March 19, 1908J . 



NATURE 



469 



/ interesting results were incidenfally obtained, and the 



/ Bulletin gives in detail the results obtained in reference 



/ to the formulse for normal wind pressure, the system of 



/ lalculation and design, the form of stress sheet, the 



formula for weight of truss, the comparative weights of 



trusses of various materials, the economical distance 



lietween trusses, length of panels and number of purlins 



per panel, the effect of raising the lower chord at the 



centre of span (from which no advantage results), and the 



most economical ratio of rise to span of roof trusses. 



We have received parts i. and ii. of the meteorological 

 report of the Survey Department of Egypt for the year 

 iqoj. Part i. contains very complete hourly readings and 

 means for each month at Helwan Observatory. Attention 

 is directed to the well-marked daily and annual variations 

 of wind direction and to its prevalence to the east of 

 north, whereas in the Delta it is usually west of north. 

 Part ii. deals with climatological stations, rainfall, and 

 • river-gauge observations in Egypt and the Sudan. The 



annual rainfall was in excess in the Delta and in the 

 Sudan, but deficient in the Cairo district and over middle 

 Egypt. The Nile flood did not reach its mean level at 

 any time during the year. 



\ DISCUSSION by Prof. J. Schneider of the moon's 

 influence on the wind components at Hamburg is published 

 in vol. .\xx. (1907) of .4iis dein Archiv der detitschen 

 Seewarte. As the work was undertaken principally with 

 the view of ascertaining whether any daily or half-daily 

 influence was e.xhibited, only the observations for the six 

 winter months, 1887-1896, were used, so that the influence 

 of the sun might be eliminated as much as possible. 

 Among the various results, we note that from the records 

 of the best anemometers the moon's influence is shown 

 to be practically imperceptible in the daily range; the 

 results for anomalistic months show that both components 

 (W.-E. and S.-N.) apparently increase with the approach 

 of the moon to the earth, and decrease as it recedes. The 

 values are tabulated in various ways ; for details we must 

 refer to the paper in question. 



In the Bulletin of the Manila Weather Bure.iu lor 

 March, 1907, Father .'\lgu^ gives an account of a typhoon 

 of extraordinary intensity which visited the Caroline 

 Islands in that month. The storm apparently formed to 

 the south of Ponape (Eastern Carolines) between March 24 

 and 26, and moved in a W.N.W. direction to Wlea 

 (Western Carolines), where it arrived on the morning of 

 March 29 ; by the afternoon of March 30 it reached 

 Mackenzie Island (lat. 10° N., long. 140° E.), when it 

 began to re-curve to the N. and E., passing to the N. of 

 the Ladrones Islands (lat. 20° N., long. 145° E.) on the 

 evening of April 3. In the Wlea group the destruction was 

 almost complete ; immense waves carried away houses and 

 everything in their path, and some 200 persons perished on 

 two of the islands. .'Vt yh. 30m. a.m. on March 29 the 

 barometer there read 2858 inches, and fell rapidly to 

 27-24 inches at loh. a.m. ; at 4h. p.m. it had risen to 

 29- 10 inches. The wind blew with typhoon force from 

 N'.N.E. and N.E. from 3h. a.m. to loh. a.m., and then 

 shifted to S.E. and S.W., and was still blowing a hurri- 

 cane from S.S.E. at 8h. p.m. The influence of the storm 

 was not felt in the Philippines, but owing to the vigilance 

 of Father Lopinot, observer at Yap (Western Carolines), 

 who took hourly observations during its passage in that 

 locality, the Manila Observatory was enabled to give timely 

 warning of danger in the Pacific to China and Japan 

 when the cyclone centre was some 1100 miles distant. 



NO. 2003, VOL. yy] 



From Messrs. C. F. Casella and Co., of ii, Rochester 

 Row, Victoria Street, S.W., we have received a set of the 

 " Stonyhurst Sun Discs " which they have recently issued. 

 These discs have been made at the suggestion, and with 

 the assistance, of Father Cortie, and are similar to those 

 used at Stonyhurst College Observatory for a number of 

 years for the determination of the heliographic positions 

 of sun-spots and faculse. Each set includes eight discs, 

 and on each of these is a true orthographic projection of 

 the parallels of latitude and longitude corresponding to the 

 value of the declination of the sun's centre, from 0° to 

 + 7°, for each period of the year. The discs are 6 inches 

 in diameter, afid are nicely printed on cardboard, for use 

 with a projected image of the sun, or on transparent glazed 

 linen for use with a drawing of the solar disc. Each 

 set is enclosed in a strong cloth wallet, and may be 

 obtained from the above firm at the price of los. 6d. per 



The January number of the Astrophysical Journal con- 

 tains a very suggestive article, by Mr. E. Goldstein, of 

 Berlin, on the two-fold line spectra of chemical elements. 

 Mr. Goldstein has found, during a long series of experi- 

 ments, in which he produced his spectra by employing 

 heavier condenser discharges than have hitherto been 

 employed, that he could replace the well-known spectra of 

 the alkali metals rubidium, caesium, and potassium by 

 an entirely new line spectrum. Previous workers have 

 found some of the new lines appearing with the arc spectra, 

 but have not succeeded in eliminating the latter ; in Mr. 

 Goldstein's spectra, however, the new sets of lines appeared 

 alone. As the lines of the ordinary arc spectra fit them- 

 selves into series, whilst the new lines fit into no series, 

 it appears that powerful discharges extinguish all the series 

 lines and replace them by non-series lines in the case of 

 the three metals named. In the case of sodium, Mr. 

 Goldstein has not yet succeeded in eliminating the series 

 lines, only in weakening them, whilst in the case of 

 lithium the effect is still less marked. As the density of 

 the discharge necessary to affect the transformation from 

 the series to the non-series, or " fundamental spectra " 

 (" Grundspectra "), lines appears to increase as the atomic 

 weights decrease, it may be that increased experimental 

 facilities will bring sodium and lithium into line with the 

 other three alkalies. Amongst a number of other 

 important suggestions, reference is made to the possibility 

 of the ordinary, or " series," line spectra being emitted 

 by regular groupings of particles which, when subjected 

 to a heavy condenser discharge such as was employed in 

 the present experiments, are broken up, leaving single 

 particles which emit the single uncorrelated lines of the 

 " fundamental spectra." 



The firm of Gustav Fischer (Jena) has published an 

 address on the modern analysis of psychical phenomena 

 delivered by Prof. A. Hoche at the congress of German 

 Naturalists and Physicians held at Dresden last 

 September. Dr. Hoche, who spoke from a point of 

 view that would exclude all quasi-metaphysical discussion 

 from psychology, characterised the present phase of the 

 science as one of " spade-work " carried out by many 

 hands over a wide area, such as commonly recurs after 

 a period of rapid deepening and widening of our concep- 

 tions. Progress has presented itself in the form of new 

 demands upon psychology, followed by , the appearance of 

 new methods of investigation and the conception of new 

 aims for its efforts. Under the first of these headings fall 

 the applications of psychology to the scientific study of 



