SCIENTIFIC SUMMARY. 
475 
inches, while at Linton Park, seven miles off, the fall was P5 inches. At 
Hartlip the guages recorded over 5 inches of rain j hut at Tong, a distance 
of six miles, the records show a fall of only 1*64. As we have said, Mr. 
Symons does not explain these singular differences between the rainfall of 
contiguous stations, but we think the fact may depend on the same principle 
as the ordinary snow-drift. 
Hurricanes of the Indian Ocean. — At the meeting of the British Associa- 
tion, Mr. Meldrum read a paper pointing out facts of considerable meteorolo- 
gical interest. After showing how these hurricanes originated between the 
S.E. trade wind and N.W. monsoon, how the wind in them rotated from left 
to right, or with the hands of a watch, how they travelled at first to S.W. 
and then curved to S. and S.E., Mr. Meldrum alluded to their form, showing 
that the wind blew spirally, and illustrated the subject by interesting quo- 
tations from the log-book of the Earl of Dalhousie, a vessel which, he 
believed, belonged to the port of Dundee, and which in May 1863 had 
scudded round and round the centre of a revolving storm three times, at 
the rate of 10 to 13 knots, nearing the centre as she went round it. As the 
S.E. trade wind frequently blew strongly over many degrees of longitude 
during a hurricane, with a falling barometer, it was impossible to know the 
bearing of the centre when a vessel was in front of a storm, and at some 
distance from the centre, and Mr. Meldrum could adduce instances of 
great loss of life and property arising from vessels in those circumstances 
adopting the recommendation usually given of running to the westward or 
north-west. In could not also be made too widely known that a large 
portion, perhaps the largest, of the losses caused by hurricanes in those 
seas arose from the fact that homeward bound vessels took apparent 
advantage of increasing N.E. winds between 10° and 16° S. and, running to 
the south-west, got in front of the storm, in which they were often dis- 
masted, if they did not founder ; whereas, by lying to for a few hours, or 
proceeding cautiously to the southward, the storm would have been avoided. 
S ingidar Effects of Lightning. — Sir David Brewster has published an 
account of the effects of lightning in Forfarshire which is of much interest. 
In the summer of 1827 a hay-stack was struck by lightning. The stack 
was on fire, but before much of the hay was consumed the fire was extin- 
guished by the farm servants. Upon examining the hay-stack, a circular 
passage was observed in the middle of it, as if it had been cut out with a 
sharp instrument. This circular passage extended to the bottom of the 
stack, and terminated in a hole in the ground. Captain Thomson, of Mon- 
trose, who had a farm in the neighbourhood, examined the stack, and found 
in the hole a substance which he described as resembling lava. A portion 
of this substance was sent by Captain Thomson to Sir David’s brother, Dr. 
Brewster, of Craig, who forwarded it to Sir David, with the preceding state- 
ment. The substance found in the hole was a mass of silex obviously 
formed by the fusion of the silex in the hay. It had a highly greenish 
tinge, and contained burnt portions of the hay. Sir David presented the 
specimen to the museum of St. Andrews. 
Observations on Atmospheric Electricity. — The observations made at Kew 
on this subject have been contrasted by Professor Everett, of Nova Scotia, 
with those made at Windsor, N.S. The Kew observations referred to ex- 
tended from June 1862 to May 1864, inclusive, and were taken with Sir 
