SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



5 1 



days remained very gradual and undecided, a 

 minimum of iG degrees being registered at 

 Llandovery, and several frosts occurring in London 

 at night, though the day temperatures reached from 

 40° to 50 . Towards the middle of the month a 

 warm spell set in, 6o° being recorded at Cambridge 

 and York, and 6i° at Loughborough and London. 

 In most districts the rainfall still remains consider- 

 ably below the mean, half an inch of rain, however, 

 was registered in twenty-four hours at Prawle 

 Point, and nearly two and a half inches fell at 

 Lisbon in five days, giving rise to serious floods. 



Lightning was reported from Biarritz on the gth. 

 In connection with lightning it is interesting to note 

 that although for generations it had been depicted 

 by artists and illustrators as a series of marvellous 

 zigzags, in the pictures of Turner and Nasmyth it 

 is represented as taking a wavy, sinuous course, 

 and the fine instantaneous photographs of lightning 



Oak Tree Split by Frost. 



taken recently, add yet another proof of the freedom 

 from conventionality and fidelity to nature of those 

 great masters. 



The proverbial March winds have so far been 

 absent, even on the coast the force having rarely 

 exceeded that of a strong breeze. 



Solar and lunar halos have been frequently 

 observed at many of the meteorological stations, 

 especially at Jersey, Wick, Oxford and Stornoway. 

 They are often caused by a thin sheet of cirro-velum 

 or veil-cloud having spread over the sky, and the 

 cirro-velum being in winter generally followed by a 

 nimbus or rain-cloud, halos have been honoured 

 with a prominent place among the popular signs of 

 bad weather. Much interest has been shown in the 

 bright aurora observed on March 13th. — E.D. Ander- 

 son and A. E. Mansjord, London ; March zoth, 1895. 



Trees Split by Frost.— During the severe frost 

 of February last, many trees in various parts of the 

 country were split. We have received several 

 reports on this exceptional occurrence. Mr. E. 

 H. Farr, of Uckfield, has kindly had photographs 

 taken for us, from one of which the accompanying 

 drawing has been made. Mr. Farr states that 

 many trees were split in the neighbourhood of 

 Uckfield, in Sussex. " Only the trunks of the trees 

 are affected so far as I have seen, the boughs 

 having escaped. The girth of these trees — which are 

 apparently all oaks, no other species having been 

 found injured by frosts — vary from forty inches to 

 sixty inches at the part fissured. Since the frost 

 left the fissures have partly closed. The tree 

 photographed was to my certain knowledge intact 

 early in January. As will be seen from the drawing 

 there are four cracks, the longest measuring about 

 three feet, being five inches in depth." 



Aurora Borealis. --It is over forty years since 

 the writer witnessed an isolated auroral belt of 

 equal brilliancy with that of March 13th last. On 

 that former occasion the band of light, about the 

 same width as on the recent appearance, was very 

 definitely jagged and angular in form, much more 

 so than on this recent occurrence. On Wednesday, 

 March 13th, 1895, the auroral light was visible in the 

 North of England, at about 8.30. the colour whitish 

 and not much movement. At about 10 p.m. the 

 great belt of the aurora formed and spanned the 

 heavens, passing within about seven degrees of the 

 zenith, on the south side ; it had a gradually widen- 

 ing form, increasing from horizon to zenith. The 

 western limb sprang from a point near the arm of 

 Orion. The line was continuous, and the light 

 strongest in the upper part. It was not a symmetri- 

 cal arc like the bands of the great dome-like converg- 

 ing auroras, but presented an angular divergence, 

 small certainly, but distinct. The two most curious 

 features of this rare appearance were the feathering 

 or "herring-bone" processes of light which formed 

 upon one side of it, almost entirely on the northern 

 side, and the balls of light which travelled rapidly 

 along its course. I think it is important to note, as 

 bearing on the hypothesis of connection with clouds, 

 that these balls of light travelled definitely along 

 the line of the band without passing off its sides. 

 The wind, in the upper sky, was apparently from 

 the west, so the singular spectacle was observed of 

 dark patches, evidently some form of hazy cloud, 

 travelling along the belt in a direction exactly 

 opposite to the balls of light. I believe that these 

 balls of light had a greater elevation than the band 

 itself. They were not waves as in the great 

 auroras of 1868 and 1S69. The feathering processes 

 had a relation of radiation to a point near the 

 summit of the arc. They moved visibly, lifting 

 from the sides of the band as if approaching a 

 parallel. It is well known that in the great dome- 

 shaped auroras, the belts, which widen towards the 

 horizon, meet at a point not far from the zenith. 

 Several forms of cirrus cloud were represented in 

 this last aurora, notably the small patches lying 

 nearly parallel and popularly termed "hen-scarts." 

 This recent manifestation has evoked some amusing 

 and curious folk-lore comments among country 

 people, and sailors of Maryport termed it " Sailor's 

 Belt," forecasting storms in consequence. The 

 colour of this belt was chiefly a creamy white ; the 

 edges, which showed linear strips as well as 

 radiating processes, being marked by a strong red 

 in certain parts. I enclose sketch (sec page 50) of 

 processes. — (Rev.) Samuel Barber, West Nctrton 

 Aspatria ; March 14th, 1895. 



