146 



NATURE 



[October 3, 19 12 



CLIMATOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



A VALUABLE instalment has been added to the 

 ■^*- long series of meteorological observations taken 

 at tlie Radclil'fe Observatory, Oxford, by the publica- 

 tion of a volume containing the results for the five 

 years 1906-1910. In its main features the volume is 

 arranged on the same lines as before, the principal 

 exceptions being the omission of (i) the readings of 

 the underground platinum-resistance thermometers, 

 which will be dealt with in a separate paper, and (2) 

 the results obtained from the photographic recording 

 instruments, but the records are continued at present. 

 The tables exhibit very clearly the mean daily, 

 monthly, and annual results for the various elements. 

 The wind velocity is deduced with the old factor 3, 

 but to reduce this to the new factor 2'2 it is only 

 necessary to multiply the quantities by o'733. From a 

 special table prepared by Dr. Rambaut for the thirty 

 years 1881-1910, the mean yearly horizontal motion 

 of the air is 108,000 miles ; it shows an apparent 

 periodic annual variation, with an amplitude of about 

 3'8 miles an hour, the maximum occurring in March 

 and the minimum in September. 



The report recently issued by the Survey Depart- 

 ment of Egypt upon the rains of the Nile basin and 

 the flood of 1 9 10 claims that the decade which has 

 just passed ranks as the most important in the study 

 of the Nile from the hydrographical and meteoro- 

 logical points of view. The investigations during that 

 period are chiefly due to the instigation and personal 

 efforts of Sir W. Garstin and to the discussion of his 

 data by various men of science. Among the principal 

 results of this work are : — (i) A proper appreciation 

 of the enormous loss of water in marshy regions. 

 (2) The regulating effect of the trough wherever a 

 rapid tributary joins a more sluggish one. (3) A 

 more precise knowledge of the relative parts played by 

 the diff'erent tributaries. (4) The importance of the 

 contribution returned to the river from underground 

 sources. During 19 10 there was a general or partial 

 failure of rain in the first half of the year, but during 

 the critical months, July to September, there was 

 heavy rain in Abyssinia and round the Bahr el Jebel, 

 and this condition persisted into the last quarter. 

 The low stage preceding the flood was very satisfac- 

 tory and water was plentiful. The flood started well 

 in April, but was subject subsequently to several 

 fluctuations ; from November i the fall was rapid, 

 but the river remained above its normal level. 



In our " Notes " column of April 25 we made a 

 brief reference to a report on the climate of Tripoli 

 by Dr. Philip Eredia, based on direct observations 

 between 1892 and 191 1. He has now supplemented 

 that useful paper by one on the diurnal range of 

 temperature, based on readings of a self-recording 

 thermometer since September, 1905 (Rendiconti R. 

 Accad. Lincei, July, 1912). The tables contain, inter 

 alia, ten-day and monthly means for every even hour 

 (2h., 4h., &c.). These show that the highest mean 

 values occur about ah. p.m., and differ little from 

 those at other hours near that time, except in the 

 decades of the extreme months ; the lowest readings 

 generally occur near sunrise, as is usually the case. 

 The mean daily extremes occur early in February 

 (ii'4°C.)and about the middle of August (26'5°), giving 

 a mean range of 15° C, which differs little from 

 that of the coastal towns of southern Italy. The 

 peculiarities exhibited by the hourly means in the 

 various months are well shown by thermo-isopleths. 



We have received Nos. 7-9 of the FiiiUindische 

 hydrographisch-hiologischc Utilersuchungen in the 

 gulfs of Bothnia and Finland and the northern part 

 of the Baltic Sea during the years 1900-1910. These 

 very valuable observations and results, including sea- 



NO. 2240, VOL. 90] 



temperature at various depths, salinity, wind direc- 

 tion and force, and other data at lightships, light- 

 houses, and other fixed stations, as well as during 

 expeditions to sea, have been discussed by Dr. Rolf 

 Witting, director of the investigations, and trans- 

 lated into German by Mrs. Ellen Witting. The prin- 

 cipal results are also shown graphically by a number 

 of coloured plates. We note that the author is of 

 opinion that more importance should be given to 

 detailed observations at fixed stations in supplement- 

 ing the observations made in the open sea than has 

 hitherto been the case. The discussion covers too 

 wide a range to allow of our entering into further 

 details here, but we may mention that one of the 

 chapters contains an interesting historical account 

 of the development of our knowledge of the hydro- 

 graphy of the Baltic prior to the commencement of 

 the international exploration of the ocean. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT DUNDEE. 

 SECTION I. 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



Opening Address by LEON.-iRD Hill, M.B., F.R.S., 

 President of the Section. 



Last year the distinguished president of this section 

 raised us to the contemplation of the workings of the 

 soul. I ask you to accompany me in the consideration 

 of nothing higher than a stuffy room. Everyone 

 thinks that he suffers in an ill-ventilated room owing 

 to some change in the chemical quality of the air, 

 be it want of oxygen, or excess of carbon dioxide, 

 the addition of some exhaled organic poison, or the 

 destruction of some subtle property by passage of the 

 air over steam-coils, or other heating or conducting 

 apparatus. We hear of "devitalised" or "dead" air, 

 and of "tinned" or "potted" air of the battleship. 

 The good effects of open-air treatment, sea and moun- 

 tain air, are no less generally ascribed to the chemical 

 purity of the air. In reality the health-giving proper- 

 ties are those of temperature, light, movement, and 

 relative moisture of the surrounding atmosphere, and 

 leaving on one side those gross chemical impurities 

 which arise in mines and in some manufacturing pro- 

 cesses, and the question of bacterial infection, the 

 alterations in chemical composition of the air in build- 

 ings where people crowd together and suffer from the 

 effects of ill-ventilation have nothing to do with the 

 causation of these effects. 



Satisfied with the maintenance of a specious 

 standard of chemical purity, the public has acquiesced 

 in the elevation of sky-scrapers and the sinking of 

 cavernous places of business. Many have thus become 

 cave-dwellers, confined for most of their waking and 

 sleeping hours in windless places, artificially lit, 

 monotonously warmed. The sun is cut off by the 

 shadow of tall buildings and by smoke — the sun, the 

 energiser of the world, the giver of all things which 

 bring joy to the heart of man, the fitting object of 

 worship of our forefathers. 



The ventilating and heating engineer hitherto has 

 followed a great illusion in thinking that the main 

 objects to be attained in our dwellings and places of 

 business are chemical purity of the air and a uniform 

 draughtless summer temperature. 



Life is the reaction of the living substance to the 

 ceaseless play of the environment. Biotic energy 

 arises from the transformation of those other forms 

 of energy — heat, light, sound^ &c. — which beat upon 

 the transformer — the living substance (B. Moore). 

 Thus, when all the avenues of sense are closed, the 

 central nervous system is no longer aroused and con- 



