Images Dated 6th September 2004

A storm approaches West Palm Beach, Florida from the East after hurricane Frances hit yesterday

A storm approaches West Palm Beach, Florida from the East after hurricane Frances hit yesterday. Severe thunderstorms have been hitting South Florida all day today, September 6, 2004. Frances hit Florida for a second time on Monday, weaker but still bearing torrential rains and high winds as it crossed from the Gulf of Mexico onto the northwestern Panhandle. A huge and slow-moving storm, Frances lumbered into the state's east coast as a hurricane on Saturday and in two days cut power to more than 6 million people, disrupted telephone services, felled trees, damaged homes and smashed boats. State emergency management officials blamed three Florida deaths on Frances - a woman killed when a tree fell on her mobile home, a man killed when his car crashed on a rain-slick road and an 81-year-old man who suffered a fatal fall while walking his dog during the storm. REUTERS/Marc Serota NO RIGHTS CLEARANCES OR PERMISSIONS ARE REQUIRED FOR THIS IMAGE JDP/ - RP5DRHYXKRAB

Pneumatic tubes, 19th century

Pneumatic tubes. Historical artwork of a pneumatic messaging system at the Paris Post Office, France, in the 19th century. The tubes seen here are the start and end of a network of tubes along which messages are propelled by air differentials. This air differential is created using air compressors and a system of valves (operated using the wheels seen here). Speeds of around 40 kilometres an hour were possible. Pneumatic systems were first built to transmit telegraph messages to stock exchanges (London, 1853). The Paris system started in 1866, and covered most of the city by 1884. The system was closed in 1984. From La Telegraphie Historique (Alexis Belloc, 1888)

© SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Lavoisier making water

Lavoisier making water. Historical artwork of the French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743- 1794) conducting his 1783 experiment on water. The two cylinders (grey, right and left) hold oxygen and hydrogen. The static electricity generator at lower right supplies the energy for producing the sparks in the spherical glass reaction vessel (the flask at centre). The oxygen and hydrogen gases are piped into the flask and the spark causes the hydrogen to burn in the oxygen (combustion). The product of the reaction is water, proving water to be a compound of hydrogen and oxygen. Lavoisier is considered the founder of modern chemistry. From Physique Populaire (E. Desbeaux, 1891)

© SHEILA TERRY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY