'8 



NATURE 



[August 10, 1 88 2 



.Sunday, the 27th inst., at the invitation of the Rector (the 

 Rev.the Hon. Canon A.Ba5ilO.\Vilberforce),the Members 

 of the Association, accompanied by the Mayor and Cor- 

 poration, will attend Divine Service at the mother Parish 

 Church of St. Mary, when a sermon will be preached by 

 the Lord Bishop of Truro. 



The sectional meetings will be held respectively in 

 some one or other of the following places : — The Watts 

 Memorial Hall, Zion Hall, the Grammar School, Portland 

 Baptist Chapel, Kingsfield School, the Masonic Hall, the 

 Philharmonic Hall, the County Court, the Friends' Meet- 

 ing House, the Unitarian School, Taunton's Trade School, 

 the Wesleyan School, the East Street Baptist Chapel, St. 

 Andrew's School, &c. 



The Rector has also invited the Members of the Asso- 

 ciation to a garden party in the charming Deanery 

 Grounds on Monday, August 28, while the Southampton 

 Yacht Club have conferred the privilege of Honorary 

 Membership of their Club for the week on the members, 

 \-c. of the British Association ; and the Hartley Council 

 have placed the Hartley Institution entirely at the dis- 

 posal of such members during their stay. The Dock 

 Company will provide competent guides, &c, to conduct 

 the members over the splendid series of local docks ; and 

 the Union Steam-ship Company will lend and provision 

 their magnificent ship Pretoria for an all-day marine 

 excursion (during which the boat exercise as used in 

 case of storm, and the hose exercise as in case of fire, will 

 be gone through), unless' the vessel in question should 

 meanwhile be required by the Government for Transport 

 Service. 



The scheme of excursions is very complete, and in- 

 cludes all-day excursions on Thursday, August 31, to 

 Salisbury, Stonehenge, and Wilton Park ; Portsmouth 

 Arsenal, Dockyard, the Royal Yacht, &c. : and a marine 

 excursion to Bournemouth, or round the Isle of Wight : 

 as well as afternoon excursions on Saturday, August 26, 

 to Alum Bay ; Ryde, Brading, Whitecliff, Newport, and 

 Carisbrooke ; drives in the New Forest ; Netley Abbey 

 and Hospital ; Romsey, Broadlands (the seat of Lord 

 Mount-Temple), &c ; Winchester and St. Cross. 



The local Gas Company will give an illustration of 

 improved gas-lighting in the Skating Rink, and from 

 Holyrood Church to the Hartley Hall (in one direction), 

 and to the Commercial Road (in the other) ; completely 

 lighting both parts also of Portland Street, &c. The 

 Edison Electric Light Co. will illuminate the Hartley 

 Hall. 



The various local factories (Messrs. Day, Summers, 

 and Co., Northern Iron Works, Oswald, Mordaunt, and 

 Co., Woolston Ship Building Works, &c), and the yard of 

 the Royal Mail Steam Ship Company will also be acces- 

 sible to the Members and Associates with their friends. 



The Mayors of Winchester, Ryde, and Newport have 

 shown a hearty desire to co-operate with the Local 

 Executive Committee, as have Lord Mount-Temple, 

 and others too numerous to mention. There appears 

 every probability that, so far as can be attained by sound, 

 honest, local work, the forthcoming meeting will not be 

 the least successful that the Association has held ; but it 

 must not be disguised that the Local Committee has been 

 somewhat hampered by the financial difficulty, in which 

 respect there is still time for those who have not sub- 



scribed to make amends by sending in their names to 

 the Local Treasurer either as Donors, Guarantors, or 

 both. T. Norfolk, 



Assistant Local Secretary 



— . v 



THE CLIMATE OF ALEXAXDRIA ' 



WE have before us seven and a half years' very full 

 and satisfactory observations made at Alexandria, 

 under the auspices of the Austrian Meteorological So- 

 ciety, from the commencement of 1875, from which a 

 tolerably accurate account of the climate of this histori- 

 cally and otherwise important region of the lower Nile 

 may be gathered. The observations have been made 

 daily at 9 a.m., 3 p.m., and 9 p.m., and are quite con- 

 tinuous to the end of May last. 



A marked feature of the atmospheric pressure is its 

 comparative steadiness from year to year, attaining the 

 annual maximum, 30-147 inches, in January, and falling 

 to the minimum, 29S44 inches, in July, the difference 

 being thus 0-303 inch. At Cairo the difference between 

 the winter and summer pressures is 0321 inch, the 

 greater difference at Cairo being due to its lower summer 

 pressure. The greater diminution of pressure in ad- 

 vancing from the Mediterranean towards the interior 

 during the summer is an important element in the meteo- 

 rology of Lower Egypt, on account of the changes of 

 wind which result from it. 



During the three winter months the direction of the 

 wind in the morning shows a mean of 27 days for 

 S.E., S., and S.W. winds, as against 28 days for N.W., 

 N., and N.E. winds. On the other hand, during 

 the three summer months, southerly winds are wholly 

 absent, and N.W., N., and N.E. winds prevail on 79 

 days. Looked at broadly, northerly and southerly winds 

 prevail in winter, northerly in summer, and northerly and 

 easterly in spring and during October and November. 

 The prevalence of easterly winds at these seasons is a 

 striking peculiarity of the climatology of a large part of 

 the Levant, and as regards the autumn, they are accom- 

 panied with a higher temperature than would otherwise 

 be the case. During the afternoon the wind blows uni- 

 formly from some northerly point at all seasons, except in 

 winter, when winds from the west also prevail, west winds 

 being then 16 as against north winds 30. During the 

 warmest months the wind is wholly from the north. The 

 wind is also much stronger in the afternoon than in the 

 morning. Thus the morning observations give 48 days 

 of calms during the year, but the afternoon observations 

 only 18 ; and for the seven months from May to No- 

 vember, there are only two days of calm, but for the 

 same months the morning observations give 30 days of 

 calm. 



In connection [with these changes of wind, the rela- 

 tive humidity is very interesting. The lowest humidity, 

 66, occurs in winter ; but as the wind changes more com- 

 pletely into the north, the humidity rises gradually to the 

 maximum, 76, in July, and in exact accordance therewith, 

 whilst the daily range of temperature in winter is about 

 iro, in summer it is only half that amount. On the other 

 hand, while the air at Alexandria approaches nearer 



! " Meteorologische EeoWhtunsen an sechszehn Stationen in Osterreich 

 und drei Stationen (Alexandrien, Beirut und Sulina) im Ausland. (Wien, 

 1875-82) 



