lower, tem- 

 perature. Very interesting observations were referred to, which 

 were made in those states of the atmosphere, of no infrequent 

 occurrence on the Ben, when aerial strata of great dryness 

 and of complete saturation are superimposed on each other. 

 — In a paper on the recent literature of the rain-band, Mr. H. 

 R. Mill remarked that, although the spectroscope had been 

 shown by many observers to give 80 per cent, of rain or of no 

 rain occurring in a given time, results of great scientific value 

 could only be expected when, as at Ben Nevis Observatory, it 

 was combined with a complete series of hourly meteorological 

 observations. — Mr. Buchan gave, in reference to the weather 

 of the past winter, a short analysis of the temperature of Scot- 

 land during the past 122 years. During this long period the 

 last 15 years showed the coldest 15 consecutive summers. 

 Each of the 15 Junes was below its average temperature, except 

 June 1873, which was o°'2 above it. The mean of the Mays 

 was i°'6 under the average ; the Junes i°'2 ; and each of the 

 other months from April to December from o°'4 to o°'9 under 

 the average. The means for January, February, and March 

 were above the average. During these 122 years there had 

 occurred 38 hard winters, extending from two to six months 

 each. Of these 38 winters 18 were followed by good summers 

 and 20 by bad summers, and while of the 18 good summers 2 

 may be classed, in respect of the temperature, as very good, 8 

 of the 20 bad summers were very bad, and proved most dis- 

 astrous to the grain crops. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 19. — M. Jurien de la Graviere, 

 President, in the chair. — Note on some new methods for deter- 

 mining directly the absolute value of refraction at various degrees 

 of altitude, by M. Loewy. After brief reference to the ordinary 

 methods, including one recently proposed by the autho ■ himself, 

 the paper goes on to explain a new process by means of which 

 the refraction may be directly determined at all degrees of alti- 

 tude, — an operation hitherto supposed to be impossible. It 

 concludes with the description of a method for immediately 

 ascertaining the effect of temperaiure and barometric pressure 

 on refraction. — -On the diurnal variation in direction and inten- 

 sity of the magnetic force in the horizontal plane at Greenwich, 

 as deduced from Sir G. B. Airy's observations made during the 

 years 1841-76, by M. Faye. The author deals with the im- 

 portant series of diagrams appended by the Astronomer- Royal 

 to the volume of Greenwich Observations for 1S84, embodying 

 the diurnal variations in horizontal direction and intensity of the 

 terrestrial magnetic force for the thirty-six years ending in 1876 

 inclusive. As a general result it would appear that the mag- 

 netic curves, as exhibited in the 430 diagrams of Sir G. B. 

 Airy's series, contract and expand periodically in direct agree- 

 ment with the greater or less prevalence of the solar spots, and 

 also with great regularity according to the seasons, the summer 

 curves being invariably far greater than those of winter. — On 

 the remains of fossil reptiles discovered l>y M. B'ritsch in the 

 Permian formations of Bohemia, by M. Albert Gaudry. These 

 fossils, now collected in the Palseontological ?\Iuseum of Prague, 

 are grouped in twelve genera representing a whole series of 

 quadrupeds of a comparatively high order, obtained in 

 strata where, till lately, no animals had been found higher 

 than the order of fishes. Compared with those of the Second- 

 ary epoch, all these Primary reptiles are of sm.iU size and 

 imperfect development, inferior in these respects to the 

 Actinoderm, Enchirosaurus, and Stereorachis fi-und in the 



