Feb. 17, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



165 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions expressed 

 by his correspondents, nor can he take notice of anonymous com- 

 ?nunications . All letters Tnust be accompanied by the na7ne and 

 address of the writer, not necessarily for publication, but as a 

 guarantee of good faith. 



MEAN VELOCITY OF THE WIND. 



A letter appeared in your paper of Jan. 13th on the mean 

 velocity of the wind, in which your correspondent adduced as 

 one reason why our weather now is windier than formerly, 

 "the prevalence in old directions for foretelling the weather, 

 of the rule that it will be fair if smoke ascends straight 

 upwards, but that rain may be expected if it falls." He adds, 

 " In our days smoke very rarely either rises or falls, but is 

 hurried along." Now I happen to have made a number of 

 observations for the purpose of testing the value of some of 

 these old directions for weather prophecy which bear upon 

 this point, as they extend over the last eighteen months. A 

 :glance at the annexed table will show the results. It is 

 seen that there have been no less than sixty-six times when 

 the smoke has risen or fallen more or less vertically, and this 

 number does not exhaust every occasion, but simply those I 

 have recorded ; and many must have escaped my attention. 

 It is, I think, a hasty conclusion to say the weather of to-day 

 is windier than of old. 



I have added to the table two other sets of observations. 

 The red glow in the sky refers, not to the ruddy colours of 

 sunset clouds, but to the peculiar transparent rosy hue which 

 overspreads a clear sky soon after sundown, and lasting 

 about fifteen minutes. The observations on gnats are perhaps 

 too few to be of much value. 



Table of Observations. 



Red glow in sky after sunset ... 

 Gnats plentiful in the evening ... 

 Smoke ascending vertically 

 Smoke hanging heavily about the 

 chimneys 



Followed in 

 24 hours by 



Rain 

 4 

 3 

 7 



17 



From this table it appears there is a considerable measure 

 of truth in some of our old sayings, but they are not infallible. 

 The signs and the succeeding weather probably bear some 

 relation as effects of a common cause, more or less remote, 

 •SO that when one takes place there is a probability of the other 

 happening. J. Reginald Ashworth. 



CATS DESTROYING FROGS. 

 In The Scientific News for January 27th, I see an 

 instance of the weasel destroying frogs. It is, perhaps, not 

 generally known that cats have the same habit. A colony of 

 frogs which I had introduced into my suburban garden for the 

 purpose of keeping down vermin have been destroyed by the 

 cats, of which there is a very troublesome superfluity. The 

 same trespassers also destroy certain plants, especially 

 Nemophila pulchella and N. insignis. W. S. 



OCCURRENCE OF RARE MOTHS. 



It may interest some of your readers to know that last 

 season the beautiful moth Calocala nupta was by no means 

 uncommon at Hornsey Rise — a locality which has now become 

 quite urban in its character. One specimen was taken 

 imbibing a solution of sugar which had been spread upon the 

 trunk of a tree. 



A specimen of Dciopeia pulchella, a species rare in the 

 north, was found near Glasgow, in a cobweb, by a Mr. Long. 

 The body was nearly destroyed, but the wings remain in a 

 state which admits of clear identification. H. M. 



INFLUENCE OF OCCUPATION ON HEREDITY. 



Can you spare space for the airing of the following doubt- 

 less extravagant idea ? Is it possible for a man's occupation, 



when it has been his father's or his grandfather's before him, 

 to make itself apparent in the outUnes of his face in the same 

 way that it does admittedly influence his mental capacity ? 

 I am led to ask the question by observation of two cases 

 strangely tending to the conclusion that occupation can have 

 such an effect. A pork-butcher, who follows in his father's 

 footsteps in the matter of a trade, in features has a curious 

 affinity to the animal which it is his business to buy, kill, sell, 

 salt, and cure, as close a resemblance, probably, as it is 

 possible for the human face to assume. The other case is 

 that of a man whose chief occupation in leisure moments is 

 to superintend the rearing and education of dogs, and who is 

 perhaps capable of no higher form of enjoyment than is to be 

 obtained from "ratting"; and this man in face reminds one 

 strongly of a pugnacious, ill-bred terrier. 



Your readers may know of other cases where there is a 

 similar coincidence between human occupations and facial 

 appearances. W. 



FORMATION OF HOAR-FROST. 

 In a recent number of the Scientific News I find it 

 stated that though dew is most abundantly deposited in clear 

 nights hoar-frosts are formed chiefly in cloudy weather. This 

 is not in accordance with my experience. Not to go any 

 further back, I find it recorded in my diary, that on January 

 27th and 30th of the present year there was a decided hoar- 

 frost, whilst the morning sky was quite free from cloud or 

 mist. Cloud-Gazer. 



AURORA BOREALIS AND MAGNETIC PERTUR- 

 BATIONS. 

 I learn from a French correspondent that on the 26th ult. a 

 magnetic storm raged in Paris, Bordeaux, Clermont, and 

 Perpignan, and that in the evening an aurora borealis was 

 observed in the north of Sweden. As these phenomena fre- 

 quently accompany storms on the sun's surface, I shall be 

 glad if any of your astronomical readers will kindly inform 

 me whether any outbreak was noticed in the sun on that day. 



Student. 



INSTINCTIVE FEAR. 

 It is at least an open question whether many of the 

 phenomena referred to by your correspondent, " Observer," in 

 Scientific News for February 3rd, may not be rightly inter- 

 preted as cases of catalepsy, due to sudden panic. There are 

 many instances where both human beings and animals have 

 been rendered for a time unconscious and literally incapable 

 of motion, the result being not their escape, but their destruc- 

 tion. There are, however, other cases where consciousness 

 is retained and where the animal deliberately "shams death," 

 watching all the time for an opportunity of escape. 



Alastor. 



■WILL MEN EVER FLY? 

 May I point out that " Avitor " appears to overlook the fact 

 that he is insisting upon the three identical principles upon 

 which so much stress is laid in the article in question, namely, 

 that man is incapacitated from flying by the aid of artificial 

 wings from want of (i) suitable bodily form, (2) suitable bodily 

 balance (with which I suppose thatyour correspondent's curious 

 phrase " plane support " is intended to be synonymous), (3) 

 suitable steerage power. According to my reading, it is stated 

 in so many words that man will possibly and probably even- 

 tually discover the secret of aerial transit by mechanical 

 agency, and that what the writer of the article has endeavoured 

 toishow is that true and actual^z^/z/ must always be to man a 

 thing impossible by reason of the character of his bodily 

 structure. Congratulating " Avitor " upon his ability to " con- 

 struct the mechanical equivalents of natural flight," whatever 

 that sentence may signify, I trust that his inventive friend 

 will at an early date make known his discovery. W. T. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 

 A Student.— You can see all newly-published works of a 

 scientific character at the Science Library, South Ken- 

 sington Museum. 



