The apparatus is, we are informed, being largely fitted in the Royal Navy and in the Merchant Service, and is finding its way gradually. We never say much as to an invention of this sort until it has passed the ordeal of the Board of Trade and emigration survey. When it has done that, we shall be ready to speak about it more at length. In the meantime, we may say, in justice to the inventors, that Captain Nares, R.N., of H.M.S. Challenger, Admiral Sir Spencer Robinson, Captain Halpin, of the Great Eastern, and others, not omitting "Mr. E. J. Reed, C.B., and a master-shipbuilder in Wales," speak highly of it. The hook possesses great merit. It is a most ingenious method, by which, notwithstanding that the strain is taken off the tackle at one end of the boat, the hook attached to it is not released. That seems to have been the great problem to be solved after having invented the hook. The arrangement of the hook, for the purpose of delivering parcels on railway platforms, is perfect. As long as the strain is on it will not unhook, but the instant the parcel touches the platform, and the strain is taken off, it will unhook, and by no possibility can it re-hook. That being so, it would seem at first sight that it possessed all that is wanted for disengaging a boat; but then, the objection arises that the boat is attached by two hooks, which must let go their hold simultaneously; but if the weight of the boat be taken off at one end and not at the other, the hook at the end which is buoyed up is to retain its hold. Notwithstanding that the weight is taken off the tackle at the fore end, the strain that is put on the horizontal line, as long as the weight remains on this tackle at the after end, is enough to keep the fore hook on, and in the same way, if the weight be taken off at the after end, while it is left on at the fore end, the line answers to keep the after-hook fast. Therefore, it is not until the strain is taken off both tackles, by the boat being waterborne, that the two hooks disengage; and then they disengage in the same way as the single hook disengages when it is used for ordinary railway purposes. At the time the boat unhooks itself it is impossible for the hooks to re-engage. The arrangements admit of the use of ordinary block and fall tackles worked from the deck. This arrangement is, we are informed, being fitted in the Guion line of steamers. NOTES ON THE METEOROLOGY OF VANCOUVER ISLAND. By ROBт. H. SCOTT, F.R.S. [Read before the Meteorological Society, June 18, 1873.] THE observations on which the following notes are based have been chiefly derived from the Registers kept on board H.M.S. Plumper and Hecate, when engaged in the Survey of the Western Coast of British North America, under the command of Captain, now RearAdmiral G. H. Richards, C.B., during the years 1857 to 1863, and from Registers kept by Captain J. Trivett, on various voyages. The tract from which the observations which have been extracted have been collected is bounded by the parallels of 30° and 52°, and stretches out to seaward as far as the meridian of 140° W., while the coast trends in a south-easterly direction from about 130° W., in 55° N. to about 116° W. in 30° N. These limits, however, give a very imperfect idea of the actual area for which a really satisfactory amount of information is presented to us, and which is confined to the subsquare known to meteorologists as 157 c, extending in latitude from 45° to 50° N., and in longitude from 120° to 125 W. These comparatively narrow limits comprise the most practically important part of the coast, as within them are situated the Fuca Straits, with the harbours of Esquimalt and Victoria, and a considerable stretch of the coast line of the United States, south of Cape Flattery, as far as Cape Foulweather. Although we have, in the Meteorological Office, deduced mean values for all the elements given in the registers for the whole region, I do not consider it advisable to lay before the Society the data for any of the other subsquares, except 193 b, which lies along the coast immediately to the northward of 157 c,and reaches nearly to Sitka. The number of observations for any single element for any month bears a very low proportion to that available for subsquare 157 c, for which the means have been calculated in every month from about 250 sets of observations. In no other subsquare, except 193 b, are there, except in three single instances, all in one square, even as much as one-fifth of the above number of observations available. It is evident that such means as have just been mentioned can carry hardly any weight; and from their frequent disagreement from the comparatively well-established means for square 157 c, it appears that the observations were often taken under exceptional conditions of weather, and that they cannot be regarded as in any way representing the normal meteorology of the district. The barometrical and thermometrical means have been deduced from the simple average of the readings at 4 a.m., noon, and 8 p.m., as was the case with the data published for Cape Horn.* As regards the temperature, it will be remembered that the data for this element obtained on board ship must necessarily differ essentially from that which would be yielded by observations taken on shore, owing to the impossibility of obtaining an exposure for the thermometers in any way fulfilling the conditions required for a thermometer screen on land. The monthly march of the barometer gives a curve which is rather irregular, showing a maximum in December, and two secondary maxima in April and July. The minimum is in March; and it is only in the three months of February, March, and June, that the mean is below 30 inches. The figures do not show much correspondence with those "Contributions as to our knowledge of the Meteorology of Cape Horn and the West Coast of South America." Published by authority of the Meteorological Committee. London: Stanford, 1871. Price 2s. 6d. |