July 6, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



17 



1888." By Mr. C. Harding, F.R. Met. Soc. The mean 

 temperature for each of the nine months from September, 

 1887, to May, 1888, was below the average, whilst in 

 the case of October there has been no corresponding 

 month as cold during the last half century, and only three 

 colder Aprils. In London the mean temperature for the 

 period was only 42^4 degs., and there has been no 

 similarly low mean for the corresponding period since 

 1854-5, which will be remembered as the time of the 

 Crimean War, and only three equally cold periods during 

 the last fifty years. The temperature of the soil at Green- 

 wich at 3 feet below the surface was below the average in 

 each month from October to April ; in October and 

 April the temperature at this depth was the coldest on 

 record, observations being available for the last 42 years, 

 and in November it was the coldest for 37 years. 



(3) "Observations on Cloud Movements near the 

 Equator ; and on the General Character of the Weather 

 in the ' Doldrums,' " by Hon . R. Abercromby, F. R. Met. Soc. 

 The author gives the results of observations made during 

 four voyages across the Equator and the " Doldrums," with 

 special reference to the motion of clouds at various 

 levels. Two voyages were across the Indian Ocean 

 during the season of the north-west monsoon, and two 

 across the Atlantic in the months of July and December. 

 The nature of the general circulation of the atmosphere 

 near the " Doldrums " is discussed as regards the theory 

 that the trades, after meeting, rise and fall back on 

 themselves ; or, according to the suggestion of Maury, that 

 the trades interlace and cross the Equator ; or as follow- 

 ing the analogy of Dr. Vettin's experiments on smoke. 

 It is shown that the materials at present available are 

 insufficient to form a definite conclusion, but details are 

 given of the general character of the weather and of the 

 squalls in the " Doldrums," with a view of showing 

 what kind of observations are required to solve this im- 

 portant problem. The old idea of a deep trade — with a 

 high opposite current flowing overhead — is certainly 

 erroneous, for there is always a regular vertical succes- 

 sion of the upper currents as we ascend, according to the 

 hemisphere. 



HAWICK SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL 

 SOCIETY. 

 The annual general meeting of this Society was held on 

 June 21st, the President (Mr. John W. Lamb) occupying 

 the chair. The first session extends over sixteen months. 

 During that time twenty papers, lectures, etc., had been 

 brought before the Society. Excluding the President's 

 introductory address on " The Constitution of the Matter," 

 the first subject discussed was " Atmospheric Pressure," 

 a paper on this subject, illustrated with experiments, 

 having been read by Mr. Berry. Mr. W. E. Wilson gave 

 the second physiographical paper on " Meteorology on 

 Ben Nevis." Geology was represented by three 

 papers, one by Mr. Rorrison on " Palaeolithic Man," and 

 two by Mr. Miles — viz., " Fossils, what they are and 

 what they teach," and " Climate and Time." Astronomy 

 was represented by Mr. Brown's paper on " Shooting 

 Stars." Chemistry had its exponents in Mr. Dechan and 

 Mr. W. C. Goodfellow, the former in a lecture on " Some 

 Aspects of Modern Chemistry," and the latter in a paper 

 on " Carbon Dioxide." Mathematics also received the 

 attention of the Society, the subject being presented by 

 .Mr. Blackwood in his " Mathematical Treatment of the 

 Rain Guage," and in a paper on " The Equation ofTime." 

 Botany was presented in a very attractive and interesting 



form by Mr. Robert Turnbull in a lecture on " The Fer- 

 tilisation of Flowers" and "Insectivorous Plants." 

 " Notes on the Moa Bird," illustrated with a femur of 

 that gigantic biped, by Mr. Gowans, "Notes on some 

 Shells from Pentland Firth " by Mr. Irving, and a paper 

 on "The Hydra " by the President, were the contributions 

 to the science of biology. Mr. James Jackson treated of 

 " Musical Sounds," Mr. Thomas Welsh of "Vaccination," 

 and Mr. W. S. Irving of " Soils, their classification and 

 physical properties." Only two papers were, strictly 

 speaking, philosophical, these being Mr. Sinclair's 

 " Function of Reason " and the first of a promised series 

 by Mr. Gowans on " Introduction to Psychology." 



THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE 

 BABYLONIANS. 



Abstract of a Course of Lectures delivered by Mr. 

 G. Bertin, M.R.A.S., at the British Museum. 

 Third Lecture — Civil Life. 

 '""PHERE was very little political life in ancient Baby- 

 -1- Ionia, though the citizens had, to a certain extent, 

 the direction of the private affairs of their own town or 

 village. The municipal council, named by the most 

 influential people of each town, was not to be envied, 

 for in case of trouble the councillors, or the ancients, as 

 they were called, had often to suffer for the conduct of the 

 inhabitants. The absence of political life gave perhaps 

 a greater impetus to the energy displayed by the Baby- 

 lonians in their private undertakings. 



On account of the fertility of the soil,- agriculture was 

 naturally the most important of the occupations of the 

 Babylonians. As the great rivers of Mesopotamia do 

 not overflow the country periodically, like the Nile, the 

 agriculturists had to apply to the land an extensive 

 system of irrigation. Canals were so important that an 

 ancient king, Hammurabi, placed among the most impor- 

 tant deeds of his reign, the construction of a canal. 

 These irrigation canals were probably the property of 

 the State or of the towns, and each agriculturist had to 

 pay a fixed sum for so many hours, during which the 

 water of the public canal was allowed to flow in his 

 private canal ; this mode of distributing the water for 

 agricultural purposes, and of charging for it, is still 

 practised in the East, and especially in Cyprus. When 

 the ground was not level with the canal, a very rudi- 

 mentary hydraulic apparatus was used to draw up the 

 water, and pour it on the field. 



There were several systems of land-tenure. In the 

 first kind, called the double tenure, the landowner 

 played the part of the sleeping partner, but he had to 

 provide the farmer, or active partner, with implements 

 beasts of burden, and seeds, and could claim half the 

 crop for his share. The other tenures were called third,, 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth, from the proportion claimed by 

 the landowner, and the smaller that share the less the 

 landowner had to contribute to the expenses of the farm. 

 The usual term of profit claimed by the landlord in the 

 later period of the Babylonian Empire was ten per cent, 

 of the crop ; this answered to the ordinary letting. This 

 system of tenure, and the custom of calculating from the 

 crop and giving to the landlord a proportion of it, intro- 

 duced the practice of paying in kind, which had some- 

 times a disastrous effect on the farmers. These were 

 often obliged to borrow grain in the worst season to pay 

 taxes, and had to repay, as is shown by many con- 



