100 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 186. 



Sea. It is expected that a central station will 

 be established in Jamaica or Cuba which will 

 be under the direction of Professor Mark Mor- 

 rill, now at Washington, and W. B. Stockton, 

 now at Cleveland. Stations will probably be 

 situated on Barran Quilla, Columbia, St. Kitts 

 (southeast of St. Thomas), Trinidad, Curajao, 

 Martinique, San Domingo and the Barbadoes, 

 and on the north coast of South America. 

 Among those who it is expected will be assigned 

 to these stations are Messrs. Franklin G. Ting- 

 ley, of Indiana; John W. Towers, of New York; 

 Thomas Crawford, of Jacksonville, Fla.; Frank 

 A. Davis, of Philadelphia; Louis Dorman, of 

 Pittsburgh, and John M. Eyker, of Galveston. 

 It is planned to make weather charts for the 

 region extending from Central America to the 

 Caribbean islands aud from the southern coast 

 of North America to the northern coast of 

 South America. Eeports, forecasts and warn- 

 ings will be sent out to the central station and 

 thence to Washington, whence they will be dis- 

 tributed wherever needed. In cases where in- 

 dications of an approaching tornado occur the 

 observers will be empowered to send out tele- 

 graphic warnings at intervals of two hours, so 

 that a place within the path of the tornado will 

 have ample time to make preparations before the 

 actual arrival of the storm. It is hoped by this 

 means to aid and safeguard the important com- 

 mercial undertakings which are being rapidly 

 built up in the region. 



THE SPECTRUM OF METARGON. 



Professor Arthur Schuster writes to Na- 

 ture that in the account given by Professor 

 Ramsay of his researches on the ' Companions 

 of Argon ' he has omitted to draw attention to 

 a very curious similarity between the spectrum 

 of his new gas ' metargou ' and the ordinai-y 

 spectrum of carbon, with which every student 

 of spectrum analysis is familiar. 



The following comparison of wave-lengths 

 ■will make the similarity apparent : 



Ramsay's Carbon (Angstrom 

 metargon. and Thalto. 



5632-5 ... 56330 



5583-0 ... 5583-0 



5537-0 ... 5538-0 



5163-0 ... 5164-0 



5126-5 ... 5128-0 



Citron band 1 



Green band 1 



Blue band 1 ... 4733-5 ... 47.36-0 



2 ... 4711-5 ... 4714-5 



Indigo band ... 4314-5 ... 4311-0 



There are three of Ramsay's bands not in- 

 cluded in this list, but these are nearly coinci- 

 dent with known bands In the cyanogen spec- 

 trum. 



It seems hardly credible that Professor 

 Ramsay has not guarded against the possibility 

 that all these bands may be due to carbon, and 

 not to a new gas ; but some explanation seems 

 required, for, though the coincidences in the two 

 sets of bands is not complete, there is no case 

 known in which two different elements have 

 spectra so nearly alike as those of carbon and 

 metargon seem to be. 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND ANTARCTIC 

 EXPLORATION. 



We have on several occasions called atten- 

 tion to the eiforts made by the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society and the Royal Society 

 to obtain the cooperation of the British 

 government in sending an expedition for 

 the exploration of the Antarctic Continent 

 and Ocean. We regret to learn that the gov- 

 ernment has declined to undertake to make 

 itself responsible for the expedition. The offi- 

 cial letter addressed by Sir Clements Markham 

 to Lord Salisbury on October 2G, 1897, has just 

 been made public. In its course Sir Clements 

 says : 



Last year, under instructions from the Council of 

 the Eoyal Geographical Society, I brought the matter 

 to the notice of the First Lord of the Admiralty, as 

 it was felt that such an expedition should be a naval 

 expedition, iu accordance with all precedents. A re- 

 ply was received, dated the sixth of April last, to the 

 effect that the Lords Commissioners of the Admirality 

 regret to be unable to take any part in the organizing 

 of such an expedition, but that at the same time they 

 regard the enterprise as one which Is important in 

 the interests of science. Although the present exi- 

 gencies of the naval service prevent their lordships 

 from lending officers, they will watch the result -with 

 great interest, and will be prepared to aid in other 

 ways. 



Great regret will be felt throughont the country 

 that the navy should be deprived of the conduct of 

 enterprises of this character, which have always be- 

 longed to it from the days of Ansou, and from the re- 

 sults of which not only the naval service and the 



