March 25, 1880] 



NATURE 



503 



upon the comet, observations of much value may be received 

 from Melbourne. 



Mr. E. A. Fry, writing from Birmingham, incloses an extract 

 from the Anglo-Brazilian Times of February 24, wherein M. 

 Liais publishes the rough approximation to the elements, which 

 the Emperor of Brazil telegraphed to the Academy of Sciences 

 at Paris. M. Liais states that he had combined the two direc- 

 tions observed at Rio on the 4th and 8th int. with the informa- 

 tion in relation to the appearances observed at other places to 

 arrive at some indication of the nature of the orbit, and with 

 such meagre data it is not surprising that his figures should differ 

 so greatly from Mr. Finlay's. He suggests that the object which 

 several American astronomers mention having remarked during 

 the totality of the solar eclipse cf January 1 1 in California, which 

 was " distinct from the fixed stars and planets," and conjectured 

 to be an ultra-Mercurial body, "may have been this comet : " not 

 a very happy suggestion if we are to rely upon Mr. Finlay's 

 elements, since at the time in question the cruet would have 

 mated 22° west arid 23° south of the sun. 



Other notices received describe the brilliant appearance of the 

 tail in the first week of February, but supply no particulars wi'.h 

 reference to the position of the nucleus. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES 



The storm of' December 28, 1S79, will long stand out among 

 British storms, not only as having occasioned tin: fill of the 'Pay 

 Bridge, but abo as having presented peculiarities which, taken 

 together, are, so far as observati in goes, unprecedented in these 

 islands. Some of the more important of these peculiarities were 

 brought before the meeting of the Scottish Meteorological 

 Society on March 10 by Mr. Huchan. Of thee the most remark- 

 able were the barometrical fluctuations, which were quite extra- 

 ordinary along the central path of the storm from Barra Head 

 to Wick. The barometric readings at Dim Heart ch Light- 

 house, t« elve miles south-west of Iona, reduced to 32° and sea- 

 level, were, in inches, 29-615 at 10 A.M., 29/405 at noon, 29-205 

 at 1-30 P.M., 28-905 at 4 P.M., 28705 at 5-5 r.M.', 28-645 at 

 6 r.M., 29-105 at 7 P.M., and 29342 at 9 r.M. Thus in one 

 hour, from 6 to 7 P.M., the barometer rose 0-460 inch, or nearly 

 half an inch. That this extraordinary fluctuation was no isolated 

 phenomenon is shown by what was noted at the other light- 

 houses in the vicinity. Thus the baro neter roe, from 4 t >q P.m , 

 0-790 inch at Barra Ileal, from 5 t> 9 p.m., o'68i inch at 

 Monach, 0-760 inch at Ushenish, and 0'66o at SI 

 from 5.30 to 9 r.M., 0700 inch at the Point of Ardna- 

 murchan ; and from 6.15 to 9 P.M., 0-590 inch at Kyleakin. 

 To north and south of the central path of the storm the 

 fluctuations, though unusually large, fell far short of these 

 amounts. From the observations made at the numerous 

 stations of the Society, including the sixty Scottish light- 

 houses, the position of the centie of the storm could be 

 determined with a close approxi ation toexactnessh -,ur by hour. 

 From the results it is shown that the cyclone travelled onwards in 

 each of the five hours respectively from 4 to 9 r.M., 30, 45, 53, 70, 

 and 70 stature miles, the rate of progress from 7 to 9 p.m. bei g 

 thus about 3J times the average rate in this part of Europe. The 

 behaviour of the temperature ot the air was equally striking, 

 rising everywhere to from 52 to 57 as the centre of the cyclone 

 advanced, and falling after it bad passed. In other words, the 

 temperature rose on this occa ion to the average of the hr.-t week 

 of June. Prom data supplied by Mr. Scott, of the Meteoro- 

 logical Oiiice, the maximum velocity of the wind during the 

 heaviest gusts was at the rate of 96 miles an h >ur at Aberdeen, 

 120 milts at Gla-g in , an 1 probably 150 miles at Seaham. Had 

 pre sure anemometers been pretty generally in acion over Scot- 

 land on that evening, much higher wind-forces than these would 

 doubtless have been recorded. The force of the wind was com- 

 paratively little felt to the north of the central path of the 

 cyclone, owing to the low gradients in that direction, no notice 

 of a storm being recorded, for example, at Cape Wrath, Stour- 

 head, or the Butt of Lewis ; but in the path of the centre and 

 for some distance to southward, the storm swept onwards with 

 destructive and uncontrolled fury, raising the spray in what 

 6eemed solid masses of water against the lantern of the Dhu Heart- 

 ach Lighthouse, 145 feet high, which struck the gla s with a 

 sound like that of road metal, and completely overturning whole 

 forests of .Scotch firs 200 year.s old, so that not a single tree was 

 left standing, and where the trees were fast rooted in the rock 

 prostrating them along the ground after forming a joint near the 



roots by splintering this part of their trunks to a bundle of 

 matches. The steepest gradient afforded by the barometric 

 observations which were made is about I inch to no miles. 

 Steeper gradients were noted during the great Edinburgh hurri- 

 cane of January 24, 1S6S, when a gradient of I inch to 72 miles 

 occurred, and in accordance therewith an amount of damage 

 was done to structures of solid masonry of which the storm of 

 December last affords no parallel 



Mr. Charles Carpmael, who has recently been appointed 

 Superintendent of the Meteorological Service of the Dominion 

 of Canada, has issued the first number of a Monthly Weather 

 , presenting wilh fairly satisfactory fulness the weather 

 and o-her meteorological phenomena of the Dominion for 

 January, iSi'o. The storms which in any way affected Canada 

 during the month are detailed, and their tracks indicated. 

 Weather-probabilities are issued by the office in Toronto at 10. AM, 

 daily, and posted up at 350 places in Canada within an hour from 

 the date of i-sue. From an analysis of the successes and non- 

 successes of the weather-probabilities of the month given in the 

 Review, it would appear that %o\ per cent, were fully verified, 

 r cent, either fully rr partly verified, leaving only 6^ per 

 ■ f failures. The outstanding features of the meteorology 

 of the month were the low mean pressure in the west, the 

 high pressure in the east, and the very high temperature which 

 prevailed at all the stations. The mean temperature for January, 

 1880, was the highest yet recorded in any year at Toronto, thus 

 offering a striking contrast to the weather which prevailed gene- 

 rally over Europe during the month. This meteorological ser- 

 vice is under the deepest obligations to Prof. Kingston, through 

 whose exertions chiefly it was called into existence. These 

 arduous exertions have told seriously on his health, and he has 

 been obliged to retire from the position of superintendent. He 

 carries with him the best wishes of meteorologists coupled with 

 a hope that in his retirement he will be able to continue his 

 services iu the furtherance of American meteorology. 



In a twelfth contribution to meteorology, Prof. Loomis pre- 

 sets us with isobars for the United States, sh wing for January 

 and luly the mean pressure of the atmo-phere from the observa- 

 nce by the Signal Service of the War Department for 

 the six years ending June, 1S77. In July pressure is highest in 

 Florida, being 30-100 inches, from which it diminishes on 

 advancing into the interior to 29S50 inches in Utah, rising 

 again on proceeding west to about 30'ioo inches on the Pacific 

 coat, in latitude 45*. This state of things i , roughly speaking, 

 reversed in January, with, however, several noteworthy differ- 

 ences. The highest pressure, 30-250 inches, is now in Utah, 

 and the lowest generally round the coasts, falling to the mini- 

 mum, 30-000 inches, at the entrance to l'undy Kay. The high 

 pressure of the interior may be regarded as sprealing over the 

 Slates occupying the region from Minnesota to California. The 

 slight break in it on the chart, as occurring about Cheyenne, will 

 require confirmation from future observations. A second area 

 of high pressure spreads over the larger portion of the south- 

 eastern and Southern States. These two distinct areas of high 

 pressure are separated from each other by a region of lower 

 pressure stretching in a south-west direction from Chicago, 

 towards the Rocky Mountains. The discovery of this peculiarity 

 in the winter-distribution of pressure in the States which, cor- 

 rectly we think, is ascribed to the path usually taken by the 

 barom trie minima of American storms in the earlier part of 

 their course, constitutes, perhaps, the mo-t valuable contribution 

 to meteorology yet made by Prof. Loomis. 



Prof. Loomis intitules an interesting comparison of the 

 varying rates of progress of storm-centres, and "shows that over 

 the United States the rate of progress is twenty-six miles an 

 hour, whereas, over the Atlantic, it is only fourteen miles, and 

 on the continent of Europe, as shown by Dr. Neumayer, it does 

 Dot exceed sixteen miles an hour. In this connection it is 

 pointed out that the winds on the Atlantic are stronger than they 

 are over either of the continents, and the winds of central 

 Europe are stronger than the winds of the United States, rela- 

 tions that suggest whether friction may not be concerned in 

 determining the rate of the onward progress of storms. As 

 bearing, however, more immediately on this question, Prof. 

 Loomis draws attention to this important distinction between 

 American and European storms, viz., from the Rocky Mountains 

 to the Atlantic Ocean storms advance from a drier to a more 

 hu aid atmosphere, whereas in Europe, while storms pursue 

 their easterly course, they proceed from a humid to a drier atmo- 



