128 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Aug. io, 1888. 



bridge will be constructed according to regulations for 

 the safety of navigation to be fixed by the Secretary of 

 War, and if the Bill be passed would have to be com- 

 pleted within ten years after the approval of the plans 

 for the bridge had been obtained from the Secretary. 



H. Debray. — We regret having to put on record the 

 unexpected death of the distinguished chemist, H. Debray, 

 formerly the pupil and assistant, and subsequently the 

 successor of the illustrious Sainte-Claire Deville. Debray 

 died on the 19th ult. H. Debray was 60 years of age. 

 He was a member of the Institute, an officer of the 

 Legion of Honour, a Professor of the Faculty of Sciences, 

 Maitre de Conferences at the Higher Normal School, a Vice- 

 President of the Society for the Encouragement of 

 National Industry, a Member of the Higher Council of 

 Public Instruction, and of the Consultation Committee of 

 Arts and Manufactures. _ 



Exceptional Longevity. — La Nature gives the portraits 

 and brief biographical sketches of two natives of France 

 who lived in the last century. Of the former — Jean 

 Causeur, of Ploumogue, a village of lower Bretagne — there 

 exists a portrait painted in 1771 by Charles Caffieri, 

 authorized royal sculptor for the Navy, at Brest, and 

 engraved by Ch. Leverque in 1772. An accompanying 

 inscription states that he was then 130 years of age. There 

 is no confirmatory evidence. The second case is that 

 of M. J. N. de Quersonnieres, who was born on February 

 28th, 1728, at Valenciennes, where his father was royal 

 councillor. He became commissary-general for military 

 requisites in 1789, but fell into disgrace under the 

 Empire and took refuge in London. At 117 years {i.e., 

 a.d. 1845) his portrait was taken and lithographed. His 

 biographer states that at that age his sight and hearing 

 retained " a surprising delicacy of perception." He was 

 still living in 1846, but nothing is said concerning the 

 date of his death. 



A Remarkable Hailstorm. — Writing from Lake of 

 Menteith, a correspondent of the Scotsman says : — During 

 yesterday forenoon (July 26th) the atmosphere was dull 

 and very sultry, thunder rattling in the distance. 

 Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, stand- 

 ing with an acquaintance in front of the house discussing 

 your previous day's leader, all at once we were surprised 

 with a most peculiar hissing sound in the direction of the 

 lake, about half a mile distant, bringing out all those 

 living around in real consternation, some suggesting an 

 earthquake. Everything wore a most weird aspect. 

 The sound resembled a great rush of water, and lasted 

 for about ten minutes. A few hours after, taking a walk 

 round the end of the lake, we were surprised to find the 

 woods covered with hailstones, lying in some parts to 

 the depth of 4 ins. My wife carried back with her a 

 sheet 6 ins. by 6 ins. by 3! ins. thick. Half a mile 

 distant we had nothing but a few large raindrops. 

 Those who have been resident here for the last twenty 

 years say they never heard or saw anything like ft. Mr. 

 Walker, of the Lake of Menteith Hotel, informs me that 

 while the shower lasted the lake seemed to be just like 

 a pot of water boiling — not, he thought, affected by the 

 shower, but some underground current. The foliage of 

 the trees has suffered much, the leaves being battered 

 and lying like as if from a shower. A farmer in the 

 vicinity has a field of potatoes laid flat. I don't think 

 the radius of the occurrence was beyond half a mile, 



The Tower Bridge. — The following technical de- 

 scription (taken from the City Press) of the new bridge, 

 which is rising east of the City under the direction of 

 the Corporation, and comparison with London Bridge, 

 will interest, we believe, a considerable portion of 

 our readers :— Total length of bridge, 940 ft. ; total 

 length of bridge and approaches, 2,640 ft. ; open- 

 ing span, width, 200 ft. ; opening span, headway, 

 when opened, 135 ft. ; opening span, headway, when 

 shut, 29 ft. 6 in. ; side spans, width, 270 ft. ; side spans, 

 headway, from 20 ft. to 27 ft. ; width between parapets, 

 opening span 50 ft. ; width between parapets, side spans 

 and approaches, 60 ft. ; steepest gradient of approaches, 

 1 in 40 (steepest gradient of approaches of London 

 Bridge, 1 in 7) ; depth of foundations, 60 ft. below Trinity 

 high-water mark, 27 ft. below bed of river ; sectional area 

 of waterway, 20,040 square feet (London Bridge, 19,300 

 square feet) ; depth of water in opening span at high 

 water, 33 ft. 6 in. ; depth of water in opening span at 

 low water, 13 ft. 6 in. Estimated quantities of materials 

 in the bridge and approaches : — Bricks, 31,000,000 ; 

 concrete, 70,500 cubic yards; cement, 19,500 tons; 

 granite and other stone, 235,000 cubic feet ; iron and 

 steel, 10,500 tons. Machinery, etc. : — Two steam pump- 

 ing engines for hydraulic machinery, each 360 horse 

 power, eight large hydraulic engines and six accumulators, 

 four hydraulic lifts in towers for passengers ; size of each 

 leaf of opening span, 50 ft. wide by 100 ft. long; weight 

 of each leaf of opening span, including roadway and coun- 

 terbalance weights, 700 tons; estimated cost, ^750,000. 

 The engineer is Mr. J. Wolfe Barry ; the contractors are — 

 for foundations, Mr. J. Jackson ; for machinery, Sir W. 

 Armstrong, Mitchell and Company (Limited). 



The Public Health. — According to the weekly 

 return of the Registrar-General, the deaths registered 

 last week in 28 great towns of England and Wales cor- 

 responded to an annual rate of 15 '8 per 1,000 of their 

 aggregate population, which is estimated at 9,398,273 

 persons in the middle of this year. The highest annual 

 death-rates, measured by last week's mortality, were : — 

 From measles, ro in Leeds, ri in Leicester, and 1*3 in 

 Halifax; from scarlet fever, ro in Birkenhead, 1-4 in 

 Bolton, and I -8 in Blackburn; from whooping-cough, 1-4 

 in Manchester, and 2 - o in Halifax; from "fever,'' 0-9 

 in Salford, and 1:3 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and from 

 diarrhoea, 1-3 in Wolverhampton, and 1-5 in Liverpool, 

 in Oldham, and in Sheffield. The 35 deaths from diph- 

 theria in these 28 towns included 21 in London, four in 

 Liverpool, four in Manchester, and two in Sunderland. 

 Small-pox caused three deaths in Preston, but not one 

 in any of the 27 other great towns. In London 2.353 

 births and 1,308 deaths were registered. The annual 

 death-rate per 1,000 from all causes, which had been 

 157 and 15-8 in the two preceding weeks, further 

 rose last week to 15 9. Different forms of violence 

 caused 63 deaths; 49 were the result of negligence or 

 accident, among which were 25 from fractures and con- 

 tusions, 11 from drowning, and 6 of infants under one 

 year of age from suffocation. In Greater London 3,062 

 births and 1,570 deaths were registered, corresponding 

 to annual rates of 28'9 and i4'8 per 1,000 of the 

 estimated population. In the Outer Ring 11 deaths 

 from whooping-cough and 7 from diarrhoea were regis- 

 tered. Whooping-cough caused 3 deaths in Tottenham, 

 diarrhoea 3 in West Ham, and diphtheria 2 in Waltham- 

 stow sub-districts. 



