July ig, 1889.] 



SCIENCE. 



43 



already commenced work. The congress will meet from Aug. 6 

 to Aug. 17, and discuss the following subjects: (i) introduction of 

 a uniform photometric unit; (2) uniform measurements of focal 

 lengths of objectives ; (3) a uniform scale for the determination of 

 the photometric effect of objective diaphragms ; (4) uniform periods 

 of exposure in instantaneous work ; (5) the adoption of a uniform 

 and easily applicable method for fitting different objectives on to 

 cameras ; (5) a universal form of plate ; (7) a uniform terminology 

 for photographic operations ; (S) universal agreement of photo- 

 graphic formulas ; (9) uniform adjustment of customs procedure 

 with regard to substances sensitive to light ; and (10) protection of 

 artistic copyright in photographic works. A conference, in which 

 the work of the congress will be publicly discussed, is to take place 

 on Aug. 20. 



— The extreme summit of the Eiffel Tower consists of a small 

 circular gallery less than si.x feet in diameter, and surrounded by a 

 hand-rail. The floor is three hundred metres above the ground, 

 and from the centre rises the rod that serves as a lightning con- 

 ductor and flagstaff. In this small gallery IVI. Mascart presides 

 over the Bureau Central Meteorologique established there. The 

 instruments comprise a registering thermometer and hygrometer, a 

 psychrometer, and several maximum and minimum thermometers. 

 There are, in addition, a set of Richards's thermometers and 

 hygrometers that constantly transmit their readings electrically to 

 the Arts Liberaux building, where they are recorded. Outside the 

 gallery are placed a recording actinometer and rain-gauge, and 

 sixty feet below is a large registering barometer. An admirably 

 installed anemometer forms a part of the apparatus. It is mounted 

 on a rod about ten feet high. The vanes, which are of aluminium, 

 are mounted so as to move under the lightest wind-current. Elec- 

 trical contacts are so arranged as to record each displacement of 

 air of one metre, each displacement of fifty metres, and each of five 

 kilometres. These contacts transmit the effects to the ground sta- 

 tion, where they are recorded in speeds per second. A number 

 of other apparatus are included in this very complete laboratory, 

 which has been in regular working for some time. It was asserted, 

 as one of the many objections raised against the Eiffel Tower, that 

 the oscillations at the summit would, under certain unfavorable 

 conditions, be dangerous : it is therefore satisfactory to record, 

 that, with the highest wind-velocities yet observed, the movement 

 at the summit of the tower is hardly appreciable. 



— The high temperature produced during the slaking of lime 

 has been but rarely utilized except as an agent in matters of ac- 

 cident in setting fire to vessels and to buildings. Engineering 

 adds to these the ordinary method of the helpers to masons, who 

 warm up the coffee for their dinner in cold weather by placing the 

 pail of coffee on a lump of lime, sprinkling on a little vv'ater, and 

 watching it carefully to see that it does not boil too hard. Many 

 years ago, before the invention of the diving-bell, a large wager 

 was made between two gentlemen in regard to the possibility of 

 one cooking a pudding at the bottom of the Thames. The winner 

 had his pudding placed in the middle of a large sack of lime, 

 lowered to the bottom of the river, and in due time pulled up, with 

 the result of finding that the conditions of the wager, in regard to 

 the cooking of the pudding, had been fully carried out. But of late 

 lime has been frequently used to remove the frost from the ground 

 in winter, and also to melt out water-pipes ; as it has been found 

 that a heap of lime laid on the earth, wet slightly, and covered 

 over with blankets and other non-conducting materials, will draw 

 the frost out of the ground. This is the complement of the pro- 

 cess of facilitating engineering work in quicksand by means of the 

 freezing processes frequently used for such purposes. 



— With regard to the accident which has occurred to the Ger- 

 man Navy at Apia, H. E. Gunther, in the Photographic Ne^Ms, 

 says, it might be advisable to refer once more to the theory of Dr. 

 Zenger of Prague, who suggested, as it will be remembered, to 

 make use of photography for the prediction of the weather. Ac- 

 cording to the doctor, photographs of the sun taken on orthochro- 

 matic plates offer a most infallible means to indicate with almost 

 absolute certainty the approaching atmospheric and subterranean 

 disturbances at least twenty-four hours before their setting in. In 



these photographs zones are often to be seen around the sun's 

 disk, — i.e., rings of circular or elliptical form, of white or grayish 

 color, — and if these zones appear of very large diameter, and of 

 unusual heaviness, this indicates that violent storms, thunderstorms, 

 or magnetical disturbances will soon set in at the place of observa- 

 tion. At every ship's station should therefore be established a 

 small photographic laboratory, in which photographs of the sun 

 could be taken as often as possible. A much more reliable pre- 

 diction of the weather would be afforded by this means than by the 

 aid of the barometer now generally in use for this purpose, and 

 precautions could therefore be taken in good time. 



— The " Fourth Annual Report of the Maine State Board of 

 Health " is now in press, and will be distributed as soon as possible. 

 Among the papers which it will contain are, " Small-Pox at Cum- 

 berland Mills;" "Diphtheria at the Insane-Hospital;" "Typhoid- 

 Fever at Washburn ; " " Circulars ; " " Water-Analysis ; " " Pub- 

 lic Water-Supplies ; " "Pneumonia as an Infectious or Epidemic 

 Disease;" "Epidemic Jaundice;" " Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis;" 

 " As to the Infectiousness of Diphtheria;" "On the Identity of 

 Croup and Diphtheria ; " " On the Filtering Capacity of the Soil ; " 

 " Public Health Work in Portland ; " " Light Gymnastics for 

 Schools ; " " Pollution of Water-Supplies ; " " As to the Spon- 

 taneity of Infectious Diseases." 



— In 1 886 the Prince of Monaco, wishing to study the course of 

 the Gulf Stream, threw into it some copper flasks from the " Hi- 

 rondelle." Three of these flasks have come ashore on the south 

 coast of Iceland, — two near the O Mountains, in the Rangdrvall 

 district ; and the third at Floj, in the Arnaes district. 



— At a recent meeting of the Scientific Society of Copenhagen' 

 says Nature, Professor Steenstrup gave an account of the results 

 of his examination, last year, of the great mammoth deposit at 

 Predmost, in Moravia. Dr. Wankel and Professor Maschka, who 

 have devoted much attention to the subject, are of opinion that the 

 mammoths whose remains are found in this district were killed by 

 man, and that their bodies were dragged thither to be eaten. 

 Professor Steenstrup, on the contrary, holds that the mammoths 

 themselves sought the locality, and that they must have died from 

 want of water, or from some other cause with which man had noth- 

 ing to do. The splits in the remains are due, he thinks, to the ac- 

 tion of water and sand, and afford no support to the notion that 

 the knuckles were cleft for the sake of the marrow. It is certain 

 that some of the bones have been exposed to the action of fire ; but 

 Professor Steenstrup maintains that the traces of fire may be due 

 to the fact that fires were at one time lighted upon them. On 

 some of them, decorative lines have been scratched, but these may 

 have been made long after the mammoth was extinct in Moravia. 

 The lines, according to Professor Steenstrup, are identical with the 

 ornamentation of pottery of the neolithic age. 



— In his last " Meteorological Report for India," Mr. Elliot, re- 

 ferring to sun-spots and weather in India, — a subject which has 

 been frequently mentioned in these reports, says, " So far as India 

 is concerned, it would appear that it is the period of minimum sun- 

 spots which is associated with the largest and most abnormal 

 variations of meteorological conditions and actions. Thus excep- 

 tionally heavy snow fell in the North- West Himalayas in the winter 

 of 1866, and again in 1876 and 1877. The latter is to some extent 

 described in the annual reports on the meteorology of India for 

 these two years. Again : the most striking and disastrous famines 

 of recent years in India have occurred near the period of minimum 

 sun-spots; as, for example, the Orissa famine of 1866, the Behar 

 famine of 1S74, and the Madras famine in 1876-77. Similarly, 

 there is a clearly marked tendency for the largest and most intense 

 cyclones to occur shortly before the period of minimum sun-spots ; 

 as, for example, the great Calcutta cyclone of 1864, in which 60,000 

 people were drowned by the storm-wave, and the still larger Back- 

 erganj cyclone of 1876, in which 100,000 lives were lost by drown- 

 ing. As we are now approaching or passing through the same 

 phase of the sun-spot period, it is interesting to inquire whether 

 there are any large abnormal variations common to the present pe- 

 riod of minimum sun-spots, and the previous corresponding periods 

 of 1865-66 and 1876-77." 



