760 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIV. No. 359. 



sfcant Pressure Scales for Hydrogen be- 

 tween 0° and 190° C The Committee 

 on Radiation in a Magnetic Field also re- 

 ported. The mathematicians of the Sec- 

 tion met with the Educational Science Sec- 

 tion in a joint discussion on the teaching of 

 mathematics, opened by Professor J. Perry, 

 F.R.S., of the Royal College of Science, 

 South Kensington, and participated in by 

 Professor A. R. Forsyth, F.R.S., of Cam- 

 bridge, Professor A. W. Riicker, now prin- 

 cipal of the University of London, Professor 

 S. P. Thompson, F.R.S., of the same uni- 

 versity, and others. 



On Monday, the 16th, the Section again 

 met in two departments — Mathematics and 

 Physics. In the former, with Major Mac- 

 Mahon as chairman, there were papers 

 by Professor Gr. Mittag-Leffler, of Stock- 

 holm, by Professor Gr. H. Darwin, F.R.S. , 

 by Professor A. G. Greenhill, F.R.S., and 

 others, besides the report of the Committee 

 on Tables of Certain Mathematical Func- 

 tions. In the department of Physics, under 

 Dr. Larmor, F.R.S., two interesting re- 

 ports were presented, by Professor J. D. 

 Everett. F. R S. , for theCommittee on Under- 

 ground Temperature, in which the temper- 

 atures recorded in the Calumet and Hecla 

 mines were compared with the temperatures 

 in the deepest shaft in the world, situated 

 in Upper Silesia, and the sixth report of the 

 Committee on Seismological Investigations, 

 drawn up by Professor J. Milne, F.R.S. , 

 which stated that there were 36 seismological 

 stations abroad and in Great Britain provided 

 with seismographs recommended by the 

 Committee. Among the physical papers, Dr. 

 Cremieu offered one on ' Gravitation ' and 

 Dr. C. E. Guillaume, also of Paris, sent as 

 a basis for discussion a proposition for a 

 new unit of pressure, called the megadyne 

 per square centimeter, which differs little 

 from the present atmospheric unit. Con- 

 sidering the status of meteorology in Scot- 

 land, surprisingly few communications in 



this science were offered, and these suffered 

 from being scattered through two sections. 

 In the Physical meeting just mentioned, 

 there were two suggestive papers by Mr. 

 W. IST. Shaw, F.R.S., secretary of the Lon- 

 don Meteorological Of&ce, and Mr. R. W. 

 Cohen on ' The Seasonal Variation of Air 

 Temperature in the British Isles and its 

 Relation to Wind Direction,' and on ' The 

 Effect of Sea Temperature on the Seasonal 

 Variation of Air Temperature of the British 

 Isles.' The next day the department of 

 Meteorology met under Professor Turner, 

 but, excepting the report of the Committee 

 on the Ben Nevis Observatory, which was 

 drawn up, as usual, by that Nestor among 

 meteorologists. Dr. Alexander Buchan, 

 F.R.S., the sole paper was by Mr. F. N. 

 Denison, of Victoria, B.C., on ' The Seismo- 

 graph as a Sensitive Barometer.' The 

 author concluded that since the earth is 

 depressed under areas of high barometric 

 pressure and elevated under areas of low 

 pressure, horizontal pendulums might warn 

 the advent of great Atlantic storms before 

 th«y reached the west coast of Ireland, but 

 in the discussion that followed, doubt was 

 expressed as to whether the observed effect 

 had been assigned to the right cause. On 

 account of the interest of the president of the 

 Geographical Section, Dr. H. R. Mill, and of 

 its recorder, Mr. H. N. Dickson, in meteor- 

 ology, their Section also received three 

 papers relating to this science, including 

 one by Mr. Dickson on '■ The Mean Tem- 

 perature of the Atmosphere and the Causes 

 of Glacial Periods.' ' The Systematic Ex- 

 ploration of the Atmosphere at Sea by Means 

 of Kites,' illustrated by the first meteoro- 

 logical records high above the Atlantic, was 

 discussed by the writer who, being a member 

 of two sectional committees, was able to urge 

 the grant of money appropriated for conduct- 

 ing meteorological researches with kites in 

 Great Britain. Mr. W. N. Shaw exhibited 

 to the Geographical Section a series of 



