Feb. -„ 1881 



NATURE 



;29 



y. 6d. and half a huadredweight of coke not more tlian 61/. (at 

 20.V. a ton), or only one-seventh part of the price of gas. 



If heating gas was supplied at a much cheaper rate, it would 

 in many cases be advantageous to substitute incombustible 

 matter, such as balls of asbestos, for the coke or anthracite. 

 The consumption of gas would in that case have to be increased 

 very considerably, but the economical principle involved (that 

 of heating the air of combustion by conduction from the back 

 of the grate) would still apply, and produce economical results 

 as compared with those obtained by the gas-asbestos arrange- 

 ments lutherto used. 



To illustrate the efficiency of this mode of heating the in-com- 

 ing air by what is called waste heat, I will show you another 

 application of the same principle which I have made very 

 recently to the combustion of gas for illuminating purposes. 

 ( To be amiinued. ) 



THE RECENT SEVERE WEATHER 

 TN a recent contribution to the literature of meteorology Mr. 

 ■*• E. J. Lowe, F. R.S., endeavours to prove that droughts and 

 great frosts are periodical, occurring at intervals of between eleven 

 and twelve years. In support of this theory he remarks ; *' There 

 can be no reasonable doubt that the cycles are more than eleven 

 years and less than twelve (more nearly eleven than twelve)," and 

 a table of "great frosts" is given, from which we take the dates 

 for the present century in the same order as printed. 



1801^ — 2 I 1819 — 20 I 1S60 — 61 



1813— 14 1S37— 38 1856—57 



1810 — II I 1S40 — 41 I 1870 — 71 



The present year may now be added to the above list. 



It will be noticed that there are some variations in the lengths 

 of the intervening periods, but there is at the same time a 

 distinct recurrence of eleven-year epochs. 



The great frost of the month jnst ended will dotibtless form 

 one of the main features in the meteorology of the nineteenth 

 century. In the table below are given the average temperatures 

 of the United Kingdom for the three weeks ended January 10, 

 17, and 24 of the present year, together with tlie temperatures 

 for the same weeks ended January 12, 19, and 26 of the year 

 1 880. Each year the average for these periods was below the 

 mean seasonal value. The deficiency is given in the fifth and 

 tenth columns. 



The weather during the above periods was cold in both years, 

 and the deficiency of solar heat is more noticeable, if the figures 

 of the second and third weeks in each year are compared. On 

 several days bright sunshine occurred for several hours, yet at 

 some stations the sunshine was so weak as to fail to mark the 

 recording cards of Prof. Stokes's sunshine recorders. 



The weather over the whole of north-western Europe has been 

 generally intensely cold, and on January 28 the temperature at 

 Haparanda (extreme north of Gulf of Bothnia) was reported as 

 being 60° F. below freezing point. H. W. C. 



THE AURORA OF JANUARY 31 



■\1/'E have received the following communications on the recent 

 brilliant display of aurora : — 

 Having noticed an auroral light through the mist on the 

 evening of January 30, I looked out last evening, the 31st, and 



saw what to me at least was "a new appearance. There was a 

 strong yellowish-white auroral light in the north, with an uneven 

 boundary — not a well-defined arch. From it there arose, at 

 intervals of a minute or two, what looked like wisps of luminous 

 mist of an elliptical form, with their longer axes east and west. 

 These chased one another towards the zenith, .appearing! and 

 disappearing with great rapidity, so that one could hardly say 

 "look!" before they had vanished. Somelimes three or four 

 were flashing out at once. They were of large size, and being 

 unaccustomed to the description of such objects, I know not how 

 to describe their size. They must however have subtended hori- 

 zontally angles of 45° and more at the eye. This appearance 

 lasted, from the time I first looked out at about 6h. 45m., for 

 about ten minutes or less, and then the appearance gave place to 

 ordinary streamers, yellowish-white at their base and rosy towards 

 their summits. 



The flashing lights which I have mentioned suggested to me 

 this idea : One has seen two men shaking a carpet held at two 

 adjoining corners. Their strokes not exactly coinciding, an 

 irregular, undulatory movement is produced, something like the 

 waves of a chopping sea. If a stratum of something wz^ in such 

 a state of undulation above the atmosphere, and became visibly 

 luminous where the crests of the undulations dipped down into 

 the atmosphere, it would produce the kind of appearance that I 

 saw. Osmond Fisher 



Harlton Rectory, Cambridge, February i 



Lest the magnificent auroral display of last evening has not 

 been generally visible, the following short account of it, as 

 witnessed here, may not be unacceptable to the readers of 

 Nature. 



At about 6.15 p.m. indications of the disturbance were 

 noticed in an unusually bright appearance of the sky from the 

 north-east to north-west by west, the light being white, 

 and similar in character to that reflected from the upper 

 part of a bank of fog- By 6.25 the upper limit of this pheno- 

 menon had gradually changed into a number of bands, alter- 

 nately bright and dark, but not well defined, which after another 

 short interval disappeared in a change of the light to a very 

 ruddy tint, accompanied by a kind of throbbing in the north, 

 exactly like rapid repetitions of faint lightning. At this period a 

 great number of parallel bands of light of a beautifully clear 

 salmon tint were extended from the ruddy bank in a southerly 

 direction, those from the north passing beyond the zenith, and 

 losing their definition in a diffused patch of light of the same 

 colour. These bands slowly faded away, but were succeeded by 

 a similar and equally beautiful display at from ten to fifteen 

 minutes later. 



About seven o'clock I walked two and a half to three miles in 

 a northerly direction, and found in ascending a slight hill that 

 the fog was sufficiently thick to obscure the stars. This I 

 imagine explains the peculiar bank and thick appeartmce of the 

 light near the horizon. 



The whitish illumination in the same quarter of the sky was 

 still visible at 12 p.m. John Harmer 



Wick near Arundel, February i 



A BRILLIANT aurora borealis has been visible here this evening. 

 It commenced at twenty minutes to seven, extending from west- 

 north-west to a little east of north. The western part was of a 

 deep ruddy colour, extending (at a rough estimate) some 35 or 40 

 degrees from the horizon, and varied by long white streamers, 

 one of which — nearly due north — reached to within 15 or 20 

 degrees of the zenith. I was'nnable to watch it for more than a 

 few minutes, but at half- past. ten the sky in the same direction 

 was still remarkably bright. R. W. Taylor 



Kelly College, Tavistock, January 31 



A \'ERV brilliant auroral display was visible here last night. 

 There was a short heavy .shower of hail and rain at six o'clock, 

 and the sky was entirely overclouded. Thirty minutes later the 

 sky was again clear, and the northern horizon was beautifully 

 illuminated, and broad quivering bands of light stretched from 

 thence upward beyond the zenith, some in unbroken continuity, 

 while others were brokenup. Not connected with these rays, 

 and on the south side of the zenith, were frequent flashes of 

 light, usually crescentic in form. The light near the horizon 

 was silvery and moonlight like, but higher up it became much 

 ruddier. I watched the aurora from 6.30 till 7, when I was 

 obliged to go in-doors till 10.30, and then able to observe it 

 again. At that time the light near the northern horizon had 

 greatly increased in brightness, but fewer bands extended 



