35° 
NATURE 
[AucusT 7, 1902 
IN a paper read at the International Navigation Congress 
recently held at Dusseldorf, Mr. Gordon C. Thomas, C.E., 
gives a description of a novel kind of canal lift which he has 
recently constructed at Foxton, on the Grand Junction Canal, 
one of the most important arterial waterways in this country. 
At Foxton there is a rise of 75 feet, which used to be overcome 
by a flight of 10 locks, which could only take barges carrying 
33 tons. The time occupied in passing a boat through these locks 
was 75 minutes, and 30,000 gallons of water were used for the 
purpose at each lockage. The increasing traffic necessitated some 
better means of raising and lowering the barges and decreasing 
the quantity of water required. For this purpose Mr. Thomas 
has recently constructed for the Canal Company a new system of 
elevation at a cost of 40,000/., by means of which the time 
occupied in raising and lowering the boats has been decreased to 
twelve minutes for one boat ascending and another descending 
as compared with an hour and a quarter for the passage of a 
single boat, the quantity of water used being only one-tenth of 
that required when the locks are used. The lift consists of an 
inclined plane connected with the higher and lower levels of the 
canal at an angle of rin 4. On this incline two docks, or iron 
troughs, 80 feet long, 15 feet wide and 5 feet deep are hauled 
up and down, the barges being first floated into or out of the 
docks from the canal, the ends of which are closed by gates made 
watertight. The troughs are hauled up sideways and the wheels 
on which they rest are so adjusted that the water in them always 
remains level. As one trough is drawn up, either loaded with 
a boat or empty, except as to the water, the other descends. 
This lift is capable of passing 200 canal boats in twelve hours, 
and can be managed by three men. 
S1GNor Firipro Erepia has published in the 4//2 of the 
Royal Academy of Acireale some interesting statistics in regard 
to the rainfall of Sicily during the period 1880-1900. Con- 
sidering the following ten stations, Palermo, Termini, Messina, 
Riposto, Catania, Syracuse, Mineo, Girgenti, Caltanisetta and 
Trapani, it is found that if the twelve months of the year be 
arranged in descending order of their average rainfalls, the five 
least rainy months at each station occur in the order September, 
May, August, June, July. The most rainy month is November 
for Messina, Riposto, Catania and Trapani, and December for 
the other stations. The next in order is December for Messina 
and Trapani, November for Syracuse, Termini and Girgenti, 
and January for the other stations. October occurs fourth on the 
list for Palermo, Termini, Girgenti and Syracuse ; it is the third 
for Messina and Trapani, fifth for Riposto and Catania, and still 
lower down for Mineo and Caltanisetta. February is fifth on 
the list for Palermo, Termini, Messina, Trapani and Syracuse, 
fourth for Catania, Mineo and Caltanisetta and third for Riposto. 
Finally, March and April occupy the sixth and seventh places 
at all stations except Girgenti, Mineo and Caltanisetta. 
THE director of the International Bureau of Weights and 
Measures, at Paris, has recently issued a further volume of 
he Zravaux et Mémoires of the Bureau (vol. xii., 338 pp.; 
Paris: Gauthier-Villars.) This volume deals with (1) the 
determination in 1894-5 of the length of the yard in terms 
of the metre; (2) with the verification in 1890-7 of standard 
end-measures (métres 4 bouts) ; and (3) with a comparison of 
platinum and gas thermometers. The volume also contains 
a reprint of the ‘‘Compte rendus des Séances” of the three 
general conferences on weights and measures which were 
held at Paris in 1889, 1895 and 1901, to the last of which 
reference has been recently made in our columns. The 
comparisons of the yard and metre, and the verification of 
the end-metres (1) (2), are now almost ancient history, and the 
important results obtained in 1895 and 1897 have been duly 
recognised in this country. A full and interesting report 
NO. 1710, VOL. 66] 
is made on the comparisons of platinum, gas and mercurial 
thermometers by Dr. J. A. Harker and Dr. P. Chappuis (3). 
The results of their researches have, however, been already 
published in London (P22. Trans. Roy. Soc., vol. exciv. pp. 
37-134, 1900). Prof. Callendar’s method of measuring tem- 
peratures based on the determination of the electrical resist- 
ance of a platinum wire, has been extended to a comparison 
at the Bureau of the platinum thermometer with the nitrogen 
thermometer (now adopted as the international standard 
thermometer) at temperatures varying from 80” to 460°C. A 
comparison was also made between the platinum and the 
mercurial thermometers at lower temperatures, all the com- 
parisons having been made under the direction of Dr. Benoit. 
These comparisons were originally proposed by the Kew 
Observatory Committee, and the numerous formule as well as 
the results are clearly set out in appendices to the report. 
THE explosion of a charge of about ten tons of gunpowder in 
connection with blasting operations in the granite quarries near 
Baveno (Lago Maggiore) has afforded Dr. Emilio Oddone an 
Opportunity for making a series of observations of interest in con- 
nection with seismology, and the results are described in a paper 
communicated to the Istituto Lombardo in May last. The charge 
was fired on October 30, 1901, and Dr. Oddone made observa- 
tions in a hut distant about 1} kilometres to the north of the 
mines, using a seismometer for horizontal motions, an apparatus 
for determining the relative motion in a radial direction of two 
points three metres distant, a variometer for the aérial disturb- 
ances, an aneroid and a chronometer. Tocalculate the velocity 
of propagation, observations were made at 7, 10 and 20 kilo- 
metres, and also with the instruments at Pavia, Milan, Turin 
and Padua. The indications of the seismograph showed initially 
a solitary wave of amplitude o'1 millimetre, but in consequence 
of the rock subsequently breaking off in five pieces this was 
followed by subsidiary waves. The variometer indicated an 
instantaneous variation of atmospheric pressure of about 1/24 
millimetre of mercury. The distant observations gave negative 
results; at Baveno, 7 kilometres distant, no earth tremors 
were noticed, and even the sound of the explosion hardly 
reached 15 kilometres. A calculation of the total energy 
dissipated by the waves across a hemispherical surface of radius 
1500 metres about the hypocentre gives 1°4 x10’ kilogram- 
metres, the total energy set free by the combustion of the 
powder being 2°584x 10° kilogrammetres, It appears, how- 
ever, probable that about 92 per cent. of the elastic energy was 
absorbed at a distance of 1500 metres, and this absorption Dr. 
Oddone attributes to the viscosity of the granite. The same 
cause accounts for the absence of any observed earth tremors at 
the distant stations, which made it impossible to calculate the 
velocity of wave propagation. At the same time, an explosion 
high up on a mountain at the side of a deep lake hardly appears 
to be favourably placed for sending earth-tremors to a long 
distance. 
A BEAUTIFULLY illustrated pamphlet, by Mr. C. Dixon, issued 
by Ross, Ltd., of New Bond Street, describes the advantages of 
Ross's prism field-glasses to the out-of-doors naturalist. 
NuMBER ix. of the L.M.B.C. AZemotrs, by Mr. O. V. Darbi- 
shire, is devoted toa full account of the natural history of 
Chondrus, or ‘‘ Irish moss.” At the conclusion of his memoir 
the author deplores the want of a thoroughly trustworthy and 
up-to-date work on British sea-weeds. 
Tue August number of the Contemporary Review contains 
an interesting article on bird-life by Mr. Digby Pigott, in which 
the author draws special attention to the beautiful preparations 
in the Natural History Museum illustrative of the arrangement 
of the feathers in the wing. 
a a ae 
