merely tantalising, but I should like to present the case as it occurred. When the figures for the average wind velocity were being put together, I inquired about the variation from year to year. The monthly values had not been combined, and a glance showed the last year (1903) to be one of exceptionally high velocity. For the complete year, since calculated, it is twenty-one miles per hour; the average for the twelve years is eighteen miles per hour. I noted 1903 as the year of heavy rainfall in this country, and asked about 1893, the year of drought, especially in the spring months. I found the wind velocities at St. Helena were for the first half

Jan. Feb. Mar. Ap. May June
15 14

16

14

as against

in 1893,

Jan. Feb. Mar. Ap. May June 21 20 16 20 16 19 in 1903. The first two are the lowest velocities of those months on record; the others are low, but not the lowest. The blanks mean that the instrument was not working properly. This suggested some sort of connection, a stronger trade wind being associated with a heavier rainfall in this country. I obtained the

Average Seasonal Variation

without hope that the evidence for organic connection would develop with further investigation. When plotting the curves of wind velocity for individual years, I noted that 1898 was an exceptional year, because it had two maxima of wind velocity, one in March and one in October, instead of the usual single one in September. Some information that I had for Southampton seemed to indicate a similar state of things for rain in England (south) in that year. I had the monthly rainfall figures for England (south) computed for each year, and looked at once to those for 1898. Here are the figures for the two variables compared for that year.

Jan. Feb. Mar. Ap. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. 0.71 158 112 139 3'59 146 0'49 137 099 348 367 2.86 There is unmistakably the second maximum of rainfall. It is in May, generally the driest month,

two months after the unusual second maximum of wind velocity at St. Helena. The ordinary autumnal maximum of rainfall is delayed a month until November, just as the wind maximum is delayed a month until October.

As a test case this seemed to be almost conclusive and the connection to be put beyond doubt, but in meteorological matters there are many disappointments. Some goblin seems to be in possession of this castle in the air; we see a glimpse of light; knock at the door; the goblin opens it almost wide enough to let us in, and then he slams it in our faces with a laugh. One can almost hear the mischievous Puck crowing to the

Captain of our fairy band,

Helena is here at hand,

26

And those things do best please me

That befall preposterously.'

24

FIG. 1.

monthly values and plotted the several years' variation. There was unmistakable evidence of a large seasonal variation with a maximum in September and a minimum in May. I plotted the average seasonal variation of the St. Helena wind for the twelve years, and against it the seasonal rainfall in the south of England for thirty-five years, which I happened to have at hand. The curves are reproduced in the figure (Fig. 1). The similarity is surprising. Of course, the seasonal rainfall is not the same in all localities, even in the British Isles. Somewhat similar curves are, however, to be found for Stykkisholm, in Iceland, and for Hakodate, in Japan, so that the case was not quite an isolated one. I was, therefore, not

There is even a faint echo of the wicked exclamation

Lord, what fools these mortals be!"

When one turns from the average of years to the individual years, after the curious test case of 1898 one must confess that while the seasonal variation is maintained fairly well in the trade wind, year by year, one cannot recognise it in the rainfall. There appears, perhaps it is hardly necessary to say so, to be no regular seasonal variation in a single year of English rainfall. Any month may be the wettest month or perhaps the driest, and SO a fitful parallelism is rudely interrupted by a wet July or some unaccountable abnormality. The phenomenally wet year, 1903, is truly the year of greatest trade wind velocity, but the order of wind velocity is not regularly the order of rainfall values; one wonders whether the recorder has always been working as one would wish; and when the monthly rainfall average is taken for the twelve corresponding years instead of the thirty-five years, the curious

subsidiary maximum in April so neatly reproduced in the St. Helena wind has disappeared, owing principally, be it said, to an abnormally dry April in 1893.

Yet the evidence in favour of a connection can hardly be pure coincidence. The little rain maximum in April is not mere illusion. The fact that a seasonal variation of rainfall does show itself in the average of a few years has a meaning, and that its phases are closely similar to those of the arterial pulsations of the general atmospheric circulation accords too much with what may be called common sense to be altogether devoid of significance.

Sooner or later we shall catch the nimble imp that jeers at us to-day, and, if I mistake not, when he is caught we shall make him tell us something of the real secrets of these atmospheric relationships.

There are two considerations that may be mentioned. A disproportionately large fall of rain is sometimes regarded as an accident of little or no influence upon general meteorological conditions, but in view of the enormous quantities of energy involved that view can hardly be seriously maintained. It is true that on some days we get thunderstorms with heavy rain distributed in a most irregular manner, and for these at present no satisfactory explanation can be given, but it should be looked for seriously. Secondly, the rainy movements of the atmosphere in this part of the world are, as already mentioned, a south to north movement and a west to east movement. Perhaps we may in time be able to disentangle the effects of the various causes and find the regular sequence at present overlaid by the influence of secondary disturbing

causes.

I have ventured to put forward these suggestions, which I frankly confess are deplorably bizarre, because my readers may have at their disposal methods, that I am ignorant of, by which a crucial test may be applied to the question whether there is any definite and, shall I say, useful connection between the pulsations of the south

ing we have, however, ventured to include them. In each instance the author takes a number of more or less well-known animals, and recounts their ordinary everyday life, so far as it can be interpreted, Mr. English giving this for the most part in what are supposed to be the creature's own words, while the American author mingles verbal with descriptive narrative. Both works are, no doubt, excellent in their own particular way; and, for the sake of authors and publishers alike, we trust that a sufficient number of readers exist to whom this style of writing appeals with infinitely greater force than it does to ourselves. To such we may commend each of the two works, for, in the respective subjects, we find little to choose between them.

Mr. English, very appropriately, confines himself to British animals (including mammals, birds, fishes, insects, &c.); and although we cannot congratulate him on the title he has selected for his volume, we are pleased to be able to record our high appreciation of his skill as a photographer, and of the excellent manner in which his pictures have been reproduced.

east trade wind and the rainfall of north-western Europe. W. N. SHAW.

TWO BOOKS ON ANIMAL BIOGRAPHY.' IN N the second of these two works the author expresses the opinion that the first question which will be asked by the reader is whether the various anecdotes are strictly true. The question that presents itself to our mind is whether such books will be read at all, and if so by whom? The professional naturalist, we dare venture to say, will have nothing to do with them; they are not apparently intended for children, and for our own part we confess that to read them for either pleasure or instruction is about the last thing we should think of doing. They are what may be called animal novels," and thereby differ to a considerable extent from the oldfashioned" animal biographies," under which head1 "Beasties Courageous; Studies of Animal Life and Character." By D. English. Pp. viii+121; illustrated. (London: Bousfield and Co., Ltd., 1905.) Price 5s. net.

"Northern Trails; some Studies of Animal Life in the Far North." By W. J. Long. Pp. xxv+390; illustrated. (Boston, U.S.A., and London: Ginn and Co.). Price 7s. 6d.

The photograph of the wood-mouse herewith presented to our readers is absolutely exquisite, and cannot be surpassed. Moreover, it is by no means a solitary example of excellence, every picture in the book being of high quality, although some are, of course, better than others. As a picture-book of various types of British animal life the book would be hard indeed to beat.

Mr. Long, on the other hand, takes for his subject some of the more striking animals of the Arctic districts of North America, which he calls for the most part by their native Indian names, after the manner of "Hiawatha."

66

The first six chapters are, for instance, devoted to the white wolf, under the title of "wayeeses, the strong one "; but it is a little remarkable to note that in the glossary at the end of the volume this name is spelt wayeesis." Other chapters follow on fisher-marten the wild goose ("waptouk "), the ("pequam "), the salmon, &c. All bear the impress of truth, and relate the experiences of one who has seen the animals in their native wilds. The most striking incident is perhaps the one depicted on the cover of the book, where the author had the good fortune

AN INTERESTING TRANSFER SCHEME. SOMEWHAT novel proposal has been formulated for the transfer of an endowed school, with its property and funds, to an "education authority " other than a Local Education Authority under the Education Acts of 1902-3. This proposal relates to the Subordinate School at Rugby.

The

It appears that, for some time, there has been a movement in the locality with a view to the establishment of a technical school so as to organise systematically the scattered forces already at work. Warwickshire County Council offered a grant of 1000l. towards the erection of such a school, while the governing body of Rugby School offered 500l. and a site on the grounds of the Subordinate School for the same purpose. These offers, however, failed to secure adequate local agreement-hence the abovementioned transfer proposal.

According to the notice in the London Gazette, the governing body of Rugby School will apply to Parliament for an enabling Act "for the establishment, constitution and incorporation of an education authority,'" to whom that governing body may transfer the Subordinate School with its property and funds, and to whom they may make annual or other payments or contributions. This education authority would contain representatives of the governing body of Rugby School and of other local bodies (e.g. the County Council of Warwickshire, the Urban District Council of Rugby); any doubts or questions which might arise between the various bodies represented would be determined by the Board of Education. The "education authority " is to conduct the school " as a school for higher or secondary education . . . shall afford a good commercial education for students . . and shall maintain the teaching of English, Latin, at least one modern foreign language and Greek, unless and until the governing body" (i.e. the governing body of Rugby School) shall consent to the discontinuance of Greek." Other conditions relate to (1) the maintenance, by the governing body of the Rugby School, for the benefit of the students of the Subordinate School, of the existing system of major foundationerships at Rugby School; (2) the continuance of the engagements of the existing staff of the Subordinate School; (3) the borrowing, upon the security of the trust property, by the "education authority" of such sums for additions, improvements, &c., as may be neededthese powers to be subject to the conditions imposed by the Board of Education; (4) the maintenance at the Subordinate School, by the "education authority," of the existing system of foundationerships and scholarships tenable at that school.

A good deal of misgiving has been manifested locally in regard to the foregoing proposal, but it seems to us to be a step in the right direction. We confess that, as to nomenclature, the words "education authority do not commend themselves to us as a suitable description of the new body to whom it is proposed to make the transfer. But the objects which may be secured under the proposal now fore

shadowed are great indeed. To have obtained a gift which, if capitalised, would amount to between 50,000l. and 70,000l., and to be enabled to utilise such resources to promote the educational and industrial progress of the town and neighbourhood__of Rugby, are matters for sincere congratulation. The representative character of the new "education authority will ensure the quickening of an intelligent interest in, and zeal for, that technical and higher education which the townsfolk of Rugby are seeking--including the actual provision of a technical school.

It is rather difficult to appraise rightly the action of those who have been disposed to reject an arrangement which, as we hope, is now about to be consummated. Possibly, upon reflection, they will become conscious, as has been the case with other erstwhile opponents, of the opportunities that are within their grasp. For this transfer provides not only that ladder which educationists are so anxious to erect for all those who can climb it, and who may thus be equipped for their several callings, but it will provide also an excellent object-lesson in regard to educational endowments and their administration for the public welfare. With potential issues like these, it is to be hoped that the inhabitants of Rugby and the neighbourhood will brace themselves for an effort in educational administration which shall inspire other localities to grapple earnestly with more exacting conditions.

NOTES.

LIEUT.-COLONEL PRAIN, I.M.S., F.R.S., took up the duties of director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, on December 16. Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer will continue to take charge of Government advisory work until March 31 next.

Ar an Investiture held by the King on Monday, Prof. G. H. Darwin was invested with the insignia of a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (K.C.B.), and Sir Felix Semon with those of a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. His Majesty subsequently decorated the commander, officers, and several other members of the National Antarctic Expedition with the medal in commemoration of the expedition.

A SERIES of meetings for the informal discussion of important contributions to meteorological literature, particularly those by colonial or foreign meteorologists, has been arranged at the Meteorological Office by the director, Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S. Two meetings have already been held, and seven others will be held from January to April of next year. The subjects suggested for discussion are of great interest to students and investigators of meteorological problems, and the director invites exchange of views upon them.

THE next meeting of the French Association for the Advancement of Science will be held at Lyons from August 2 to August 7, 1906, under the presidency of Prof. Lippmann.

WE regret to see the announcement that Mr. Lewis Wright, author of well known books on "Light" and "The Induction Coil in Practical Work," and of several works on the scientific breeding of poultry, was accidentally killed by a passing train at Saltford railway station, near Bristol, on Saturday, December 16.

A LARGE and influential committee of leading representatives of science in many parts of the world has been formed with the object of placing a monument to the

memory of the late Prof. Ernst Abbe at Jena between the Volkshaus erected by him and the optical works to the development of which he devoted his life. Zeiss instruments are in themselves monuments to Abbe's work wherever they are used, but there are probably many men of science who will welcome the opportunity of contributing to the establishment of some permanent representation of his personality in the place which he made famous. Subscriptions in support of the scheme should be sent to Dr. Gustav Fischer, Jena.

AMONG the letters from the honorary members of the Essex Field Club read at the meeting at Chingford on December and referred to in our last issue (p. 157) was a very appreciative one from the veteran naturalist Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, who had been attached to the club from the period of its foundation, and who had lectured at its meetings and taken part in many of the excursions and discussions. It is of interest to note that Dr. Wallace gave a preliminary account of his work on insular faunas and floras, being the substance of his book "Island Life,' at a meeting of the club on January 4, 1881. In his recently published life he refers also to the fact that before his departure for America in 1886 he gave the club a lecture on the subject of variation, one of the chapters of his subsequent work on "Darwinism."

PROF. MELDOLA, F.R.S., presided over a "science dinner given by the Maccabæans on December 16. After the loyal toasts, the chairman said the Maccabæans are a society composed primarily, though not entirely, of Jewish professional men, bound together by ties of race and religion. This race has contributed much to the advancement of philosophy and of science. It is the race which gave Maimonides and Spinosa to philosophy, the Herschels to astronomy, Ferdinand Cohn to botany, the Meyers and many others, including Brühl, to chemistry, and Lippmann and Herz to physics. Prof. Meldola concluded by giving the toast of Science," coupled in the first place with the names of the representatives of scientific institutions represented in the room, and afterwards with individual representatives. Sir W. Huggins, r.R.S., and Sir A. Geikie, F.R.S., responded for the Royal Society, the Duke of Northumberland for the Royal Institution, Major P. A. MacMahon F.R.S., for the British Association, Mr. J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S, for the Geological Survey, Sir J. Evans, F.R.S., for anthropology, Sir Henry Roscoe, F.R.S., and Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S., for chemistry, Prof Poulton, F.R.S., for biology, Prof. Starling, F.R.S., for physiology, and Prof. Ayrton, F.R.S., for applied science.

SEVERAL Subjects of scientific interest were discussed at the conference on smoke abatement and the exhibition of smoke-prevention apparatus held on December 13-15 in the hall of the Horticultural Society, Westminster. The inaugural address was to have been delivered by Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., but he was prevented by indisposition from attending. Some manuscript notes by Sir Oliver Lodge were read to the meeting by Sir William Richmond. These notes dealt with fog as a destructive agent, and the proposal that smoke and fog should be precipitated by electrification of the air. The right way to deal with a town fog, according to the author, was not to produce it. The connection between fog and the imperfect combustion of solid fuel was then illustrated, and the need for improved methods of burning fuel insisted upon. At the same meeting the question, "Is London fog inevitable? was discussed by Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S. On the second

day numerous papers were read, and of these may be mentioned stoking and smoke abatement, by Commander W. F. Caborne; the abatement of smoke in factories, by Dr. Rideal; the artificial production of persistent fog, by the Hon. Rollo Russell; destructive effects of smoke in relation to plant life, by Miss Agar and Mr. A. Rigg. At the third meeting of the conference Sir John Ure Primrose made a plea for a systematic analysis of the air of towns. He said that samples of the rainfall collected in Glasgow now show no traces of free acid, whereas only a few years ago similar samples were found to be strongly acid. This improvement in the city's atmosphere is due chiefly to the check the Alkali Acts have imposed upon the emission of acid gases by chemical and metallurgical works. The exhibition of smoke-abatement appliances included grates, stoves, cooking plant, heating flues, chimney construction, and smoke-consuming and smoke-preventing apparatus.

In the note on the contents of the Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie, vol. lxxx., part ii., published in our issue of December 7, Mr. S. Hlava's paper is stated to have been on the Radiata, instead of the Rotifera.

"THE Formation of Local Illustrative Collections in Museums" is the title of an article by Mr. J. Maclauchlan, of Dundee, in the October issue of the Museums Journal, which may be commended to the best attention of the governing bodies of provincial institutions of this nature, who, in many cases, are too apt to convert them into mere curiosity-shops," or who attempt to usurp the functions of large museums by the display of a more or less illarranged general natural history collection. The rating of museums and public libraries is another question discussed in the same issue.

66

THE most interesting announcement in part iii. of the first volume of the Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums is, perhaps, the identification of a tooth of the Indian Pleistocene Elephas namadicus from Perak. Dr. C. W. Andrews being responsible for the determination, there can be no reasonable doubt as to its correctness; and this being so, the matter is of considerable interest as tending to link up the extinct proboscidean fauna of India and Burma with that of Borneo, Java, and Japan. In the same issue Mr. Bonhote describes a new rat, Mr. OgilvieGrant a new whistling-thrush, and Mr. H. C. Robinson a new tree-partridge, all from the Malay Peninsula or adjacent islands.

THE greater portion of the November issue of the Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science is devoted to three instalments of a long paper on the formation of spicules, the author, Mr. W. Woodland, dealing in this instance with calcareous sponges, Alcyonium, and the seaurchin larva. The relation of triradiate spicules to the dermal cells to which they owe their origin is beautifully illustrated in the plates, and it is shown that, as in the case of the simpler types, the triradiate form is directly related to the conformation of the secreting agency. As to the use of these triradiate spicules, it is pointed out that the hollow cylinders of which sycon-sponges consist are liable to be swayed by the movements of the water, and that were these oscillations to become excessive the organism would be injured. Moreover, as the oscillations are both vertical and horizontal, support in each of these directions is essential. Both of these elements are supplied by the numerous triradiate spicules contained within the spongewall, for it invariably follows from their conformation that if one ray be vertically disposed, then the two companion rays will lie in lines only deviating from the horizontal

by an inclination of 30°, and hence the three rays practically constitute two axes, respectively lying in the required vertical and horizontal directions." It will be remembered that in a recent note we referred to the views of an author who regarded these triradiate spicules as an instance of over-specialisation.

THE Journal of Economic Biology is the title of a new serial, edited by Mr. W. E. Collinge, and published by Messrs. Dulau and Co. For some time, and more especially since the foundation of the Association of Economic Biologists, it has been evident that workers in the subject to which the new serial is devoted frequently experience difficulty in finding suitable means of making their labours known to the public, especially when illustrations to their papers are required, and it is to meet this want that the venture, to which we wish cordial success, has been made. In the opening article Prof. A. H. R. Buller discusses the destruction of wood-paving in roadways by a kind of dry-rot produced by the fungus known as Lentinus lepideus. In the second article the editor describes some very remarkable varieties of the currant-moth produced by change of food and temperature, while in the third and last communication Mr. F. V. Theobald describes new gnats from various parts of the world.

WITH the October issue the publication of Climate came to an end, an amalgamation having been effected with the Journal of Tropical Medicine, which in future will devote four of its issues annually to the special subjects hitherto dealt with in Climate.

THE Journal of the Royal Sanitary Institute for December (xxvi., No. 11) contains the second part of a paper on the administration of the Food and Drugs Acts by Mr. Wellesley Harris which should be very useful to students of public health, the mortality statistics of boot and shoe workers in Northampton by Dr. Beatty, a note on the recent literature of plague by Colonel Notter, and an article on school hygiene by Dr. Elkington.

IN an interesting article on the revival of phrenology in the Fortnightly Review for December, Mr. Stephen Paget reviews the subject and refers to Dr. Bernard Höllander's book on the mental functions of the brain. Gall it was, celebrated for his anatomical studies of the brain, who originated what is known as phrenology, a study very different from the present conception of localisation of function in the brain, as Mr. Paget points out. From the wreck of Gall's work Dr. Höllander has saved many well recorded cases of localised injury or disease of the brain with exaggeration or diminution of this or that one function-cases such as led to the discovery of the speech centres. But when Dr. Höllander asserts that his book may have an important bearing on the development of mental science, on the treatment of lunacy, &c., Mr. Paget considers that he is claiming much more than can be admitted.

ON the subject of the conditions essential to the best production of Para rubber, Mr. H. Wright has compiled some useful data in vol. iii., No. 6, of the Circulars of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Ceylon. It would appear that richness of soil is not so important as altitude and temperature, since by the annual shedding of its leaves the tree returns a large amount of material to the soil. With regard to temperature, the trees thrive best in Brazil in a

mean temperature about 25° C., while, as to altitude, the limit of successful cultivation in Ceylon is placed at 2000 feet above sea-level.

THE superintendent of the botanical department, Trinidad, in the Bulletin (October) refers to a new variety of coffee, Coffea robusta, received from the Congo River, West Africa, that has been successfully propagated at the experiment station. A stock of nearly two thousand plants offered for distribution was quickly disposed of to planters. In the same journal Mr. W. R. Buttenshaw, writing on the subject of selection by means of vegetative propagation, instances a few of the improvements that have been effected by continuous selection of cuttings and by bud selection. A distinction is drawn between the sudden emergence of a sport and gradual development by careful selection.

WITH the object of ascertaining whether a commercial fibre can be prepared from banana leaf-sheaths, it is announced in the Agricultural News (October 21) that prizes for the best samples of fibre will be offered at the agricultural show to be held in the course of this month in Barbados; the fibre will be extracted from the dwarf banana, as this is the species cultivated there. In the last number of the journal, which, owing to an alteration in the sailings of the Royal Mail steamers, is dated November 11, a note appears on the cigarette and biscuit beetles. The former, Lasioderma serricorne, does not confine itself to tobacco, but feeds also on leather and drugs, and the biscuit beetle, Sitodrepa panicea, shows similar

tastes.

THE report for the year 1904 of the director of the botanic gardens in Sydney, New South Wales, has been received. Amongst the list of interesting plants that have flowered during the year are Diplachne Peacockii, an indigenous grass recently discovered, Paspalum cochinchinense, another grass that, judging from the vigorous growth made in a dry season, may prove as valuable for fodder as Paspalum dilatatum, Eucommia ulmoides, the Chinese rubber-tree, and a number of Opuntias that are being cultivated with the object of obtaining a spineless plant. Of the trees planted in the Centennial Park, the most interesting are the Aleppo pines, Pinus halepensis, that are being grown as a wind-break.

IN the Engineer of December 15 drawings are given of a dredger that has been used by the Dundee Harbour Trustees for more than a century. It is built of oak, and is 68 feet long with a beam of 21 feet, and draws in working order 7 feet 6 inches. The engine is believed to have been built by James Watt.

IN the December number of the Popular Science Monthly there is a useful article by Prof. R. D. George, of the University of Colorado, giving an able summary of the existing knowledge of mining and the use of metals by the ancient Egyptians. In the same issue Dr. Charles R. Eastman, of Harvard University, inquires into the rightfulness of regarding Anaximander, the pupil of Thales in the sixth century B.C., as the first who foreshadowed modern ideas of evolution. All estimates present Anaximander as a keen and deeply contemplative student of nature who arrived at a dim adumbration of great truths.

IN the current issue of the Bulletin de la Société d'Encouragement Messrs. G. Arth and P. Lejeune give some interesting particulars of a prehistoric mass of metal found near Nancy at a depth of 4 metres below the surface. The mass weighs about 300 kilograms, and is accompanied by fragments of charcoal and slag. It appears