i6 



NA TURE 



[May 7, 1896 



leclure-room at the (hardens, on Saturday last. The lecture was of 

 an introductory character, explaining the position of Mammals 

 amongst the Vertebrates, and their classification into three main 

 divisions. The extinct Multituberculata and their possible 

 relation to the Monotremes were also spoken of. The course 

 will be continued every Saturday at 4 p.m. until July 4. 



At the International Meteorological Conference at Munich, 

 in 1891, a Committee was appointed to consider the question 

 of concerted observations on the direction of motion and the 

 height of clouds. The report of this Committee was made to 

 the International Meteorological Committee at their meeting at 

 Upsala in 1894, the result being that all countries were invited 

 to take part in the investigation of the upper currents of the 

 atmosphere, by means of cloud observations, which are to com- 

 mence on the 1st prox., and be continued for a year at least. 

 For the use of observers who adopt the international classifica- 

 tion recommended at Munich, a standard cloud atlas has been 

 prepared, consisting of about thirty coloured pictures, and is 

 now in course of publication in Paris ; while persons who do 

 not adopt that classification are at liberty to use the nomen- 

 clature employed in their country. The observations of motion 

 may be made without instruments, or with simple nephoscopes ; 

 but the measurements of altitudes require the use of theodolites 

 or photogram meters, and can only be carried out at regular 

 observatories. Descriptions of the methods to be employed 

 have been published by Dr. Hildebrandsson, of Upsala, and 

 others, and also in Das Wetter for February last. Various 

 countries in Europe, the United States, and Java, have under- 

 taken to make the more diificult instrumental observations, and 

 it is recommended by the International Meteorological Com- 

 mittee that the observations from each country should be 

 eventually published in extenso, as a separate publication. 



The south-east of Europe is one of the most pronounced 

 seismic districts of the world, and it is gratifying to learn that 

 the earthquakes there are to receive the attention they deserve. 

 In a previous note, we have referred to the work of the .seismo- 

 logical section of the meteorological observatory at Constanti- 

 nople, and we have now to announce the formation of a similar 

 section of that at Athens. This has been placed under the 

 charge of Dr. S. A. Papavasiliou, who is well known for his 

 careful investigation of the Locris earthquakes of 1894. In- 

 formation with reference to Greek earthquakes has indeed been 

 transmitted to the observatory since 1893, and the accounts of 

 these shocks will be published later on. It is only, however, 

 within the last few months that an attempt has been made to 

 organise regular observations. At the observatory of Athens 

 two Brassart seismoscopes of a simple character have been 

 erected, one of them giving the lime of occurrence of each 

 shock felt there. The officials at the meteorological stations 

 and telegraph offices (twenty-three in number) have been in- 

 structed to make observations, and forward their registers to the 

 observatory ; and, commencing with this year, a monthly 

 -seismological bulletin has been started. The number for 

 January has just been published, and tends to confirm Dr. 

 I'apavasiliou's estimate that hardly a day passes without an 

 earthquake being felt somewhere in Greece, for no less than 

 thirty-four are recorded as occurring during January alone. The 

 most interesting is an after-shock, on the 24th ult., of the great 

 earthquakes of April 20 and 27, 1S94, showing a still further 

 displacement of the epicentre towards the W.N.W. along the 

 great fault formed at the time of the last-mentioned shock. 



In Tunbridge Wells, on Saturday last, a congress was held of 

 the naturalists of the SouthEastern District, with the object of 

 forming a Union of Natural History Societies for mutual help 

 and investigation. The idea originated with Dr. George Abbott, 

 who carried out all the preliminary details for the congress. 

 NO. 1384, VOL. 54] 



The first part of the day was taken up by the delegates inspect- 

 ing the geological features of the town, and after luncheon they 

 assembled in the Pump Room, where the congress was held, 

 under the chairmanship of the Rev. T. R. R. Stabbing, President 

 of the Tunbridge Wells Natural Histor)' and Philo.sophical 

 Society, and whose name is amongst those selected for electior* 

 into the Royal Society. A large number of delegates from im- 

 portant Natural History Societies of the south-eastern counties 

 of England were present. Dr. Abbott described how the Union 

 could be of assistance to science. Each Society in the Union 

 would ofier its members (i) free admission to their lectures 

 and excursions ; (2) copies of their Transactions ; ( 3) the use of 

 their library ; (4) assistance in naming of specimens, and with 

 the formation of school museums. The corresponding members, 

 in return, would be asked to (i) forward .surplus natural history 

 specimens to their Societies' Museum ; (2) supply prompt in- 

 formation on the following subjects : (a) new geological sec- 

 tions ; (b) details of wells, borings, springs, &c. ; (c) finds of 

 geological and antiquarian interest ; (3) answer such questions 

 as the British Association or the local Society may require ; (4) 

 keep an eye on historic buildings ; (5) assist the Selborne Society 

 in carrying out its objects. Such appointments would be certain 

 to stimulate individual investigation in the parishes, and useful 

 scientific work would be done. After a discussion, the following 

 resolution was adopted : " That the delegates from various 

 scientific Societies of Surrey, Kent, and Sussex, assembled in 

 congress at Tunbridge Wells on April 25, 1896, agree that the 

 congress shall meet annually, by invitation, at the home of one 

 or other of the associated Societies." The Rev. T. R. R. 

 Stebbing was elected President of the Union, and Dr. Abbott, 

 Secretary. It was agreed that Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, 

 and Hampshire should be included within the scope of thi 

 Union's operations. 



An extremely interesting series of experiments on the action 

 of a powerful magnetic field on the kathodic raysin Crookes' i>] 

 Hittorf s tubes, is described by llerr Kr. Birkeland in the Elcl;- 

 trotekiiisk Tidsskrift (Christiania). These experiments prove 

 that in such a field, the kathode rays are st rongly deflected in 

 the direction of the lines of force, and can even be concentrated 

 on to the surface of the tube until the glass melts. Moreover, 

 the evidence suggests that the rays which emanate from one anil 

 the same kathode fall into groups, of which the physical constants 

 are connected Ijy some definite law, just as are the frequencies 

 of the different tones emitted by a vibrating rod. The investi- 

 gation has an important bearing on the theory of the Aurora 

 Borealis. The Danish meteorologist, Herr A. Paulsen, is of 

 opinion that the aurora owes its origin to phosphorescence of the 

 air produced by kathodic rays in the upper strata of the atmo- 

 sphere, and Herr Birkeland suggests that the earth's magnetism 

 may be the cause of this phosphorescence becoming intensified 

 in the neighbourhood of the terrestrial poles. 



Under the editorship of Mr. F. S. Macaulay, of St. Paul's 

 School, the first number of a new series of The Matlietiiaticul 

 Gazette has just been issued by the Association for the Improve- 

 ment of Geometrical Teaching. The size of the pages has been 

 changed from quarto to demy octavo ; by this change the Gazette 

 has been brought into uniformity with the leading English and 

 continental mathematical and other scientific octavo publications. 

 The present number contains articles on " The Geometrical 

 Method," by Dr. J. Larmor, F.R.S. ; "Annuities treated with- 

 out Progressions,'' by Dr. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S. ; and "The 

 Conic determined by Five Given Points," by the editor ; to- 

 gether with a large number of problems and solutions. The 

 Gazette deals exclusively with points of interest in the history and 

 teaching of elementary mathematics (not extending beyond the 

 Calculus), and it thus covers a somewhat different range of 



