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NATURE 
[April 21, 1870 
EDINBURGH 
Scottish Meteorological Society, March 30.—Admiral 
Sir William Ramsay in the chair. Dr. Keith Johnston read a 
paper ‘‘ On the temperature of the Gulf Stream in the North 
Atlantic Ocean.” He began by saying that he had read a paper 
on the Gulf Stream at the half-yearly meeting of the society in 
January 1862, which embodied the results of observations made 
in the Iceland seas by Captain Irminger, of Denmark. That 
paper attracted the attention of meteorologists, and the result 
was that new stations had been established by the society in Ice- 
land and the Faroe Islands, each of them supplied with the best 
instruments, placed at the disposal of the council by the Board of 
Trade. ‘The Meteorological Institute of Norway has, during the 
past three years, made observations of the temperature of the 
sea at the lighthouses round the coast as far north as 71°* 6’ lat. N., 
and on board ships engaged in the Arctic fisheries. From these 
observations, together with those made at different stations off the 
Scottish coast, in Faroe, and in Iceland, Professor Mohn of Chris- 
tiania, has just published a memoir on the temperature of this 
part of the Atlantic, illustrated by five charts for the four seasons 
of the year. The five charts exhibited were based on Professor 
Mohn’s. The singular distribution of the temperature of the sea 
between Iceland, Scotland, and Norway must, as M. Mohn ob- 
serves, be regarded as the best representation of the course and the 
extent of the Gulf Stream in these parts. The line designated as 
the thermal axis indicates the direction of the principal axis of 
the current. It is along this axis that the warm waters of the 
Gulf Stream are pushed forward by the current to the latitude 
of the North Cape and Spitzbergen. At the same time, the 
water is cooled as it advances, either from the effect of latitude 
or from the loss of heat experienced on both sides in beating 
the coast of Norway and in melting the ice of the sea between 
Greenland and Spitzbergen. The distribution of temperature 
during the summer months, being dominated by the solar heat, 
the isotherms of the sea have a greater tendency to follow the 
parallels of latitude. The thermal axis is, as it were, thrown on 
the shores of Norway, where it may be followed to the west 
coast of Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla. The distance of the 
thermal axis of the Gulf Stream from the west coast of Norway 
being not more than 125 miles, its effect on the climate of that 
country must be very remarkable. Thus we find that the west 
coast during winter has a temperature of the air which sur- 
passes by from 40° to 50° that due to corresponding latitudes, 
if there were no current of warm water. On the shores of 
Norway round to the frontiers of Russia, the current of the 
sea is directed generally towards the north and east ; and, carried 
by the current to this far northern region, products of the vege- 
table kingdom are often found which had their origin in the 
West Indies—a fact which proves beyond all question the exist- 
ence of a north-eastern branch of the Gulf Stream thus far into 
the Arctic Ocean. Mr. Buchan said that, to illustrate the effect 
of winds upon the currents, he had looked into the question of 
the temperature of the air at various stations as compared with 
that of the sea. Over the whole of Scotland and as far west at 
least as Faroe, the winds were south-west in winter, there being 
very few easterly or north-easterly winds. In Iceland a different 
state of things prevailed, the mean direction of the wind being 
east-north-east. On the west coast of Norway, the prevailing 
direction was uniformly south-east, or south-south-east, that is 
to say the winds blow to a considerable extent off the land, where 
at that season the temperature is exceedingly low. In summer 
the winds in Iceland continue easterly, with some northing in 
them ; but in the north of Scotland they prevail more from 
the west. On the coast of Norway, the summer winds take the 
opposite direction to those prevailing in winter. The same holds 
good in the south and north of Norway, where the difference was 
4° in favour of the sea.—Mr. Buchan read a paper on the cold 
weather of May 1869. Mr. Buchan said the temperature of 
Scotland during May 1869, was 451°, which was 4°7° below 
the average of May in the past thirteen years, and 24° lower 
than any previous May recorded. 
Royal Society, March 21.—Prof. Kelland in the chair. 
Dr. Keith Johnston communicated a paper by Mr. Keith John- 
ston, jun., on the ‘* Lake Region of Eastern Africa.” See 
abstract of this paper in NatTurE, No. 24, p. 607. 
Royal Physical Society, March 23.—Professor Duns, 
D.D., president, in the chair. The following communications 
were read :—On Crocodilus biporcatus (Cuvier), the Muggar. 
By Professor Duns, New College, Note on the Capture of the 
Grey Seal (alicherus grypus) in the Firth of Tay. By Pro- 
fessor Turner. Note on the Preservation of Minute Animals in 
Acetic Acid. By T. Strethill Wright, M.D. Notice of an 
instance of Double or Vertical Hermaphrodism ina Cod Fish 
(Gadus morrhua). By John Alex. Smith, M.D. 
Botanical Society, March to.—Sir Walter Elliot, presi- 
dent, in the chair. On the Formation of a Museum of Vegetable 
Materia Medica. By William Craig, M.B. and C.M. On the 
Fructification of Griffithsia corallina, with a notice of the other 
Alge found in Shetland, not mentioned in Edmonston’s Flora. 
By C. W. Peach, A.L.S. On Two New British Hepaticz, 
By Dr. B. Carrington. On the occurrence of ZLuzula arcuata 
and Buxbaumia indusiata, in Inverness-shire. By Dr. Buchanan 
White. On some recent Additions made to the Flora of Canada. 
By Mr. Sadler. Report on the Open-air Vegetation at the 
Royal Botanic Gardens. By Mr. M‘Nab. 
GLASGOW 
Natural History Society, April 5.—Prof. J. Young, M.D., 
president, in the chair. The following papers were read :—1. 
*©On shell mounds at the Machar Grogary, South Uist,” by 
James A. Mahony. This paper was illustrated by a large col- 
lection of objects, chiefly shells of various kinds, bones of a 
number of animals, some of them drilled with holes, others 
split longitudinally, stone knives or scrapers, pieces of rude 
pottery, and other articles of a like nature, usually found in 
these refuse heaps. At the close of the paper, Prof. Young 
dwelt at some length in comparing these Hebridean mounds with 
what had been examined in the Eastern counties, especially in 
Caithness. 2. ‘‘On the sea anemones of the shores of the 
Cumbraes,” by David Robertson, F.G.S. The author gave 
a complete list of the species taken by himself in that most 
interesting locality, and exhibited several living anemones in 
illustration of his paper. 
MANCHESTER 
Literary and Philosophical Society, April 5.—Dr. J. P. 
Joule, F.R.S., president, in the chair.—‘‘ Description of a New 
Anemometer,” by Mr. Peter Hart. It consists first of a base 
board furnished with levels and levelling screws; to this is hinged 
the board carrying the U tube, which may be called the sloping 
base ; on this sloping base is secured the U tube furnished with 
ascale and vernier capable of being read to the 7}, inch. By 
means of a screw passing through the sloping base, and resting 
on the lower base board, the former can be made to assume any 
angle with the latter, the angle being determined by a quadrant 
fixed to the lowest base board. 
Mr. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., described the results of the 
preliminary investigation undertaken by the Settle Cave Explora- 
tion Committee. Mr. W. L. Dickinson read a paper ‘‘ On the 
Eclipse of the Sun, Dec, 21—22.”’ A paper was also read 
**On the Influence of Changes in the character of the Seasons 
upon the Rate of Mortality,” by Joseph Baxendell, F.R.A.S. 
Paris 
Academy of Sciences, April 11.—A memoir, by M. C. An- 
toine on screw propellers, was presented by M. Laugier. The 
author examined the two main questions relating to the employ- 
ment of the screw-propeller, viz., the number of turns obtained 
by means of a given motive power, and the advance made by the 
vessel for each turn of the screw.—M. Cahours presented a note 
by M. L. Daniel, on the action of magnetism upon two currents 
passing simultaneously through rarefied gases. The author 
found that when the currents are passing in opposite directions 
magnetism separates them even in capillary parts of the tubes ; 
when they are in the same direction, they are attracted or re- 
pelled like a single current. The magnetic properties of the 
gases have nothing to do with the condensation of the light by 
the magnet, which acts upon the current itself.—Notices of the 
Aurora Borealis of the 5th April were communicated :—From 
Angers by M. C. Dechanne, from Paris by M. Tremeschini, 
from Le Mans by M. Charault, from Louvain by M. Terby, 
from Auvers by M. Geslin, from Vendédme by M. Guerreau, 
from Betz by M. Fortier-Garnier, from Rohrbach by M. Gra- 
mant, from St. Lo by M. Lepingard, and from Loget-sur-Seine 
by M. Lagoret—A memoir by M. C. Flammarion on the law 
of the movement of rotation of the planets, was communicated 
by M. Delaunay. From his calculations the author deduced 
the following as the law of the diurnal rotation of the planets :— 
The time of rotation of the planets is a function of their densities. 
