July i6, 1896J 



N.4 rURE 



253 



the infliction of the bile. The Inslilule was founded by Dr. 

 Pampoukis, who studied for a time under M. Pasteur in Paris. 

 He established the Institute at his own expense, but after a time 

 the municipality and the Government granted him a small 

 annual subvention. The Consul goes on to say : "It is prac- 

 tically impossible to over-estimate the value of such an establish- 

 ment in the Levant, which is overrun with ownerless dogs. .\ 

 muzzling order does exist in Attica, but it is not enforced, and 

 the distribution of poisoned meat in the streets of Athens and 

 the Pira;us is apparently the only attempt made by the autho- 

 rities to deal with an increasing amount of rabies." 



In view of the numerous applications of aluminium in the 

 manufacture of water-bottles for military use, cooking utensils, 

 and other articles where there is a necessity for lightness com- 

 bined with resistance to corrosion, several researches on the 

 behaviour of this metal towards liquids have been recently carried 

 out. Mr. J. W. Richards, who has just published the latest 

 contribution to this subject in the Journal of the Franklin In- 

 stitute., has studied more especially how far the power of resist- 

 ing the attack of corrosive liquids can be increased by alloying 

 with small quantities of other metals. The general result 

 of the experiments is to show that ]nire aluminium resists the 

 action of alkaline solutions better than any of the alloys examined. 

 This also holds true for solutions of nitric acid and of common 

 salt ; but an alloy containing 2 per cent, of titanium appears 

 to be the best for liquids containing free hydrochloric acid. All 

 the alloys tried offer great resistance to the action of acetic and 

 carbonic acids. 



Mr. Henry De.\xe referred to the late Sir William Macleay's 

 bequest for the endowment of a lectureship in bacteriology, 

 in liis presidential address to the Linnean Society of New South 

 Wales, a copy of which has just reached us. It may be re- 

 membered that the Senate of the Sydney University decided to 

 relinquish the bequest, and to return the money to the executors. 

 This was done about a year ago, and the sum, amounting to 

 ;f 12,704, was afterwards paid into the Linnean Society of New 

 South Wales. By the terms of the bequest, it has devolved 

 upon the Council of the Society to invest the money, and use 

 the interest to pay a competent bacteriologist, and maintain a 

 suitable laboratory with appliances for bacteriological research. 

 The result is that the Council has decided to appoint a 

 bacteriologist at the close of the hot season 1896-97, provided 

 that one can be engaged on what are practically the terms and 

 emoluments offered to University demonstrators. A number of 

 other subjects were passed in review by Mr. Deanein his address. 

 His remarks upon forestry will perhaps do something towards 

 checking the depletion of the forests of New South Wales. 



.\n important point dealt with by Mr. Deane in the address 

 referred to in the foregoing note, is the origin of the vegetation 

 of Australia. Prof. Ettingshausen's observations and con- 

 clusions are adversely criticised ; and it is stated that at present 

 the known facts seem to afford grounds for concluding ; 

 (I) That many, if not all, the typical Australian floral types 

 originated in Australia or in some land connected with it, but 

 now submerged. (2) That the assumption of the existence of a 

 universal flora of mixed types at any epoch is unfounded. 

 (3) That the fossil plant-remains of Tertiary age in Eastern 

 Australia indicate a vegetation in all respects similar to that 

 existing on the coast in the same latitude at the present day. 

 To these Mr. Ueane thinks may be added a fourth conclusion 

 of less certain character, but of high probability, that the 

 Proteaceic represent a most ancient type which had their origin 

 at a time when not only extensive areas of land exi.sted in the 

 southern hemisphere, but when some kind of connection, more 

 or less lasting, existed between Australia and South .\frica. Mr. 

 Deane concluded his address with an account of the work of the 

 Horn expedition to Central Australia. 

 NO. 139^, VOL. 5|J 



Mrcii attention has been paid in recent years to the predic- 

 tion of the minimum night temperature, on account of its 

 importance to agriculture, especially in spring-time, when late 

 frosts are detrimental to delicate plants, and various important 

 papers have been written upon the subject, e.g. by M. Kammer- 

 mann, of the Geneva Observatory, and M. Lemstrom, of 

 Helsingfors. Reference to the matter may also be found in some 

 text-books of meteorology, where it is pointed out that if 

 the dew-point is determined in the evening, it will rarely be 

 found that the air temperature will fall much below that point 

 during the night. In the current number of Ciel et Terre, M. 

 Lancaster draws attention to the fact, which, if known, is not 

 generally acknowledged, that as long ago as 1824 this relation, 

 between the night minimum and the temperature of the dew- 

 point was indicated by Dr. A. Anderson, in a note entitled 

 " On the influence of the hygrometric state of the atmosphere 

 upon the minimum temperature of the night," printed in vol. 

 xi. pp. 161-9 of the Edinburgh Philosophical Jonrtial. The 

 same author also refers incidentally to the subject in a short note 

 " On the Dew-point," presented to the British .Association in 

 1840. As M. Lancaster says, this is one of many instances 

 presented by the history of science, of problems being studied, 

 which have been long since solved. 



The Council of the Scottish Meteorological .Society presented 

 their report at the annual general meeting held yesterday. 

 From the report we learn that a large work, which has been in 

 course of preparation for some time, has just been completed, 

 viz. averages of mean temperature and mean barometric pressure 

 for the forty years ending with December 1895 have been calcu- 

 lated for each of the Society's 145 stations. It is not possible 

 to over-estimate the importance of these averages in carrying on 

 several of the more important departments of the Society's 

 work, more particularly in the preparation of the monthly and 

 quarterly report of Scottish weather. The very heavy work of 

 recopying, on daily sheets, the hourly observations of the two 

 Ben Nevis Observatories has now been virtually completed down 

 to date. This result has been mainly secured by the aid of the 

 grant of ;i^loo obtained from the Government Research Fund 

 last year. The large inquiry carried on by Dr. Buchan and Mr. 

 Omond for some years on the influence of fog, cloud, and clear 

 weather respectively, on the diurnal fluctuations of the baro- 

 meter, has been extended into other regions, particularly the 

 Arctic regions and Portugal, which furnish data of the utmost 

 importance to the inquiry. Among the questions more imme- 

 diately raised, as the investigation proceeds, is the influence on 

 the pressure at the two observatories of the vertical distribution 

 of temperature and humidity through the intervening stratum of 

 air between the top and bottom of the mountain. The Council 

 referred to the handsome donation of ^1875 made to the Ben 

 Nevis Observatories by the Trustees of the late Earl of Moray ; 

 they have by means of it been enabled to engage an additional 

 clerk for the ofiice, so that, for the next two or three years. Dr. 

 Buchan's time may be largely set apart for the discussion of the 

 Ben Nevis observations. It has further been resolved to estab- 

 lish a temporary station during the summer and autumn on the 

 top of Meal ant' Suie, situated at a height of 2322 feet, and in 

 the line of the two observatories. The object sought to be 

 attained by this new station is a better knowledge of the vertical 

 distribution, particularly during anticyclonic periods, of tem- 

 perature and humidity through the aerial stratum between Fort- 

 William and the top of Ben Nevis. 



The meteorological department of the library of Harvard 

 College Observatory has become, by recent large accessions, one 

 of the most complete collections of meteorological wo»ks in the 

 United States. In the early history of the Observatory, many 

 such works were collected by the first and second directors of 

 the institution. Profs. W. C. Bond and G. P. Bond ; and sin:e 



