NA TURE 



[November 7, 1901 



Thomas said that the lamentable decay of the sugar industry 

 could not be more forcibly illustrated than by the fact that 

 whereas at the beginning of the nineteenth century 800 sugar 

 estates had been under cultivation, there are now only 125. 

 Even Jamaica rum is in less demand than formerly, having been 

 largely superseded — even in the island itself — by whisky. On 

 the other hand, the fruit trade of late years has made great 

 strides; its value was 40,000/. in 1879 and 635,000/. in 1S99. 

 Tobacco is a product with a great future in store for it ; also 

 cocoa, the cultiv,ition of which has recently largely increased 

 and its quality improved. 



The conviction having arisen in the minds of many members 

 of the American Philosophical Society that the time has come 

 when the interests of useful knowledge in the United States can 

 be greatly promoted by the holding, in addition to the Society's 

 usual fortnightly meetings, of at least one general meeting in 

 each year, the Society has authorised the holding of a general 

 meeting in Easter week of next year, and a committee has been 

 appointed to make the necessary arrangements. Members 

 ■desiring \o present papers, either for themselves or others, are 

 requested to send to the secretaries at as early a date as practic- 

 able and not later than February 15, 1902, the titles of the 

 papers, accompanied by 'a brief abstract, so that they may be 

 duly announced on the programme, which will be issued im- 

 mediately thereafter and which will give in detail the arrange- 

 ments for the meeting. 



The "Chemical Society's Memorial Lectures," delivered 

 between 1S93 and 1900, have been published in a separate 

 volume, which can be obtained from Messrs. Gurney and 

 Jackson. There are twelve lectures in the volume, most of 

 them important contributions to the history of chemistry and all 

 of interest as descriptions of work to which the progress of 

 modern chemical science is largely indebted. Several of the 

 lectures were reported or abridged in these columns when they 

 were delivered. The twelve chemists whose scientific careers 

 are reviewed in the lectures, now rendered available in a con- 

 venient form, are Stas, Kopp, Marignac, Hofmann, Helmholtz, 

 Lothar Meyer, Pasteur, Kekule, Victor Meyer, Bunsen, 

 Friedel and Nilson. 



We have received from the Home Office a copy of Dr. 

 Le Neve Foster's general report on the minerals raised in the 

 United Kingdom during 1900, and therein we learn that the 

 value of the output, exclusive of the product of shallow quarries, 

 was no less than 135,957,676/., or nearly thirty-eight and a half 

 million pounds more than that of 1899. The enormous increase 

 ts due partly to the larger quantity of coal produced, the excess 

 being more than five million tons, but it is mainly owing to the 

 higher average price per ton. To coal is due 89 per cent, of the 

 total value of the output of our mines and quarries. Next 

 in importance is iron-ore, the value of which is about four and a 

 <^uarter million pounds. It is satisfactory to note that gold 

 mini[)g in Wales was carried on with an excellent margin of 

 profit ; no less than fourteen thousand ounces of bar gold were 

 obtained, and the value was upwards of fifty-two thousand 

 pounds. 



Two quarterly parts of a catalogue of Polish scientific litera- 

 ture, prepared by the bibliographical committee of the Depart- 

 ment of Mathematics and Natural History of the Academy of 

 Science at Cracow, have been received. The catalogue is 

 intended to form a complete current list of Polish publications, 

 commencing with the present year, and including separate 

 works and dissertations, papers in scientific journals, and trans- 

 lations into Polish from other languages. It is also intended 

 as a contribution to the international catalogue of scientific 

 literature now in course of preparation. Each title is given 

 NO. 167 1, VOL. 65] 



alphabetically in its proper section under the name of the author, 

 and a translation of the Polish title is added in English, French, 

 Latin, German or Italian. The subject classification adopted 

 in each part is as follows: — (A) pure mathematics; (15) mechanics ; 

 (C) physics; (D) chemistry; (E) astronomy; (1") meteorology 

 (including terrestrial magnetism) ; (G) mineralogy (including 

 petrology and crystallography); (H) geology; (J) geography 

 (mathematical and physical) ; (K) pala-ontology : (L) general 

 biology; (M) botany; (N) zoology; (O) human anatomy; 

 (P) physical anthropology ; (Q) physiology (including experi- 

 mental psychology, pharmacology and experimental pathology ; 

 (R) bacteriology. 



The Report of the Royal Prussian Meteorological Institute 

 for the year 1900 shows that steady progress is being made in 

 the work of the various departments. The newly erected ob- 

 servatory on the Schneekoppe began to work regularly on 

 June I, 1900. The investigation of the upper air is actively car- 

 ried on by means of kites, provided with self-recording instru- 

 ments; on one occasion a height of 4255 metres was reached. The 

 number of meteorological stations now amounts to some 200, in 

 addition to 2200 rainfall stations; more than 1400 stations 

 report thunderstorms and unusual occurrences either directly 

 or monthly by post -cards. The results of the observations are 

 published in annual, monthly and weekly reports, and the 

 staff is encouraged to contribute discussions to various scientific 

 journals. 



The Meteorological Office pilot chart of the North Atlantic 

 and Mediterranean for the month of November shows that 

 during September there was a rapid diminution in the quantity 

 of ice on the western side of the Ocean, the latest report 

 of a berg eastward of Newfoundland being as far back as 

 September 11. In the strait of Belle Isle and eastward to the 

 50th meridian large and small bergs were still numerous, but they 

 were noted as greatly thinned out since the previous month. 

 Various local features of the Atlantic winds in November are dealt 

 with, and as regards the ocean currents it is pointed out that at 

 this season the Gulf Stream exhibits a decided slackening in the 

 vicinity of Cape Hatteras, where the maximum velocities are 

 reduced from 50 to 80 miles in October to as low as 30 to 45 

 miles. This, however, would appear to be a local check, for to 

 south and north the rates are but slightly altered. On the 

 African coast, between Capes Blanco and Palnias, a distance of 

 more than 1000 miles, there is a westerly to north-westerly 

 current setting away from the land. Mariners are cautioned as 

 to the dangers from wrecks and derelicts, and particularly near 

 the American coast, some portions of which are studded with 

 sunken wrecks. A similar caution is given as to rollers down the 

 west coast of Africa, which sometimes break with great violence 

 in from nine to three fathoms. A new feature of the chart is the 

 monthly discussion of the paths of barometric depressions 

 afTecting the Mediterranean. In November there are three 

 main lanes each having its own influence on the winds experi- 

 enced. The principal one proceeds from the B.iy of Biscay 

 across Corsica to Asia Minor, but another important one enters 

 from the south-westward by the Strait of Gibraltar, or further 

 north, passing across Sardinia and Italy, influencing the weather 

 of the western basin, being the primary cause of the severe 

 northerly and north-westerly gales there experienced. Both 

 series of disturbances exhibit a tendency to lag on nearing Italy. 

 The third group of depressions appears to traverse .Vlgeria and 

 Tunis, to enter the Mediterr.anean about the Gulf of Kabes, and 

 move eastward across Cyprus. 



The autumn of 1899 was marked in the United States by a 

 great development of the fall army-worm (Laphygtna friigt- 

 fierdo), which probably was as injurious as any other insect that 

 season, being destructive to a great variety of crops over a large 



