316 



NATURE 



17- 



phosed arkose is provisionally referred to the Gedinnian 

 division of the system. 



M. Renard is understood to be at work upon a detailed 

 memoir on the metamorphosed rocks of the Ardennes, in 

 which their chemical constitution and microscopic cha- 

 racters will be fully described. 



THE RECENT STORM 

 'HP HE great and destructive storm of Saturday and 

 ^ Sunday last may almost take rank as a historical 

 event, seeing that on the Saturday evening atmospheric 

 pressure fell considerably lower in Scotland than is known 

 ever to have occurred in these islands since the barometer 

 became an instrument of observation. This remarkable 

 barometric fluctuation, as observed at Edinburgh, is shown 

 by the following observations made on those two days, the 

 observations being reduced to 32° and sea level : — 



As the barometer was closely watched for some time 

 before and after ]o p.m., and no change was observed, the 

 reading 27'45i inches may be regarded as absolutely the 

 lowest that occurred. Since the wind veered during the 

 storm from S.E. by S.W. to N.W., the centre of the storm 

 passed to the northward, and along its path still lower 

 readings were doubtless recorded. 



The following observations have been already received, 

 showing in inches the lovest observe! readings and the 

 hour when they occurred : — Moffat, 27-662 at lo'ij p.m.; 

 Marchmont, near Duns, 27-581 at 11 p.m.; Inverness, 

 27-516 at iriopm. ; Fort William, 27 467 at S p.m. ; 

 Joppa, near Edinburgh, 27 464, Leith, 27-453, and Edin- 

 burgh, 27-451, at 10 p.m. ; Glasgow, 27-427 at 9 p.m.; 

 Dundee, 27-3S2 at 10-30 p.m. ; Ochtertyre, near Crieff, 

 27-332 at 9-45 p.m. ; and 27-400 is stated to have occurred 

 at Aberdeen. With the observations made at the 160 

 stations of the .Scottish Meteorological .Society, it will, in a 

 few days, be easy to trace the history of this extraordinary 

 atmospheric depression in its passage across the island. 



At Ben Nevis Observatory, the lowest reading of the 

 baromeieron Saturday,23-I73 inches, occurred at 8. 30 p.m.; 

 at noon, temperature was 15°, and at 10 p.m. 22^; at 

 7 p.m. the wind was .S.E. force S, and at 10 p m., N.E. 

 force 4. 



In the sixty years preceding 1S27, during which Mr. 

 James Hoy made barometric observations, the lowest 

 reading was 28-007 inches ; during the last 43 years 

 observations have been made at CuUoden, and the lowest 

 reading, observed by the late Mr. Arthur Forbes, was 

 27-984 inches at 1 1 a.m. on December 27, 1S52. Duringthe 

 interval between these two long continued series of obser- 

 vations, Mr. George Innes, optician, made observations 

 at Aberdeen ; and on the occasion of the memorable 

 storm of January 7, 1839, recorded an observation on that 

 morning of 27-695 inches. On the same morning, at 

 9 o'cloc'<, the lighthouses on the east of Scotland, which 

 were near the centre of the storm at the time showed 

 readings varying from 27-S06 inches in the Firth of Forth, 

 to 27-716 inches near Peterhead. 



As these three series of observations extend over the 

 last 120 years, it is evident that over at least the east of 

 Scotland, fiom Inverness to the Tweed, atmospheric 

 pressure fell on the evening of Saturday the 26th from a 

 third to half an inch low-er than has occurred during that 

 extended period. 



NOTES 



\Vf. aie glad to be able to announce that Prof Flower ha 

 been definitely appointed by the Trustees to the position ol 

 Superintendent of the Natural Histoi-y Department of thf 

 British Museum, vacated by the recent resignation of Sir Richard 

 Owen. 



The German Emperor, at the instance of the Berlin Academy 

 of Sciences, has been pleased to make Prof. Sir William Thom- 

 son a Knight of the Order Pour U MeriU for Science and Art. 



According to an announcement made by Prof. E. Stefan a: 

 the last meeting of the Vienna Physical Society, Prof. S. von 

 Wroblewski, of Krakow, has succeeded in solidifying hydrogen 



It is reported that Prof. Wilhelm Klinkerfues, the well-known 

 astronomer, shot himself on Monday in the Observatory a' 

 Gottingen. 



-We are glad to see that the fishermen of Scotland have ai 

 last realised the necessity of a thorough scientific investiga- 

 tion into the haliits of fish. At a meeting at Peterhead the- 

 other day the Solicitor-General for Scotland was requested to help 

 the fishermen to obtain Government aid for the prosecution of 

 such research ; the coantry, it was admitted, is behind all others 

 " in scientific information on fish." The Solicitor-General, Mr. 

 Asher, admitted the lamentable deficiency of our knowledge of the 

 habits of food fishes, and promised to do all he could to obtain a 

 grant for the Committee of the Fisheries Board, who are now 

 endeavouring, with the slender means at their command, to in- 

 vestigate the subject. "Prof. Ewart and his colleagues," Mr. 

 Asher stated, "had entered upon an investigation which, if duly 

 prosecuted, could not fail to be productive of immense results 

 and advantages in connection with all kinds of fisheries." 



At the end of March the Austrian botanist, Mr. Joseph 

 Knapp, Conservator des Herbariums des Allgemeinen Oester- 

 reichischen A pothel«ervereines of Vienna, will go to Northern 

 Persia (Azerbijan), with a scientific expedition for exploring 

 the flora and fauna of that little-known province. 



During February Prof. W. K. Parker will give a series of 

 lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons on Mammalian 

 I >escent, as follows : — February 4th, Introductory ; 6th, On 

 Munotremes ; Sth, On Marsupials ; I Ith, On Edentata ; 13th, 

 On Insectivora ; ijth, Insectivora (continued) ; 18th, Insectivora 

 (concluded) ; 20th, On the remaining Orders of Mammalia ; 

 22nd, On Man (conchision). 



In connection with the opening of the Turin Exhibition, the 

 Italian Government offers a prize of 400/. to the inventor of the 

 most practicable method for the transmission of electricity to a 

 distance. The competition will be international. 



Within a few days the exhibition of the Talisman collection 

 w ill lie opened at the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, with diagrams 

 exhibiting the circumstances of the operations, and the instru- 

 ments which were used. 



The Asiatic Society of Bengal celebrated its centenary on 

 Tuesday last week. The proceedings began with a special 

 meeting, the Hon. H. Reynold-, the President of the Society, 

 being in the chair. Six gentlemen, namely, Dr. Joule, Prof. 

 Haeckel, Mr. Charles Meld rum, Prof Sayce, M. E. Senart, and 

 Prof. Monier Williams, were elected honor.iry members. 



