6 4 



NATURE 



[July 



ign 



Electrical phenomena in connection with ballooning have 

 1 en the subjecl of various communications lo the com- 



Vertical Motion in the Air. — With reference to the first 

 of the three memoranda above mentioned, the method 

 which has up to the present been employed for the study 

 of vertical motion in the air consists in observing, by means 

 of self-recording theodolites, the variations in azimuth and 

 altitude of a pilot balloon. With two such theodolites the 

 path of the balloon can be determined both as regards its 

 horizontal and its vertical motion, and the changes in 

 vertical velocity due to air currents can be identified. 



For the purpose of this work special self-recording gear 

 was drsi-tir'd lui attachment to an existing theodolite; two 

 theodolites fitted with this self-recording gear, and speciallj 

 constructed for the work, are now being provided. The 

 apparatus is one which may be useful for many purposes 

 1" sides that which has immediately led to its construction. 

 The azimuth and altitude at any' instant can be read off 

 from the record with an accuracy oi about one-tenth of a 

 degree; this is sufficient for the "purpose. The process of 

 observing is thus simplified ; with the self-recording instru- 

 ment a balloon can be followed continuously without 

 moving the eye from the instrument, and, further, the 

 record can be taken by one observer only, whereas two are 

 necessarj in working with the eye-observing instrument. 



A considerable number of records with this app 

 have already been obtained, and the results are in ever) 

 waj satisfactory. The records furnish definite evidenci ol 

 the existence of vertical currents, but it is not vet possible 

 to give any general discussion as to the conditions affei ting 

 vertical motion in the air as deduced from thesi observa- 

 tions. 



Rotary Mot, on in the Air. — For the studv of rotary 

 motion in the atmosphere a special anemometer head has 

 been designed to indicate both velocity and direction, with 

 an apparatus to record automatically vector diagrams of 

 the wind, from which the velocity 'and direction at any 

 instant can be read. Full details of the construction are 

 given in Mr. Dines's description. 



In the earlier observations the head was mounted at a 

 height of 36 feet above the ground ; more recently a steel 

 windmill tower has been erected for the purpose "of these 

 observations, and the head is now mounted on this at a 

 height of 98 feet above the ground. There is no notice- 

 able difference in the character of the diagrams taken at 

 the two levels. The observations do not support the idea 

 that eddy motion is the cause of the gustiness of the 

 wind. 



Some interesting particulars are given in Mr. Dines's 

 report of comparisons between simultaneous records of 

 velocity obtained from this anemometer and from a standard 

 anemometer mounted on a house at a distance of 150 

 yards. As was anticipated from the work of previous 

 experimenters, the individual gusts were not, as a rule, in 

 agreement on the two records, but it is "surprising to find 

 that in certain cases squalls of five minutes' duration 

 recorded by the anemometer on the house did not appeal 

 at all on the oK-foot record. A possible explanation of 

 these differences is that an increase of wind velocity of as 

 long as five minutes' duration may be confined to "quite a 

 narrow belt. 



Gustiness of the Wind.— To aid in the studv of gusti- 

 ness, apparatus has been designed to register simultaneously 

 the pull of a kite wire and the length of wire paid out". 

 Tn ? tension record shows the fluctuations due to gusts, 

 while, from tie length of wire, with a knowledge of the 

 vertical angle, the height ol He' kite ran be approximate!) 

 determined. \ number of records have been obtained with 

 this apparatus, ami the discussion of these records by Mr. 

 Dines will, it is thought, be found of gn • Intel 



The mean gustiness found at altitudes from 500 to 1000 

 feet was 60 per cent, of the gustiness from o to 500 feet. 



X! '"' • feel ' rtain role , ,,,, be deduced from the 



observations. Easterly winds gave uniformlv high gusti- 

 ness factors; the anemometer al Pyrton Mill, where these 

 records were obtained, is situated at the fool ol the western 

 slope of the Chiltern Hills, so that the gustim iS s of this 

 easterly group of winds may he due to the previous passage 

 ofthe aii over the range. The decrease ol gustiness with 

 >p 1: to be dependent upon direction to 

 any noticeable < stent. 



>. 2 1 ;fi. vol. 87] 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Birmingham. — At the Degree Congregation held on 

 July S the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was con- 

 ferred on the Kt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, Bart., K.C.B., 

 Premier of New Zealand. The following were admitted to 

 the degree of D.Sc. : — William Ernest Fisher, David 

 Frazer Harris, and Frederick Steward. 



The Worcestershire County Education Committee has 

 made a grant of 3001. to the University. 



Mr. R. R. Cormack, lecturer in economic mineralogy, 

 has resigned. 



Mr. F. Lawrence Talbot has been appointed external 

 examiner in the biology and chemistry of fermentation. 



The following gentlemen have been appointed honorary 

 assistant curators of the pathological museum for three 

 years : — Dr. Stanley Barnes (medicine), Mr. A. W. Nut- 

 hall (surgery), Mr. J. T. Hewetson (diseases of women), 

 and Mr. L. S. Sedgwick (comparative pathology). 



Mr. J. Furneaux Jordan has been appointed Ingleby 

 lei iui it for 1912. 



Prof. R. Beazley is to represent the University at the 

 laying of the foundation-stone of the National Library of 

 Wales, at Aberystwyth, by the King on July 15. 



The tenure of the Walter Myers travelling studentship 

 by Dr. John Dale has been extended for a further period 

 of six months. 



Princeton University, it is announced in Science, has 

 received gifts amounting to more than 20,000/., of which 

 8000/. is for a lectureship in public affairs. 



Miss Stancombe Wills, an adopted daughter of the late 

 Lord Winterstoke, has presented 10,000/. to Bristol 

 Grammar School in memory of Lord Winterstoke. 



Dr. R. A. Harper, since 1898 professor of botany in 

 the University of Wisconsin, has accepted the offer of the 

 Torrey chair of the same subject at Columbia University. 

 Prof. Harper has had a somewhat unusual record, having 

 begun his academic career as professor of the Greek and 

 Latin languages at Gates College. From 1891 to iSq8 he 

 was professor of botany and geology at Lake Forest 

 University. 



The Toronto correspondent of The Times states that 

 Sir William Macdonald has completed a large purchase of 

 land on the slope of the mountain adjoining Mountroyal 

 Park, and will give the property to McGill University for 

 a new campus and residential buildings. The purchase 

 price was more than 200,000/. Including the cost of 

 Macdonald College and its endowment, this brings Sir 

 William Macdonald 's total gifts to McGill University to 

 about 2,000,000/. 



It was announced at the prize distribution at University 

 College, London, last week, that Mr. R. C. Forster has 

 made a further gift of 30,000/. to the fund for providing 

 new chemical laboratories at University College. As 

 Prince Arthur oi Connaught, president of the appeal com- 

 mittee, wrote in acknowledging Mr. Forster's generous 

 gift, this method " of commemorating Coronation year by 

 promoting scientific study and research is a most happy 

 one," and it may well be hoped that other wealthy men 

 may adopt it so that the remainder of the sum required 

 for the new laboratories may be subscribed at an early 

 date. Early in the year, as was announced in NATURE 

 (vol. lxxxv., p. 448), Mr. Forster gave 4500/. to complete 

 I he purchase of the site for the new laboratories. We 

 trust that his generosity may inspire others to contribute, 

 as further sums are still needed to complete the fund to 

 supply a pressine „,.,.,] at University College. 



A Rural Schools' Exhibition was one of the features 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society's Show held recently at 

 Norwich, and in connection with it the County Councils 

 Association arranged on July ! a conference on rural 

 education. After a paper by Mr. Cloudesley Brereton on 

 education in relation to agriculture, Sir George White, 

 M.P.. gave an address, in which he referred to the further 

 education of school children. A leaving age of even 

 fifteen years, he said, may be of little real value unless 

 the great object of the teacher is to make the child think. 



People." he remarked, "see a number of bovs working 



