Jan. 3, 1884] 



NA TURh 



225 



mined by those who are fortunate enough to possess a 

 specimen, by means oF Becquerel's phosphoroscope. 



R. Meldola 

 21, John Street, Bedford Row, W.C, Dec. 31, 1SS3 



In corroboration of what Messrs. Beyerinck and Van 

 Dam noticed at Wageningen in connection with the late 

 storm, I write to tell you that on the morning of 

 December 12, after the heavy rain which accom- 

 panied the gale had ceased, the windows of my houie, 

 which is isolated and e.xposed, were covered with a 

 grayish sediment, just as your correspondents describe it. 

 It will be interesting, now that attention has been drawn 

 to the fact, to know if the phenomenon, the result no 

 doubt of dust brought down by the rain, has been 

 observed elsewhere. F. M. Burton 



Highfield, Gainsborough, December 24, 1883 



I SUBMIT to you two slides of dust from windows, de- 

 posited during the storm of December 12. When the 

 contained salt crystals are dissolved by adding distilled 

 water, the appearance much resembles that recorded in 

 Nature of December 20. The material, scraped from 

 windows cleaned just before the storm, where the original 

 drop-marks are still unaltered, was put on the cleaned 

 slides, and a drop of distilled water added. Should my 

 surmise be confirmed, and any of )our readers desire to 

 have specimen slides, I would forward a limited number 

 on receipt of sixpence each to cover postage and trouble. 

 Descriptions I ha\e received from America, either in 

 letters or newspaper cuttings, show an identical sequence 

 of appearances. At Poughkeepsie, on the Hudson, the 

 fire engines weie called out on the morning of November 

 27, and "this spectacle has been witnessed every clear 

 evening for several days past, generally between a quarter 

 past fi\e and si.\ o'clock." A letter from Dorset, Vermont, 

 November 29, describes "a very unusual exhibition in 

 the skies for the past three or four evenings. It has been 

 clear, and the colouring intense, from flame to a delicate 

 pink, and the clouds off at a distance would look light 

 green. ... It gave an impression of an intense fire the 

 other side of the West Mountains, and colouring the entire 

 sky." J. Ed.mund Clark 



York, December 22, 1SS3 



The accompanying extract may be of service to you. 

 Sapporo is in the northernmost island of Japan (Yeso), in 

 lat. 43' N., and long, {circa) 141° E. As the telegraph 

 ramifies through all parts of Japan, it is improbable that 

 any considerab:e local eruption would have taken place 

 to account for the phenomenon without news of it having 

 also reached the Offitial Gazette. Robert Beadon 



II, Lee Park, Lee, Kent, December 14, 1883 



Extract from Japan Weekly Mail (published in Yoko- 

 hama) of October 20, 1883. (The Official Gazette is the 

 Government gazette published in Japanese.) — " The 

 Official Gazette states that, since the 13th inst., a con- 

 stant haze has pervaded the atmosphere of Sapporo, and 

 that the sun and moon are of a blood red colour. Clouds 

 of ashes fall continuously. The phenomenon is ascribed 

 to some volcanic eruption." 



NOTES 

 Prof. Owen has received the honour of K.C.B. as an 

 acknowledgment of his en.inent services for sixty years to science 

 and the public interests. 



Prok. W. H. Mackintosh has been electtd to the Professor- 

 ship of Comparative Anatomy in Trinity College, Dublin, vice 

 Prof Macalister, F. R. S., who resigned on his appointment to 

 ihe Anatomy Chair at Cambridge. 



Ly the death of the well-known mathematician, the Rev. W. 

 Rolerts, M.A., the Rev. Richaid Townscnd, M.A., F.R.S., 



becomes a Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, thereby 

 vacating the Professorship of Natural Philosoi,hy held by him 

 since 1S70. 



The vacancy in the Professorship of Geology and Mineralogy 

 in the Universily of Dublin has Leen filled hy the election of 

 Prof. SoUds, of University College, Bristol. This appointment 

 will give great sati-faction, ai.d will afford Mr. SoUas large 

 opf ortunities for palceontological research ; the large collections 

 of fossil plants and vertebrates in the museum in Dublin remain- 

 ing to this day almost unknown. 



The Swedish Government intend to establish a botanico- 

 physiological station in the north of Sweden for the study of the 

 fli'ra and the diseases of the crops in that part of the country. 



The Finnish Government have ordered a steamer to be 

 Sjtcially built in Sweden for the scientific researches about to 

 be prosecuted in the Baltic. 



M. HouzEAU, who was only recently appointed director of 

 the Brussels OLscrvatory, has resigned his post, and it is reported 

 that M. de Koi.kolly of Gzalla Observatory, Hungary, will 

 ■succeed him. 



Prok. Maurice Levy has been nominated member of the 

 Paris Academy of Sciences in the Section of Mechanics. 



The Piince of Wales, as Prisident of the Society of Aits, 

 has transmitted to Lady Sierr.ens the resolution parsed after the 

 death of Sir WiUiam Siemens, hy the Council of that Society, 

 and in doing so has expressed his own appreciation of Sir 

 William Sicmens's labours. 



Science had quite a field-day in Perth on December 20, when 

 the Natural History Society of the Fair City formally opened 

 its museum. Prof. J. Geikie of Edinburgh, who was for 

 some time president of the Society, opened the proceeding 

 with an address in which he pointed out what such a local 

 mu-eum should be. Other speakers followed, and from the 20th 

 to the 23rd was an almost continuous conversazione, in vhich 

 exhibitions, demonstrations, and lectures were given. T he 

 electric light played a prominent part, and the objects brought 

 tOi^ether for the ins' ruction and enjoyment of the many visitors 

 represented all departments of science. The enterprise of the 

 Perthshire Society is exceptional, and they have reason to he 

 proud of their museum, reading, lecture, and other rooms, all of 

 which, we have no doubt, will be put to excellent practical uses. 



The meteorological observ.alions taken during October, 1883, 

 at St. Ignatius' College, Malta, by the Rev. Jiaines Scoles, S.J., 

 have been received. For the month the means were — pressure, 

 30'2S3 inches; temperature, 67°'98 ; daily range, lo°"2 ; 

 elastic force of vapour, 0'49S inch, and humidity, 76 ; rainfall, 

 2 67 inches, and days of rain, 12; velocity of wind per hour, 

 84 miles ; sky, a third covered with cloud ; temperature of sea, 

 72" o, with a monthly range of 4°'o; and thunderstorms and 

 other electrical phenomena on the 4th, loth, nth, I2tb, 

 13th, iSth, 26th, and 30'.h. Atmospheric pressure was thus 

 fully a fourth of an inch below the mean, temperature 3°'4 

 lower than usual, and rsinfall about half an inch less. This 

 Society has peculiar facilities for prosecuting meterroh gical and 

 other reiearches through its widely scattered seminaries and col- 

 leges, and we have the greatest pleasure in noting the increasing 

 readiness with which its services are given to science. 



-Mr. H. H. Johnston will give a discourse on "Kihma- 

 njaro, the snovvclad Mountain of Equatorial Africa," at the 

 Royal Institution, on Friday evening, January 25. Prof. 

 Bonney's discourse en "The Building of the Alps," announced 

 Lr that evening will be given on April 4. 



