May 2 1,1 



NATURE 



6i 



A SEVERE Storm is reported by Renter to have swept over 

 Sherman, Texas, on Friday afternoon, completely destroying 

 the western portion of the town. It is estimated that 120 

 pc'sons, a large proportion of whom were negroes, were killed, 

 and that 100 were injured. The storm, which travelled in a 

 norhcrly direction over a path of 400 yards wide, swept every- 

 thing before it. A waterspout burst at the same time over 

 Howe, Texas, where eight persons were killed and many 

 injursd. 



Tine Swedish Tourists' Club has organised an expedition to 

 the Gieal Lake I'alls next August. The object of the expedi- 

 tion is to give those who join it an opportunity of seeing the 

 total edipse of the sun on August 9, of becoming acquainted 

 with Lapland, and at the same time to see two of the finest 

 waterfalls in Europe — the Great Lake Falls (Stora Sjiifallet) 

 and Ilarspranget. The party will start from Gellivare on 

 August 3. Further information with reference to the journey 

 ■can be obtained at the Tourists' Club, No. 28 Fredsgaten, 

 Stockhohn. 



Prof. .S. V. L.\nglev, who has for some time devoted 

 attention to the problem of artificial flight, appears to have 

 attained a remarkable degree of success. The New York 

 correspondent of the Daily Chronicle reports that trials made 

 with I'rof Langley's " aerodrome " have clearly demonstrated 

 the efliciency and practicability of the invention. It is stated 

 that " two upward ascents of about half a mile were made at a 

 speed of twenty miles an hour. The machine in motion 

 suggests a huge bird, soaring in large curves. When the steam 

 gave out, the aerodrome sank gracefully and was picked up 

 undamaged. No passengers were carried in the tirial trips." 



With reference to the reported dispatch of an American 

 Antarctic Expedition under Dr. Cook, which was referred to in 

 Nature last week, we observe in the new number of the 

 quarterly liiilletiii of the American Geographical Society, New 

 York, that the report is entirely incorrect, and that there does 

 not appear to be "any immediate prospect of the launching of 

 such an enterprise." The Belgian expedition, on the other 

 band, seems to be in course of rapid organisation ; but it does 

 rot appear that the necessary funds have yet been completely 

 stbscribed. It will be under the command of Lieut, de Gerlache, 

 of the Belgian Navy, and M. Arctowski will have charge of the 

 oceanographical work to be carried out on board. 



The second annual meeting of the Botanical Society of 

 America will be held in Buffalo, N.Y., on Friday and Saturday, 

 August 21 and 22, 1896. Dr. William Trelease, Director of 

 the Missouri Botanical Ciarden, will retire from the presidency, 

 and will be succeeded by the President-elect, Dr. Charles E. 

 Bessey, Professor of Botany in the University of Nebraska. 

 At the evening session on Friday, August 21, the retiring 

 President will deliver a public address on " Botanical Oppor- 

 tunity." The Botanical Society of America is affiliated with 

 the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the 

 sessions of which this year begin on Monday, August 24, in 

 Bufl'alo. 



The Batavian Society of Experimental Philosophy at Rotter- 

 dam has offered prizes for the following botanical subjects : — 

 The anatomical and chemical composition ami vital functions 

 of one or more at present undescribed species of plant natives 

 of Molland or of the Dutch colonies ; description of the vital 

 conditions and properties of a mould-fungus, ferment, or bac- 

 terium of technical importance ; new investigations on the 

 action of flowers of sulphur or of copper salts on a pathogenous 

 parasite ; investigations on the presence, formation, and pro- 

 perties of the latex in the leaves of the caoutchouc-plant. I'or 



NO. 1386, VOL. 54] 



each subject a medal worth thirty due. is offered ; the work 

 must be hitherto unpublished, and may be written in Dutch, 

 German, French, or English. The essays must be sent, before 

 February i, 1897, with a motto, and the name in an enclosed 

 envelojie, to Dr. G. J. W. Bremer, Secretary to the Society, 

 Rotterdam. 



The Ottawa correspondent of the 7'iwcs, writing under date 

 May 19, says: "The Royal Society of Canada, representing 

 all the scientific and learned societies in the Dominion, met to- 

 day. The business transacted included the adoption of a 

 memorial to the Governor-General on the subject of the sixth 

 resolution of the Prime .Meridian International Conference of 

 1884, praying his Excellency's intervention with the home 

 authorities with respect to the unification of nautical, civil, and 

 astronomical time. Evidence was submitted establishing the 

 fact that ship masters, both British and foreign, are almost 

 unanimously in favour of the proposal, and that Canada, not 

 only as a maritime portion of the Empire, but in other respects 

 also, is peculiarly interested in the matter. It is strongly urged 

 that the reform should be adopted so as to come into effect on 

 the first day of the new century, and that, as nautical almanacs 

 are prepared some years in advance, no time should be lost in 

 adapting them to the change." 



The Paris correspondent of the Chemist and Druggist 

 remarks that there are several pictures of interest to men of 

 science at the Salon of the Champs Elysees this year. The 

 most attractive of these is a decorative panel by Fournier, 

 ordered by the State for the purpose of being placed in Pasteur's 

 old laboratory at the ficole Normale Superieure. The centre 

 figure of the panel is an excellent portrait of Pasteur, who is 

 dejiicted working by gaslight at a table in his laboratory, and 

 the light is made to illuminate his fine features. Before him is 

 a microscope, and he is shown in a reflective attitude as though 

 about to make an entry in an open book that lies before him. 

 Immediately above him is the figure of a woman personifying 

 Science, receiving another, representing suffering humanity, in 

 her arms. On the left are two young doctors in the act of in- 

 oculating a patient. On the right is a group of women, one 

 holding forward her baby. A number of appropriate inscriptions 

 appear on the panel. 



The Wcehly Weather Report of the l6th inst. shows that 

 the rainfall of the British Islands since the beginning of the year 

 is deficient in all districts except the north of Scotland. The 

 greatest deficiency is in the Channel Islands, where it amounts 

 to 6 '3 inches ; in the south-west of England it amounts to 57 

 inches, and in the south of England to 4 '5 inches. The severity 

 of the recent drought may be judged by the following low falls in 

 hundredths of an inch between April 17 and May 17, inclusive, 

 in various districts: — Scarborough, 18; Spurn Head, 14; 

 Cambridge, 17; Rothamsted, 8; Loughborough, 7; Oxford 

 o; London, 4; Dungeness, 10 ; Holyhead, 15; Prawle 

 Point, 5; Donaghadee, 18; Roches Point, II ; Scilly, 5. 

 The general distribution of barometric pressure over our Islands 

 during the drought has been anticyclonic, with light or moderate 

 north-easterly and easterly winds ; while areas of low pressure 

 occasionally passed over the north of Scotland, and occasioned 

 slight falls of rain in the north and west. On the l8th inst., 

 however, a well-marked " V-shaped " depression passed across 

 the northern parts of our Islands, causing rain at many stations, 

 and amounting to half an inch in parts of Scotland. 



The rule followed by Irishmen at Donnybrook fair, to hit 

 a head whenever they saw one, seems now to be applied to 

 meteorological instruments. Writing from Edinburgh, Mr. W. 



