Dec. 28, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



061 



After fumigations had been tried in vain, and after poultry 

 became over-satiated with gorging, the pest was over- 

 come by the appearance of a j^swarm of tiny ichneu- 

 mons. 



Professor Flower, F.R.S., in a paper on " Horns and 

 Antlers," points out the difference between the deciduous 

 antlers of deer and the true, permanent horns of oxen 

 and sheep. 



There are further papers on the "Position and 

 Prospects of Electric Lighting in London," by W. L. 

 Carpenter, B.Sc. ; "Fossils of the Flint," by Mr. G. 

 Barraclough, M.R.C.S. ; and the " Water-supply of 

 Middlesex and the Metropolis," by M. H. Hughes, C.E. 

 In this paper the author attempts to defend the prevailing 

 and inequitable system of charging for the water-supply 

 not in accordance with the quantity consumed, but with 

 the assumed ratable value of the premises occupied by 

 the consumer. We do not object to the rating principle 

 as regards the incidence of other local burdens, but in 

 such cases no other way is possible. It must be re- 

 membered that wherever water is furnished by a company, 

 with rare exceptions, the supply is intermittent, and 

 where it is in the hands of a local authority it is constant. 



Mr. C. Rousselet gives a paper on " Some Methods of 

 Collecting and Keeping Pond Life for the Microscope," 

 and Mr. T. Blashill contributes a memoir on " Miniature 

 Earth Pyramids in the Clay at Hampstead." 



First Yearly Report of the Meteorological Observations on 

 the Sonnblick. 



The Sonnblick Observatory is situated in 47'3° 

 N. lat. and in 12-87° E. long-, and at the altitude of 

 approximately 10,000 feet above the sea level. The 

 Director of the Observatory, Dr. J. Hann, has issued a 

 complete conspectus of the observations made at this 

 lofty station from October, 1886, to September, 1887. 

 The results merit attention, not only because the 

 Sonnblick is the most elevated meteorological station in 

 Europe which is completely equipped, but because the 

 observations at other stations are in general desultory 

 and imperfect. 



The highest meteorological station in the earth is that 

 of Pike's Peak, in Colorado (about 14,000 feet), but as yet 

 it has furnished merely a few mean determinations of 

 atmospheric pressure and temperature. The same must 

 be said of the station on Mount Washington, though these 

 two observatories have been instituted respectively in 

 1872 and 1873. The observations at the French stations 

 on the Puy de Dome (4,890 feet) and on the Pic du Midi 

 (about 9,000 feet) have not hitherto been used for deduc- 

 ing general conclusions. 



The mean values of the atmospheric pressure for the 

 whole year are 520-42 millimetres at 7 a.m., 520-85 

 at 2 p.m., 520-95 at 9 p.m., or a mean of 520-74. The 

 temperature is at 7 a.m. — 7'4°, at 2 p.m. — 6 - i,and at 9 

 p.m. —6-9°, or a mean of —6'8°. The absolute moisture is 

 2-8, and the relative is93. The yearly mean of the extreme 

 atmospheric pressures shows a maximum of 531-7 and 

 a minimum of 501*1. The greatest barometric variation 

 on the Sonnblick is 30-6, as against 36-8 millimetres at 

 Salzburg. The extremes of temperature are 8-o and 

 — 29*2°, the range being 37-2°, whilst at Salzburg the 

 corresponding values are +30'4and — i6.5°,witha range 

 of 46-9°. 



The progress of the decrease of temperature with 

 increasing elevation, and which will, to a certain extent, 

 hold good for the entire Alpine region, is — 



Elevation. 



Temperature. 



3°95 



-6-8° 



2465 



i*8 



2040 



°'3 



1940 



1*1 



1776 



r*8 



1730 



1*9 



1490 



3-8 



1020 



5'3 



940 



4-9 



850 



57 



75° 



5-6 



467 



7-6 



428 



8-7 



Sonnblick 



Santes 



Obir 



Schmittenbache 



Schatberg 



Wendelstein . . 



Hohmsalzberg . . 



Gastein 



Rauris 



Niederkirchen . . 



Zell 



Ischl 



Salzburg 



The Sonnblick Observatory affords an opportunity of 

 observing the decrease of atmospheric warmth on 

 ascending, as in the neighbourhood there are numerous 

 stations at different heights above the sea-level. The 

 decrease of temperature with increasing height takes 

 place in a sinple arithmetical series only in summer. In 

 other parts of the year it decreases in an accelerated 

 proportion. The change is most irregular in winter, 

 when there even occurs a rise of temperature on pro- 

 ceeding from the bottom of the valleys of Pinzgau to a 

 certain relative height. A very striking instance of this 

 phenomenon was recorded in January, 1887. The tem- 

 perature increased up to an altitude of 840 metres above 

 the valley (1690 metres above the sea). At this height 

 it became stationary, and then decreased, so that at 2,520 

 metres above the sea-level the same temperature as at 

 the bottom of the valley. 



The observations on the Schmittenbache and at Obir, 

 if collated with those taken on the Sonnblick, give the 

 following values for the decrease of temperature for each 

 100 metres of elevation in the atmospheric strata between 

 the elevations of 2,000 and 3,000 metres : in winter 0-58, 

 in spring 066, in summer 0-77, in autumn 0-72, and in 

 the entire year o - 68. 



If the differences of the mean monthly temperatures 

 on the Sonnblick and at Santes, Schmittenbache, and Obir 

 are used for calculating the mean normal temperature, 

 we find for the Sonnblick -6-8, whilst at Santes it is, 

 — 1-8. The mean normal temperature on the Sonnblick; 

 as calculated, is very probably in winter —13-5; in 

 spring -8-6, in summer— 01, and in autumn —5-4. 

 These points will be better realised if we remember 

 that the mean yearly temperature on the Sonnblick 

 corresponds to the isotherm on the earth's surface, 

 passing through the middle of Spitzbergen, the 

 southmost of Novaj Sembla, and in Asia from 

 Obdorsk to Ochosk. The mean winter cold on the 

 Sonnblick is as great as in Orenburg ; the 

 resembles January in Central Russia; the 

 is like the same month at Wilna. But the surr 

 a mean temperature lower than has ever been r 

 at the same season in the northern hemisphere, and 

 such as may, perhaps, prevail only in the higher 

 southern latitudes. The mean variability of tempera- 

 ture from day to day on the Sonnblick is smaller than it 

 might be expected. Great changes do not occur ; the 

 greatest fluctuation amounted to 11 degrees, and took 

 place between February 6th and 7th, whilst at Rauris 

 there was a change of 14-8° from January 8th to 9th, 

 and of 11-7° from January 4th to 5th. Comparison 

 with a number of other stations proves that the progress 

 of these changes of temperature is entirely different 



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