23^ 



NA rURE 



[July 5. 1906 



THE GREAT TYPHOON IN THE PHILIPPINE 



ISLANDS IN SEPTEMBER, 1905. 

 "PHE ISulletin of the Manila Observatory for September, 

 1905, prepared under the direction of the Rev. J. 

 Algu^, S.J., affords a strilcing example of the way in 

 which any abnormal features of the weather are completely 

 masked in monthly, or even shorter, mean values. An 

 inspection of the latter would lead to the conclusion that 

 the month of September was quite normal notwithstanding 

 the occurrence of the terrible typhoon on September 25-26, 

 which was probably the most violent of any yet experi- 

 enced, not even excepting that of November 5, 1882, the 

 worst previously on record. We gave a brief note of the 

 storm soon after its occurrence, taken from newspaper re- 

 ports, but the following further particulars from a dis- 

 cussion by the Rev. M. S. Mata, S.J., assistant director, 

 may be of interest. 



The disturbance appears to have originated in long. 

 142° E. and between lat. 11° and 12° N. on September 22, 

 and its path over the Pacific was approximately from east 

 to west ; it reached the land on the evening of September 25, 

 and swept across the archipelago in a south-easterly to 

 north-westerly direction, reaching Hainan, in the China 

 Sea, on the evening of September 28. The breadth of the 

 storm was about 100 miles, the centre passing about 



parative lull in the wind for three or four minutes, ant! 

 then it blew nfore fiercely than ever, with a rapid change 

 of direction from north-by-west to west, and drove thc 

 ship ashore; in a few minutes the wind shifted to south, 

 and by midnight the barometer had again risen to 

 29-61 inches. Immense damage was caused by sea and 

 land, especially at the eastern stations. We reproduce an 

 illustration of the destruction of the observatory at 

 Legaspi (lat. 13° 9', long. 123° 45'); the sea, which had 

 not risen so high for thirty years, rushed into the town 

 with extraordinary force, some parts being submerged to 

 a depth of 2j feet to 5 feet. At many other places not a 

 single building was left uninjured, and some of the largest 

 trees, which had withstood all previous storms, were 

 uprooted. 



twenty-four miles south of Manila ; the average velocity of 

 translation was 13-5 miles an hour. The first indication 

 of its approach at Manila was on the morning of 

 September 25, when the barometer registered a notable fall 

 of pressure. On the previous day the readings were very 

 high ; an anticyclone so well defined had rarely been 

 observed over the I'hilippines. On the morning of 

 September 26 (at which time telegraphic communication to 

 the south-eastward was already interrupted) the fall became 

 alarming, and continued until 2h. p.m., at which time the 

 minimum (29-21 inches) was reached, the mercury having 

 fallen about 0-7 inch since gh. p.m. of the previous even- 

 ing ; after a short pause the mercury rose again very 

 rapidly. Between noon and 3h. p.m. the gusts of wind 

 attained a rate of about 103 miles an hour. The rainfall 

 in twenty-four hours amounted to 4! inches, of which 

 23 inches fell between 3h. and i,h. p.m., after the passage 

 of the vortex, the wind changing from east-north-east to 

 south-east, with rapidly rising barometer. 



The s.s. Pathfinder was overtaken by the storm in San 

 Bonifacio (lat. 12° 10' N., long. 125° 30' E.), and recorded 

 some notable oscillations of the barometer ; at 8h. a.m. on 

 September 25 the reading was 29-78 inches, and the 

 mercury fell rapidly until 7h. 37m. p.m., when the mini- 

 mum of 27-17 inches was registered. There was a com- 



NO. 19 14, VOL. 74] 



T//E NEW BUILDINGS OF ARMSTRONG 



COLL EGE, NE WCA S TL E- ON- T YNE. 



'T'HE new buildings of Armstrong College, to be opened 



by the King on Wednesday next, July 11, consist of 



the front wing of the college, together with the large public 



hall immediately behind the front. The imposing front 



block of buildings, about 100 yards in length, faces nearly 



wpsi, and is on the border of the open space known as the 



Castle Leazes. In the middle of the 



college front, rising to a height of 



120 feet, is the handsome Sir 



Lowthian Bell tower. The chief 



entrance is at the base of the tower, 



and gives access to a spacious vesti- 



-"■ j.i» '^■•■'^ bule which communicates with the 



north-east and south-west wings, the 

 principal staircase, and the large 

 public hall to be used for lectures, 

 meetings, and examinations. 



The front wing consists of four 

 floors. On the ground floor to the 

 north of the entrance are the prin- 

 cipal's room, the council room, the 

 staff common room, and a large 

 common room for men students. 

 To the south of the entrance are the 

 secretary's office, the college office 

 with strong room, and the electrical 

 engineering department. This last 

 consists of a lecture room, and a 

 spacious laboratory with wide gallery 

 on one side. On this gallery is the 

 main electrical distribution board, to 

 which leads are brought from every 

 part of the building. There is a 

 second laboratory of the same size 

 in the basement beneath. Out- 

 side the college, on the basement level, is built a house 

 for storage cells. Over the ground-floor corridor, in 

 connection with this department, is a large photo- 

 metric room fitted up with suitable appliances for carry- 

 ing out tests in a complete manner. Access to this 

 room is obtained from the gallery of the ground-floor 

 laboratory. 



On the first floor is the library, with a photographic 

 dark-room adjoining, which is used for lantern-slide and 

 other photographic work. Accommodation is also provided 

 on this floor for the mathematics, the naval architecture, 

 the literature, and the education departments, with their 

 several lecture and private rooms. On the second floor 

 there is provision for the botanical department, consisting' 

 of an elementary laboratory, an advanced laboratory, 

 a research laboratory, lecture and preparation rooms with 

 dark-room, and the professor's private room. There are 

 also on this floor lecture rooms for philosophy, modern 

 history, classics, and modern languages, as well as private- 

 rooms for the several heads of departments in these sub- 

 jects. On the third floor is the zoological department, 

 which contains a large room more than 70 feet long, one 

 half of which, towards the front, is used as a zoological 

 museum, and the other half as an elementary laboratory, 

 and also advanced and research laboratories, lecture room. 



