244 Notes and Memoranda. 



Meteorology. — On the 18th of February, 1862, Mr. Thomas Hopkins read 

 a paper before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, in which 

 he alluded to the abandonment, by some recent writers, of the Hadleian theory 

 of winds being caused by the ascent of heated air in tropical regions, and con- 

 tended that " the great cause of atmospheric disturbance is to be found in the 

 local heating of gases by the liberated heat of condensing vapour." He com- 

 plained that such a phrase as a storm " comes from" a certain quarter misleads, 

 as the cause of storms exists in the quarter towards which the wind blows. 



Poisonous Fungi. — The Veterinarian of February, 1862, contains an im- 

 portant paper, by Professor Varnell, on the poisonous* character of some oats on 

 which fungi were growing. It appears that in August last year six horses died 

 suddenly in the neighbourhood of Leeds, and the local surgeons and analysts 

 could discover no traces of poison, although they ascertained that three feeds of 

 the suspected oats were sufficient to cause death. The symptoms of the attack 

 were a staggering gait, laboured respiration, and partial paralysis. Post mortem 

 examinations exhibited congestion of liver and lungs, with inflammation of 

 stomach and bowels. Having obtained a quantity of the oats, Professor Varnell 

 examined them chemically and microscopically. The first method gave no in- 

 formation as to the cause of their action, but the latter disclosed a fungoid 

 vegetation belonging to the genus Aspergillus, and some of the affected grain 

 soon killed a horse to which they were given by way- of experiment. Mr. Jabez 

 Hogg, to whom drawings of the fungi were shown, stated that he met with 

 many instances in which similar fungi had occasioned sickness and death in various 

 animals. 



Hind's Variable Nebula. — The position of this curious body for 1862 is 

 4h. 13m. 54"6s. right ascension, and declination + 19° 11' 37". It was noticed 

 by Mr. Hind, in 1852, by the side of a star of the tenth magnitude. Both 

 nebula and star appear variable. From November 3rd, 1855, to January 12th, 

 1856, they were observed by M. Chacornac, who found the nebula plainly 

 visible and the star 10 mag. Recently M. Le Verrier viewed both objects with a 

 twelve-inch equatorial, and he found a star a, to the south-west of which the 

 nebula is situated 5' distant from a star b, marked 10 mag. in M. Chacornac's 

 chart, No. 13. Like the latter observer, he found the star b always of 10 mag., 

 but the star a only 12 mag. In a line with these two stars, and near b, he found 

 a third star, smaller and not exceeding 13 mag. Neither M. Le Verrier nor 

 M. Chacornac could discern any trace of the nebula. M. Foucault, with a larger 

 telescope, confirmed this negative result. On the same date (January 26th), 

 Mr. Hind noted the disappearance of the nebula. On February 14th, M. 

 Chacornac found the star a visibly diminished, and less than the star c ; the 

 following evening a still inferior to c, and dull and nebulous, but no certain 

 trace could be obtained of the nebula. On the 18th a was brighter than c, but 

 still nebulous ; at midnight the moonlight rendered c invisible with a telescope 

 of 25 centimetres aperture, but a was distinctly seen. — Comptes JRendus, No. 6, 

 1862, p. 299. 



Terrestrial Magnetism. — M. Secchi, of Eome, publishes in Comptes Rend us 

 a table of observations in 1861, from which it appears that the horizontal in- 

 tensity of magnetic action has a tendency to vary with the wind. He observes, 

 " this table evidently shows the predominance of a descending movement when 

 the wind is south to the extent of 74 out of 100 times which this wind blow s, 

 and of an ascending movement during a north wind to the extent of 8-1 in 100." 

 East and west he calls "winds of transition." He believes that the indications of 

 a delicate galvanometer are capable of giving us notice of distant atmospheric per- 

 turbations, or of tho=e which are coming within a couple of days. 



TnE Comet of 1860. — M. Secchi observes — " It is singular that this comet 

 should exhibit an obscure place in the middle of its tail till the 13th of June ; it 

 then manifested a bright luminous ray, which lasted till its disappearance in the 

 southern hemisphere. The head had the nucleus surrounded with an aureole of 

 rays. At length, on the 26th of June, a great eccentricity appeared in the two 

 brunches." 



