May 21, 1874] 



NA TURE 



55 



of land was seen at all. On March 17 the Challenger anchored 

 near Melbcurne, all well. 



A TRAIN arrived at Algiers fronr Oran on the l8th inst. , six 

 hours behind time, having been delayed by a thick layer of grass- 

 hoppers which covered the rails. 



The first meeting of the Board of Governors of the Yorkshire 

 College of Science was held in the Philosophical Hall, Leeds, 

 on April 30. Dr. Heaton was called upon to preside. The 

 business of the meeting was the election of the president, trea- 

 surer, council, and auditor for the ensuing year, also the appoint- 

 ment of six endowed grammar schools .nnd ten institutions, each 

 of whose governing bodies should elect a Governor of the College. 

 Lord F. C. Cavendish, M.P. and Mr. W. B. Denison were respec- 

 tively elected president and treasurer of the College. The following 

 grammar schools were placed in Schedule A : — Leeds, Bradford, 

 Batley, Halifax, Wakefield, and Giggleswick. The institutions 

 placed in Schedule B were the Philosophical Societies at York, 

 Leed.s Bradlord, Halifax, ShefReld, and Huddersfield, the 

 Clothworkers' Company of the City of London, the West Riding 

 Ccalmasters' Association, the Cutlers' Company, Sheffield, and 

 the Trustees ofAckroyd Charity. Each of these bodies is in- 

 \ited to ncmirate a member of the Board of Governors. 



The Times of India states that Dr. David Wilkie has been 

 appointed by the Government of India to conduct a scientific 

 mvestigation into the nature, pathology, and causation of the 

 ftver prevailing in the Burdwan and Hoogly districts. He is to 

 work in communication with Dr. Lew'is and Dr. Cunningham, 

 and under the direction and general supi rintendence of the Sani- 

 lary Commissioner with the Government of Bengal. 



IInder the direction of Mr. Liversidge, Professor of Geology 

 and Lecturer in Practical Chemistry, the Laboratory of the Sydney 

 University is being improved in a way to make it similar to the 

 Laboratory of the Royal School of Mines and the University of 

 Cambridge, and to afford appliances for the proper conduct of 

 the exercises in practical chemistry. 



Mr. William H. Dall resumed his Alaskan explorations 

 under the U. S. Coast Survey, about April 20, at which date he 

 expected to sail for Sitka and more northern points. It is pro- 

 bable that his labours during the present season will be in the 

 neighbourhood of Cook's Inlet and the peninsula of Alaska, and 

 the coast of the mainland as far as the islands of Nunivah and 

 St. Michael's. His duties are to complete a_ coast pilot of the 

 territory, and to make careful magnetical and other observations. 

 Should his regular work permit, he hopes to make large collec- 

 tions in natural history and ethnology, in continuation of those 

 of previous seasons, and transmitted through the Coast Survey 

 Office to the National Museum at Washington, and which have 

 done him and the Survey so much credit. 



Heft V. of Petermann's Mitthciluns^eit, contains Contribu- 

 tions to the climatology and meteorology of the East Polar Sea, 

 by Prof. Mohn ; an account of some of the results of Gerhard 

 Rohli's expedition into the Lybian desert, with a map ; and a 

 German translation of the journal kept by Jacob Wainwright, 

 while marching with Livingstone's body from Central Africa to 

 Zanzibar. A copy of this journal was obtained by the late 

 Richard Brenner, the African traveller and Austrian Consul at 

 Zanzibar. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 last wetk include a Crested Curassow {Crax alector) from Gui- 

 ana, presented by Mr. G. Bruce ; a Ring-necked Parakeet 

 (Palicornis torqjiata] from India, presented by Mrs. A. de Nor- 

 manville ; a Coati {Nastta nasica] from South America, pre- 

 sented by Miss E. Waller ; a Common Paradoxure (/'i;™a'i)jr«r«i 

 Zy/wj) from Ini.ia, presented by Mr. G. R. Colbeck ; two Mus- 

 covey Ducks (Caii-ina moschala) from Monte Video, presented 

 by Mr. S. J. OUff; a Koodoo {Strepiceros kudu) from Africa, 

 deposited. 



THE METEOROLOGICAL CONGRESS AT 



VIENNA * 

 II. 

 '\^ITH reference to the organisation of a system of meteorolo- 

 gical observations on the Chinese coasts, for advice regarding 

 which the Congress was applied to, a report was adopted setting 

 forth the general principles of organisation suited to the circum- 

 stances of China. 



In addition to the above, Gener.al Myer, as commissioned by 

 the War Department of the United States, proposed that with a 

 view to their exchange at least one uniform observation of such 

 character as to be suitable for the preparation of synoptic charts 

 be taken and recorded daily and simultaneously at as many sta- 

 tions as practicable throughout the world. This proposal the 

 conference adopted, and, as the readers of Nature are aware, is 

 now in operation. 



On these various subjects muchva'uable information will be 

 found in the discussions in the Reports of the Committees, and 

 in the communications printed in the Appendices, particularly 

 on the subjects of weather telegraphy, sheet lightning, atmo- 

 spheric electricity, ozone, clouds, atmometers, rain-gauges, and 

 the protection of thermometers. 



In the review of the Leipsig Conference (Nature, vol. viii. 

 p. 342) a hope was expressed with reference to the protection 

 of the thermometers, which is really the vital question of meteoro- 

 logy, that the Vienna Congress would face it, seriously discuss it, 

 and either arrive at some decision, or at least suggest some steps 

 to be taken that might ultimately lead to the uniformity which is 

 so imperatively called for. Unfortunately this has not been done. 

 We say unfortunately, for scarcely two of the head observatories 

 in the British Isles and on the Continent, where continuous or 

 hourly observations are recorded, could be named at which there 

 is uniformity in the protection of the thermometers as respects 

 the box in which they are placed, height above the ground, and 

 position with reference to walls and other surrounding objects. 

 Now till uniformity in the position and exposure of the thermo- 

 meters be obtained, there can be no comparableness in the re- 

 sults, and consequently the observations are of little value as data 

 for the determination of what must be regarded as the most im- 

 portant fundamental facts on which the science rests, viz. the 

 diurnal and seasonal march of the temperature and humidity of 

 the atmosphere. It is only from the range of the temperature 

 and the humidity of the atmosphere of different regions as ascer- 

 tained by observations made on a uniform method that we are 

 furnished with physical data for the scientific treatment of such 

 questions as the daily fluctuations of the barometer, and the 

 changes and movements of the atmosphere generally. 



Prof. Wild's paper on the exposure of thermometers (p. 77) 

 we recommend to the careful consideration of meteorologists. 

 His observations, instituted at the Pulkowa Observatory at 

 heights of 6J ft., 52 ft., and 86 fL, are, as far as we are aware, 

 the best that have yet been made for the purpose of disclosing 

 the influence which mere height, as such, has on the tempera- 

 ture. The thermometers were //ffiTii/ f;; a scaffolding couslructed 

 of timber Itf^ktly ful together, and standing in an open field, being 

 in these essential points in striking contrast with those placed for 

 a similar object on the Chinese pagoda in the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew, it being evident that observations made with thermometers 

 placed like those at Kew will give results which possess little, if 

 any, value in an inquiry touching the vital question of the posi- 

 tion and exposure of thermometers. 



From the small differences among the mean temperatures he 

 obtaintd at the different heights, Wile concludes that the height of 

 thermometers above the ground need not necessarily be the same, 

 but may vary between 6 ft. and 33 ft. The differences he ob- 



I tained as regards mean temperature, though by no means insigni- 

 ficant, are doubtless small ; but when we regard the maxima and 



I minima and the observations at particular hours, which in their 

 practical bearings are so important, the influence ol height be- 

 comes well marked. Hence, if in any meteorological system 

 uniformity as respects height be disregarded, the results so ob- 

 tained fail to supply the data necessary for a satisfactory com- 

 parison of climates. This condition is all the more indispensable 

 when the thermometers are placed ai a height of 411. above the 

 ground, at which they should be placed as being the height which 

 gives the best results as regards the application of meteorology 

 to human mortality and other important questions affecting 

 animal and vegetable life. 



I * Continued from p. 18. 



