152 



NA TURE 



\yune 25, 1874 



ninety members. The proceedings are reported in the local 

 papers, and judging from the programme sent us the club means 

 to go in for hard and earnest, and we hope fruitful, field-work. 



It gives us much pleasure to see from a recent number of the 

 Dunstable Borough Gazette that that paper devotes a fair amount 

 of space to science, under the title of "Our Science Column." 

 The number before us, June 17, contains a good popular article 

 on the value of scientific knowledge, some meteorological data, 

 and an original communication on the botany of Dunstable, 

 being the continuation of a list of plants of the district, with 

 their common and scientific names. We hope the editor will 

 continue his science column, and make it a means of enlighten- 

 ing his readers, and that the number of provincial papers which 

 have a " Science Column " may go on rapidly increasing. 



The Gardenas' Chronicle leams that a committee has been 

 formed, and funds are being collected, for the much needed 

 restoration of Selborne Church as a memorial to Gilbert White. 

 It is also proposed to erect a Cross to his memory on the " Pies- 

 tor." It is hoped that a sufficient sum will be raised, beyond 

 ■what will be required for these objects, to found an exhibition to 

 one of the colleges at Oxford, with which he was connected, to 

 be called the " Gilbert White " Exhibition. It is calculated that 

 at least 5,000/. will be required. The committee includes the 

 names of the Right Hon. Lord Selborne, the President and 

 Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxon ; Prof Iiell, F. K. S., iVc. ; 

 the Rev. F. Parsons, Vicar of Selborne, and others. 



At a special meeting of the Anthropological Institute, to be 

 held at Bethnal Green Museum, on July i, Col. Lane Fox will 

 give an Address on the principles of classification in his anthro- 

 pological collection. 



Dr. Lea has added another volume to his large work on 

 the Unionidaa, illustrated by twenty-two lithographic plates. 



A PROPOSAL has been made in the ^Imcrican Chemist that a 

 centenary meeting should be held on August I to commemorate 

 the discovery of oxygen by Priestley on August i, 1774. The 

 Aincricaii youriial of Seicmc and Arts points out that this 

 would afford an opportunity to discuss interesting chemical 

 topics and to review the progress made during the century. 



On Wednesday the 17th the President of the Geological 

 Society held an inaugural reception of the Fellows in their 

 new apartments at Burlington House, to which many ladies 

 were also invited. Although the meeting-room has been in use 

 for a few weeks, and the removal of the library from Somer- 

 set House has been completed, the removal of the museum has 

 but just commenced, and as the collections are so extensive it 

 will occupy many weeks. 



The Statistical Society will hold its Fortieth Anniversary 

 Meeting on Tuesday, June 30, at 3.30 p.m. 



A PROJECT has been set on foot to provide liridlington Quay 

 with a marine aquarium. It is estimated the work will cost 

 about 5,000/., towards which several gentlemen in the locality 

 have promised to subscribe. The affair will probably take the 

 shape of a limited liability company. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 last week include two Iluanacos (Lama huaiutco) and a Palago- 

 nian Cavy {DoUchotis patachonica) from Patagonia, presented by 

 Mr. W. G. Parry ; a Common Racoon (Procyoii lotor) from 

 North America, presented by Mr. T. Taylor ; a Bonnet Monkey 

 (Macaais /-ai/iat/is) from India, presented by Mr. Wood ; two 

 Blue-cheeked Barbels (Mugaliema nsiatiea) and two White 

 Cranes (Gnis ti-iia\i;cranos) from India ; a Honey liuzzard (Fer- 

 nis apivonis), Einopean, purchased ; a Malay Tapir { Tapiriis 

 indica) from Malacca, deposited. 



CONFERENCE FOR MARITIME 

 METEOROLOGY 

 'T'HE Sub-committee for Maritime Meteorology appointed by 

 the Permanent Committee of the Vienna Congress have deter- 

 mined to hold a private conference on the subject in London, to 

 commence on Aug. 31. The meetings \Yill be held, by per- 

 mission of the meteorological committee, at the Meteorological 

 Office, 116, Victoria Street, London, S.W. The invitations are 

 to be issued this week, and the following is the Programme 

 of Questions to be discussed. I may say that I have already 

 received replies to the circular respecting the Brussels Con- 

 ference from all the countries to which it was addressed. 

 Robert H. Scott, 



Secretary to the Sub-Committee 



A general wish has of late been expressed that the mea- 

 sures for the prosecution of Maritime Meteorology pro- 

 posed at the International Conference at Brussels in 1S53 

 should be reconsidered, now that the experience of more than 

 twenty years of the operation of these measures has enabled 

 meteorologists to form opinions as to their utility. 



At the Meteorological Conference at Leipsig in 1872, and 

 again at the International Congress at Vienna in 1873, prelimi- 

 nary discussions took place on the subject of the more successful 

 prosecution of Ocean Meteorology. Certain resolutions were 

 adopted at Leipsig and confirmed at Vienna, and accordingly it 

 seems proper to embody them in the present programme. They 

 run as follows : — 



" I. Thorough uniformity in methods and instruments should 

 be aimed at in the same measure as for observations on shore. 

 This will be most satisfactorily obtained by the chiefs of the 

 central institutes — the establishment of which in all countries in 

 which they do not already exist, and in which the maritime inte- 

 rests demand them, must be declared as absolutely necessary — 

 entering into relations with each other and agreeing on the sepa- 

 rate details, the construction of the instruments, the hours of 

 observation, the journal, &c. 



" 2. Unity of measures and scales is desirable, and to this end 

 the introduction of millimetres for the barometer and the centi- 

 grade scale for the thermometer should be aimed at. While, 

 however, the comparison of standard instruments of the individual 

 central stations must be insisted on, the uniformity of scales is at 

 present only declared as desirable. 



"3. The Committee would urge the importance of the co-ope- 

 ration of the navies, inasmuch as by their assistance, and by the 

 opportunities afforded thereby of completeness in certain obser- 

 vations, the determination of factors and constants is rendered 

 possible, which can be used with advantage for the reduction of 

 certain results derived from the general system of observations. 



"4. With reference to the utilisation of the results, tlie Com- 

 mittee would urge similarly the importance of uniformity in the 

 methods employed. In close relation therewith was the carrying 

 out of the division of labour of the central stations of the indi- 

 vidual states. This principle must be recognised as of the 

 greatest imiiortance for the further development of Marine 

 Meteorology. The repetition of work over definite regions, with 

 reference to the area to be investigated, must be declared as in- 

 defensible in the interests of this development." 



It was further resolved — "That the convening of a Maritime 

 Meteorological Conference is desirable." 



While accepting the above resolutions as a general expression 

 of the principles which should form the basis of an agreement as 

 to future ojierations in the field of Ocean Meteorology, tlie Sub- 

 Committee to whom the negotiations preparatory to the assem- 

 bling of a Conference have been entrusted, consider that it is 

 .advisable to enter more minutely into the details, and have 

 accordingly agreed on the following series of questions : — 



In the case of a nation which sent any representative to the 

 Brussels Conference in 1853, a circular should be addressed to 

 the chief of the Office for Maritime Meteorology, if such exist, 

 or to the chief of the meteorological organisation of the country, 

 requesting him to state : — 



1. To what extent the resolutions adopted at Brussels have 

 been carried out in this country? 



2. What have been the grounds for departure from them, if 

 such departure has taken place ? 



and to send his reply to the Secretary to the Sub-Committee, 

 ' Mr. Robert 11. Scott, n6, Victoria Street, London, S.W., 



