February 6, 1902] 



NA TURE 



323 



We are glad to be able to record the formation of an 

 Acetylene Association, which is similar in character to the 

 associations which have existed for some time in several 

 countries abroad. The object of the Association, as stated in 

 the articles thereof, is "To promote the advancement of 

 acetylene gas engineering and manufacture, and to facilitate 

 the interchange of information amongst the members of the 

 Association." An attempt was made in 189S to found such an 

 .issociation, largely on the initiation of Sir David Salomons, but 

 the trade did not then show sufficient general interest in the 

 matter to make this possible. In reviewing this attempt a note 

 of bitterness is sounded as to the opposition which every new 

 industry started in this country has to encounter. Perhaps we 

 may hope that the functions of the National Physical Labora- 

 tory will be wide enough in scope to make such repinings 

 unnecessary, by giving new industries a helping hand in the 

 future. The chairman of the Association is Mr. F. G. Worth, 

 manager of the Acetylene Illuminating Company, who, as one 

 of the prime movers in the formation of the Association, has 

 devoted much time and care to bringing matters to a successful 

 issue. The members of the council as at present constituted are 

 nearly all members of well-known firms interested in acetylene, 

 but several vacancies have yet to be filled up at the first annual 

 general meeting, to be held on February 27. Subsequent to 

 this, meetings will be arranged at which papers will be read 

 and discussed. The ofticial organ of the Association is, for the 

 present, Ihe Journal of Acetylene Gas Lighting, and the present 

 secretary is Mr. Lacey Downes, of II, Ironmonger Lane, 

 Cheapside. 



During the past week this country, in common with the 

 greater part of western Europe, has been visited with inclement 

 weather and very keen north-east winds. In Scotland the 

 temperature in the screen has fallen 20' and more below the 

 freezing point, the minimum reading during Friday night being 

 7° at Nairn. In the south the thermometer has not been much 

 below the freezing point, but the north-east wind has been 

 stronger than in the north, and this has greatly added to the 

 sensation of cold. The barometer has risen above 31 inches in 

 the north of Scotland, the reading at Aberdeen being 31 "II 

 inches at 10 p.m. on Friday, which is as high as the very 

 exceptional reading in our islands in January, 1896. Baro- 

 metrical gradients have been very steep over the south of 

 England and in France and Germany, which have given rise 

 to fierce north-easterly gales in the Channel and over the 

 southern portion of the North Sea. The gales have been 

 unusually prolonged, continuing without interruption for about 

 three days. 



In one of the important articles contained in vol. xxiii. of 

 Alls dent Archiv der Deiitschen Secwarte, Dr. Grossmann dis- 

 cusses the results of the maximum and minimum temperatures 

 at Hamburg during the last quarter of a century (1876-1900). 

 During this period the highest readings were 89°"6 in July 1883, 

 and 89°i in May 1892. The lowest were -3°'6 in December 

 1876, and - I •! in January 1893. Temperatures of 86°'0 and 

 upwards were recorded seventeen times between May and 

 August, and 3"'o and below also seventeen times between 

 December and February. If we denote as summer days those 

 on which the highest temperature reached or exceeded 77°, and 

 as wintry days those on which the temperature remained below 

 the freezing point, we find that the latter were twice as frequent 

 as the former. The distribution shows that the so-called wintry 

 days occurred as late as March and as early as November, and 

 that the summer days occurred as early as May and as late as 

 September. April and October were the most temperate months ; 

 the highest reading did not exceed 77°, and the lowest did not 

 fall below the freezing point. 



NO. 1684, VOL. 65] 



An interesting paper by Herr Hofrath J. Hann appears in a 

 January nuniber (No, i, 1902) of the Tramactions of the section 

 of mathematics and natural sciences of the Vienna Academy of 

 Sciences, entitled " The Variations of Rainfall during long 

 Periods of Time." Herr Hann discusses the monthly and 

 yearly means of the values of the rainfall for the stations Padua 

 (1725-1900), Klagenfurt (1813-1900) and Mailand (1764-1900), 

 and finds that they all conform to a period of definite length. 

 In the investigation he first of all obtains the extreme yearly 

 sums of the rainfall expressed in per cent, of the total mean, 

 and finds the following values for the past century (1801- 

 1900) : — 



Driest year. ... Padua 58 Klagenfurt 42 Mailand 62 per cent. 

 Wettest ,, ... ,, 152 ,, 151 ,, 152 ,, 



Using the earlier observations of Padua so far back as 1725, the 

 extremes for this station became 56 per cent, and 18 1 per cent. 

 Taking the frequency of similar yearly totals during the last 

 hundred years, he groups the wet and dry years as shown in the 



following summary : — 



Extra- 

 Character Very dry Dry About norma 



Per cent... 51-70 71-90 91-110 

 Number... 8 26 37 



Wet Very wet ordinarily 



wet 

 1-130 131-150 over 150 

 22 6 I 



These figures show that the dry years predominate, 34 per cent, 

 being dry and 29 per cent, wet, but the wet years exceed to a 

 greater extent the mean yearly value of rainfall than the dry 

 years. Herr Hann then determines the mean epochs of these 

 wet and dry periods and finds that they satisfy a thirty-five- 

 year period, with their maxima (wet) and minima (dry) in the 

 following years : — 



Wet 1738 1773 l8o8 1843 1S78 (1913) 



Dry 1753 1788 1823 1S59 1S93 (1928). 



This period of thirty-five years and the above epochs are in 

 complete harmony with the secular variation of rainfall indicated 

 by Briickner in his " Klima-schwankungen," and agree with the 

 long-period variation of sunspots recently shown to exist by Dr. 

 Lockyer. 



The Report of the museum committee of the Bristol Museum 

 for 1901 shows that many desirable improvements were effected 

 by the curator, Mr. H. Bolton. The condition of the specimens 

 has been greatly improved ; in particular, the cases of birds have 

 been thoroughly worked over, many of the birds being re- 

 mounted. As the only trained official in the Museum is Mr. 

 Bolton himself, though the Museum is a large one and belongs 

 to the city, the fact that so much was done last year is a tes- 

 timony to the zeal of the curator. Perhaps the most important 

 *vork of the kind is that which has been effected upon the 

 numerous and valuable Liassic fossil reptiles, which were in a 

 very unsatisfactory condition. By arrangement with the autho- 

 rities of the British Museum of Natural History, the worst of 

 the specimens have been thoroughly repaired by one of their 

 expert staff, and in this way they have been saved from further 

 injury. Thanks to the committee of the Egypt Exploration 

 Fund, the Museum possesses one of the most complete collec- 

 tions of Egyptian antiquities to be found in the provinces, and 

 it has the advantage of being compact and consecutive in his- 

 torical continuity rather than large and disconnected. The 

 Museum is evidently appreciated, for the number of visitors in 

 1901 was 116,246, which is nearly twice as many as in 1898, 

 when the present curator commenced his duties. The long 

 and valuable list of donations also shows that interest is taken 

 in the work of the Museum, but it is difficult to see how these 

 gifts can be properly taken in hand, registered, classified and 

 exhibited to the best advantage by the present very in- 

 adequate scientific staff. The latest donation is from Lady 

 Smyth, who has presented to the Museum a large part of the 



