plates, the bottom member itself being strengthened internally at the junction by suitable diaphragms

The importance of this junction will be readily understood, when it is stated that a load of some 6000 tonsthe weight of an American liner-will be transmitted through it, in the finished structure, on its way to the masonry pier. Some 16,000 rivets are required for the junction; and large as this number may appear, it bears but a small ratio to the eight million rivets used in the whole structure. The method of construction of the junction was that uniformly adopted in dealing with these members. The junction was erected on the drill roads attached to the workshops at South Queensferry, all holes drilled by specially designed plant; and, having been marked for re-erection, it was taken down and transported plate by plate, and finally hoisted into position in the finished structure from a steam barge, by a crane working from the internal viaduct.

The tie was built downwards from the top of the vertical column; the timber cage-shown in our illustration-in which the men worked being attached to and following it as length by length was added. To design and build a structure of steel to bear a load of some 6000 tons is no mean task in itself, but what shall we say of the whole undertaking, when this junction alone contains but one five-hundredth of the material required for the completed Forth Bridge?

FLORA OF THE ANTARCTIC ISLANDS.

MR

R. W. B. HEMSLEY, who elaborated at Kew the collections made during the Challenger expedition illustrative of the floras of oceanic islands, has handed to me the following interesting letter from Dr. Guppy. The materials and notes accumulated by this skilful observer during his travels in the Western Pacific threw a good deal of light on the mode in which oceanic islands were stocked with plants, and Mr. Hemsley was able to make an advantageous use of them in discussing the collections made in the same region by Prof. Moseley.

I myself am very much impressed with the probable truth of the views expressed by Dr. Guppy. It would be very desirable to obtain additional observations which would serve to test their accuracy. It is with this object that I have obtained Dr. Guppy's permission to communicate his letter to NATURE.

W. T. THISELTON DYER.

Royal Gardens, Kew, April 28.

17 Woodlane, Falmouth, April 8, 1888. As I am likely to be proceeding soon to the South Seas, I have been re-perusing your volume of the "Botany of the Challenger," more especially the remarks concerning the dispersal of plants, which I hope to take the opportunity of following up in a more systematic way than before.

I was thinking that if you thought it worth while you might direct the attention of masters of ships going round the Horn and the Cape of Good Hope to the chance of finding seeds in the crops of the oceanic birds that follow the ships in the regions of the westerly winds. I am inclined to believe that important results would be obtained. Judging from my experience, about one bird in twenty-five would contain a seed in its crop.

I am still inclined, if you will pardon my saying so, to the belief that the agency of birds like the Cape pigeons may explain some of the difficulties in the floras of the islands in the Southern Ocean. To return to the instance of my seed, I have since found an account where a Cape pigeon, around the neck of which a ribbon had been tied, followed a ship on its way home from Australia for no less than 5000 miles (Coppinger's "Cruise of the Alert," 1885, p. 18); and on consulting other voyages I find that the Cape pigeon appears to perform the circuit of the globe in the region of the Westerlies, so that my seed might readily have been transferred from Tristan d'Acunha to Amsterda n.

A remarkable point has occurred to me whilst reading your remarks (doubtless you have already thought of it). In a botanical sense, and also in a geographical sense, the Antarctic Islands seem to be arranged in two parallel zones. Tristan d'Acunha, Amsterdam, and St. Paul's, lying between the parallels of 37° to 40° S. lat., have similar floras. Further south is the second zone, between 47° and 55° (circa), in which the land and islands (Fuegia, Crozets, Kerguelen, Macquarie, &c.) are characterized by their common floras. Now, how are these two parallel botanical zones to be explained? It seems to me that if you grant that the northern zone may largely derive its common characters by the agency of birds following the westerly winds, such as I believe to have been the case, you are almost forced to the conclusion that the floras of Fuegia, Kerguelen, Macquarie Island, &c., in the southern zone have obtained their common characters in the same way. Of course

the distinctiveness between the floras of the two parallel zones would then be explained by the difference in the climatic conditions arising from difference in latitude. For my own part I do not think the hypothesis of a sunken southern tract (or tracts) of land to be supported by geological evidence. Is not the geological character of the remote oceanic islands strongly negative of the idea that they are portions of ancient submerged tracts? Can Kerguelen, Amsterdam, &c., be in any sense continental islands as regards their rocks? With reference to New Zealand, if geologists are right in regarding it as lying along the same volcanic line that extends southward through the Western Pacific from New Guinea, then it is probable that the vast post-Tertiary upheaval of the island groups (Solomon Islands, New Hebrides, &c.) which I have shown to have taken place along this line of volcanic activity in the Western Pacific, has been represented in New Zealand by elevation rather than depression. I believe that subsequent investigation will confirm my belief that the great island groups of the Western Pacific, with New Caledonia and New Zealand, have been always insular. This is, I think, the great lesson I learned in the Solomon Islands. H. B. GUPPY.

LORD HARTINGTON ON TECHNICAL

EDUCATION.

THE Marquis of Hartington was the chief guest at the anniversary banquet of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers held on Friday, May 4, at the Criterion

Restaurant. Mr. Edward H. Carbutt, President of the Institution, occupied the chair. In responding to the toast of "Our Guest," proposed by the Chairman, Lord Hartington, after speaking of the part which the mechanical engineering profession of this country takes in the maintenance and the extension of our material and industrial supremacy in the world, referred to the vast importance of technical education. He had never professed to be an authority on the subject of technical education-he was no authority on that subject; all he could do in the position he held was to endeavour to arouse such interest as he could in that subject, to enlist in the minds of the ordinary public-the unscientific public of whom he formed a part-an interest in this question, and to listen to the advice and attend to the counsel which were given to the public by those who were authorities on the subject, and to whose advice he held it was most important that attention should be paid. He had been greatly struck by the fact that in every country in Europe which competed with us in industrial or commercial pursuits greater attention had recently been paid to giving a practical direction to the national education than had hitherto been considered necessary in England. We had, like other countries-perhaps somewhat in arrear of them-established a national and tolerably complete instruction; but they, earlier than we, had embraced the idea of making that national instruction not only a literary instruction, but a technical and commercial education. But he could not help thinking that in that respect they had gained some considerable advantages over ourselves. He did not think there was any occasion for us to take a desponding or a pessimistic view of the

situation. He had great confidence in the energy, the skill, and the intelligence of our people. But he believed there were facts which it would be madness on our part to ignore. If a new process, a new invention, were discovered in any other country-if a new process of manufacture were discovered greatly superior to that which was in existence among ourselves-we should at once admit that it was necessary for us either to improve that invention or else to resign ourselves to being defeated in the competition for the production of that article. But if it were true, as he believed it was, that the system of national education in other countries was being devoted to purposes which made the manual labour of the working population more intelligent, more skilled, and therefore more valuable, that was a fact which was just as important and which had consequences of exactly the same character as if foreign nations were to discover an invention which was not available for our own use. These facts had been investigated by a Royal Commission, and by a great number of private individuals for their own purposes; and there was no sort of doubt that foreign countries had not only attempted to give, but had to a very considerable extent succeeded in giving, a more practical turn to the education of their people in all branches of industry and commerce where science and art could be usefully and successfully applied. If it were the fact that we had fallen behind in this branch of the instruction of our people, it appeared to him that it would be worse than idle, it would be criminal, on our part if we were for a moment to ignore the consequences of those facts, and the consequences which might result not only to our temporary commercial and manufacturing position in the world, but to the future industrial position of England. He was sure there were none to whose advice great employers and leaders of industry in this country would more cheerfully and more willing listen, none who exercised a greater influence over the public mind of this country, than those whom he had the honour of addressing; and it was a great satisfaction to him to be assured by the words that had fallen from their Chairman that they were giving their earnest and anxious attention to the subject of technical education.

NOTES.

A ROYAL COMMISSION has been appointed to inquire "whether any and what kind of new University or powers is or are required for the advancement of higher education in London." The Commissioners are Lord Selborne, Chairman; Sir James Hannen, Sir William Thomson, Dr. J. T. Ball, Mr. G. C. Brodrick, the Re. J. E. C. Welldon, and Prof. Stokes, P.R.S. Mr. J. L. Goldard is appointed Secretary to the Commission.

MUCH trouble was taken to secure the success of the annual conversazione of the Royal Society held last night. We shall give some account of it next week.

THE Emperor Frederick has marked the opening of his reign by conferring personal honours on some eminent Germans. Dr. Werner Siemens, the electric an, is one of those who have been ennobled or dignified with the prefix "Von."

THE Donders Memorial Fund, to which we called attention some time ago, now amounts to about £2000, of which £250 has been subscribed in England. Prof. Donders' seventieth birthday falls on Sunday, the 27th inst. ; but it has been decided that the celebration in his honour shall take place on the following day. The subscription list, so far as this country is concerned, will be closed on the 14th inst.

AT the general monthly meeting of the Royal Institution, on Monday last, Dr. Tyndall was elected Honorary Professor, and Lord Rayleigh Professor, of Natural Philosophy.

A PRELIMINARY meeting, called by invitation of the Council of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, to consider the desirability of forming a Museum Association, was held in York on May 3. Among the Museums represented at the meeting were those of Liverpool, Manchester, York, Sheffield, Nottingham, Bolton, Bradford, Sunderland, and Warrington. It was unanimously decided that a Museum Association should be formed, and that it should consist of curators or those engaged in the active work of Museums, and also of representatives of the Committees or Councils of Management of Museums. The Association will consider (1) whether it may not be possible to secure a compendious index of the contents of all provincial museums and collections; (2) the most effectual methods of facilitating the interchange of specimens and books between various museums; (3) the best plans for arranging museums and classifying their contents; (4) the organization of some concerted action for the obtaining of such Government publications as are interesting or important from a scientific point of view.

PROF. ARTHUR SCHUSTER, F.R.S., has been appointed to the Langworthy Professorship of Physics and Directorship of the Physical Laboratory at the Owens College, in succession to the late Prof. Balfour Stewart.

THE Gaekwar of Baroda is reported to have decided to send a number of young men, carefully selected for the purpose, to study scientific and technical subjects in England, under the supervision of Mr. Gajjar, Professor of Biology in the Baroda College.

THE Government of Ceylon have sanctioned the opening of a Forest School at Kandy.

We regret to have to record the death of Sir Charles Bright, the eminent electrician. He died last Thursday, at the age of fifty-six.

DR. SIGISMOND WRÓBLEWSKI, Professor of Experimental Physics at the Polish University of Cracow, died on April 16. last, in consequence of injuries received through the explosion of some petroleum lamps. Prof. Wróblewski lived for some time in London, and was afterwards a Professor at the University of Strasburg. He also worked in the laboratory of Prof. Debray in the École Normale, Paris. He accepted the appointment at Cracow in 1882. His researches on the liquefaction of gases are well known.

THE sodium salt of a new sulphur acid, of the composition H2SO, has been prepared by M. Villiers (Bull. de Soc. Chim., 1888, 671). It was obtained by the action of sulphur dioxide upon a strong solution of sodium thiosulphate, and is tolerably stable, crystallizing in well-developed prisms. A quantity of crystalline sodium thiosulphate contained in a flask was treated wih an amount of water insufficient for complete solution; . the flask was immersed in iced water, and a current of sulphur dioxide pas ed, with constant agitation, until the solution was saturated and all or nearly all the thiosulphate had dissolved. If any of the latter crystals remained undissolved, a little more water was added, and the solution again saturated with the gas, repeating this treatment until all had passed into solution. After leaving the liquid thus obtained at the ordinary temperature for two or three days, it was found to be capable of taking up a further considerable volume of sulphur dioxide, the former quantity having evidently entered into chemical combination in some way or other. It was therefore again saturated, and left for another day or two, after which the solution was evaporated in vacuo over sulphuric acid. It was then found that a precipitate of sulphur was gradually depo-ited upon the base of the containing dish, while fine white prisms of brilliant lustre were formed at the surface. On analysis they were found to be

anhydrous, and yielded numbers corresponding to the formula Na,SO, or NaSO4. They dissolved in water with formation of a neutral solution. On again evaporating this solution under the receiver of the air-pump, crystals of a hydrate, Na2SO+ 2H,O, separated out. From the remarkable similarity in properties between oxygen and sulphur, it is probable that this new acid by no means exhausts all the possible combinations, for it appears as if one is capable of replacing the other to any extent, forming compounds which may perhaps be considered as oxygen substitution derivatives of polysulphides. M. Villiers has not yet completed his investigation of the properties and constitution of the new acid, further details of which will be -awaited with considerable interest.

ON April 2 a severe shock of earthquake was felt at Kalleli, in the Lysefjord. It occurred simultaneously with one at Gjæsdal, also on the west coast of Norway. In the former place three distinct shocks were felt, causing the windows to rattle, clocks to stop, &c. A loud subterranean rumbling was heard. On the other side of the narrow fjord no shock was felt, but a deep -rumbling detonation was heard.

ON the morning of April 18 a severe shock of earthquake was felt at Vexiö, in the south of Sweden. It lasted fully two minutes, and was followed by subterranean detonations. This is the third earthquake observed in this district during the last six months.

THE Calcutta Correspondent of the Times telegraphs that India has been visited by a series of what he calls " phenomenal" storms, partaking very much of the character of the Dacca tornado. At Moradabad, 150 deaths are reported, caused chiefly by hailstones. Many of the houses were unroofed, trees were uprooted, and masses of frozen hail remained lying about long after the cessation of the storm. At Delhi there was an extraordinary hailstorm lasting about two minutes, which was virtually a shower of lumps of ice. One of the hailstones picked up in the hospital garden weighed 11⁄2 lb.; another, secured near the Telegraph Office, was of the size of a melon, and turned the scale at 2 lbs. At another place the Government House suffered severely, 200 panes of glass being broken by hail. In Lower Bengal, at Rayebati, 2000 huts were destroyed, while twenty persons are reported to have been killed and 200 severely injured. Chudressur, close to Serampore, was almost completely wrecked. The storm lasted only three minutes, its course extending for a mile and a half, and its path being 300 yards wide. Its advent was preceded by a loud booming noise. Large boats were lifted out of the river, and in one case a small boat was blown up into a tree.

ACCORDING to an official report, the substance of which has been given by the Calcutta Correspondent of the Times, an immense amount of injury was done by the Dacca tornado. Νο fewer than 118 persons were killed, excluding those drowned, and 1200 wounded had to be treated. The amount of the damage to property is estimated at Rs.6,78,428. Three hundred and fiftyeight houses were completely destroyed, 121 boats were wrecked, and 148 brick-built houses were partially, and 9 were com pletely, destroyed. Shortly after the Dacca tornado, another visited part of the Murchagunje subdivision, and 66 deaths and 128 cases of injury are reported. All the houses struck were completely destroyed. The Dacca tornado travelled altogether 3 miles. Its rate of speed varied from 12 to 20 miles, and its greatest width was 20 yards. It was accompanied by a rumbling hissing sound, the clouds over it were illuminated, and liquid mud was deposited along its track, and was ingrained in the wounds of the injured.

WE are glad to be able to report, on the authority of Captain de Brito Capello, Director of the Lisbon Observatory, that the

Government of Brazil has established a Meteorological Service there, by decree dated April 4 last. The Director is Senhor A. Pinheiro, who has visited this country on several occasions.

Ar the meeting of the French Meteorological Society, on the 3rd of April, M. Vaussenat presented and analyzed a long series of photographs of clouds taken at the Observatory of the Pic-duMidi, from 1880 to 1887, under all conditions of the atmosphere. He drew special attention to the importance of the systematic observation of clouds, at that mountain observatory, and stated that by the aid of such observations he had been able to issue local predictions of weather which had acquired great accuracy. M. Grad gave particulars respecting the present meteorological organization in Alsace and Lorraine. In 1870, the Meteorological Commission presided over by M. Hira established a complete network of stations, but this service was interrupted by the war which broke out soon after. At present there are twenty stations in the two provinces. One of these,

viz. Strasburg, possesses an unbroken series of observations since 1801. It has been decided to establish a service there for the issue of weather forecasts for the benefit of agriculture.

MR. T. WILSON, of the Smithsonian Institution, gives in the American Naturalist an interesting account of some recent discoveries made by Mr. Frank Cushing, who has not only been adopted by the tribe of Zuñis, but initiated into the order of their priest. hood. While at Tempe, in Arizona, in the spring of 1887, Mr. Cushing heard of a large truncated moun in the desert 6 or 7 miles to the south-east. He visited it, and declared it to be of artificial formation. Workmen were brought from Tempe,

and in a short time they ca ne upon the ruins of an immense building. Mr. Cushing at once arrived at the conclusion that this building had been used as an Indian temple. He observed many things which corresponded in a remarkable degree with the Zuni religion, and which he was able to recognize in consequence of the experience he had gained as a priest. Continuing his explorations, he found the remains of a city 3 miles log and at some places I mile wide. This city was somewhat irregularly laid out, consisting principally of large squares or blocks of houses surrounded by a high wall, apparently for protection. The state of the buildings clearly indicated that the city had been ruined by an earthquake. Many bodies crushed by fallen roofs and walls were found. Mr. Cushing also discovered a number of graves, believed to be the graves of priests. The symbols and decorations on the pottery found in these graves resemble the symbols and decorations on modern Zuni pottery. About 10 or 15 miles from this ruined city, which Mr. Cushing calls Los Muertos, the City of the Dead, he has lately found the remains of another prehistoric town, in connection with which there are many traces of extensive works for irrigation.

THE Boston Society of Natural History proposes to establish a Zoological Garden in that city. The enterprise will be thoroughly educational. The chief object will be to show specimens of American animals, especially those of New England.

ACCORDING to a telegram from Sydney, the Conference upon the means of dealing with the rabbit pest in Australia has resulted in the selection of an island where M. Pasteur's and other methods of extirpation will be thoroughly tried. The liability of other animals and birds to infection by the same means will also be tested.

DURING the month of July the following courses, for technical teachers and others, will be given in the new buildings of the City and Guilds of London Institute :- Elementary Principles of Machine-Designing, by Prof. W. C. Unwin, F.R. S.; Practical Lessons in Organic Chemistry, intended mainly for teachers of technological subjects, by Prof. Armstrong, F.R.S.; the Construction and Use of Electrical Measuring Instruments, by Prof.

Ayrton, F.R.S.; Experimental Mechanics, by Prof. Henrici F.R.S.; the Principles of Bread-making, by William Iago; Photography, by Capt. Abney, F. R.S.; Mathematical and Surveying Instruments, by Arthur Thomas Walmsley; Gas Manufacture, by Lewis T. Wright; the Application of Modern Geometry to the Cutting of Solids for Masonry and other Technical Arts, by Lawrence Harvey; and the Craft of the Carpenter, by John Slater.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include two Long-eared Bats (Plecotus auritus), from Cornwall, presented by Mr. F. A. Allchin; a Roe (Capreolus 8), from Corea, presented by Mr. F. Harston Eagles; two Burrowing Owls (Speotyto cunicularia), from Buenos Ayres, presented by Mr. J. Clark Hawkshaw; a Blue and Yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna), from Para, presented by Mrs. Yarrow; two Crested Ducks (Anas cristatus), from the Falkland Islands, presented by Mr. F. E. Cobb, C.M.Z.S. ; an Asp Viper (Vipera aspis), from Italy, presented by Messrs. Paul and Co.; a Common Viper (Vipera berus), from Burnham

seventy-five proper motions, nearly all of them new, is likewise added.

PUBLICATIONS OF LICK OBSERVATORY.-The first volume of the Publications of the Lick Observatory has been received. It is chiefly occupied with the details of the progress of the institution from the date of Mr. Lick's first deed of trust, 1874, and with the description of the smaller instruments, the great refractor being reserved for a future volume. Meteorological observations taken on Mount Hamilton from 1880 to 1885, and reduction tables for the Observatory occupy a large part of the volume. Amongst the most interesting reports are those of Prof. Newcomb, on the glass for the great objective; of Mr. Burnham, on Mount Hamilton as an observing station; and of Prof. Todd, on the transit of Venus, 1882. A report on the structure of the mountain is also given by Profs. Irving and Jackson.

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1888 MAY 13-19.

Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24,

At Greenwich on May 13

Sun rises, 4h. 12m.; souths, 11h. 56m. 9'7s. ; sets, 19h. 40m. : right asc. on meridian, 3h. 22'8m.; decl. 18° 34' N. Sidereal Time at Sunset, 11h. 8m.

Moon (at First Quarter May 18, 23h.) rises, 5h. 58m. ; souths, 13h. 54m. ; sets, 21h. 57m. : right asc. on meridian, 5h. 21 2m.; decl. 19° 46′ N.

1536 Jupiter.... 20 21*... Saturn... 8 51 16 47 Uranus 15 44 21 23

...

3 3 2*

4 55

Right asc. and declination

h.

on meridian.

m.

3.34.8 2 20.6 12 46'9

16 32

Neptune.. 4 41

...

O 43*. 8 14'5 32... 12 24 20 7

...

..

...

12 515

350'7 18 28 N.

...

The brightness at discovery is taken as unity.

CINCINNATI ZONE CATALOGUE.--No. 9 of the Publications of the Cincinnati Observatory contains a zone catalogue of 4050 stars observed during 1885, 1886, and the early part of 1887 with the 3-inch transit instrument of the Observatory, made by Buff and Berger. The region covered by the zones is from S. Decl. 18° 50' to S. Decl. 22° 20', most of the stars down to mag. 8.5 having been observed, besides a considerable number of fainter ones. A low power was employed, so as to give a field of 50' in breadth, and as the zones were taken 15' apart, each star was thus usually observed in three zones. The R.A.'s were deduced from transits, recorded on a chronograph, over a system of five vertical wires; the declinations, from bisections by a micrometer wire, two readings being taken for each star whenever practicable. The probable error of a single observation was found to be R. A. ±o'123s., Decl. 184, the observations being a little rougher than could have been desired, in consequence of the low magnifying power used. An important portion of the work has been the comparison of the resulting places with those for the same stars in earlier catalogues, and a considerable number of errata in Lalande's, LaA list of mont's, and other catalogues have been detected.

Mag.

...

15 61 Geminorum.. 6 16 d' Cancri...

Star.

22

...

...

6

...

Disap.

h. m.

Reap.

h. m.

Corresponding angles from ver. tex to right for inverted image.

21 48 near approach

23 5 23 45

67 o N.

17 10'9

...

29 35 S.

33 14 N.

43 48 N.

O 43 N.

44 53 N.

22 250... 57 51 N.

M signifies maximum; m minimum.

Meteor Showers.
R.A. Decl.