April 15, 1909] 



NATURE 



199 



collected from various sources, relate to the transmission 

 of diabetes insipidus, pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic 

 hereditary trophoedema, split foot, polydactylism, brachy- 

 dactylism, deafmutism, and ability. Each group of pedi- 

 grees is accompanied by an introductory memoir by the 

 contributor, giving a brief description of the character 

 itself, illustrated in several cases by very finely executed 

 plates, a verbal description of the individuals referred to 

 in the pedigrees, and a bibliography. The pedigrees them- 

 selves, of which there arc seventy-four, are given on large 

 plates, special symbols being used to denote individuals 

 possessing or not possessing the character, or showing it 

 only to a modified degree. The Treasury, which is pub- 

 lished by Messrs. Dulau and Co., promises to be of the 

 highest value, and Prof. Karl Pearson, who acts as general 

 editor, is to be heartily congratulated on his adoption of 

 the scheme. Anyone who has attempted to trace the pub- 

 lished pedigrees relating to the transmission of any one 

 character knows how much labour is involved in the 

 search, and the collection of such pedigrees, both new and 

 old, into one publication will render inestimable service 

 to all those who are interested in the study of heredity. 



The summary of the weather for the week ending 

 .April 10, just issued by the Meteorological Office, shows 

 the period to have been quite phenomenal for the dura- 

 tion of bright sunshine. The sky was almost cloudless, 

 especially over England and Wales, where the maximum 

 shade temperatures generally exceeded 70°, whilst at night 

 there were sharp radiation frosts. Over the kingdom 

 generally the week was reported as among the brightest 

 ever recorded, the possible duration amounting to 8g per 

 cent, in the east of England, 87 per cent, in the south- 

 east of England, and 82 per cent, in the English Channel. 

 The highest percentage of the possible amount reported 

 from individual stations was 93, at Lowestoft, Yarmouth, 

 Felixstowe, Tunbridge Wells, and Worthing. At Green- 

 wich Observatory the sunshine for the week was 90 per 

 cent, of the possible duration. The thermometer in the 

 sun's rays at Greenwich was 110° or above each day, and 

 on April 9 registered 130°. The week was rainless in 

 most parts of the kingdom. 



We have received a copy of the international balloon 

 observations made by the Bavarian Meteorological Service 

 at Munich in 1908, compiled by Dr. A. Schmauss. They 

 are given in the form of the publications of the Aero- 

 nautical Committee, and the separate ascents are generally 

 accompanied by useful remarks and deductions. The 

 results for the year have also been carefully discussed ; 

 the following are some of the conclusions arrived at, which 

 agree with those obtained in previous years : — (i) The zone 

 of least variation of temperature is in the region of the 

 upper inversion, while the greatest amplitudes of tempera- 

 ture are recorded at the surface of the earth and at a 

 height of about 8 kilometres ; between these places, at 

 about 3 km. above sea-level, a relative minimum is found. 

 (2) The temperature gradient has a maximum variation 

 where, generally speaking, it has the smallest values, viz. 

 at the earth's surface and in the region of the upper 

 inversion, and a minimum in the strata of greatest decrease* 

 of temperature, viz. from 3 km. to 9 km. (3) The 

 boundary of the upper inversion is higher in summer than 

 in winter ; the lowest temperature occurs, on an average, in 

 summer at 14 km. and in winter at 13 km. (4) The 

 summer temperatures in the inversion are generally 3° C. 

 to 4° C. higher than in winter. 



In the Aiti dei Lined, xviii., 4, Prof. P. Pizzetti dis- 

 cusses the theorem according to which the mean value 



NO. 2059, VOL. 80] 



of a continuous function V of the coordinates over the 

 surface of a sphere of radius R is (sinh Rv/Rv)V„,' the 

 suffix referring to the centre of the sphere and v^ being 

 Laplace's operator. 



The r6le of thermal analysis in many metallurgical and 

 chemical problems is so important that considerable 

 interest attaches to the report on methods of obtaining 

 cooling curves, by Mr. George K. Burgess (Reprint 

 No. 99, Washington Bureau of Standards). Using a 

 thermocouple and a galvanometer, the method of obtain- 

 ing photographic records is fairly obvious ; for autographic 

 records the friction of the pen is obviated by limiting the 

 tracing to a series of dots. The paper is illustrated by 

 curves representing the relations between temperature and 

 time, differential, rate of change of temperature and 

 reciprocal of the latter, for typical transformations, one 

 being isothermal, another exothermous, and the last 

 endothermous. 



A NUMBER of papers have recently appeared dealing with 

 electromagnetic theories, and in particular with the 

 impossibility of explaining electrical and mechanical actions 

 on the hypothesis of a continuous medium. This questior* 

 forms the subject of a paper, by Dr. Hans Witte, in the 

 Annalen der Physik, xxvi., and contributions on pure 

 electromagnetic fields, by Prof. Tullio Levi Civita {Atti 

 del R. Istituto veneto, Ixvii. [2]) and Leonella Caffaretti, 

 of Rovigo (Niwvo Cimento, xv., xvi.). In two contribu- 

 tions to the Atli dei Lincei, xviii., 2, 3, Prof. Levi Civita 

 obtains asympt^ tic expressions for the action of currents 

 and for electric radiations, while the dispersion of energy 

 due to moving charges is described by Dr. Hannibal 

 Comessatti in the Nuovo Cimento, xvi. 



We have received the first two numbers of the Inter- 

 nationale Revue der Gcsamtcn Hydrobiologie und Hydro- 

 graphie, a journal specially devoted to the study of 

 oceanography and limnology in all their branches. Prof. 

 Weismann contributes an introductory article, and amongst 

 the authors of original papers are Sir John Murray, Drs. 

 R. Hcrtwig, Raffaele Issel, A. Xathansohn, Alfred Fischel, 

 C. Klausener, and Gustav G6tzinger. An important part 

 of the magazine is a series of reports on recent work and 

 summaries of new publications, by experts. The editor is 

 Dr. R. Woltereck, of Leipzig, and the appearance of the 

 journal, as Sir John Murray justly says, " is a very 

 important event for the future progress of these sciences, 

 and may possibly mark an era in the development of know- 

 ledge concerning the Hydrosphere as a whole." We wish, 

 our new contemporary every success. 



By the courtesy of Mr. Alfred E. Dean, of 82 Hatton 

 Garden, who is the London agent of Messrs. Jougla, we 

 have been able to try a sample of the " omnicolore " 

 plate to which we referred on February 4 (vol. Ixxix., 

 p. 409). These, like other colour-screen plates, contain 

 in themselves all that is necessary for the photography of 

 objects in " natural colours." The general character of 

 the plate we have already given, and as Lumifere's auto- 

 chrome plates have been in common use for a year or 

 two, it is natural to compare new-comers with them. The 

 procedure recommended by the makers of the omnicolore 

 plate is much simpler than the method of working the 

 autochrome ; indeed, it is the simplest possible, consider- 

 ing the general principles involved. The plate, after ex- 

 posure, is developed, rinsed, placed in an acidified solution 

 of potassium bichromate to dissolve away the silver image,, 

 rinsed, returned to the original developer to reduce the 

 silver salt to the metallic state, rinsed, fixed, and washed. 

 Intensification is not necessary, for the sensitive film gives 



