226 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Mar. 9, iS88. 



direction — north, for example — and joining them by a 

 dotted line, we find that the line curves in towards the 

 centre as shown. This line being nearly straight in the 

 inner whirls, a ship sailing before the wind would have 

 the centre of the storm on her left at right angles with 

 her course, " full a-beam," or eight points on her port 

 quarter. This is the well-known eight-point rule. The 

 angle of bearing is about ten points at the margin. 

 (^To be continued.^ 



SOME SEVERE WINTERS. 



A LARMING accounts have reached this country from 

 America of the severity of the weather during this 

 present winter. Not that the temperature was so excep- 

 tionally low in comparison with former severe winters ; 

 but that the drifting snow was so fine and flour-like that 

 travellers were literally suffocated by the clogging of the 

 lungs through breathing the powdery snow. Many 

 children perished on their way from school in several 

 places, as the storm suddenly attacked them after they 

 left for their homes. But, according to an old work 

 written in 1788 by a German, H. Pilgrino, who resided at 

 Vienna, some winters in Europe were exceptionally severe. 

 The southern parts of Germany and the region of the 

 Alps and Scythia were much colder some centuries ago 

 than they are now. Still rude Boreas occasionally gives 

 the more temperate regions a taste of Arctic bitterness. 

 In 401 the Black Sea was entirely frozen over. In 462 

 the Danube was frozen, so thatTheomedor marched over 

 the ice to avenge his brother's death in Swabia. The 

 cold in 545 was so intense that the birds allowed them- 

 selves to be caught by the hand. The snow in 763 rose 

 in some places 50 ft. high; and the ice was so heaped in 

 cities as to push down the walls. In 822 the great Euro- 

 pean rivers were frozen so hard that heavy wagons were 

 on them for a month. The winter of 874 was very pro- 

 tracted, the snow continuing to fall from the beginning 

 of September to the end of March, and covering the 

 ground so that fuel could not be obtained from the 

 woods. In 891 cattle perished in their stalls from the 

 intensity of the cold. So severe was the cold in 1007 

 that travellers in Germany were frozen to death 

 on the roads. In 1133 wine casks were burst, 

 and trees were split with a loud noise by the con- 

 tinued action of the frost. The crops and vintage of 

 Austria were destroyed in 11 79, the snow continuing to 

 the depth of 8 fc. until Easter. In 1236 the Danube 

 remained frozen to the very bottom for a considerable 

 time. The winter of 1269 was most intense in Scotland ; 

 and the ground all over was quite bound up. In 1281 

 such a quantity of snow fell in Austria as to bury the 

 houses. Eleven years afterwards 600 peasants in 

 Germany were employed to clear away the snow for the 

 advance of the German army. In 1339 the crops in 

 Scotland failed ; such a famine ensued that the poorer 

 people were reduced to feed upon grass. In 1408 the 

 vineyards and orchards of France were completely de- 

 stroyed. The winter of 1468 was so severe in Flanders 

 that the wine distributed to the soldiers had to be cut in 

 pieces with hatchets. The Scheldt froze so hard in 1564 

 that it supported loaded wagons for three months. In 

 1621 the Venetian fleet was blocked up in the lagoons of 

 the Adriatic. It was in 1658 that Charles X. of Sweden 

 crossed the Little Belt, over the ice, from Holstein to 

 Denmark, with his whole army, foot and horse, followed 

 by a train of baggage and artillery. 



The oaks of England were split up by the frost of 



1684, which also destroj'ed most of the wild birds. In 

 1 69 1 the cold was so excessive that the famished wolves 

 entered Vienna and attacked cattle and even men. 

 The famous winter of 1709 went by the name of " the 

 cold winter "; then all the rivers and lakes, and even the 

 seas, of Europe were frozen to the distance of several 

 miles from the shore. Where the ground was bare the 

 frost penetrated to the depth of 9 ft. Birds and wild 

 beasts were strewn dead upon the fields, and men perished 

 in thousands in their houses. All the tender shrubs and 

 vegetables in Britain were killed, and wheat was doubled 

 in price. Twenty years afterwards the frost lasted in Scot- 

 land from October to May, when multitudes of cattle and 

 sheep were killed, and many of the forest trees were 

 destroyed. In 1739 the thermometer at Leyden regis- 

 tered 42° of frost; and the General Assembly of the 

 Church of Scotland ordained a national fast to be held, 

 on account of the dearth which then prevailed in conse- 

 quence of the intense cold. In 1776 wine was frozen 

 in the cellars of France ; many people were frost-bitten ; 

 and vast multitudes of birds and fishes perished. 



From the Transactions of the Roj'al Society of Edin- 

 burgh, we find that in 1783, the winter of "remarkable 

 cold," Professor Wilson, of Glasgow, registered 44° of 

 frost on the surface of the snow. In 1824 the son of a 

 celebrated Radical, Henry Hunt, drove for a wager his 

 father's blacking-van, drawn by six horses, across the ice 

 of the Serpentine in London. During several winters 

 fairs were held on the ice of the Thames. Even in 1838 

 the thermometer of a careful observer in Perthshire, 

 Scotland, registered 40" of frost (Fahr.), when, it is 

 stated in his statistical account of the parish, that in a 

 bedroom where constant fires had been kept up for ten 

 nights and da5's previously, water spilt on the ground 

 almost instantly congealed. In 1882 we observed in 

 Perthshire 38° of frost; and in a room where there 

 was no fire the ink was frozen. Still, the exceptional 

 beauty of the hoar-frosted trees, glistening in the sun, 

 and with prismatic power refracting the rainbow colours 

 at every point, partly compensated for the inconvenience 

 occasioned by the continued cold. 



• — ■>-^^^5«;^-^ — 



THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION AT 

 THE CRYSTAL PALACE. 



npHE collection of apparatus and photographs opened at 

 Sydenham on the 20th ult. is one of the best we have 

 seen. Owing to the pressure on our space, we can only 

 refer to some of the more novel and interesting exhibits. 

 Amongst them is a single lens, made by Dallmeyer, 

 which is said to be entirely free from distortion, and a 

 lens, by the same maker, with an ingeniously contrived 

 instantaneous shutter between the two combinations. 

 Messrs. J. H. Steward exhibit Chapman's self-acting 

 valve for compressed gas cylinders, a clever arrangement 

 for keeping constant the pressure of the gas escaping 

 from the cylinders. The same firm show a triple pro- 

 jectionlanternprovided with an arrangement for centering 

 the three pictures on the screen, and also with an auto- 

 matic arrangement for turning on or off the gas supply. 

 Messrs. Hilton and Co. bring forward some stoppered 

 bottles with raised glass labels, which should be of great 

 service in the dark room and laboratory. 



Amongst the transparencies we observed a splendid 

 educational series prepared by the Sciopticon Company, 

 and amongst the prints were many interesting instan- 

 taneous photographs. 



