540 
NATURE 
[SEPTEMBER 25, 1902 
Mr. F. Kroun sends from Funchal, Madeira, some notes on 
sunset glows observed by him during June, July and August, in 
continuation of those previously described by him (p. 199). 
On a number of occasions, even when the sky above and to the 
west was overcast at sunset, a pink glow could be seen on the 
eastern horizon just before sunset, and then just immediately 
after or at the time of sunset a pink glow would suffuse the 
cloud screen above. Mr. Krohn was under the impression that 
the phenomenon was rather more marked about July 6-7, 12-16 
and 26-27, but these dates, especially the last two, are uncertain. 
Since the end of July, clear weather has prevailed, and during 
August I-3 a well-marked maximum was observable, the phe- 
nomenon being particularly well marked on August 2, when 
both sunrise and sunset displays were very fine, the sky at the 
time being quite clear. The latter sunsets, however, were very 
far from equalling the displays of June 10-11. The rays or 
spokes in the pink haze, mentioned in Prof. A. S. Herschel’s 
letter of July 10 (NATURE of July 24), have been observed by 
Mr. Krohn four or five times. From the observations it 
is concluded that the volcanic dust and moisture cloud is 
travelling at an average rate of about thirty miles an hour in 
the latitude of Funchal. This does not seem an improbable 
rate if Prof. Herschel’s estimate of the height of the present 
cloud is correct, for the rate at which the Krakatoa cloud 
travelled was about seventy-two miles an hour; but this cloud 
was travelling at a much greater height. 
WHEN well marked, the phenomena observed by Mr. Krohn 
at sunset followed the course described by Prof. Herschel. 
In Mr. Krohn’s words, ‘‘A pink glow appears in the east in 
the form of a broad band above a broad greenish-grey band 
down on the horizon. The pink band gradually extends up- 
wards and disappears as the glow begins to form a pink arc in 
the western horizon, which until then shows a white hazy area 
above the sun’s point of setting. Gradually the white area 
contracts and assumes a more golden hue. The pink arc also 
contracts and assumes a more intense colour ; at the outer edge 
it is more purple where the pink mixes with the blue of the sky. 
A dirty greenish-grey haze now begins to spread upwards from 
ithe eastern horizon and finally replaces the pink halo in the 
‘west as a purplish-grey arc around a whitish halo. This faint 
purplish halo or arc is visible for some time after dusk has set 
in. At sunrise the phenomena are practically the same, but 
the order is reversed and the colours near the horizon seem to 
be purer.” 
Tue director of the Philippine Weather Bureau, the Rev. Fr. 
José Algué, S_J., has issued the first part of a report containing 
an account of the climate of Baguio (Benguet), as gathered from 
a complete year’s observations. The report is very thoroughly 
made and is the first of its kind, and one of its main objects is 
‘to draw attention to climatological conditions of certain regions 
of the archipelago which might be advantageously chosen as 
health resorts. In the case of each of the meteorological 
elements here discussed, a comparison of the facts is made 
with the data already recorded at and published by the Manila 
Observatory. The meteorological station at Baguio is of quite 
recent date, having been in operation since August, 1900, and its 
equipment was made more complete after the establishment of 
the Philippine Weather Bureau in May, 1901. The present 
report contains the observations of pressure, temperature, rela- 
tive humidity, fog, clouds, rainfall, wind, and in most cases 
The con- 
cluding chapter is devoted to a comparison of the climate of this 
curves of the daily and yearly variations are given. 
station with those of other tropical stations at similar altitudes. 
THE trustees of the British Museum at Bloomsbury have 
issued a capital ‘* Guide to the Antiquities of the Stone Age in 
the Department of British and Medizeval Antiquities,” which is 
NO. 1717, VOL. 66] 
accompanied by ten plates and 142 other illustrations. It has 
been prepared by Mr. Charles H. Read, who observes that his 
work is to some extent rendered incomplete owing to the fact 
that many objects essential to a full understanding of the Stone 
age are at the Natural History Branch in Cromwell Road, while 
some localities and some classes of implements are not so well 
represented as they should be in the national collection. 
Although he groups the antiquities under those of Palzolithic 
and Neolithic ages, he figures and describes certain Eolithic 
implements, recognising that the existence of an earlier and 
ruder type is in itself not improbable. His reference to the 
occurrence of ‘‘ early Paleolithic” implements in beds older 
than the chalky boulder clay, though based on a statement in a 
Geological Survey memoir, requires qualification, as the evidence 
is far from satisfactory. The text is, however, so full of in- 
formation and the illustrations are so excellent, exhibiting the 
chipped and polished stone-implements from all paris of the 
world, as well as engraved stones, bones and horns, and pile- 
dwellings, that the work will be highly appreciated by all who 
take an interest in the antiquity of man. 
Mr. T. MELLARD READE has given an account of the Glacial 
and post-Glacial features of the River Lune and its estuary 
(Proc. Liverpool Geol. Soc., vol. ix. 1902). The lower part of 
the valley is a pre-Glacial excavation that was filled with Boulder- 
clay and other glacial drift, and since to a large extent removed 
by river denudation, the various stages being recorded by 
terraces cut in the drift. The later deposits include thick sands 
and clayey sands rich in foraminifera, of which lists have been 
furnished by Mr. Joseph Wright. 
A FULL account of a recent peat and forest bed at Westbury - 
on-Severn has been contributed by Mr. Mellard Reade, Mr. 
A. S. Kennard and others to the Proceedings of the Cotteswold 
Naturalists’ Field Club (vol. xiv. part 1). The deposits include 
blue clays containing foraminifera, an intermediate peat bed 
with branches and roots of trees, and an overlying mass of 
tidal alluvium. The foraminifera appear to have lived in the 
locality and probably in brackish water. The peat bed has 
yielded many land and iresh-water mollusca, which with other 
remains indicate climatic conditions similar to those of the 
present day. The deposits are recent, and the indications they 
furnish of changes of level prior to the Roman occupation are 
briefly discussed. 
A PAPER by E. Guyou, entitled ‘* La Méthode des Distances 
Lunaires, le Présent, le Passé, |’Avenir,” has reached us. 
The author considers that the publication of lunar distances of 
certain stars in the national ephemerides has had a bad effect 
in that it has concentrated observation upon those stars all of 
which at the moment of observation are possibly too far from 
the moon for accurate observation, and that therefore repeated 
failure to obtain accurate results has led to the abandonment of 
the method. The author expects now to see the method revive, 
observers being no longer biassed in their choice and taking the 
most convenient star. We think he is too sanguine. 
THE chemical composition of tubercle bacilli derived from 
various sources, especially in regard to the amount of ash and of 
phosphoric anhydride, and of the alcoholic, ether and chloroform 
extracts, has been investigated by De Schweinitz and Dorset. 
There is a distinct difference in the composition of the various 
bacilli; the alcoholic extract of avian bacilli is very much 
greater than that of any other variety, but the chloroform extract 
of bovine and of human virulent bacilli is almost the same. 
There is also a greater difference between the virulent and non- 
virulent human bacilli than between the virulent human, bovine 
and equine bacilli. (Amer. Met., July 19, p. 93.) 
