402 



NATURE 



\Scpf. 12, 1S72 



Thk last numlicr of the Quarterly jMnnil .^f //ir Mc-lioroh^^icnl 

 ^i'c/i/i' contains a letter from M. HofTmeyer, Director of the re- 

 cently established Meteorological Institute of Denmark, giving 

 some details of the work it is intended to accomplish. The 

 sphere of the Institute embraces all the branches of Meteoro- 

 logical Science, and it is especially intended to establish in 

 favourable situations a series of stations, furnished with accurate 

 instruments, by wliich it will be possible, every morning, to send 

 telegraphic communications to the chief station at Copenhagen, 

 and from that, according to agreement, to foreign societies. 

 When the stations are fairly in working order, observations will 

 be published monthly. It is also proposed by the Institute to 

 establish about ten complete meteorological stations at the 

 Faroe Isles, Iceland, and in Greenland ; half of these are ex- 

 pected to be in trim by next winter. Besides the general interest 

 attaching to these stations, it is hoped they may tend to foster a 

 system of international meteorology, and pave the way for the 

 laying down of a northern telegraphic cable between Europe and 

 V America. The oljservations at these stations will 'be specially 

 published. The establishment of this Institute is likely to be of 

 the greatest service to general meteorology. 



In " Railways or No Railways ; the Battle of the Gauges 

 Renewed," those who take an interest in the subject will find 

 the case on behalf of the narroAr gaiigo fully and ably set 

 forth. 



A "DissiCRTATloN on the Use of the Stethoscope in Ob- 

 stetrics," by /'t'.neas Munro, M.D., read before the Royal 

 Medical Society of Edinburgh, seems to be a valuable con- 

 tribution to the science of the subject to which it relates. 



We have received a pamphlet, " Irrigation not necessary in 

 Upper India," by Major A. F. Corbett, Superintendent Budaon 

 Police, in wliich the author attempts to prove that irrigation, 

 instead of fertilising that country, will inevitably render it an al- 

 most barren waste. The statemenis he adduces, and the opinions 

 of eminent scientific men and others that he quotes, certainly 

 appear to bear out the writer's theory, and on that account 

 his pamphlet deserves the attention of all who take an interest 

 in the welfare of India. 



The " ilead season " has brought up its usual crop of reports 

 of the re-appearance of the sea-serpent, mostly easily resolvable 

 into masses of floating sea-weed. The following extract from an 

 evening contemporary well illustrates the hazy ideas prevalent as 

 to the extinct Saurian monsters of which the sea-serpent is sup- 

 posed to be a descendant : — " If the sea-serpent continues in its 

 present sociable state of mind, we may perhaps have an oppor- 

 tunity of deciding the vexed question regarding the formation 

 of that portion of his figure which, according to English observers, 

 he keeps concealed under the water. The legend of the Lambton 

 Worm, a popular tale in the North of I'.ngland, describes the 

 worm as a serpent of enormous size, who used to coil himself 

 romid a hill overhanging the River \\'ear, just as thread isAvound 

 round a reel, but a very ancient stone effigy of the creature 

 which lately existed at Lambton Castle, represents it with cars, 

 legs, and a pair of wings. -If this effigy was made, as it pro- 

 bably was, from some ncolhrtion or recent tradition of the 

 Lambton Worm, these adjuncts would indicate that the beast 

 was one of the -oiiigcd land monsters which existed at the same 

 time as the Ic/it/iyosnuriis, but would naturally become an 

 extinct species far sooner than the/'.t// lizani, which can conceal 

 itself in the depths of the ocean from the curiosity and violence 

 of man." 



It is not for want of good examples that the British Go- 

 vernment is so backward in encouraging deep-sea dredging ; 

 other governments seem to think it their interest or duty to 

 do so. The United States, as we know, have fitted out an 

 expedition under MM. Agassiz and Pourtales, to explore the 



Gulf Stream, the Straits of Magellan, anl the Pacific Ocean. I 

 A second American expedition will, in the same way, explore . 



the northern regions of this ocean ; the German Empire has 

 undertaken to search the depths of the Atlantic ; while Sweden J 

 has sent to Bafiii's Hay two ships fully equipped for deep sea 

 sounding. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 



SECTION A— Mathe.maticai, and Physical Science 



Fifth Report oj the Committee for investigating the Rate of 

 Increase of Underground Temperature doxunioards, and in various 

 localities of dry land and under water, by Prof. Everett. 



In December last, intelligence was received from Prof. Sis- 

 monda that the administration of the railway owning the Alpine 

 tunnel had given permission to Father Secchi to carry on a series 

 of observations in the tunnel concerning terrestrial magnetism, 

 and that this distinguished observer was willing at the same time 

 to conduct observations of temperature in accordance with the 

 plans of your Committee. Two maximum and two minimum 

 thermometers were accordingly placed in Father Secchi's hands; 

 but it appears that the arrangements for commencing the mag- 

 netic observations are not yet completed, and that accordingly no 

 observations of temperature have as yet been taken. 



Prof. Lubimolif of Moscow, on receiving a copy of last year's 

 report, wrote to the secretary, correcting a mistake in the 

 description of the thermometer used in taking observations in 

 the Moscow well, The thermometer was enclosed in a hermeti- 

 cally sealed case containing air, and was therefore completely 

 pro'ected against any possible effect jf pressure. Prof. Lubimoff" 

 at the same time asked to be furnished with a thermometer of the 

 new pattern described in the report (the upright-Negretti pattern), 

 and one of these instruments was accordingly sent. 



Dr. Wild of the Central Observatory, St. Petersburg, wrote in 

 January, requesting that two thermometers for observations in 

 bores might be ordered in his name. At this time, the Secretary 

 WIS in correspondence with Sir Wm. Thomson, who enter- 

 tained doubts as to the successful working of the new thermo- 

 meter, and expressed a preference for the Phillips pattern (which 

 has Iteen descrilied in preceding reports) and the Casella-Miller 

 pattern (a modified .Six) which has been extensively used for deep 

 sea temperatures. Thermometers of these two patterns were 

 accordingly ordered and despatched to Dr. Wild. 



A letter was received from Prof. Ilenry of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, Washington, in April, stating that the Chief Engi- 

 neer of the lloosac Tunnel had promised to have observations of 

 temperature taken in the tunnel, if thermometers were sent. Its 

 total length will be 45miles, about two-thirds of which has been 

 penetrated, by avorking from both ends and from a central shaft 

 1,028 feet deep. The mountain has two ridges, under which the 

 tunnel passes, and their heights above it are respectively 1,720 

 and 1,420 feet. Four thermometers have been sent, viz.: two 

 large minimum Rutherfords, for observations in the tunnel, and 

 two upright Negrettis, for observations in the shaft. 



The Council of the School of Mines at Ballaarat, Australia, 

 have, in compliance with a request addressed to one of their 

 number by our observer, Mr. David Burns, C.E., consented to 

 take charge of these thermometers, and furnish observations from 

 the bores and shafts in that important gold-mining district. 

 Most of the principal mining managers are connecteil with the 

 school. Four thermometers have accordingly been sent, viz.: 

 two upright Negrettis for observations in bores, and two simple 

 mercurial thermometers, of large size, for observations during the 

 sinking of shafts. 



Some exceedingly deep Artesian borings have been under- 

 taken in France in recent years; and the President of the Oo 1- 

 logical Society, Mr. Prestwich (who has allowed his name to be 

 added to your Committee) has furnished your Secretary with in- 

 troductions which will probably lead to the obtaining of very 

 numerous and valuable observations from these wells. 



The largest of them all is one which is now sinking for the 

 municipality of Paris, at La Chapelle, St. Denis, a northern 

 suburb of Paris, and has already obtained a depth considerably 

 exceeding that of the Puits de Crenelle. It is expected that its 

 final depth will be about 2,300 feet. Application was made by 

 the Secretary to the eminent firm of well-borers, Messrs. 

 Mauget, Lippmann, and Co., who are sinking the well, and thc;e 



