436 



NATURE 



[June 26, 19 13 



A fault which might be remedied in future issues is 

 the omission of any scale of distances or parallels of 

 latitude and longitude from the charts. 



The rainfall charts have been compiled from data 

 extending over twenty to forty years, with a few- 

 stations with only fifteen years' record, indicating 

 that, meteorologically at any rate, Australia is no 

 longer in relative infancy. During the summer 

 months, when the variation of temperature is most 

 rapid near the south coast, the rainfall is greatest on 

 the north and north-east coasts, and the isohyets are 

 closest together in these regions. The distribution 

 gradually changes, and during the winter months the 

 rainfall and its variation are greatest in the south and 

 south-east districts. The change in the position of 

 the isohyets from month to month is very regular ; 

 the motion is similar to that of a pendulum, the dis- 

 tribution in the warm months being at one end of the 

 swing and that in the cold months at the other. 



In New South Wales, at Forbes, near the centre 

 of gravity of Australia's population, and not far from 

 the site of the new Federal capital, there is practically 

 no variation in the rainfall from month to month ; 

 each month has about 2 in. of rainfall. Utilising 

 this fact and the regularity of the change for other 

 regions, the Commonwealth Meteorologist has con- 

 structed a rainfall "clock." Isohyets of appropriate 

 shape are drawn on a card placed beneath another 

 card with the outline of Australia cut out of it. The 

 lower card is rotated about an axis through Forbes, 

 and as it moves the rainfall distribution for different 

 months appears, the appropriate positions for each 

 month being shown bv an index mark. The remark- 

 able regularity which renders possible this simple 

 device leads the Commonwealth Meteorologist to 

 suggest that Australian meteorology may be of such 

 importance for general investigations as to warrant 

 the establishment of observatories there, internation- 

 ally supported and controlled. E. G. 



THE RESEARCH DEFENCE SOCIETY. 



THE Research Defence Society held its 'annual 

 general meeting on Tuesday, June 24, at the 

 Royal College of Physicians. The chair was taken 

 by the president of the society, Sir David Gill, and 

 there was a very large attendance. The speakers 

 were : — Bishop Frodsham, founder of the Australian 

 Institute of Tropical Medicine; Sir Thomas Barlow, 

 president of the Roval College of Phvsicians ; Lord 

 Cromer, Sir Hugh Bell, and Sir. Waldorf Astor. The 

 report, presented by Mr. Sydney Holland, chairman 

 of committee, gave a good account of the society's 

 work during the past year with special reference to the 

 campaign against anti-vivisection shops. It stated 

 also that the council of the Royal Society for the 

 Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is sending out a 

 referendum to all the members of that society. The 

 point is, whether it was right or wrong to reject Lord 

 Chevlesmore from the council of the Royal Society for 

 the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on the ground 

 that he is a vice-president of the Research Defence 

 Society. Seeing the advantages which animals have 

 gained from experiments on animals, and the many 

 restrictions placed on experiments on animals in this 

 cnuntrv, we think that a man may very properly hold 

 office in both societies ; and we are glad that Lord 

 Cromer and Sir Hugh Bell spoke very strongly on 

 this point. 



Mr. Waldorf Astor, in an admirable speech, referred 

 to the good news, this week, that the Government 

 has allotted 57.0007. annually to research in relation to 

 tuberculosis, and has appointed the Committee and 

 the Advisory Council for this great work. Sir Thomas 



NO. 2278, VOL. 91] 



Barlow spoke of that unity of purpose which is 

 between the men of science and the men in practice : 

 how the doctor and the surgeon are indeed guided and 

 helped by the phvsiologists and pathologists. Bishop 

 Frodsham spoke of the Christianity of all work done, 

 carefully and wisely, for the relief of suffering 

 humanity; and, as Bishop of North Queensland, he 

 has seen more than most of us of the misery caused 

 by certain obscure tropical diseases, and has done 

 more than most of us to alleviate it. Thus the sub- 

 ject which the Research Defence Society exists to 

 popularise was presented from diverse noints of view. 

 Take what point of view we will, it is a subject of 

 national importance. 



THE BELFAST MEMO REAL TO LORD 

 KELVIN. 



THE statue of Lord Kelvin which has been sub- 

 scribed for by the citizens- of Belfast was un- 

 veiled by Sir Joseph Larmor, M.P., F.R.S., on 

 Thursday last, June 19, in the presence of a large 

 and distinguished gathering. The Chancellor of the 

 Queen's University (the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.P.) 

 presided, and the attendance included the Lady 

 Mayoress of Belfast, the Vice-Chancellor of the 

 Queen's University of Belfast, members of the Senate 

 of Queen's University, and many of the leading 

 citizens of Belfast. 



In the course of his remarks, the chairman said 

 that from the time of the death of Lord Kelvin the 

 wish was uppermost in his (Lord Shaftesbury's) mind 

 — as indeed he felt sure it was in the mind of everyone 

 present — that there should be erected within the city 

 of Belfast a fitting memorial to a man whose fame 

 had gained for him a paramount position in the city 

 of his birth and in the city with which he and his 

 family were so intimately connected, as well as in 

 the whole world. That day they were to see the con- 

 summation of their aspirations, and he offered his 

 warmest thanks to Sir Joseph Larmor, who had so 

 kindly come to perform the unveiling ceremony. 



Sir Joseph Larmor then delivered an address, of 

 which the main part is subjoined : — 



I am deputed to represent on this occasion a com- 

 pany of subscribers, our fellow-citizens, who have 

 thought it right that the genius of Lord Kelvin, and 

 the great activities which kept him in the forefront 

 of the advance of physical science in an age in which 

 it has transformed the world, should receive permanent 

 commemoration in the city of his birth and parentage, 

 in the community among whom he passed the early 

 years of his life, and to whom, in his later years, 

 he put in an almost passionate claim that he be- 

 longed. We do not forget how profoundly he was 

 moulded by the great city of Glasgow, with which 

 his active career was so conspicuously associated. 

 The intimate conferences from his early manhood 

 with the pioneers of industrial development such as 

 that city has possessed ever since the days of James 

 Watt — discussions along the lines of unfolding 

 problems of mechanical power, of naval construction, 

 of the art of navigation — were just what was required 

 to develop the student and natural philosopher into 

 his other aspect, more familiar to the world at large, 

 as the prophet and guide in the utilisation of the vast 

 opportunities opened up, for the practical convenience 

 of life, by modern scientific discovery. Bv no amount 

 of mere natural ingenuity, after the manner of an 

 inventor or a man of affairs, could anvone have 

 attained to this position ; an essential condition was 

 sustained intellectual discipline such as Lord Kelvin 

 enjoyed from his early years. 



