April i$, 1880] 



round byJBarnaul, Irkutsk, Nerchinsk, Pekin, Shanghai, 

 and Port Blair, whereas over the East India Islands, 

 New Zealand, Tasmania, Australia, Mauritius, and the 

 east of Africa, so far as observations supply information, 

 pressure was under the average, and very largely so over 

 the whole of the southern portions of this wide-spread 

 region. 



Between the high pressure of the North Atlantic and the 

 relatively high pressure of Southern Asia, there was in- 

 terposed an extensive tract of low pressure, stretching 

 from Portugal to the Yenisei, and from Egypt to the 

 North Cape, having its centre 0-244 inch below the 

 average near Moscow. To the east of the Ural Moun- 

 tains temperature rose to 4°'3 above the average ; but on 

 the west side of this depression temperature was 5-0 at 

 Warsaw and 8°'5 at Kern, west of the White Sea, below 

 the average of July. 



A striking feature of the distribution of the earth's 

 atmosphere in July 187s, is the enormous breadths over 

 which pressure was below the average, and the compara- 

 tively restricted regions over which it stood above the 

 average. An explanation of this seeming anomaly is 

 furnished however by the figures on the map for July, 

 which presents for the first time a monthly mean for the 

 centre of the Pacific Ocean. This mean is from the 

 Sandwich Islands, and shows an excess there above the 

 normal for July, amounting to the large figure of o'30o 

 inch. 



Thus then the meteorology of the globe for July 1878, 

 stands out as a singular phenomenon, characterised by 

 these broad features, viz. : — (1) a greatly reduced pressure 

 over a large portion of the Southern Hemisphere as com- 

 pared with what usually obtains there in the winter month 

 of July; (2) a much greater diminution of the pressure 

 than usually takes pla:e in the summer month of July 

 over the land of the Northern Hemisphere, over North 

 America, over Central and Eastern Europe, Western and 

 Central Siberia ; and (3) a much larger increase of pressure 

 than usually occurs in the Northern Hemisphere over the 

 great oceans in July, the area of unusually high pressure 

 being extended, as regards the Atlantic to the north-east as 

 far as Christiansund, and as regards the Pacific to west- 

 ward over Central and Southern Asia, as far as the 

 Arabian Sea. It maybe worth remarking that this increased 

 pressure over the oceans and diminished pressure over the 

 land of the Northern Hemisphere is in accordance with 

 what might be expected to result from an increased solar 

 radiation ; whilst on the other hand the increased pressure 

 over Southern and Central Asia, and diminished pressure 

 in the Southern Hemisphere, is not in direct accordance 

 with this supposition. The point here referred to will 

 however receive an illustration from subsequent num- 

 bers of the Weather Maps, by which it is probable 

 that different results as regards the states of the atmo- 

 sphere will appear, with the varying states of the sun from 

 year to year. 



The future maps of this international series will be 

 eagerly scanned in connection with many of the larger 

 questions of atmospheric physics, as well as those directly 

 practical questions of climate with which we have been al- 

 most exclusively concerned in this article. It is plain that 

 we need not hope to succeed in dealing with most of the 

 larger problems proposed by meteorology without the help 

 of the data laid before us in so full and convenient a form 

 by the International Weather Maps of General Myer. It 

 is only thus that we can trace to their proximate causes such 

 climatal phenomena as the recurring droughts of India 

 and the cold, sunless summer of the British Islands in 

 1879, and show their true relations to the great movements 

 of the atmosphere. For this great work the highest praise 

 must be conceded to General Myer, whose genius struck 

 out this cosmopolitan scheme of observation, and whose 

 powers of organisation and determination of will bore 

 down all obstacles which stood in the way of its realisa- 



NATURE 



567 



tion ; and he has the heartiest wishes of all for its more 

 complete extension over British North America, South 

 America, Africa, and among the islands of the Pacific. 



WILLIAM SHARPEY M.D., F.R.S. 



DR. SHARPEY, whose death we regret to announce 

 took place on Sunday, was born April 1, 1802. He 

 entered on the study of medicine at the University of Edin- 

 burgh in 1818. In the autumn of 1822 he came to London, 

 where he spent three months in dissecting, and then 

 proceeded to Paris, and occupied the following winter in 

 the study of clinical medicine and surgery in the 

 hospitals. In 1823 he graduated in Edinburgh, and sub- 

 sequently was for a short time engaged in the practice of 

 his profession in his native town, Arbroath. Soon after- 

 wards he appears to have changed the plan of his life, 

 and for the purpose of educating himself for the scientific 

 career which he had resolved to adopt, he proceeded to 

 the Continent. After spending several months, which 

 were devoted to general culture, at Rome, Naples, and 

 Florence, he resumed the study of anatomy at Pavia, 

 under Panizza. The following years were spent partly in 

 Edinburgh, partly in Paris, Vienna, Heidelberg, and 

 Berlin. At Berlin he became the pupil and friend of 

 Rudolphi, and by laborious anatomical studies laid the 

 foundation of his future success and eminence. In 1831 

 he began to lecture in Edinburgh on anatomy, having his 

 friend Prof. Allen Thomson as his associate; and in 

 1836 was invited by the Council of the University of 

 London, now University College, to accept the Chair of 

 Anatomy and Physiology, which he occupied until 1874. 



It was about this time that he was most actively 

 engaged in physiological investigation. His scientific 

 writings, which were not numerous, have the characteristic 

 excellences of accuracy of observation and soundness of 

 judgment. One of his earliest contributions was on 

 ciliary motion, and appeared in 1830. Others formed the 

 subjects of articles in the " Cyclopxdia of Anatomy and 

 Physiology," while a still greater number were embodied 

 in the successive editions of the " Elements of Anatomy." 

 Notwithstanding the rapid progress of anatomical and 

 physiological science during the past thirty years, none 

 of Dr. Sharpey's observations have lost their value. 



He was appointed Secretary of the Royal Society in 

 1854, shortly after important changes had taken place in 

 its administration, in the bringing about of which he, 

 with others whose names are not less distinguished, had 

 taken part. The beneficial effect of these changes in 

 extending the Society's influence for the advancement of 

 natural science was due in great measure to the sagacity 

 and energy with which he administered such of its affairs 

 as fell within the scope of his duties — duties for which he 

 was singularly fitted by the extent and variety of his 

 learning, by the wisdom of his counsels, by the wide 

 range of his scientific interests, by the candour and justice 

 which guided him in appreciating other men's work, and 

 by his ready sympathy with every true and honest worker. 



Great as Dr. Sharpey's services to science were in his 

 public capacities as Secretary of the Royal Society, as a 

 Member of the Senate of the University, and of the 

 Royal Commission on Science, and in other ways, these 

 were perhaps not the most important. For years he was 

 the greatest teacher of anatomy and physiology in this 

 country, occupying a position side by side with Johannes 

 Mi'iller in Germany. Just as the influence of Johannes 

 Miiller's life and teaching is still powerful in that of his 

 pupils, so we may confidently anticipate that Sharpey's 

 work will follow him. Of the fellow-workers in his own 

 field who are at this moment mourning his loss there is 

 perhaps not one who does not directly or indirectly owe 

 him that which has made him what he is ; nor should we 

 be far wrong if we were to add that those who are best 

 endowed owe him most. 



While the very sounds of our friend's voice are freshly 



