23^ 



NA TURE 



[January 9, 1908 



1907, published in Engineering of January 3, shows that 

 in the United Kingdom 1499 ships, aggregating 1,795,400 

 tons (excluding three docl<yard-built warships), and pro- 

 pelling machinery totalling 1,712,000 indicated horse-power, 

 were turned out in 1907. A very complete record of 

 progress in mining and metallurgy in 1907 is contained in 

 the Mining Journal of December 28. 



Bulletin No. 14, on " Tests of Reinforced Concrete 

 Beams," by Mr. A. N. Talbot, has just been issued by 

 the University of Illinois Engineering Experiment Station. 

 The tests described are a continuation of the tests dis- 

 cussed in Bulletin No. 4. The topics investigated include 

 the effect of quality of concrete upon the strength of 

 beams, the effect of repetitive loading upon the action of 

 ' beams, and the resistance of beams to diagonal tension 

 failures. The results of the investigation of diagonal 

 tension failures throw light upon the amount of the vertical 

 shearing stress which may be allowed in reinforced con- 

 crete beams not having metallic web reinforcement. The 

 resistance of beams to diagonal tension may be the con- 

 trolling feature of relatively short beams, and as such 

 failures occur suddenly and without much warning, a 

 knowledge of the resistance of the concrete is essential. 

 Some beams gave surprisingly low values, and it seems 

 evident that the values allowed by many city building 

 ordinances are higher than should be recommended. The 

 tests of concrete columns and reinforced concrete columns 

 and of reinforced concrete T-beams for 1906 have already 

 been published. 



The spell of frost which set in immediately after 

 Christmas over the entire country was for the time severe, 

 and the thermometer touched a lower reading than for 

 several years past. The region of cold spread westwards 

 from the continent of Europe. The Weather Report issued 

 by the Meteorological Office for the week ending Saturday, 

 January 4, covers nearly the whole period of the frost. 

 It shows that the deficiency of temperature for the week 

 amounted to more than 7° in the south and north-west of 

 England, to nearly 8° in the south of Ireland, and to 

 nearly 10° in the south-west of England. In many places 

 the maximum temperature did not once reach 40°. The 

 sheltered thermometer fell below 20° in all districts except 

 the south of England, and in many parts of Scotland, 

 Wales, and the north-west of England it fell below 15°, 

 the lowest temperature reported being 10°, at Balmoral 

 and West Linton. On the grass, the exposed thermometer 

 fell to 2° at Balmoral. In the south-east of England, as 

 well as at some places in the Midlands, the weather was 

 still colder on Sunday, January 5, and the succeeding 

 night. At Greenwich, the minimum shade temperature 

 was 18°, and on the grass 10°. At Birr Castle, in central 

 Ireland, the shade temperature was 12°, and at both 

 Nottingham and Liverpool 16°. An exceptional rise of 

 temperature occurred over the whole country on Monday, 

 January 6, when the thermometer touched 50° in many 

 places. There was a sharp fall of snow in London and 

 the suburbs on the morning of yesterday. 



In the Annuaire MiUorologique for 1907, published by 

 the Royal Observatory of Belgium, there is an interesting 

 article by M. J. Vincent describing the upper-air investiga- 

 tions carried out by the Belgian observers by means of 

 ballons-sondes. The instruments and methods emplovcd 

 are described in detail and illustrated, and the article will 

 be found full of interest by all workers in this important 

 branch of meteorology. Another article in the same 

 publication deals with the humidity of the air in Belgium, 

 NO. 1993. VOL. 77I 



the subject being dealt with exhaustively and in a lucid 

 manner. These special articles, and the large number of 

 tables, &c., which the Annuaire contains, make the publica- 

 tion a very valuable reference work for meteorologists in 

 general. 



.■\ SUMMARY of the results obtained from the meteor- 

 ological observations made at the Catania Observatory 

 during 1906 is given by Profs. Ricc6 and Cavasino in an 

 extract from the Atti dell' Accademia Gioenia di scienze 

 naturali in Catania (series 40, vol. xx.). The actual read- 

 ings and reduced values are given for each element, and 

 in a series of notes they are compared with the analogous 

 values for 1905. 



Prof. Ricco has completed his gravitational survey 

 of Sicily and Calabria, and published the results in the 

 Annale of the Central Meteorological and Geodynamical 

 Office of Italy (vol. xix., part i.). The distribution of 

 gravitational anomalies in Sicily is somewhat peculiar ; in 

 the centre there is a defect which reaches the greatest 

 observed value of —67 at Caltanisetta, the unit being 

 0001 mm. in the length of the seconds pendulum. Over 

 the greater part of Sicily, however, the anomaly is 

 positive, the lines of equal anomaly forming elongated 

 ellipses with the longer axis running about N.E. and 

 S.W., and cut off by the sea coast on the south. The 

 anomaly reaches a positive value of 160 at Stromboli, and 

 on the east coast off Syracuse, but there are some interrup- 

 tions of the regularity of increase, the most important of 

 which is on Mt. Etna. Round the foot of the moun- 

 tain the anom&ly has a positive value of about 70, which 

 decreases on its slopes and sinks to —11 at the observa- 

 tory near its summit. The magnetic survey of Sicily shows 

 anomalies in the distribution of terrestrial magnetism, but 

 as it is impossible to eliminate the magnetic effect of the 

 superficial volcanic rocks, they cannot be correlated with 

 those of gravitational attraction. 



The first part, just received, of the annual report for 

 1905 of the director of the Weather Bureau of the Philip- 

 pines gives the results of hourly meteorological observa- 

 tions at the Manila Central Observatory during 1905. The 

 hours of observations are given in insular standard time, 

 that is, in the time of 120° E. longitude, adopted by order 

 of the U.S. Government in 1899. The observations of 

 atmospheric pressure, temperature, relative humidity, 

 vapour tension, and the direction and force of the wind 

 are hourly, read directly between 6 a.m. and 7 p. in., and 

 from self-registering apparatus from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. 

 Each of the tables of hourly observations shows also the 

 respective hourly, daily, and monthly means. The extreme 

 daily values of the various elements, together with the 

 times of their occurrence, are united in a separate table. 



Those who in making measurements in which a spark 

 gap has formed part of the apparatus have been troubled 

 by the inconstancy of the results obtained, will welcome a 

 simple device described by Dr. W. Eickhoff in the 

 Physikalische Zeitschrift for December 15, 1907, which 

 appears to increase the regularity of action of the gap 

 to a very marked degree. It consists of a short piece of 

 pointed wire, attached to the conductor carrying the 

 negative sphere of the gap at a point close to the sphere, 

 and bent over towards the positive sphere so that its 

 pointed end is a little further away from the sufface of 

 that sphere than the two spheres are apart. 



Communication No. 99 from the physical laboratory of 

 the University of Lcyden contains two papers on the 



