November 28, 1901] 



NATURE 



87 



by Prof. W. E. Dalby. As is well known, although there are 

 some engines with their reciprocating and revolving parts un- 

 balanced, the counterpoising of the various parts forms a most 

 important item in the designing of the engine, and a point 

 which, if neglected, is afterwards easily discernible on the foot- 

 plate. The paper, which is divided into nineteen separate 

 articles, deals with the subject in a'very lucid manner, and each 

 article is thoroughly treated. We find taken as examples two 

 typical English engines (a passenger and goods on the L. and Y. 

 Railway) and an S-coupled engine, class E Baldwin Company 

 of America. In the article in which the distribution of the 

 reciprocating mass between the coupled wheels is discussed, 

 three figures are of special interest, being diagrams showing : 

 (l) All revolving mass and two-thirds reciprocating mass in 

 driving-wheel (only) ; '(2) all revolving mass and two-thirds re- 

 ciprocating mass eqvially distributed (on all wheels) ; (3) all 

 revolving mass and all reciprocating mass equally distributed 

 (on all wheels). In dealing with four-cylinder locomotives the 

 author points out how balancing can be effected without the use 

 of balance weights attached to the wheels, by properly propor- 

 tioning the " masses" and "crank angles." 



Symonss Meteorological Magazine for November contains a 

 summary of the clim.ate of the British Empire for the year 1900, 

 so far as it can be represented by reports from eighteen stations 

 distributed over various parts of the world. The highest tem- 

 perature in the shade (ii2°'2) occurred at Adelaide on January 

 I ; this station also registered the highest solar temperature, 

 I70°'S. The ma.ximum temperatures at London (95° '2 on July 

 16) and Toronto (gS'o on August 6) are the highest noted for 

 these stations since the commencement of the summary in 1S77. 

 The lowest shade temperature (-34°S on February 9) was 

 recorded at Winnipeg, where the range in the course of the 

 year was I35°'3. The driest stations were Adelaide and 

 Fredericton (New Brunswick), where the mean humidity was 

 66 per cent., and the dampest station was Colombo, Ceylon, 

 mean humidity Si per cent. The greatest rainfall was at 

 Calcutta, 89'3 inches, and the least at Malta, i6t inches. 



The pilot chart of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean 

 for the month of December, just issued by the Meteorological 

 Office, shows that there were still a few icebergs on the edge of 

 the bank eastward of Newfoundland as late as October. On 

 the great circle track to Belle Isle, and also within the Strait, 

 there has been a perceptible diminution in the quantity of ice 

 reported, so that from the scores of bergs sighted about July 

 and August they have now dwindled to an occasional one. It 

 is, however, interesting to notice in this connection that the 

 Dundee whalers recently returned from Davis Strait report 

 much ice blocking up the west side of the strait and drifting 

 southward last summer, while in the early part of October 

 what was probably a portion of the same ice was reported to 

 be sweeping down along the Labrador coast in great quantities. 

 There is thus some probability of the next ice season off the 

 Newfoundland coast being an early one. Realising the import- 

 ance to the mariner of a clear understanding of the laws govern- 

 ing the movements of cyclonic disturbances — how he should 

 combine his observations of the wind direction with the baro- 

 metric variations to obtain, under all circumstances, a fair idea 

 of his position in the storm field, and to ascertain approximately 

 the line of progression of the central part of the system— the 

 article on Atlantic storm systems published in one of the 

 earlier charts is reproduced at the commencement of the 

 season of winter storms. An inset chart illustrates the con- 

 ditions obtaining over north-western Europe during the north- 

 westerly type of weather, that of December 1S95 being in the 

 ascendent for more than a fortnight. At this season the winds 

 of the Mediterranean region are shown to be influenced by dis- 

 NO. 1674, VOL. 65] 



turbances which follow two well-defined paths, one from the 

 Bay of Biscay to Sardinia and away to Cyprus, the other 

 taking a north-easterly course from about Gibraltar to Corsica 

 and across Italy to Dalmatia. 



Mr. IIalcott C. Morexo has published in the Proceedings 

 of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences a paper on 

 ruled loci in K-fold space. Corresponding to a developable and 

 its edge of regression in ordinary space, we have the loci 

 derived from a flat of « - I dimensions whose equation involves a 

 single arbitrary parameter, these loci representing the ultimate 

 intersections of two, three or more flats of the family. In like 

 manner loci corresponding to ruled surfaces are obtained from 

 an « - 2 flat whose equations involve a single parameter, and the 

 further case is considered of an n-k flat also involving a single 

 parameter. Several of the conclusions obtained are analogues 

 of results given for three-dimensional geometry in Salmon's 

 well-known treatise. 



The accident to the aeroplane machine with which Herr 

 Kress has been experimenting on the reservoir of the Vienna 

 waterworks forms the subject of a critical article in the number, 

 for November 16, of Die Umsckau, a paper which has pre- 

 viously given several well-written articles on this and other 

 systems of experimenting in aerial navigation. Herr Kress 

 made the mistake of building the machine without waiting for 

 the motor, and when the latter was at length obtained it was 

 found to be a heavier one than he had ordered. This had the 

 eft'ect of making the apparatus top-heavy when sailing on the 

 water on the aluminium boat which formed its car, and the 

 accident occurred, not when the machine was going at full speed, 

 but after the pace had been moderated and the apparatus was 

 turning towards the bank. A small gust of wind catching 

 the sails appears to have caused the machine to heel over to 

 such an extent that it was incapable of righting itself. It is 

 pointed out that stability in the water and stability in the air are 

 quite different things, and Kress thinks that the high position of 

 the centre of gravity would not have affected the stability of the 

 machine if it had been supported in the air by its wings, nor 

 would a side wind have had the same power of overturning it. 



In a recent issue of the Proceedings of the American Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences (vol. iii. p. 507) Mr. E. C. Starks gives a 

 complete list of the numerous synonyms which have been 

 applied to the component bones of the fish-skeleton. It may be 

 hoped that naturalists will agree to adopt the names selected by 

 the author as the best designations of the individual bones. 



To the November issue of the Zoologist Capt. G. E. H. 

 Barrett-Hamilton communicates a further note on the origin of 

 sexual dimorphism and of nuptial weapons and ornament. In 

 the same journal Mr. F. Cohern narrates his experiences during 

 a bird-collecting trip to the north of Iceland, with a list of the 

 species obtained. He sneaks of the extraordinary abundance 

 and tameness of the birds, and believes that he has obtained a 

 new form of pipit, although this opinion does not appear to be 

 shared by his fellow ornithologists. 



The August issue of the Boletim of the Para Museum 

 contains a paper by Dr. E. Goeldi on two Brazilian rodents, 

 one of which (Blarinomys breviceps) was first described from its 

 fossil remains, but is now known also by a single recent example. 

 The same author gives an illustrated description of the gigantic 

 catfish of the Amazons locally known as the piraiba. In 

 assigning to this fish a new scientific name (Piratinga pira-aiba) 

 the author states that in its young state it has long since been 

 described by Lichtenstein as P. filamentosa. If this be so, the 

 new title seems superfluous. 



The whole of part iv. of vol. xiii. of the Journal of the 

 College of Science of Tokio is occupied by an elaborate dis- 

 sertation on the development, structure and metamorphosis of 



