September 2, 1909J 



NATURE 



295 



On August 28 a West Indian hurricane struck the coast 

 .of north-eastern Mexico, and thence travelled inland over 

 ■the States of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. According to 

 a Times correspondent, a deluge of rain fell for ninety-six 

 hours, registering in all 172 inches, and the rivers, over- 

 flowing their banks, inundated territory estimated at 300 

 miles by 400 miles in area. Monterey, the capital town 

 ■of Nuevo Leon, appears to have suffered most. The over- 

 flowing river swept through the lower parts of the town 

 as a torrent half a mile, destroying life and property in 

 its course. 



In accordance with previous announcements, arrange- 

 ments have been made to hold the autumn meeting of the 

 Iron and Steel Institute in London on September 27-30 

 and October i. The programme includes the following 

 papers : — the determination of the power consumption of 

 reversing rolling-mills, C. A. Ablett ; comparative tests of 

 cast iron, E. Adarason ; artificial magnetic oxide of iron, 

 F. J. R. CaruUa ; action of air and steam on pure iron. 

 Dr. J. Newton Friend; corrosion of iron, Dr. J. Newton 

 Friend; uniform moisture in blast, Greville Jones; the 

 refining of steel by electricity. Disponent E. J. Ljungberg ; 

 the fuel economy of dry blast, as indicated by calculations 

 fiom empirical data, R. S. Moore; the " growth " of cast 

 iions after repeated heatings. Prof. H. F. Rugan and Dr. 

 H. C. H. Carpenter ; the maintenance and renewal of per- 

 .manent way, R. Price-Williams ; the constitution of 

 carbon-tungsten steels, T. Swinden, 



The past summer, comprised by the three months June, 

 July, and August, was of a generally unsettled character 

 •over the whole of the British Islands ; rain was of very 

 frequent occurrence, and the days were, as a rule, decidedly 

 cool. At Greenwich there were in all forty-one days with 

 the temperature above 70°, of which twenty occurred in 

 August, and there were six days with the thermometer 

 above 80°, all of which occurred in August. Of recent 

 years, 1903 and 1907 are the only summers as cold. The 

 mean temperature for the whole period of three months 

 was rather more than 2° below the average ; the mean 

 .for the respective months was 55° in June, 61° in July, 

 and 63° in August. The aggregate rainfall for the three 

 months was 8.65 inches, of which 3.69 inches fell in June, 

 31b inches in July, and 1.80 inches in August; the total 

 for the summer was 1-87 inches more than the average. 

 Rain fell on forty-eight days, of which eighteen occurred 

 in June, nineteen in July, and eleven in August. The total 

 duration of sunshine was 502 hours, of which 106 occurred 

 in June, 179 in July, and 217 in August. The deficiency 

 of sunshine at Greenwich for the three months was 141 

 hours. 



The council of the National Museum of Wales is pre- 

 pared to receive designs for a new museum at Cardiff, at 

 a cost for the completed building of 250,000/., inclusive 

 of carving, but e.xclusive of decorative sculpture. A copy 

 of a detailed statement of conditions and instructions to 

 competing architects has reached us from Dr. W. E. 

 Hoyle, director of the museum, and the prospect it 

 presents is very pleasing. The museum is to afford the 

 accommodation known to be necessary in all the various 

 ■ departments of a national museum, and will include the 

 following exhibition galleries : — history and antiquities ; 

 geology and mineralogy ; Welsh natural history ; zoology 

 and botany general; industries; art; children's room; 

 aquarium. There will also be special rooms for study and 

 reserve collections for each department. The circular of 

 instructions states that the purpose of the building is to 

 .preserve and display articles of various kinds, not only 

 with satisfaction to the connoisseur in each variety, but 

 NO, 2079, VOL, 81] 



with a taste and artistic refinement likely to waken the 

 interest of the public generally. The exhibition cases will, 

 as a rule, stand free in the rooms and not against the 

 walls. Designs for the building must be sent in (carriage 

 paid) addressed to the director. National Museum of Wales, 

 City Hall, Cardiff, on or before January 31, 1910. 



The aviation week at Rheims ended on Saturday, 

 Ai:gust 28, when several remarkable flights and achieve- 

 ments were accomplished. The meeting has shown that 

 aeroplanes of various designs are able to remain in the 

 air for two or three hours, and to attain speeds of about 

 fifty miles an hour. The Grand Prize for the longest 

 flight was won by Mr. Farman, with a flight of nearly 

 112 miles in 3h. 4m. 56.4s.; the Gordon-BenrCett Cup for 

 speed by Mr. Curtiss, who flew the two-lap twenty-kilo- 

 metre course in 15m. 50.6s. ; the speed prize for swiftest 

 flight over thirty kilometres by Mr. Curtiss, who did the 

 distance in 26m. 4n.2s. ; the passenger prize by Mr. Far- 

 man, who flew six miles with two passengers in lom. 39s. ; 

 and the altitude prize by Mr. Latham, for reaching the 

 greatest height of 155 metres. The Morning Post of 

 August 28 gives the following interesting table showing 

 the successive stages of distances achieved in aeroplane 

 flights since the commencement of public flights in 

 Europe : — • 



Sever.\i. remarkable pictures illustrate Lieut. Shackle- 

 ton's account of his Antarctic expedition which he com- 

 m.ences in the September number of Pearson's Magazine. 

 The article is an interesting narrative of the origin and 

 early work of the expedition, and may be regarded as an 

 earnest of the detailed account to be published this 

 autumn. We notice a few of the noteworthy points. Pack 

 ice was sighted about 1500 miles from Lyttelton, and the 

 journey was then continued southwards along the 178th 

 meridian west. After passing through hundreds of tabular 

 icebergs by means of narrow lanes, the Ross Sea was 



