i8o 



NA TURE 



[June 22, 1905 



or India, the following table is the result (omitting the rainfall was highest and the pressure lowest, 



average conditions) : 



Years of simultaneous ( 

 Agre. 



which is exactly what was to be expected from the 



Oxford and High pressure Low pressu 



Cordoba ... 1874 ... — 



... 1875 ■■ - 



... - ... 1877 



India ... — .. 1878 



1S80 ... — 



— ... 1882 



Cordoba 

 India 



1893 



1895 



38 YEAR 

 PERIOD 



CORDOBA _ 



(JAN- DEC.)^ 



OXFORD 



(JAN-DCCV 



vKKKA/vwvfwKf 



BOMBAY 



(JAN- Of C) ' 



38YEAr' 

 PERIOD 



(.NVIRTCD) 



It will be seen that there is a very even 

 balancing between Cordoba and India. 

 A most interesting point is that the 

 O.xford curve seems to favour for series 

 of years the two main pressure types 

 alternately. From 1900 the type of 

 variation seems somewhat indefinite. 



This table seems to suggest that 

 during some years the British area is Fig. 4.— Curve 1 

 enveloped in the pressure system that 

 extends over the large region in which 

 India is about the centre, while for another series 

 it is dominated by the antipodal pressure system of 

 which South America is the middle portion. 



It is possible that it is this alternate reversion from 

 one type to the other that prevents the 3.8-year change 

 of the Indian and Cordoba curves from occurring in 

 the British curves, and substitutes for it an apparent 

 shorter period of about three years, which is very 

 noticeable for some series of years in the British 

 curves (Fig. 2, curve i.). 



It will thus be seen that it is difficult at present to 

 forecast British pressure correctly, but further research 



AA/VVW W\A/\/V 



THAMES 

 LEVEL 

 SURBITON 



-Curves to show the similarity betwet 

 pressure (inverted) changes £ 



will very probably render it possible when more is 

 known about the mechanism of the atmosphere. 



In conclusion, it is interesting to note that in 

 addition to this short period variation the curves 

 (Fig. 2) indicate one of longer duration. \n ex- 

 amination of these statistics, "when the curves are 

 smoothed by taking three-year means to eliminate the 

 short period changes, shows that when the river flow- 

 was greatest, i.e. between about the years 1873-1883, 

 NO. i860 VOL. 72] 



) I87D0 18600 1890 19000 



illustrate the relation between the British (Oxford) pressure change and those 

 of India (Bombay) and S. America (Cordoba). 



relationship between pressure, rainfall, and river 

 flow in these islands. Another point here indicated 

 is that this long period change is real, and that there 

 is a tendency now for the low river levels, deficiency 

 of rainfall, and excess pressure of the last decade or 

 more to be replaced by a greater mean flow cf the 

 river, increase in the rainfall, and a diminution in 

 the barometric pressure. Willi.mi J. S. Lockyer. 



NOTES. 



A RovAL garden party was held on Wednesday, 

 June 14, and was attended by about 

 six thousand guests. At the end of 

 the official record of notable people 

 present, supplied to the Times by 

 the "Court Newsman," we read:. — • 

 " Invitations were issued to their Excel- 

 lencies the Foreign Ambassadors and 

 Ministers, with the personnel of their 

 Embassies and Legations, the members 

 of the Government, the Households of 

 the King and Queen and of the Royal 

 Family, and to many peers, members of 

 Parliament, naval and military officers, 

 clergy, and representatives of the 

 musical, dramatic, and literary pro- 

 fessions, many of whom with their wives 

 and daughters were present at the party." 

 We believe His Majesty the King is 

 interested in the scientific as in the other 

 activities of his subjects ; but if so, it is 

 clear that he is very badly served by the 

 <a tne ramiaii and Lord Chamberlain's office, which is re- 

 sponsible for' the issue of the invitations. 

 .Apparently, this department of the State 

 has not yet realised that science is the only true basis of 

 a nation's welfare and progress, and that scientific men 

 exist in Britain. A few of the most distinguished Fellows 

 of the Royal Society would represent the best interests 

 of the nation even more effectively than actors and 

 musicians. 



The Royal Society's annual conversazione, to which 

 ladies are invited, will take place on Friday, June 23. 



