OR Ree Soe ie pee! is eeciangs 2 - om see x = ; ee nee one = : Soe Soe SSE 3 ss Stee : : : Bosses a Z - r 2 - x arene ee Se nee rare sna onan sas ee ws Aanarh’ f a4 Pr i fr f AINA NAR VN me W APN FN ad Be poh fae ss DAA nA) e be ma Y Wi a ~ A r S\N Xi -" UW aN PN ARAAA A) as Ny WAIL ma Be, {i —lalavan anhr rn NallaAlalatstala VAAAA A A Ary A A A A ARAa AAA aaa AVG ARAP AAA a A A aa {NS A A AAR OE a ‘AA aN A A bod him fee 4. AAA ~ VAN A VW A AN an alalalaa AARAAA A f~ AA AAA aa Ba. ‘A Ar A A Cc OSs - CE ELC € CE ET CE KK CEC CO CEE CEC K Cee EC KE GCE EO LOL EEE CCG CE a hE OCR CK CS mY =... \ ce Cex . &G CCE X Ke & << lan A AR Bal Ania’ p A A A 6 A AN A A A a a ~ i aa ARAAARA aN ax ani ins ae AAR na AINA Pr PX la AAA PAA An ey) AAA NAA A Q A Ale A A -\ Nature A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE Nature A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE VOLUME XXXV NOVEMBER 1886 to APRIL _ 1887 “ To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.” —WORDSWORTH Fondon and Hety Pork NEAvG M Tin AN, AND: €.0. 1887 RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LONDON AND BUNGAY. Nature, June 9, 1887] INDEX ABBADIE (Antoine d’), Lightning-Flashes, 342 Abbe (Prof. Cleveland): Influence of Wind on Barometric Readings, 29; Corrections to Refraction-Tables, 134; Obituary Notice of William Babcock Hazen, 541 Abel, the Mathematician, Statue in Honour of, 352 Abel (Sir Fred., F.R.S.), Work of the Imperial Institute, 617 Abercromby (Hon. R.): on the Peculiar Sunrise Shadows of Adam’s Peak, 94; on the Relation between Tropical and Extra-Tropical Cyclones, 430; an Equatorial Zone of almost Perpetual Electrical Discharge, 487 ; Modern Developments of Cloud Knowledge, 575 Aberdeen, Stone Circles near, 503 Aberration, New Method of determining the Constants of, M. Leewy, 263, 282, 407, 424, 431, 454, 479; M. Houzeau, 377 Aberration of Light, Phenomena connected with, 575 Abney (Capt. W. de W., F.R.S.), Sunlight Colours, 498 Abnormal-Toed Cats, Heredity in, William White, 125; E. W. Claypole, 345; Dr. H. A. Hagen, 345; J. Herbert Hodd, 53° Abnormal Aivudo medicinalis, an, R. J. Harvey Gibson, 392 Abnormalities in the Vertebral Column of the Common Frog, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 53 Abnormality in the Urostyle of the Common Frog, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 344 Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte’s Island, Dr. W. J. Hoffman, 285 Abrahall (Rev. John Hoskyns-), Meteors, 29 -Acclimatisation of Flat-fish in American Waters, 473 Accumulators,, Complete Hand-book on the Management of, Sir David Salomons, 603 Acetonuria in Children, 551 Acland (Dr., F.R.S.), Address to the General Medical Council, 375 Acoustics, Hand-book of, T. E. Harris, 270 Actinometric Observations, 263 Action, Instinctive, 392 Adams (Prof. J. C., F.R.S.), Values of Logarithms, 381 Adam’s Peak, on the Peculiar Sunrise Shadows, Hon. R. Abercromby, 94 Adelaide University, Sir W. W. Heughes’s Contribution to the, 255 Aden, Earthquakes at, 593 Aérated Water, on some Phenomena connected with the Freez- ing of, George Maw, 325 Aérial Eddies, Experiments on, 382 Aérial Vortices, 551 Aérial Vortices and Revolving Spheres, Experiments on, Ch. Weyher, 514 Affinity, Residual, Valency and, Prof. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 570, 596 Afghan Delimitation Commission: Botany of the, W. Botting Hemsley, 173 ; Geographical Results achieved by the Survey Officers in the, 309 ; Fauna and Flora of the, J. E. T. Aitchi- son, 381 Africa: Don Manuel Ivadier’s Explorations in Africa, 182; Return of the Portuguese African Expedition, 182 ; Botany of South, 158; Study of the Coasts of North, Dr. Theobald Fischer, 353; Dr. Lenz’s Map of the Congo, 354; Pygmy Tribes in, 497 ; My African Home, Eliza Whigham Feilden, 221 Aino Hairiness and the Urvolk of Japan, F. V. Dickins, 534 Air, the Coefficient of Viscosity of, Herbert Tomlinson, 165 Air, Compressed, Transmission of Power by, 272 Air, Resistance of, Dr. Thiesen, 408 Air, Movements of the, M. Ch. Weyher, 431 Air, some New Micro-organisms obtained from, G. C. Frank- land and Dr. Percy F. Frankland, 477 Air-free Column of Water, Cohesion of an, Prof. Helmholtz, 456 Airy (Sir G. B., F.R.S.): on the Earlier Tripos of the University of Cambridge, 397; on the Establishment of the Roman Dominion in South-East Britain, 562 Aitchison (J. E. T.), Fauna and Flora of the Afghan Boundary, 381 Alaska and the Seal Islands, an Arctic Province, Henry W. Elliott, 243 Alaska, Alpine Region of, Lieut. H. Seton-Karr, 475 Albumen-precipitate with Salt, 455 Albumen, Serous, Prof. Kronecker on, 504 Albuminous Substances, Alimentary Values of Various, Prof. Zuntz, 480 Alcock (Surgeon-Major Nathl.), Life-Energy, or the Dynamics of Health and Disease, 366 Alcohol, How to make Colourless Specimens of Plants to be preserved in, Prof. Hugo de Vries, 149 ; Selmer Schonland, 173 Alcokol, Effect of, on Metastasis in Man, 383 Alcohol, Clausius’s Characteristic Equation for Substances applied to Messrs. Ramsay and Young’s Experiments on, Prof. Fitzgerald, 574 Alcyonaria and Pennatulee at the Arago Laboratory, 431 Alexander (Prof. W. D.), Kilauea after the Eruption of March 1886, 451 Algze, Classification of the, and Genetic Affinities, Alfred W. Bennett, 478 Algebraic Forms with # Variables, on the Theory, M. R. Perrin, 335 Algebraic Notation of Kinship, Prof. Alex. Macfarlane, 126 Algeria, Artesian Wells in, M. de Lesseps, 287, 336 Algiers Observatory, the, 16 vil Algol-Type Variable, the New, Mr. Chandler, 329 Alimentary Values of Various Albuminous Substances, Prof. Zuntz, 480 Alkaline Solutions, Electrolysis of, M. Duter, 382 Alkaline Vanadates, Study of the, M. A. Ditte, 600 Allen (Alfred H.), Commercial Organic Analysis, Dr. C. R. Alder Wright, 293 Alloys, Moduli of, 333 Alloys, Colours of Metals and, Prof. W. Chandler Roberts- Austen, F.R.S., 106 Alpine Flora surviving in the Paris District, 431 Alpine Region of Alaska, Lieut. H. Seton-Karr, 475 Alpine Winter and its Medical Aspects, A. Tucker Wise, 170 Alps, Australian, on some Further Evidence of Glaciation in the, James Stirling, 182 Altai Mountains, an Ice Period in the, E. Michaelis, 149; A. Bialoveski, 513 Alumina, Red Fluorescence of, 455, 527; Crimson Line of Phosphorescent, William Crookes, F.R.S., 310 Amateurs, Practical Dynamo-Building for, Fred. W. Walker, 204 America: American Journal of Science, 16, 93, 141, 237, 350, 451, 524, 621; American Journal of Mathematics, 28, 99, 477; Early Chinese Intercourse with America, Dr. W. H. Dall, 58 ; Industrial and High Art Education in the United States, J. Edwards Clarke, W. Odell, 97; Education of Women in, 229; American Society for Psychical Research, 281 ; Present Position of Science in the Secondary Schools of America, Pres. Eliot, 375 ; American Meteorological Journal, 376, 568; American Journal of Psychology, 400 ; American Association for the Advancement of Science, 444 ; Acclimatisation of Flat-fish in American Waters, 473; Prehistoric Remains in America, 476 ; American Geographi- cal Society, 497; American Naturalist, 518; American Whitefish (Coregonus albus) at Burghley Park, 546; Restocking Streams in America, 546; American Exhibition, 612. See also United States. Amides, Decomposition of, by Water and the Diluted Acids, 144 Ammonia, Caseine-like Substance obtained by the Addition of Hydrogen-Peroxide to White of Eggs, heated with, 576 Ammoniacal Decomposition of Urine, Dr. W. R. Smith, 404 Ammoniaco-Magnesian Phosphate, M. Berthelot, 119 Anatomical Society of Berlin, 517 Anatomy, Comparative, of Vertebrates, Robert Wiedersheim, W. Newton Parker, 121 Anatomy of the Madreporian Coral Fungia, G. C. Bourne, 404 Anatomy, a Work on, in Chinese, 568 Ancient History, Studies in, comprising a Reprint of ‘‘ Primi- tive Marriage,” J. Ferguson McLennan, Dr. W. Robertson Smith, 3 Ancient Monuments Act, 518 Anderson (\W.), on the Conversion of Heat into Work, 387 Andree (Herr Richard), Cannibalism and its Prevalence in Ancient and Modern Times, 350 Andrews (Thos.), Pyrometers and Fusion-Points, 224 Andromedes, the, November 27, 1886, P. F. Denza, 231 ngstrom (Knut), Sur une nouvelle Méthode de faire des Mesures absolues de la Chaleur rayonnante, 580 Anhydrous Oxides, on the Action of the Chloride of Carbon on the, M. Eug. Demarcay, 288 Animal Heat, Action of Glycose in Development of, A. Chauyeau, 291 Animal Life, Apparatus for studying the Influence of Pressure on, 444 Animal Mechanics, Dr. B. W. Richardson, F.R.S., 57 Animal Organism, Respecting the Active Oxygen in the, Dr. Gad, Dr. Wurster, 383 Animals, Wild, Photographed and Described, J. Fortuné Nott, 220 Animals, Geographical and Geological Distribution of, Angelo Heilprin, 510 Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 333 Annales de |’Institut Pasteur, 376 Annam, Notes on, 206 Annuaire of the Royal Observatory of Brussels, 351 Antananarivo Annual and Madagascar Magazine, 497 Antarctic Ocean, on the Distribution of the Temperature in the, J. Y. Buchanan, 516 INDEX [Wature, June 9, 1887 Antedon rosacea, the Supposed Myzostoma-Cysts in, Dr. P. Herbert Carpenter, F.R.S., 535 Anthropoid Apes, 383 ; Embryogeny of the, J. Deniker, 509 Anthropology: Horatio Hale on the Origin of Language and the Antiquity of Speaking Man, 17; Dr. Colin on the Popu- lation of Bambouk, 22; M, Topinard on the Simian Cha- racters of the Naulette Jaw, 22; M. de Quatrefages on Pre- historic Man, 23 ; M. Cartailhac, on the Human Bones found in France in Quaternary Caverns, 23; Anthropological Insti- tute, 95, 143, 358, 431, 453, 503; Journal of the, 422; Les Ages Préhistoriques de l’Espagne et du Portugal, Emile Cartailhac, 244; Anthropological Society of Bombay, 328 ; General Pitt- Rivers’s Anthropological Collection at Oxford University Museum, 349; Observations in Anthropology, by Dr. Ten Kate, 357; Revue d’Anthropologie, 357; Sociology of the Australian Races, 357; Anthropological Discovery in the Valley of Rebas, Prof. Miguel Marazta, 379; Histoire Générale des Races Humaines, A. de Quatrefages, 389 ; Anthropological Find in Belgium, 405 ; Ethnological Collection presented by Lieut. Quedenfeldt to the Anthropological Society of Berlin, 423 ; French Translation of Czesar Lumbroso’s “‘ Uomo Delin- quanti,” 423 Antifebrine, Dr. Weill, 445 Antimony, Tartrate of, M. Guntz, 528 Anti-Phylloxeric Disinfection of the Grape Vine, 382 Antiquities of Spain and Portugal, M. Emile Cartailhac, 244 Antituberculous Vaccination, 144 Ants, Habits of, Sir John Lubbock, 518 Apes: an Anthropoid Ape, 383; Embryogeny of the, J. Deniker, 509; the Lumbar Curve in Man and Apes, Prof. Cunningham, 46 ; Domestication of Apes, 495 Aphides, Notes on the Recent Swarming of, G. B. Buckton, F.R.Si; 25 Apochromatic Lenses, the Value of the New, 467 Appalachia, 354 April Meteors, W. F. Denning, 606 Aquarium constructed for the Fisheries Exhibition, Sale of, 306 Aquila, Lower Italy, Earthquake Shock in, 350, 376 Arabia, South, Herr Glaser’s Journeys in, 520 Arago (Francois), Proposed Statue of, $4 Arago Laboratory, Flourishing Condition of the Alcyonaria and Pennatulz at, 431 Arcetri, Observations of Nebulz at, Wilhelm Tempel, 198 Architects, Naval, Institution of, 538 Arctic Province, an, Alaska and the Seal Islands, Henry W. Elliott, 243 Arctic Species of Birds, Henry Seebohm on, 256 Ardtun Leaf-beds, J. Starkie Gardner, 382 Argentine General Catalogue of Stars, 113 Arithmetic, Chemical, Sydney Lupton, 74 Armagh Catalogue of 3300 Stars, Second, 159 Armstrong (Prof. Henry E., F.R.S.) : on the Nature of Solution, 64; Benzenoid Compounds, 407; Valency and Residual Affinity, 570, 596 Army Candidates, Geometrical Drawing for, H. T. Lilley, 28 Aroids, Walter Gardiner on, 454 Aroko or Symbolic Letters, Specimens of, 422 , Aromatic Bodies, Preliminary Communication on the Action of certain, T. Lauder Brunton, M.D., F.R.S., and J. Theodore Cash, 599 Aron (Dr.), Theory of the Inductionless Coils, 383 Arrow-Release, Ancient and Modern Methods of, Edward S. Morse, 12 Art and Science in a New Light, 250 Artesian Well, Attempt to sink an, to obtain Hot Water at St. Augustine, Florida, 376 Artesian Wells in Algeria, M. de Lesseps, Artesian Wells and New Oases created in Algeria, 336 Asamayama, the Active Volcano in Japan, 133 Ashes of Cider, on the Composition of the, 382 Asia, Central; Central Asian Commercial Company Koudrine in, 258; A. D. Carey’s Journey in, 475 ; Journeys and Dis- coveries in, 547 Asia, Russian Central, Proposed Administrative Changes in, 258 Asiatic Society of Bengal, 474 Asiatic Society, Calcutta, Annual Address to, 375 Asiatic Symbolism, Study of, H. G. M. Murray-Aynsley, 327 287 the Wed Rir’, South Aspects of Clouds, Robert James Reilly, 391 Nature, June 9, 1£57] INDEX vil Assam, History of the Province of, during the last Fifty Years, 422 Association’s ‘‘ Geometry,” the, Prof. Geo. Bruce Halsted, 557 Asteroids, Comets and, Prof. Daniel Kirkwood, 474 Astigmatism in the Eye, Influence of, on Astronomical Observa- tions, Prof. Seeliger, 59 Astronomy: Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice Age, W. H. S. Monck, 7; Sir Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., 53; Rev. E. Hill, ror; Astronomical Refractions, Herr Oppolzer’s, 17 ; Binary Star y Corone Australis, H. C. Wilson, 17 ; Binary Star § Equulei, 401 ; Temple Observatory, 4o1 ; Brightness and Mass of Binary Stars, W. H. S. Monck, 402; Astro- nomical Column, 17, 37, 59, 85, 113, 134, 159, 181, 206, 231, 257, 282, 307, 329, 352, 377, 401, 424, 445, 474, 496, 546, 569, 595, 614; Astronomical Phenomena for the Week, 18, 37; 59, 86, 113, 135; 160, 181, 207, 232, 258, 283, 308, 339, 353, 378, 402, 425, 446, 474, 497, 520, 546, 595, 614; Habenicht on the Morphology of the Kosmos, 35; the Leander McCormick Observatory, 35; New Map of the Moon, 58; Influence of Astigmatism in the Eye on Astro- nomical Observations, Prof. Seeliger, 59; Gould’s Astro- nomical Journal, 59; Ten Years’ Progress in Astronomy, Prof. C. A. Young, 67, 86, 117; Spectroscopic Method of Determining the Distance of a Double Star, A. A. Rambaut, 206; Comet Barnard (1886 f), 207; T. W. Backhouse, 224; Prof. A. Riccd, 296; Discovery of a New Comet (Barnard 2), 402; Comet Barnard (1887 c), Prof. S. Weiss, 352; Dr. H. Oppenheim, 424; Comet 1887 d (Barnard, February 15), Prof. Boss, 424,'446 ; Names of Minor Planets, 207, 402; New Minor Planet, Prof. C. H. F. Peters, 282 ; Observations of the Minor Planets, 312; Minor Planet No. 264, 353; Minor Planet No. 265, M. Bigourdan, 474 ; New Minor Planet, Herr Palisa, 425 ; Comet Finlay (1886 e), Dr. J. Holetschek, 207 ; Meteor, 224; Meteor of December 28, 1886, W. F. Denning, 248 ; the Andromedes, November 27, 1886, P. F. Denza, 231 ; Reduction of the Positions of Close Polar Stars from one Epoch to another, Prof. W. A. Rogers and Miss Anna Winlock, 231 ; Six Inner Satellites of Saturn, Prof. Asaph Hall, 257; Stellar Parallax, Prof. Asaph Hall, 258; Bright Lines in Stellar Spectra, O. T. Sherman, 378 ; Astronomical Prizes of the Paris Academy of Sciences, 258 ; Madras Observatory, Mr. Pogson, 282 ; New Method for the Deterinination of the Constant of Aberration, M. Leewy, 282, 424, 431; M. Houzeau, 377; New Variables in Cygnus, Dr. Gould, 282 ; New Variables, S. C. Chandler, 307 ; the New Algol-Type Variable, Mr. Chandler, 329; Gore’s Variable near x! Orionis, Dr. G. Miiller, 329 ; Probable New Variable, 402 ; Three New Comets, 307; Washington Observatory, 308; Revue Mensuelle d’Astronomie populaire de Météorologie, et de Physique du Globe, 310 ; Photography the Servant of Astro- nomy, Edward S. Holden, 317; Progress of Astronomical Photography, 321 ; the Southern Comet, 329, 438; a Short Method for Computing Refractions, M. Schaeberle, 329 ; Celestial Motions, W. T. Lynn, 350 ; Comet Brooks (1887 4), Dr. Rud. Spitaler, 352, 424, 496 ; Minor Planet No. 262, 497 ; Harvard College Observatory, 497; Mr. Peek’s Report on Rousdon Observatory, 353: Application of Photography to the Determination of Stellar Parallax, Prof. Pritchard, 377; Alleged Ancient Red Colour of Sirius, Mr. Lynn, 378; Observations of Variable Stars in 1885, Edward Sawyer, 378 ; Note on the Origin of Comets, 381 ; Harvard College Observatory, Prof. Pickering, 424; Solar Activity in 1886, Prof. Tacchini, 445 ; Warner Observatory, Lewis Swift, 446 ; Tails of the Comets of 1886, Prof. Th. Bredichin, 474 ; Comets and Asteroids, Prof. Daniel Kirkwood, 474; Paris Astronomical Congress, 584; Homeric Astronomy, A. M. Clerke, 585, 607; U.S. Naval Observatory, 595 ; Researches on the Sun’s Diameter, Prof. Di Legge, 595; Liverpool Astronomical Society, 402; Telegraphic Determination of Australian Longitudes, 474 ; Researches on the Diameter of the Sun, Herr Auwers, 496 ; the Parallax of = 1516, M. O, Struve, 546; Baron D’Engelhardt’s Observatory, 546; New Red Star, 546 ; Orbit of the Binary Star 14 (¢) Orionis, J. E. Gore, 569 ; Washington Observatory, Capt. R. L. Phythian, 569 ; Names of Minor Planets, 569; Barnard’s First and Second Comets 1887, 614; ProbablejRe-discovery of Hesperia, 614; Ellipticity of Uranus, 614; Washington Observatory, 614; Paris Conference, 614 Atkinson (W. N. and J. B.), Explosions in Coal-Mines, Prof. TE, Thorpe, F.R.S., 1 Atlantic Weather Charts, 469 Atlantic, Purity of the Air of, 595 Atlantica, Spolia, 603 Atom, Electric Charge on the, A. P. Laurie, 131 Atomic Weights of Elements, 612 Atmosphiare, Grundziige einer Theorie der kosmischen Atmo- spharen mit Beriicksichtigung der irdischen, 389 Atmosphere, New Method for Quantitative Estimation of Micro-organisms in, Dr. P. F. Frankland, 188 Atmosphere, on the Direct Fixation of the Gaseous Nitrogen of the, by Vegetable Soils, M. Berthelot, 335 Atmosphere, Direct Fixation of the Gaseous Nitrogen of the, 479 Atmosphere of 6 Lyre, O. T. Sherman, 451 Atmosphere, Movements of the, 479; M. Faye, 455 Atmospheric Movements in Connection with Colladon and Lasne’s Cyclonic Theories, 527 Atmospheric Oxidation, Note on the Development of Voltaic Electricity by, C. R. Alder Wright, F.R.S., 598 Atmospheric Temperature in Germany, 504 Auk, the, 204 Aurora, Prof. F. Hahn, 8; Dr. M. A. Veeder, 54, 126, 272 Aurora Borealis: Display of, at Throndhjem in Norway, 1123 M. S. Lemstrém, A. M. Clerke, 433 ; in Northern Sweden, 443 Australia: Australian Earthworms, J. J. Fletcher, 95 ; on some Further Evidence of Glaciation in the Australian Alps, James Stirling, 182; the Gould Collection of Australian Birds at Philadelphia, 204; Native Plants of Australia, 205; Baron von Mueller, on the Acacias (Wattles) of, 282 ; Sociology of the Australian Races, 357 ; Manual of Physical Geography of Australia, H. Beresford de la Poer Wall, 389 ; Bee-hives dis- covered in a Gigantic Eucalyptus-Tree in, 423 ; Relief of the Australian Mediterranean, Dr. Otto Kriimmel, 447; Tele- graphic Determinations of Australian Longitudes, 474; Cata- logue of Minerals in the Australian Museum, 485 ; Australian Rabbit, 569 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 228 Austria, Ice Cavern in, Discovery of, 17 Autographometer, Floran de Villepigne, 444 Autumnal Flowering, Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, I1 Avifauna of the Western Spur of the Pamir Plateau, V. Bianchi, 328 Awaruite, Oktibehite or, Dr. Jas. Hector, F.R.S., 513 Axolotl, the, 2 stcco, 16 Ayrton (Prof. W. E.) and Prof. John Perry, Experiment to show that Capacity varies inversely as a Thickness of the Dielectric, 526; Noteon Magnetic Resistance, 526 ; Practical Electricity, 601 Azines, New Method of producing, 384 Babington (Dr. Churchill), Birds of Suffolk, 193 Bacillus, Luminous, 383 Bacillus, Swamp Fever and, 405 Backhouse (T. W.), Barnard’s Comet, 54, 224 Backlund (Herr), Mass of Mercury, 85 Bacteria, on Staining, 404 Baert (Lieut.), Journey up the Mongalla, 446 Baginski (Dr. A.), Acetonuria in Children, 551 Bagshot Bedsof the London Basin, Physical History of, Rev. A. Irving, 382 Bahamas, a Balanoglossus Larva fram the, W. F. R. Weldon, 477 Bailey (E. H. S.), and Edward L. Nichols, the Sense of Smell, 74 Bailey-Denton (T.), Ten Years’ Experience in Works of Inter- mittent Downward Filtration, 195 ; Baird’s (Prof.) Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution, 342 Baker (J. G.), Flora of Leicestershire including the Cryptogams, 4II t Baku, Outburst of Natural Naphtha Fountain at, 352 Balanoglossus Larva from the Bahamas, a, W. F. R. Weldon, 477 Baldness in the United States, 595 Balfour (Prof. Bayley): Botanical Lecture Experiment, 126; Ginger-Beer Plant, 358 } Ball (John, F.R.S.), Notes of a Naturalist in South America, 529; 553 Vili INDEX [Wature, June 9, 1887 Ball (Sir Robert S., F.R.S.), Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice Age, 53 Ballistic Galvanometer and Earth Inductor, Determination of Coefficients of Mutual Induction by means of the, R. H. M. Bosanquet, 478 Ballooning, War and, Eric S. Bruce, 259 Banbury, Remarkable Meteor near, 58 Bareggi (Dr.), Experiment on Rabies, 422 Barley, Examination of Specimens of Injured, Miss Ormerod’s Observations on, 256 Barnaby (Sir Nathaniel), on the Connexion between the Royal Navy and the Merchant Service, 538 Barnard, Comets, 59; T. W. Backhouse, 54, 224; Prof. Cacciatore, 181; Dr. Wentworth Frck, 198; at Perihelion, Prof. A. Riccd, 296; Comet (1886 f), 207 ; Dr. Oppenheim, 85; Dr. Aug. Svedstrup, 134; Comet (1887 c), Prof. E. Weiss, 352; Dr. H. Oppenheim, 424 ; Comet (1887 @), Prof. Boss, 424, 446; (Barnard 2), Discovery of a New Comet, 402; Second Comet, John I. Plummer on, 583; Barnard’s First and Second Comets 1887, 614 Barnard and Finlay, Comets, 17 Barograph, Dr. Sprung, 456 Barometer, on the Determination of the Air in the Vacuum of the, Dr. Pernet, 72 Barometer free of Air, New Method of Filling, 432 Barometers, Comparison of, Dr. Pernet, 600 Barometric Readings, Low, Henry F. Blanford, 344 Barometric Readings, Influence of Wind on, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 29; G. J. Symonds, F.R.S., 53 Barrett (Prof. W. F.), Physical Properties of Manganese Steel, 311 Batavia, Zoological Station at, 376 Bateson (Anna) and Prof. Francis Darwin, F.R.S., on the Effect of certain Stimuli on Vegetable Tissues, 429 Bathy-orographical Chart of the Clyde Sea-Area, 334 Batten (Dr. Rayner W.), Physical Training of Girls, 495 Battery, Water, Henry A. Rowland, 452 Bauxite Deposits in the South-East of France, on the Age of the, 383; M. L. Collot, 288 Beam-Trawling, Fishery Board of Scotland and, 257 Beaumont (W. Worby), Sounding a Crater, Fusion-Points, Pyrometers, and Seismometers, 296 Beaver stated to be extinct in Northern Norway, 112 Beckley (Mrs. E. M.), Hawaiian Fishing-Implements and Methods of Fishing, 327 Béclard (Prof.), Statistics of the Number of Female Medical Students in Paris, 306 ; Death of, 375 Becquerel (Edmond), Action of Manganese on Phosphorescent Quality of Carbonate of Lime, 168 Beds of Chert in the Carboniferous Limestone of Yorkshire, on the Character of the, Geo. J. Hinde, 582 Bee, Cell of the Honey-, Geometrical Construction, Prof. H. Hennessy, F.R.S., 502 Bee-hives discovered in a Gigantic Eucalyptus-Tree in Australia, 423 Beeby (W. H.), Flora of Shetland, 474 Beetle in Motion, the, 29; Prof. C. Wilkins, 414 Beetroot, on the Destruction of Nematodes, 455 Beetroot-Sugar, Production of, in the U.S., 351 Begonia Vettchii, Abnormal, 430 Beira Alta, Earthquake in District of, 59 Belgium, Ornithological Observations in, 423 Bell (Louis), on the Absolute Wave-length of Light, 524 Belladonna and Opium, Action of, in a Case of Acute Diabetes, 407 Bengal, Eastern, Letters on Sport in, Frank B, Simson, 388 Bengalis, Use of, in the Geological Survey of India, H. B. Medlicott, 472 Ben Nevis Observatory, 517; Amount of the Rainfall at, 257 ; Rainband Observations at the, A. Rankin, 588 Benn (T. G.), the Climate of Carlisle, 95 Bennett (Alfred W.), Genetic Affinities and Classification of the Alge, 478 Bentham (Geo., F.R.S.), Hand-book of the British Flora, 341 Bentley (Prof.), Manual of Botany, 350 Benzenoid Compounds, Henry Armstrong, F.R.S., 407 Bérésofsky (M.), MM. Potanin, Skassy, and, Return of, from their Expedition to China and Mongolia, 309 Beri-beri, the Disease, 206 Lloyd Morgan, 7; A. Berlin: Academy of Sciences, Grants for Zoological Research, 473 ; Proceedings of Anthropological Society, 496 : Chemical Society of, 552; Opening of Ethnological Society, 180 ; Geographical Society, 60; Verhandlungen of the, 520; Meteorological Society of, 24, 71, 360, 455 ; Physical Society of, 24, 72, 264, 336, 408, 432, 456, 552, 600; Physiological Society, 264, 383, 455, 480, 504, 551, 576 Bert (Paul) : Obituary Notice of, 54 ; Proposed Memorial of, 84 ; First Year of Scientific Knowledge, 221; One of his Last Letters, 255 Berthelot (M.) : on Ammoniaco-Magnesian Phosphate, 119; on the Direct Fixation of the Gaseous Nitrogen of the Atmosphere by Vegetable Soils, 335 Berthelot and André, the Decomposition of Bicarbonate of Am- monia by Water, and Diffusion of its Components through Atmosphere, 23 Bialoveski (A.), Ice-Period on the Altai Range, 513 Bianchi (V.), the Avifauna of the Western Spurs of the Pamir Plateau, 328 Bicarbonate of Soda, Production of, 624 Bichloride of Copper, Combination of Orthotoluidine and, 383 Bichromate of Soda Cell, 381 Bicycles and Tricycles for the Year 1886, H. H. Griffen, 52 Bidwell (Shelford) : Electrical Resistance of Suspended Copper and Iron Wires, 526; Lecture Experiment in Self-Induction, 526 Bigourdan (M.), Minor Planet No. 265, 474 Bilobites, Striated, 407 Binary Stars : y Coronze Australis, H. C. Wilson, 17; 6 Equulei, 4o1 ; Orbit of the Binary Star 14 (z) Orionis, J. E. Gore, 569 ; Brightness and Mass of Binary Stars, W. H. S. Monck, 402 Biology : Proposed Biological Societies for London and Liver- pool, 180; W. Baldwin Spencer appointed to the Melbourne University Chair of, 280; General Biology, W. T. Sedgwick and Edmund B. Wilson, 413; Injurious Fungi in California, 521; Fertilisation of Cassia marilandica, 521; Variations in the Nerve-Supply of the Lumbricales Muscles in the Hand and Foot, with some Observations on the Perforating Flexors, 521 ; Biological Notes, 521 ; Elementary Practical Biology— Vegetable, Thos. W. Shore, 556 Birch (G. J.), on a Perspective Microscope, 358 Bird (Charles), Lecture Notes and Problems on Sound, Light, and Heat, 52 Birds : Siberian, presented by Mr. Seebohm to Natural History Museum, 15: Dispersion of Plants by Birds, D. Morris, 151 ; Birds of Suffolk, Dr. Churchill Babington, 193 ; the Gould Collection of Australian Birds at Philadelphia, 204; the Birds of Central Asia, 204; Types of Birds in the Vienna Natural History Museum, 204; Arctic Species of, Henry Seebohm on, 256; Morphology of, Prof. W. K. Parker, F.R.S., 3313 Mechanism of the Flight of Birds, studied by Chrono- photography, M. Marey, 335 ; Morphology of the Wings of, 599; Movement of a Bird’s Wing, represented according to the Three Dimensions of Space, M. Marey, 382; Birds’ Nests and Eggs, H. Seebohm, 236 Birmingham, Mason Science College, 494 Birnbaum (Dr.), Death of, 444 Birth-rate, on the Decline of, in France, 357 Bischoffsheim Observatory, the Great Refracting Telescope of the, 84 Bishop’s Ring in Colorado, Disappearance of, G. H. Stone, 581 Black (Dr. W. J.), Ozone Papers in Towns, 76 Blake (Dr. James), on the Connexion between Chemical Con- stitution and Physiological Action, 6 Blanford (Henry F.), Low Barometric Readings, 344 Blaschko (Dr.), Structure of the Epidermis, 551 Blastoidea, the, Robert Etheridge and P. Herbert Carpenter, 267 Blight and Mildew on Fruit in the U.S., 422 Blomefield (L.), Vitality of Seeds, 463 Blood, Influence of Extremes of Temperature on the Colour of the, 576 Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, U.S., 472 Boas (Dr. Franz), Indian Tribes of British Columbia, 568 Boehmer (G. H.), Norse Naval Architecture, 445 Bohemia, Nationalities of, 518 Boileau (Major-Gen. J. T., F.R.S.), Death of, 57, 84 ; Proposed Memorial to, $4 Nature, June 9, 1887] INDEX Bois (H. du), Earthquakes, 8 Bolivia, Thouar’s Exploration of, 231 Bollettino of the Italian Geographical Society, 403, 446 Bolton (Sir Francis), Death of, 255 Bolton (Thomas), Civil List Pension to, 204 Bombay, Technical School at, 206 Bonney (Prof. T. G., F.R.S.): Volcanic Dust from New Zealand, 56; Volcanic Eruption in Niua-Fu Friendly Islands, 127 ; Notes on the Structure and Relations of some of the Older Rocks of Brittany, 550 ; Oldhamia, 581 Bornstein (Prof.), Investigations into Thunderstorms of July 1884, 24 Borodin (M. Alexander), Death of, 473 Borzi, (Prof. A.), Mostoc ellipsosporum, 594 Bosanquet (R. H. M.), Determination of Coefficients of Mutual Induction, by means of the Ballistic Galvanometer and Earth Inductor, 478 Boscovich (Father), Centenary of the Death of, 375 Boss (Prof.), Comet 1887 ¢ (Barnard, February 15), 424, 446 Botany : Unpublished Drawings by G. J. Camelli, 34 ; British Fungi, Hymenomycetes, Rev. John Stevenson, 4; Autumnal Flowering, Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, 11; Botanical Lecture Experiment, Prof. Bayley Balfour, 126; Rogeria longiflora, 158 ; LEntyloma Ranuncult, Prof. H. M. Ward, 166 ; Hermann’s “Ceylon Herbarium” and Linneus’s ‘‘ Flora Zeylanica,” Dr. H. Trimen, 166; Narcissi, G. Maw, 166; Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Commission, W. Botting Hemsley, 173 ; the Honzo Dsufu work on Botany, 204; Native Plants of South Australia, 205; Botanical Federation in the West Indies, D. Morris, 248 ; Baron von Mueller on the Acacias (Wattles) of Australia, 282; Hand-book of the British Flora, Geo. Bentham, F.R.S., 341; the Crocus, Geo. Maw, 348 ; Manual of Botany, Prof. Bentley, 350; Report on the Botanical Garden, Saharunpur, Mr. Duthie, 356; Botanical Discoveries in the Tombs of Egypt, 405 ; Blight and Mildew in the U.S., 422; Begonia Vertchit abnormal, 430; Lemons irregularly developed, 430; Primula imperialis, 430; Wild White Daffodil, 430 ; Addition of a Commercial Laboratory to the Botanical Museum of Hamburg, 473; Dr. Urban’s Proposed Botanical Investigation of the Higher Mountains of St. Domingo, 494; Thos. Moore’s Botanical Collections acquired for the Herbarium, Kew Gardens, 495 ; on some Ob- servations on Palaeobotany in Goebel’s ‘‘ Outlines of Classifica- tion and Special Morphology of Plants,” Prof. W. C. William- son, F.R.S., 535; Botanic Garden of Glasgow, 545 ; Hand- book of Practical Botany for the Botanical Laboratory and Private Student, Prof. E. Strasburger, 556; on the Term “Latex” in, M. A. Trécul, 600 Bouinais (A.) and A. Paulus, La France en Indo-Chine, 221 Bourgeois (M. L.), Preparation of a Silicostannate of Lime corresponding to Sphene, 335 Bourne (G. C.), Anatomy of the Madreporian Coral Fungia, 404 Boys (C. Vernon) : Preliminary Note on the Radio-Micrometer, 549; onthe Production, Preparation, and Properties of the Finest Fibres, 575 Brain: Prof. T. Jeffery Parker, 208 ; on the Nomenclature of the, Dr. Wilder, 255 ; Functional Topography of the, Prof. Ferrier, F.R.S., 453 Braun (Dr. C.): Kalocsa Observatory, 59 ; Sunspot Observations in Hungary, A. M. Clerke, 227 Brazil : Longitudes in, Admiral E. Mouchez, 100 ; the Birds of, 204 Bredichin (Prof. Th.), Tails of the Comets of 1886, 474 Bright (Sir Chas. T.), Electric Telegraph, 282 Brines, on Ice and, J. Y. Buchanan, 608 Bristol University College, Reduction of the Salaries of the Professors, 326 ; Albert Fry on, 345 Britain, Natural History, its Rise and Progress in, Prof. Alleyne Nicholson, 148 Britain, South-East, on the Establishment of the Roman Dominion in, Sir G. B, Airy, F.R.S., 562 British Association and Local Scientific Societies, 78 ; Principal Officers for the Manchester Meeting, 471 British Columbia, Indian Tribes of, Dr. Franz Boas, 568 British Flora, Hand-book of the, Geo. Bentham, F.R.S., 341 British Fossils, Catalogue of, Prof. Morris’s, 158 British Fungi, Hymenomycetes, Rev. John Stevenson, 4 British Fungi, Text-book of, W. D. Hay, 364 British International Polar Expeditions, 147 British Islands, Coleoptera of the, Rev. W. W. Fowler, 531 British Medical Journal, Dr. Rayner W. Batten on Physical Training of Girls, 495 British Museum, Catalogue of Fossil Mammalia in the, Rich, Lydekker, 532 British Stalk-eyed Crustacea and Spiders, F. A. A. Skuse, 532 Brittany, Notes on the Structure and Relations of some of the Older Rocks of, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 550 Broeck (E. Van den) and A. Rutot, Observations nouvelles sur le Tufeau de Ciply and sur le Crétacé supérieur du Hainault, 317 ; Brooks, Comet (1887 4), Dr. Rud. Spitaler, 352, 424, 496 Brouardel (M. J.), elected Dean by the Medical School of Paris, 22 Riga (J.), Theory of Voltaic Action, 142 Brown (J. Allen), Discovery of Palzolithic Workshop Floor of Drift Period near Ealing, 189; Paleolithic Man in North- West Middlesex, 554 Brown-Séquard (Dr.), Experimental Researches connected with Cerebral Functions, 47; elected President of the Society of Biology, Paris, 544 Bruce (Eric S.), War and Ballooning, 259 Brunton (T. Lauder, M.D.,F.R.S.): Action of Caffein and Theine upon Voluntary Muscle, 599; and J. Theodore Cash, Con- tributions to our Knowledge of the Connexion between Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action, Preliminary Communication on the Action of certain Aromatic Bodies, 9 Biers on Two Jade-handled, Prof. J. P. O’Reilly, 318 Brydges (Rev. Thos.), Curious Subdivision of Colour among the People of Onisin, 283 Buchanan (J. Y.): Similarities in the Physical Geography of the Great Oceans, 33, 763; on the Distribution of the Tempera- ture in the Antarctic Ocean, 516; on Ice and Brines, 608 Buckland Museum, Fish-Hatching at, 400 | Buckton (G. B., F.R.S.), Notes on the Recent Swarming of Aphides, 15 Budden (Dr. E.), To prove that only One Parallel can be drawn from a given Point to a given Straight Line, 92; Prof. O. Henrici, F.R.S., 100 Buildings Bill, Sanitary Registration of, 282 Bulletin de l’Académie des Sciences de St. Pétersbourg, 286, 310, 356 Bulletin of the Belgian Natural History Museum, 423 Bulletin de l’Acadéemie Royale de Belgique, 404 Bulletin of the Paris Geographical Society, 353 Bulletins de la Société @ Anthropologie de Paris, 286 Bulletins des Sciences Mathématiques, 452 Bunge (Dr.), Success of his Expedition, 309 Burch (Dr. Geo. J.), Further Experiments on Flame, 165 Burgess (William), Red Worm, 445 Burmah, Lower and Upper, Resources of, 378 Butler (Philip J.), Lung-Sick, 54 Butterflies of India, Lionel de Nicéville, H. J. Elwes, 436 Cacciatore (Prof.), Barnard’s Comet, 181 Caddy (Mrs. Florence), Through the Fields with Linnzeus, 579 Cadmium, Chloride of, 551 Czecilians, Classification of the, 280 Caffein, Action of, and Theine upon Voluntary Muscle, T. Lauder Brunton, F.R.S., 599 Cairo: Earthquake at, 112; Walks in, Major E. T. Plunkett, 256 Calcium, Phosphorescence of the Sulphuret of, 455 Caldwell (W. H.), Embryology of Monotremata and Marsu- pialia, 524 Calendar and General Directory of the Science and Art Depart- ment, 320 Calico-Printing, the Palissy of, the Life and Labours of John Mercer, F.R.S., Edward A. Parnell, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 145 California: Injurious Fungi in, Prof. W. G. Farlow, 521; Floods in Southern, 376; Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte’s Island, Dr. W. J. Hoffman, 285 / Calorimetric Bomb and Measurement of Heats of Combustion, 551 | Calorimetric Studies on Sick Children, 528 x INDEX Cambridge : Pniosophical Society, 167, 454; Cholera Fungus, Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S., 171, 295; Chas. Roy, 223; Walter Gardiner, 271, 319; George Massee, 319; Edgar Crook- shank, 344; on the Earlier Tripos of the University of Cam- bridge, Sir G. B. Airy, F.R.S., 397; University Local Examination Report, 494; University Local Lectures, 544 Camelide, the Phylogeny of the, 568 Camelli (G. J.), his Collection of Drawings of Plants, 34 Cameron (William), Death of, 180 Cameron (Capt.), Lecture on Urua, 259 Cameroons Territory, Estimate of the Native Population in the, 354 Canadian Plants, Catalogue of, Prof. J. Macoun, 350 Canadian Species, Hand-book of Zoology, with Examples from, Sir J. W. Dawson, F.R.S., 295 Canal and River Ingineering, David Stevenson, Major Allan Cunningham, 169 Cannibalism and its Prevalence in Ancient and Modern Times, Richard Andree, 350 Canoe, Discovery of a Prehistoric, 423 Capacity, Specific Inductive, Note on, John Hopkinson, F.R.S., 334 Cape Boxwood, 444 Cape Horn, Temperature off, 568 Carbon, on the Action of the Chloride of, on the Anhydrous Oxides, M. Eug. Demarcay, 288 Carbonic Acid in the Ground, 230; in the Air, 406 Carey (A. D.), his Journey in Central Asia, 475 Carlisle, the Climate of, T. G. Benn, 95 Carp, German : Importation of, 16 ; the Acclimatisation of, 58 Carpenter (Dr. P. Herbert, F.R.S.): the Supposed Myzostoma- Cysts in Antedon rosacea, 535; and Robert Etheridge, F.R.S., on the Blastoidea, 267 Carr (G. S.), Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics, 292 Carroll (Lewis), To find the Day of the Week for any given Date, 517 Cartailhac (M.), the Human Bones found Caverns in France, 23 Cartailhac (M. Emile), Les Ages préhistoriques de l’Espagne et du Portugal, 244 Carter (August), Deformities among Fish, 230 Carter (W. A.) : the Axolotl iz sicco, 16; Marine and Fresh- water Fishes, 472 Casey (John), a Sequel to the First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid, containing an Easy Introduction to Modern Geometry, 28 Cash (J. Theodore) and T. Lauder Brunton, F.R.S., Contribu- tions to our Knowledge of the Connexion between Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action, Preliminary Com- munication on the Action of certain Aromatic Bodies, 599 Cassagnes (G. A.), Steno-telegraphy, 192 Cassia marilandica, Fertilisation of, 521 Cassiopeize, Prof. Colbert, 59 Castilloa Rubber-tree of Central America, 142 Catchpool (Edmund), Origin of Species, 76 Cats with an Abnormal Number of Toes, Observations on Heredity in, Edward B. Poulton, 38; William White, 125 ; J. Herbert Hodd, 53; Dr. H. A. Hagen, E. W. Claypole, in Quaternary 345 Caves, Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, 454 Cecidomyia destructor and Barley, Miss Eleanor Ormerod’s Observations on, 256 Cecil (Henry), Tabasheer, 437 Celestial Motions, W. T. Lynn, 350 Celestine, Recently-discovered Deposit of, H. G. Madan, 391 ; R. H. Solly, 414 Cell, Bichromate of Soda, 381 Cell of the Honey-bee, Geometrical Construction of the, Prof. H. Hennessy, F.R.S., 502 Cells, Dry Portable, 331 Censuses of France and Germany, Results of New, 281 Centenary of the La Pérouse Expedition round the World, 443 Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, Educational Exhibits and Conventions at the World’s Industrial and Cotton, 245 Centralblatt fiir Physiologie, 612 Ceratochelys sthenurus from Lord Howe’s Island, Australia, Preliminary Note on the Fossil Remains of a Chelonian Reptile, Prof. Thos. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 615 Cerebral Functions, Experimental Researches connected with, Brown-Séquard, 47 [Wavure, June 9, 1887 Cerebral Localisation, Prof. E. A. Schifer, F.R.S., 438, 464 Ceylon: Tea-Planting in, T. C. Owen, 268; the Veddas of, 205 Cheetopoda of the Firth of Forth, 544 Chaffaujon (M.), Exploration of the Orinoco, 446 Chagos Archipelago Birds, Dr. Otto Finsch, 497 Chalande (M. J.), Respiration in Myriapods, 288 Chaldzea, Metals and Minerals from, 359 Chaleur rayonnante, Sur une nouvelle Méthode de faire des Mesures absolues de la, Knut Angstrom, 580 Chalk beneath the London Clay of the London Basin, on the Water in the, Robert B, Hayward, F.R.S., 335 Challenger Expedition: Zoological Results of the, 49 ; Report of the Scientific Results of the Exploring Voyage of the, 351 Chancourtois (M.), Death of, 57 Chandler (S. C.): New Variables, 307; the New Algol-Type Variable, 329 Charleston Earthquake: Report on the, Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, 31 ; Influence upon the Health of the Inhabitants, 281 ; Capt. Dutton’s Report on, 351 Charts, Atlantic Weather, 469 Chauveau (A.), Action of Glycose in Development of Animal Heat, 291 Chelonian Reptile, Preliminary Note on the Fossil Remains of a Ceratochelys sthenurus, from Lord Howe’s Island, Australia, Prof. Thos. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 615 Chemistry : Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action, Connexion between, Dr. James Blake, 6; the Decomposition of Bicarbonate of Ammonia by Water and Diffusion of its Components through Atmosphere, Berthelot and André, 23 ; on Atomic Weight of Oxide of Gadolinium, A, E. Nordensk- jold, 47; Chemical Society, 70, 143, 358, 384, 407, 453, 503, 526; Anniversary Meeting of the, 536; M. Moissan’s Re- searches on Isolation of Fluor, 71; Chemical Arithmetic, Sydney Lupton, 74 ; Experimental Chemistry, C. W. Heaton, 74; Chemical Physics, Prof. Josiah Parsons Cooke’s, 100 ; Action of Manganese on the Phosphorescent Quality of Car- bonate of Lime, Edmond Becquerel, 168; Old or New Chemistry, Which is Fittest for Survival ? Samuel Phillips, 270; a Treatise on Chemistry, Sir H. E. Roscoe and C. Schorlemmer, 316; Principle of Maximum Labour and the Laws of Chemical Equilibria, 382; on the Coefficients of Chemical Affinity, 455 ; Recent Progress of Chemical Science, Dr. Hugo Miiller, 536 ; Chemical Action of Light on Mixed Hydrogen and Chlorine Gas, Dr. Pringsheim, 552; a Question for Chemists, Wm. West, 584; Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action, Contributions to our Knowledge of the Connexion between, Preliminary Communication on the Action of certain Aromatic Bodies, T. Lauder Brunton, F.R.S., and J. Theodore Cash, 599 Chert, on the Character of the Beds of, in the Carboniferous Limestone of Yorkshire, Geo. J. Hinde, 582 Chevreul (M.), Medal presented to, 144; Resignation of his Membership of the Academy of Sciences, 255 Chicago Manual Training School, 444 China: Folk-Lore of, J. H. Stewart Lockhart, 281 ; Return of MM. Potanin, Skassy, and Bérésofsky from their Expedition to China and Mongolia, 309; Early Chinese Intercourse with America, Dr. W. H. Dall, 58; Best Mode of conveying Scientific Knowledge to the Chinese, 112; a Work on Anatomy in Chinese, 568; Animal Worship amongst the Chinese, 613 Chinook Winds, M. W. Harrington, 568 Chios, Earthquake at, 112, 158 Chlorochromic Acid and the Phosphates of Sesquioxide, on the Action of Tetrachloride of Carbon on, M. H. Quantin, 335 Cholera Fungus, Cambridge, Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S., 171, 295 ; Chas. Roy, 233; Walter Gardiner, 271, 319 ; George Massee, 319; Edgar Crookshank, 344 Christiania Society of Science, 336 Christie (W. H. M., F.R.S.), the Earthquake, 462 Chrysalides, Gilded, Edward B, Poulton, 470 Church (A. H.), Food-Grains of India, Prof. John Wrightson, 51 Cider, on the Composition of the Ashes of, M. G. Lechartier, 382 3 Cinnabar, Gold, and Associated Sulphides, Natural Solutions of, 524 City and Guilds of London Institute, Distribution of Prizes, 158 ; Conversaztone, 494 Nature, June 9, 1887] Claim of Priority, a, V. Ventosa, 513 Clarke (Dr. Hyde), Svastika Cross and Sun, 366 Clarke (J. Edwards), Industrial and High Art Education in the United States, W. Odell, 97 Classification of the Czecilians, 280 Clausius’s Characteristic Equation for Substances applied to Messrs. Ramsay and Young’s Experiments on Alcohol, Prof. William Ramsay and Dr. Sydney Young, 262, 346; Prof. Fitzgerald, 574 Clayden (A. W.), on the Internal Capacity of Thermometers, 94 Claypole (E. W.), Abnormal Cats’ Paws, 345 Cleland (Prof. John), Culminating Sauropsida, 391 Clerke (A. M.) ; Sunspot Observations in Hungary, Carl Braun, 227; Aurora Borealis, M. S. Lemstrom, 433; Dr. K. R. Koch, 433 ; Homeric Astronomy, 585, 607 Clifford (W. K., F.R.S.), Lectures and Essays, 270 Climate of Northern Europe and the Gulf Stream, 91 Climatology of the Croydon District, 14 Clocks, Electricity and, T. Wilson, 173; Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, 224; H. Dent Gardiner, 198, 231; ‘‘ Horloge” on, 438 Cloez (M. Ch.) and M. E. Grimaux, Erythrene, 288 Cloud Knowledge, Modern Developments of, Hon. Ralph Abercromby, 575 Clouds : Aspects of, Robert James Reilly, 391; on the Forms of, A. F. Osler, F.R.S., 164 ; Iridescent, Jas. C. McConnel, 533; G. H. Stone, 581; Nomenclature of, 406 Clyde Sea-Area, Bathy-orographical Chart of the, 334 Coahuila Meteorites, O. W. Huntingdon, 451 Coal, on the Age of, found in the Region traversed by the Rio Grande del Norte, 380 Coal-Dust Theory, W. Galloway, 222, 296, 343 Coal-Mines, Explosions in, W. N. and J. B. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 1 Coasts of North Africa, Study of the, Dr. Theobald Fischer, Atkinson, Prof, 353 Cobra, Death from the Bite of a, 111; Supposed Suicide of the, R. D. Oldham, 560 Cochenille at Rodriguez, 179 Cockroach, Structure and Life-History of the, L. C. Miall, 365 Coco de Mer (Lodoicea seychellarum), Gen. Gordon’s Collec- tion illustrative of the, presented to Kew Gardens, 494 Cod, Curious Knife found in the Thick Flesh of a, 545 Ee peers (Norwegian), Japanese Mission to inquire into the, 15 Codices, Mexican, Z. Nuttall, 307 Coefficient of Mutual Induction of Two Coils, Method of measuring, Prof. G. Carey Foster, F.R.S., 143, 478 Coefficient of Self-Induction, on the Determination of the, 551 Coils, Inductionless, Dr. Aron, 383 Coils, Method of measuring the Mutual Induction of Two, 478 Colbert (Prof.), ¢ Cassiopeiz, 59 Colchicine, Properties of, 408, 432 Coleoptera, New Zealand, David Sharp, 177 Coleoptera of the British Islands, Rev. W. W. Fowler, 531 Colin (Dr.), on the Population of Bambouk, 22 Collections, National Science, 252, 272 College of France, proposed Enlargement of the Buildings of the, 517 College of Physicians, Edinburgh, proposed Establishment of a Laboratory for the Prosecution of Original Research, 399 Colleges, University, Prof. Jowett, 441 Collins (F. Howard): Herbert Spencer’s Definition of Life, 487 ; Vitality and its Definition, 580 Collot (M. L.), on the Age of the Bauxite Formation in the South-East of France, 288 Colocasia, Disease of, in Jamaica, 478 Colonial Conference, Sir Henry Holland, 544 Colonial and Indian Exhibition, John R. Jackson, 16, 81, 225 Colonial Science and Art Schools and the Department of Science and Art, 442 Seed: Disappearance of Bishop’s Ring in, G. H. Stone, 581 Colorado, Phenacite from, Sam. L. Penfield, 451 Colour of the Blood, Influence of Extremes of Temperature on the, 576 Colour-Hearing, 613 Colour-Mixing Apparatus, Von Kries, Dr, Konig, 336 Colourless Specimens of Plants to be preserved in Alcohol, INDEX X1 how to make, Prof. Hugo de Vries, 149; Selmer Schonland, 173 Colours of Metals and Alloys, Prof. W. Chandler Roberts- Austen, F.R.S., 106 Colours, a Method of illustrating Combinations of, H. G. Madan, 513 Colson (M. Albert), Erythrite, 288 Colton (B. P.), Practical Zoology, 458 Comets: Barnard’s, 59; T. W. Backhouse, 54, 224; Prof. Cacciatore, 181; Dr. Wentworth Erck, 198; Prof. A. Riccd, 296; (1886 f), 17, 207; Dr. Oppenheim, 85; Dr. Aug. Svedstrup, 1343 (1887 c), Prof. E. Weiss, 352; Dr. H. Oppenheim, 424; 1887 ¢ (Barnard, February 15), Prof. Boss, 424, 446; First and Second of 1887, 614; Second of 1887, John I. Plummer, 583; Brooks (1887 4), 352; Dr. R. Spitaler, 424, 496; Finlay’s 1886 ¢, 17, 59; Dr. Krueger, 85, 1343 Dr. J. Holetschek, 207 ; Three New Comets, 307 ; Note on the Origin of Comets, 381; Discovery of a New, 1887 ¢ (Barnard 2), 402; Tails of the Comets of 1886, Prof. Th. Bredichin, 474; the Southern, 329, 438; Comets and Asteroids, Prof. Daniel Kirkwood, 474 Commercial Organic Analysis, Alfred H. Allen, Dr. C. R. Alder Wright, 293 ; Compass in Iron Ships, Deviation of the, considered practically, W. H. Rosser, 473 Compressed Air, Transmission of Power by, 272 Conchology, J. C. Melvill on Conus gloria maris, 230 Conder (Capt.), Translation of Hittite Inscriptions, 422 Congo: Dr. Lenz’s Exploration of, 232; his Map of the, 354; Rev. Geo. Grenfell’s Exploration of the, 596; H. M. Stanley’s, 615 Conics, Pencils of, 477 Connecticut Valley, Triassic Formation of the, 14! Constant of Aberration, New Method of determining the, M. Leewy, 263, 282, 407, 424, 431, 454, 479; M. Houzeau, 377 Constants of Fluids, Dielectric, Prof. G. Quincke, 334 Constitution of Matter, on certain Modern Developments of Graham’s Ideas concerning the, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 22, 547 Gautier of the Liquid and Gaseous States of Matter, Pre- liminary Note on the, William Ramsay and Sydney Young, 262 Conis gloria maris, J. C. Melvill on, 230 Cooke’s (Prof. Josiah Parsons) Chemical Physics, 100 Coombe Rock, Clement Reid on, 502 Copper, the Higher Oxides of, 141 Coral Reefs of the Solomon Islands, Dr. H. B. Guppy, 77 Corea, Geology of, 518 Coregonus albus, American Whitefish at Burghley Park, 546 Corona, Extension of the, Prof. S. P. Langley, 52 Counterpoint, Harmony and, Elements of, F. Davenport, 339 Cranial Nerves of a Human Embryo, 336 Crater, Sounding a, Prof. John Milne, 152; Fusion-Points, Pyrometers, and Seismometers, Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis, 197; W. Worby Beaumont, 296 Crayfish, Fresh-water, Green Gland of, 455 Crimson Line of Phosphorescent Alumina, on the, William Crookes, F.R.S., 310 Critical Temperatures of Nitrogen and Oxygen, 331 Crocus, the, George Maw, 348 Crommelin (A. C.), Invisible at Greenwich, 414 Crookes (William, F.R.S.): on the Crimson Line of Phosphor- escent Alumina, 310; on Radiant-Matter Spectroscopy, Examination of the Residual Glow, 425, 447 Crookshank (Dr ), Flagellated Protozoa in Animals’ Blood, 191 Crookshank (Edgar), Cambridge Cholera Fungus, 344 Cross as a Sun Symbol, Dr. Chas, R. Dryer, 345 Croydon District, Climatology of the, 14 Cruise of the Marchesa, F. H. H. Guillemard, 369 Cruls (M.), Geographical Co-ordinates of Punta-Arenas, 382 Crustacea of Singapore, 525 Crustacea, British Stalk-eyed, and Spiders, F, A. A. Skuse, 32 Cryptogams, Flora of Leicestershire, including the, J. G. Baker, 411 Crystalline Elliptically-polarising Media, on Reflection at the Surface of, 333 Crystallographic Notes, 141 Crystals, Absorption of Light in, 312 Culminating Sauropsida, Prof, John Cleland, 391 xi INDEX [Wature, June 9, 1887 Cunningham (Prof.), the Lumbar Curve in Man and Apes, 46 Cunningham (Major Allan) : Canal and River Engineering, David Stevenson, 169; Hydraulic Power and Hydraulic Machinery, H. Robinson, 460 Current Sheets, on Ellipsoidal, Horace Lamb, F.R.S., 574 Currents, North Atlantic, Experiments made to determine the Direction of the, Prince Albert of Monaco, 288 Curvature, Critical Mean of Liquid Surfaces of Revolution, Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., 143 Curve, Lumbar, in Man and Apes, Prof. Cunningham, 46 Curves, Traube-Hering, 576 Cutting of Polarising Prisms, on the, Prof. Silvanus P. Thomp- son, 184 Cycling Budget, 231 ; - ‘ Cyclones, on the Relation between Tropical and Extra-Tropical, Hon. Ralph Abercromby, 430 Cyclones and Concurrent Storms and Hurricanes, on the Rela- tions that exist between, M. H. Faye, 599 Cyclonic Storms, Central Calm in, 575 : , . Cyclonic Theories, Atmospheric Movements in Connexion with, 2 Cer, New Variables in, Dr. Gould, 282 Cypripedium, Peculiar Conformation of the Flowers of, Dr. Maxwell Masters, 142 Daffodil, Wild White, 430 Dalcarlia, Central Sweden, Brilliant Meteor seen in, 495 Dall (Dr. W. H.), Early Chinese Intercourse with America, 58 Dallinger (Rev. Dr., F.R.S.), Changes of Temperature to which the Lower Forms of Organisms can be adapted by Slow Modifications, 550 Dana (Jas. D.): Revelations of a Dissected Volcano, 93; Vol- canic Action, 451 Danger, Rule for Escaping a, Frank Morley, 345 Darwin (Capt.), Preliminary Account of the Observations of the Eclipse of the Sun at Grenada in August 1886, 287 Darwin (Prof. Francis, F.R.S.), on the Effect of Certain Stimuli on Vegetable Tissues, 429 Darwin (Dr. G. H., F.R.S.): on Jacobi’s Figure of Equilibrium for a Rotating Mass of Fluid, 188 ; on the Dynamical Theory of the Tides of Long Period, 287 Davenport (F.), Elements of Harmony and Counterpoint, 339 Dawson (Sir J. W., F.R.S.), Hand-book of Zoology, with Examples from Canadian Species, 295 : Day (Dr. Francis): Lochleven Trout, 166; Fish Culture, 282 Day of the Week for any given Date, to find the, Lewis Carroll, 517 Decrement, Vertical, of Temperature and Pressure, S. A. Hill, 606 Definition, Vitality and its, F. Howard Collins, 580 Deighton (H.), the Elements of Euclid, 269 Delage (Yves), a New Function of the Otocysts in the Inverte- brates, 48 J Demarcay (M. Eug.), on the Acti on the Anhydrous Oxides, 288 Démoniaques dans I’Art, Les, 376, 454 Deniker (J.), Recherches Anatomiques et Embryologiques sur | les Singes Anthropoides, 509 Denning (W. F.): Meteor, 1o1 ; Meteor of December 28, 1886, 248; April Meteors, 606; Fireball of December 4, 1886, on of the @hlende of Carbon I51 Doe (P. F.), the Andromedes, November 27, 1886, 231 Department of Science and Art, Schools of Science and Art in the Colonies and the, 442 E Deposits of Volcanic Dust, Prof. Geo. P. Merrill, 174 Deprez (Marcel), on the Intensity of the Magnetic Field in Dynamo-Electric Machines, 23 Dessau (B.), Metal Films arising from the Disruption of a Kathode, 333 Deutsche Geographische Blatter, 497 Diabetes, Action of Belladonna and Opiumiin a Case of Acute, o Tiereter of the Sun, Researches on the, Herr Auwers, 496! Diamonds, Crown, of France, Proposal to sell, 424 Diastase, Loss of Activity experienced by, under the Action of Heat, 455 Diatoms, Fresh-water, in the Bagshot Beds, Rev.{ A. Irving, Ior Dickins (F. V.), Aino Hairiness and’the Urvolk of Japan, 534 | Dielectric Constants of Fluids, Prof. G. Quincke, 334 Dielectric, Experiment to show that Capacity varies inversely as a Thickness of the, Profs. W. E. Ayrton and John Perry, 526 Diener (Dr. Carl), the Geology of the Lebanon, Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 10 Diet in Disease, Prof. G. Sée, 327 Di-isobutylamine, on the Hydrochlorate and Platinochlorate of, 282 393 Dimensions of Physical Quantities, the Zygineer on, 462 Dimmock (George), Fish-destroying Insects in the United States, 327 Disinfection by Heat, B. Strachan, 7 Dispersion of Plants by Birds, D. Morris, 151 Ditte (M. A.), Study of the Alkaline Vanadates, 600 Dobereck (Dr. W.): Typhoons, 36; Law of Storms in the Eastern Seas, 135 ; and the Hong Kong Observatory, 229 Dodge (Frank S.), Kilauea after the Eruption of March 1886, I Doldrums, Electrical Discharges in the, David Wilson-Barker, 584 Dolmens of Enfida, 551 Donnelly (Col. J. F. D.): Normal School of Science and Royal School of Mines, 271 ; Industrial Studentships, 413 Dorno (Alessandro), Notice of, 231 Double Star, Spectroscopic Method of Determining the Distance of a, A. A. Rambaut, 206 Draper (Andrew S.), Educational System in New York, 445 Draught and Dust, Permanent Matrix Excluder of, T. J. Porter, 569 Dryer (Dr. Chas. R.), the Cross as a Sun Symbol, 345 Dublin, Royal Society of, 311 Dundee University College, proposed Chair of Anatomy at, 158 ; proposed Medical School in connection with, 349 Dunér (M.), Gore’s Nova Orionis, 85 Dungate (E. J.), Lung-Sick, 29 Dust, Coal-, Theory, W. Galloway, 296, 343 Dutch Colonies in South America and the West Indies, K. Martin, Dr. A. Ernst, 459 Duter (M.), Electrolysis of Alkaline Solutions, 382 Duthie (Mr.), Report on the Botanical Gardens, Saharunpur, 356 Dutton’s (Capt.) Report on the Charleston Earthquake, 351 Dyer (W. T. Thiselton, F.R.S.): Ipecacuanha Cultivation in India, 227; Tabasheer, 396; a Plant which destroys the Taste of Sweetness, 557 Dynamical Theory of the Tides of Long Period, on the, G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., 287 Dynamical Units, Mass, Weight and, Robt. F.R.S., 604 Dynamics, Lessons in Elementary, H. G. Madan, 51 Dynamics of Health and Disease, Life Energy or the, Surgeon- Major Nathl. Alcock, 366 Dynamo-Building, Practical, for Amateurs, Fred. W. Walker, 294 222 222, F. Hayward, Earth’s Current in the Telegraph Lines of the German Empire, Dr. Weinstein’s Observations, 336 Earthquakes: Dr. F. A. Forel, 8; H. du Bois, 8; Thos. W. Kingsmill, 319 ; M. Oppermann on, 600; the Earthquake of February 23, 1887, 419; Rev. S. J. Perry, F.R.S., 438; W. H. M. Christie, F.R.S., 462; the Charleston Earthquake, Report on, Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, 31, 36, 134; Influence upon the Health of the Inhabitants, 281 ; Earthquake in Beira Alta District, 59 ; in Switzerland, 84, 205 ; Prof. Forel, 442 ; at Cairo, 112 ; at Chios, 112, 158 ; Nordheinsund, West Coast of Norway, 158; at Smyrna, 112, 158; Earthquake Shock at Tashkend, 112, 399; at Tchesme, 112; in Sierra Leone, J. S. Hay and Jos. M. Metzger, 141; at Sea, Reginald H. Hertslet, 157 ; the Recent, Prof. J. P. OReilly, 197; at Aquila, 350, 376; in Venice, 350; in Zurich, 350; at Vilayet Konia, Asia Minor, 376; in Japan, 399; Important Points in the History of Earthquake Inves- tigation in Japan, Prof. John Milne, 559; Earthquake in South Eastern Illinois, 444; in South-Western Indiana, 444 ; in Philiatra, 444 ; Earthquake of February 23, 551; Note on, at Marseilles Observatory, 455; in Italy, 479; at Antibes, 527; Earthquake Shock felt at Mandalay, 472 ; Earthquakes in Norway, Dr. Hans Reuch, 517; in the Riviera, Clement Nature, June 9, 1887] Reid, 534; in Travnik, 545, 568; in Campfer and St. Moritz» 545 ; in Stuttgart, 545; in Savona, 545; at Friedau, 568; at Forli, 568; at Aden, 593; at Lisbon, 612; Pre-Scientific Theories of the Causes of, 428 ; Magnetic Effects of Recent, 479; Earthquakes in Connexion with Fire-Damp, 527; Possible Cause of the Earthquakes of 1755, 1884, and 1887, 528 ; Sekei Sekiya on the Comparison of, 593 Earthworms, Australian, J. G. Fletcher, 95 Eastern Seas, Law of Storms in the, Dr. W. Doberck, 135 Eclipse of the Sun at Grenada in August 1886, Preliminary Account of the Observations of the, Capt. Darwin, 287; Dr. Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., 549 Ecuador, Travels in the Wilds of, Alfred Simson, 437 Edinburgh : Mathematical Society, 71, 191, 454; Royal Society, I9I, 311, 454, 479, 551, 599; College of Physicians, 399 ; Royal Physical Society, 454 ; Scottish Meteorological Society, 575 Edison (Mr.), Illness of, 257 Education : Industrial and High Art, in the United States, J. Edwards Clarke, W. Odell, 97; Association for Promoting a Teaching University in London, 179; Japan Educational Society, 204; the State and Higher Education, 457 ; Neces- sity for a Minister of Education, 481 ; Organisation of Indus- trial Education, Prof. Huxley, 493; Technical Education, 592; Educational Exhibits and Conventions at the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition, New Orleans, 245; Educational System in New York, Andrew S. Draper, 445 Eels discovered in Masonry, 400 Eggs, Birds’ Nests and, H. Seebohm, 236 Egypt : Specimens of the Different Strata of Soil in the Delta received from, 111; Botanical Discoveries in the Tombs of, 405 Eichler (Dr. August Wilhelm) : Death of, 443 ; Obituary Notice of, 493 Eight Squares, Product of Two Sums of, 455 Ekaterinburg, Scientific and Industrial Exhibition at, 133, 00 Elastic Fluid, on the Movement of an Indefinite and Perfectly, 120 Elasticity, History of the Theory of, Isaac Todhunter, F.R.S., A. G. Greenhill, 313 Elasticity of Bending of Pure Zinc, Copper, Tin, and their Alloys, 333 Electricity : Dynamo-Electric Machines, on the Intensity of the Magnetic Field in, Marcel Deprez, 23 ; Electro-Metallurgy, 57; Electric Conductibility of Vapours and Gases, the, Prof. Gioy. Luvini, 85 ; Electric Charge on the Atom, A. P. Laurie, 131 ; Electrical Metronome established at the Paris Opera House, 158; an Error in Maxwell’s ‘‘ Electricity and Magnetism,” 172; James C. McConnel, 172 ; Rev. Henry W. Watson, 223; Prof. A. Seydler, 512; Electrical Phenomenon, Thos. Higgin, 173; Electricity and Clocks, T. Wilson, 173 ; Henry Dent Gardner, 198, 231 ; Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, 224; ‘‘Horloge” on, 438 ; Electro-Statics, M. A. Vaschy, 263 ; Lives of the Electricians, W. T. Jeans, 270; Electric Telegraph, Sir Chas. T. Bright, 282; Latest Industrial Application of Electric Welding, 331 ; Electromotive Force of the Voltaic Arc, 331; Quadrant Electrometers, 331 ; Pyro-Electricity of Quartz, B. von Kolenko, 333; Propaga- tion of, in Telegraph-Wires, Ed. Hagenbach, 333; Prize offered to the Inventor of a Cheap Method for the Applica- tion of, 350; Spiders and Electric Light, 351 ; Electrolysis of Alkaline Solutions, M. Duter, 382 ; Formation of Peroxide of Hydrogen by Electrolysis, Dr. Richarz, 384; Electric Motor and its Applications, T. C. Martin and Jos. Wetzler, Prof. S. P. Thompson, 410 ; Equatorial Zone of almost Per- petual Electrical Discharge, Hon. Ralph Abercromby, 487 ; Experiments on Electrical Resistance of Suspended Copper and Iron Wires, Shelford Bidwell, 526; Gas-Lighting by Electricity, 569; Electrical Discharges in the Doldrums, David Wilson-Barker, 584; Train Lighted by Electricity, 595; Note on the Development of Voltaic, by Atmospheric Oxidation, C. R. Alder Wright, F.R.S., 598; Practical Electricity, Prof. W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S., 601; Electric Locomotion, 613 Elemore Pit, W. Galloway on the Recent Explosion at, 133 Elephantiasis, Species of, Investigations of, 473 Eliot (President), Present Position of Science in the Secondary Schools of America, 375 INDEX Elliot (Sir Walter, F.R.S.), Obituary Notice of, 543 Elliott (Archd. C.), Units of Weight, Mass, and Force, 605 Elliott (Henry W.), an Arctic Province, 243 Ellipsoidal Current Sheets, on, Horace Lamb, F.R.S., 574 Elliptical Integrals, 575 , Ellipticity of Uranus, Prof. W. Valentiner, 614 Elwes (Capt. H. J.), Butterflies of India, Lionel de Nicéville, 436 ; Lepidoptera-Heterocera, 503 Embryogeny of the Anthropoid Apes, J. Deniker, 509 Embryology of Monotremata and Marsupialia, W. H. Caldwell, 524 Emin Bey (Dr.) : Proposed Expedition for Relief of,-83, 177 ; Dr. Junker on the Best Route by which to reach him, 258; Mr. Stanley’s Expedition, 283, 330, 446, 475; Arrival of Dr. Junker’s Caravan, 475; Short Biography of, 497 Encyclopzedia Britannica, 314 Encyclopzedia of Natural Science, Trewendt’s, 58 Encyclopzedic Dictionary, 485 Encyclopzedie der Wissenschaften, 593 Endowed Schools Committee, Report of, 611 Endowment of Medical Research, 409 Enfida, Dolmens on, 551 Engelhardt’s (Baron D’), Observatory, 546 Lngineer, the, on the Dimensions of Physical Quantities, 462 Engineering, Canal and River, David Stevenson, Major Allan Cunningham, 169 Engineering Laboratories, on the Use and Equipment of, Prof. Alex. B. Kennedy, 235 Engineering, Marine, 242 Engineering: on the Conversion of Heat into Work, W. Anderson, 387; Hydraulic Power and Hydraulic Machinery, H. Robinson, Major Allan Cunningham, 460 Engler’s Botanische Jahrbiicher, 405 English Coasts, Erosion of the, W. Topley, 37 Entomology : Notes on the Recent Swarming of Aphides, G. B. Buckton, F.R.S., 15; Entomological Society, 7o, 191, 335, 453, 503, 623; the Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera of Middlesex, S. T. Klein, 167 ; Macro-Lepidoptera of East Sussex, J. H. A. Jenner, 230; Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod on the Hessian Fly, 256; Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine, 473 Entropy, Felix Lucas on, 455 LEntyloma Ranunculi, Prof. H. M. Ward, 165 Eosin Silver, Use of, in Photography, 432 Epidermis, Structure of the, Dr. Blaschko, 551 Equatorial Observations of the New Comets, 382 Equatorial Zone of almost Perpetual Electrical Discharge, Hon. Ralph Abercromby, 487 Equilibrium of a Fluid Mass, 479 Equinoctical Gales, Dr. R. Miiller, 612 Erck (Dr. Wentworth): Barnard’s Comet, 198; Sunset Phe- nomenon, 391 Ernst (Dr. A.), Dutch Colonies in South America and the West Indies, K. Martin, 459 Erosion of the English Coasts, W. Topley, 37 Eruption, Volcanic, in Niua-Fu Friendly Islands, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 127 Eruption of Mount Tarawera, 406, 472; Meteorological Con- ditions at the Time of the, Capt. F. W. Hxtton, 322 Eruption of March 1886, Kilauea after the, 451 Eruptions, New Zealand, Red Sunsets and, Lieut.-Col. A. T. Fraser, 224 Erythrene, MM. E. Grimaux and Ch. Cloez, 288 Erythrite, M. Albert Colson, 288 Eskimo, Dr. H. Rink, Prof. A. H. Keane, 309 Eskimos, some Popular Errors in regard to the, John Murdoch, 18 Essex Field Club, the, 158 Essex Naturalist, 545 Etheridge (Robert, F.R.S.) and P. Herbert Carpenter, the Blastoidea, 267 Ethnological Collection presented by Lieut. Quedenfeldt to the Anthropological Society, 423 Ethnological Collection presented by Gen. Gene to the Ethno- graphic Museum of Rome, 496 Ethnological Museum at Berlin, Opening of, 180 Ethnology : Cannibalism and its Prevalence in Ancient and Modern Times, Herr Richard Andree, 350 Etiology of Scarlet Fever, E. Klein, F.R.S., 452 Eucalyptus-Tree, Bee-hives discovered in, 423 xiv INDEX [Wature, June 9, 1887 ee Euclid, a Sequel to the First Six Books of the Elements of, John Casey, 28 Euclid, the Elements of, H. Deighton, 269 Euclid Revised, R. C. J. Nixon, 269 Euclid, Definitions of, with Explanations, R. Webb, 340 Europe, Northern, Climate of, and the Gulf Stream, 91 European Prehistoric Races, Prof. A. H. Keane, 564 Evolution of a Satellite, Tidal Friction and the, James Nolan, Fvciation, Factors of Organic, Herbert Spencer, Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 362 , Ewing (Prof. J. A.) : Seismometry in Japan, 75; on Seismo- metry, 172 ; on Seismometers, 606 ; Magnetisation of Iron in Strong Fields, 622 ; Expansion of Solids by Heat, Lecture Experiments on the, H. G. Madan, 89; C. E. Stromeyer, 126 Experimental Chemistry, C. W. Heaton, 74 Experimental Science in Schools and Universities, Prof. G, F. Fitzgerald, 284 Experiments on Flame, Further, Dr. Geo. J. Burch, 165 Explorations of the North Sea, 73 Explosion of Meteorites, on the, M. Hirn, 303 Explosions in Coal-Mines, W. N. and J. B. Atkinson, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 1 Extension of the Corona, Prof. S. P. Langley, 52 Eye, Influence of Astigmatism in the, on Astronomical Obser- vations, Prof. Seeliger, 59 Falk (Prof.), Peristaltic Movement, 264 Farlow (Prof. W. G.), Injurious Fungi in California, 521 Farmer’s Crop, Tobacco a, Philip Meadows Taylor, Prof. John Wrightson, 52 Fauna and Flora of the Afghan Boundary, J. E. T. Aitchison, 381 Faye (H.): Geodesy and Geology, 71; Movements of the Atmosphere, 455; on the Relations that exist between Cyclones and Concurrent Storms and Hurricanes, 599 Fayrer (Sir J., F.R.S.), Scorpion Virus, 488 Feil (M.), Death of, 306 Feilden (Eliza Whigham), My African Home, 221 Female Medical Students in Paris, Number of, 306 Feéré (Ch.), Sensation and Movement, 518 Fernando Noronha, Proposed Expedition to, by H. N. Ridley, 228 Ferrier (Prof.), Functional Topography of the Brain, 453 Fertilisation of Cassia marilandica, 521 Fewkes (J. Walter): Report on the Medusz collected by the U.S. Fish-Commission Steamer A/éatvoss in the Region of the Gulf Stream, 377; New Rhizostomatous Medusa, 451 Fibres, on the Production, Preparation, and Properties of the Finest, C. V. Boys, 575 Ficus, on the Genus, Dr. Geo. King, 525 Field Club, the Essex, 158 Field Naturalist in Eastern Bengal, 388 Fields, through the, with Linnzeus, Mrs. Florence Caddy, 579 Filtration, Intermittent Downward, Ten Years’ Experiencein Works of, T. Bailey Denton, 195 Finland, on the Upheaval of the South-West Coasts of, M. Venukoff, 600 Finlay, Comet 1886 ¢, 17, 59; Dr. Krueger, 85, 134; Dr. J. Holetschek, 207 Fir and Epicea, on the Formation of the so-called ‘‘ Red Wood”’ in the, 383 Fire Symbol, the Svastika as both Sun and, Mrs. J. C. Murray- Aynsley, 558 Fire-Damp, Earthquakes in Connexion with, 527 Fireball seen at Stonyhurst College, Blackburn, December 4, 1886, 111, 133; W. F. Denning, 151 Firth of Forth, Chzetopoda of the, 544 Fischer (Dr. A.), Death of, 57 Fischer (Dr. Philip), Death of, 350 Fischer (Dr. Theobald), Study of the Coasts of North Africa, 353 Fish: Work of the United States Fish Commission, 54; De- formities among Fish, 58, 230; Fish-Culture, 612; in Scot- land, 205 ; Dr. Francis Day on Fish-Culture, 282 ; National Fish-Culture Association, 350; W. Burgess’s Fish-Culture Establishment, 444 ; an ‘‘Egg-bound” Trout, 231; Fishes inhabiting very Deep Waters, M. Léon Vaillant, 288; Fish- destroying Insects in the United States, George Dimmock, 327; Phosphorescence of Marine Fish, Dr. Otto Hermes, 377 ; Fish-hatching at the Buckland Museum, 400 ; Proposed In- vestigation of Fish-bearing Properties of Kiu Sawa, 444; Marine and Fresh-water Fishes, W. A. Carter, 472 ; Value of Fish landed on the Coasts of Scotland, 473 ; Proposed Esta- blishment of an Institution for Technical Education with regard to Fish and Fisheries, at Grimsby, 494 ; Fishes in Ecuador, 502; Tasmanian Fisheries, 233; Fourth Annual Report of the Fishery Poard for Scotland, 128; Fishery Board of Scotland and Beam-trawling, 257; Hawaiian Methods of Fishing, Mrs. E. M. Beckley, 327 Fitzgerald (Prof. G. F.): Experimental Science in Schools and Universities, 284; on the Thermodynamic Properties of Substances whose Intrinsic Equation is a Linear Function of the Pressure and Temperature, 358 ; Clausius’s Characteristic Equation for Substances applied to Messrs. Ramsay and Young’s Experiments on Alcohol, 574 Flame, Further Experiments on, Dr. Geo. J. Burch, 165 Flat-fish, Acclimatisation of, in American Waters, 473 Fletcher (J. J.), Australian Earthworms, 95 Floods in Southern California, 376 Flora, Hand-book of the British, Geo. Bentham, F.R.S., 341 Flora of Leicestershire, including the Cryptogams, J. G. Baker, 411 Flora, Alpine, surviving in the Paris District, 431 Flora of Shetland, W. H. Beeby, 474 Florida: Angelo Heilprin on the Geology of, 230; Attempt to sink an Artesian Well at St. Augustine to obtain Hot Water, 376 Flowering, Autumnal, Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, 11 Fluid Mass, Equilibrium of a, 479 Fluid and Electric Agencies, on a Means of increasing the Power of, 120 Fluids, Dielectric Constants of, Prof. G. Quincke, 334 Fluor, Moissan’s Researches on Isolation of, 71 Fluorescence, Red, of Alumina, 455 Fluviatile Swamps of New England, 524 Fog, Map showing the Distribution of, on Various Parts of the Earth, 423 Folk-Lore Society established in the Philippines, 134 Folk-Lore of China, J. H. Stewart Lockhart, 281 Folkestone Gault, C. E. De Rance, 296 Fontannes (C. F.), Death of, 254, 263 Fonvielle (W. de), La Mesure du Métre, 388 Food-Grains of India, A. H. Church, Prof. John Wrightson, 52 Force, Units of Weight, Mass, and, Rev. Edward Geoghegan, 534; Prof. Alf. Lodge, 557; Archd. C. Elliott, 605 Forel (Dr. F. A.) : Earthquakes, 8 ; Earthquake in Switzerland, 442 Forcrand (M. de), Glycerinate of Potassa, 288 Forms of Clouds, on the, A. F. Osler, F.R.S., 164 Forsyth (Sir Douglas), Death of, 179 Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum, Catalogue of, Richd. Lydekker, 532 Fossil Meteorite found in Coal, a, Dr. Guret, 36 Fos:il Remains of a Chelonian Reptile, Cevatochelys sthenurus, from Lord Howe’s Island, Australia, Preliminary Note on the, Prof. Thos. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 615 Foster (Prof. G. Carey, F.R.S.), on a Method of measuring the Coefficient of Mutual Induction of Two Coils, 143 Fowler (Rev. W. W.), Coleoptera of the British Islands, 531 France en Indo-Chine, La, A. Bouinais and A. Paulus, 221 France: Result of New Census of, 281; Madagascar and, 306 ; the Depopulation of, 357; French Translation of Preyer’s Physiology of the Embryo, 376; Number of Foreigners in France, 400 ; Inauguration of Railways in, 407 ; Proposal to sell the Crown Diamonds of, 424; Meeting of the French Congrés de Chirurgie in Paris, 444; Oyster-Culture in, 495 ; Enlargement of the Buildings of the College of France, 517 Frankland (G. C., and Dr. Percy), some New Micro-organisms obtained from Air, 477 Frankland (Dr. P. F.), a New Method for the Quantitative Estimation of Micro-organisms in Atmosphere, 188 Franklin Institute, State Weather-Service for Pennyslvania to be formed at Philadelphia by the, 281 Fraser (Lieut.-Colonel A. T.), Red Sunsets and New Zealand Eruptions, 224 Fraunhofer (Joseph), Collecting Treatises by, 496 — Nature, June 9, 1887] Freezing of Aérated Water, on some Phenomena connected with the, George Maw, 325 Fresh-water Diatoms in the Bagshot Beds, Rev. A. Irving, ror Fresh-water Fishes, Marine and, W. A. Carter, 472 Friction, Tidal, and the Evolution of a Satellite, James Nolan, Frog, Abnormalities in the Vertebral Column of the Common, Prof. C., Lloyd Morgan, 53, 344 Frolich (Dy. ), Measurements of Solar Heat, 455 Fruit, Blight and Mildew in the United States, 422 Fry (Albert), University College, Bristol, 345 Fuel-Supply in Ships of War, 539 Fungi, British, Text-book of, W. D. Hay, 364 Fungi, Injurious, in California, Prof. W. G. Farlow, 521 Functional Topography of the Brain, Prof. Ferrier, 453 Fungus, Cambridge Cholera, Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S., 171, 295 ; Chas. Roy, 223; Walter Gardiner, 271, 319 ; George Massee, 319 ; Edgar Crookshank, 344 Fungus on Orchids, 230 Fusion-Points, Pyrometers and, Thos. Andrews, 224 Fusion-Points, Pyrometers, and Seismometers, Sounding a Crater, Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis, 197; W. Worby Beau- mont, 296 Gad (Dr.), Active Oxygen in the Animal Organism, 383 Gadolinium, Oxide of, on Atomic Weight of, A. E. Norden- skjéld, 47 Gale of October 15-16, 1886, the, C. Harding, 95 Gales, Recent, E. J. Lowe, 150 Galesaurus planiceps, on the Skull and Dentition of, Sir R. Owen, F.R.S., 94 Galileo : New Edition of the Works of, to be published at the cost of the State of Italy, 473; Monument to, erected in Rome, 612 Galloway (W.): on the Recent Explosion at Elemore Pit, 133 ; Coal-Dust Theory, 222, 296, 343 Galton (Capt. Douglas, F.R.S.), Sanitary Progress during the Reign of the Queen, 160 Galton (Francis, F.R.S.), Pedigree Moth-breeding, 453 Galvanometer, Ballistic, R. H. M. Bosanquet, 478 Gambia, Climate of the Colony, 497 Gardiner (Walter): Cambridge Cholera Fungus, 271, 319; Tamus communis, 454; Aroids, 454 Gardner (Henry Dent), Electricity and Clocks, 198, 231 Gardner (J. Starkie), Wrought Iron, 422 Gas asa Constant Source in Experiments on Radiation, Em- ployment of, 528 Gas-lighting by Electricity, 569 Gaseous Nitrogen of the Atntosphere, on the Direct Fixation of the, by Vegetable Soils, M. Berthelot, 335 Gaseous Nitrogen of the Atmosphere, Direct Fixation of the, 479 Gaseous State of Matter, Continuous Transition from the Liquid to the, at all Temperatures, 478 Gases, the Electric Conductibility of Vapours and, Prof. Gioy. Luyini, 85 Gases, Kinetic Theory of, Prof. Tait, 311 sarc (Dr. Walter H., F.R.S.), Sympathetic Nervous System, 195 Gault, Folkestone, C. E. De Rance, 296 Gecko, the, moves its Upper Jaw, Edward B. Poulton, 511 Gems, Application of, to the Art of the Goldsmith, Alfred Phillips, 495 Genetic Affinities and Classification of the Alga, Alfred W. Bennett, 478 Gentians, Notes and Queries, Prof. Huxley, 623 Geodesy and Geology, Faye, 71 Geodetic Conference, the, 15 Geoghegan (Rey. Edward), Units of Weight, Mass, and Force, 534 Geography : Similarities in the Physical Geography of the Great Oceans, J. Y. Buchanan, 33, 76; Geographical Notes, 60, 182, 258, 283, 308, 330, 353, 378, 402, 446, 475, 497, 520, 547, 596, 615; Proposed Exploration of the Moluccas, Prof. Kar, 182; Return of the Portuguese African Expedition, 182 ; Don Manuel Iradier’s Explorations in Africa, 182; Geo- graphical Results achieved by the Survey Officers on the Afghan Frontier Commission, 309; Physical Geography of Japan, Dr. Naumann, 330; on the Field and Methods i INDEX XV Geography, H. J. Mackinder, 331; Bulletin of the Paris Geographical Society, 353; Geographical Society of Paris, 354; Statistics of the Various Societies for, 354; Dr. Lenz’s Map of the Congo, 354; Geographical Co-ordinates of Punta Arenas, M. Cruls, 382; Keith Johnston’s Physical and Descriptive Geography, Abridged, 389; H. M. Stanley and the Relief of Emin Pasha, 446; Lieut. Baert’s Journey up the Mongalla, 446; M. Chaffaujon’s Explora- tion of the Orinoco, 446; Tinguians of the Philippine Islands, 446; Italian Possessions on the Red Sea Coast, 446 ; Relief of the Australian Mediterranean, Dr. Otto Kriimmel, 447; Expedition to Emin Pasha, Dr. Junker and H. M. Stanley and, 475; Dr. Zintgraff’s Exploration of the Cameroon District, 475; A. D. Carey’s Journey in Central Asia, 475; the Alpine Regions of Alaska, Lieut. H. Seton- Karr, 475; Readership in Geography at Oxford, 475 ; Geo- graphy at the Universities, 492; Climate of the Colony of Gambia, 497; Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals, Angelo Heilprin, 510; Dr. O. Lenz, Letters, 520; Herr Glaser’s Journeys in South Arabia, 520; Dr. Wollf’s Exploring Work on the Sankuru, 520; Herr Ferdinand See- land, on the Rate of Movement of the Pasterz Glacier, 520 ; Lieut. Wissmann, Fresh Expedition from Luluaburg, 521 ; J. T. Wills, on the Region between the Nile and the Congo, 521 ; Geo. Grenfell, Ascent of the Quango, 547 ; Proposal to cross South-East New Guinea, 547; Central Asia, 547; Dr. Hans Schinz, on the Lake Ngami Region, 547; Dr. Ochsenius, on the Age of certain Parts of the South American Andes, 547; News from Herr G. A, Krause, 547; Exploration of the Watershed of the River Yukon, 593; Death of James Wild, 594; Geographisches Jahrbuch, 596; Geographical Exhibition, 613 Geology : Geology of the Lebanon, Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 10; Erosion of the English Coasts, W. Topley, 37; and Geodesy, Faye, 71; Geological Society, 94, 167, 190, 382, 406, 502, 526, 550, 623; Medals awarded by the, 349; Station at Landsort (in Sweden) for Measurement of Shore- Elevation, 159; on the Drift of the Vale of Clwyd, Prof. T. McK. Hughes, 167; Discovery of Identity of Sand in New Zealand Rivers with Oktibehite, Prof. Ulrich, 190; the Metamorphic Rocks of the Malvern Hills, Frank Rutley, 190; Student’s Hand-book of Historical Geology, A. J. Jukes-Browne, Prof. A. H. Green, 218; Angelo Heilprin on the Geology of Florida, 230 ; Observations nouvelles sur le Tufeau de Ciply ct sur le Crétacé supérieur du Hainault, A. Rutot and E. Van den Broeck, 317 ; Geological Evolution, Signor Enrico del Pozzo di Mombello, 350; the Relations between Geology and the Mineralogical Sciences, Prof. John W. Judd, F.R.S., 392, 414; Palwontological Researches near Rheims, 407; Sandstone of Organic Origin, 407-5 Geo- logy of Jersey, Le P. Ch. Noury, 412; Mastodonsaurus dis- covered on Juckatoo Island, Sydney, 445; Geology of Lake Kelbia District, 455 ; Geology of Hampstead, Logan Lobley, 454; Geological Survey of India, Annual Report, 472 ; Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals, Angelo Heilprin, 510 Geometry : the Elements of Plane Geometry, 27; a Sequel to the First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid, containing an Easy Introduction to Modern Geometry, John Casey, 28 ; the Elements of Euclid, H. Deighton, 269; Euclid Revised, R. C. J. Nixon, 269; Geometrical Drawing for Army Candi- dates, H. T. Lilley, 28 ; Associati»n for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching, 204, 281; Origins of Geometry, Horace Lamb, F.R.S., 269 ; First Lessons in Geometry, Bb. Hanumanta Rau, 269; Developments of Naval Geometry, 382; Geometrical Construction of the Cell of the Honey- Bee, Prof. H. Hennessy, F.R.S., 502; the Association’s ‘*Geometry,” Prof. George Bruce Halsted, 557 German Carp, Consignment of, forwarded to Portugal by the National Fish-Culture Association, 350 } German Fishery Association, Seals destructive to Fisheries, 377 German Lakes, North, Investigation of, by Dr. Otto Zacharias, pee Result of New Census of, 281 ; Atmospheric Tem- perature in, 504 F Gibney (Robert D.), Peculiar Radiation of Light, 536 Gibson (E.) and R. E. Gregory, Tenacity of Spun Glass, 406 Gibson (R. J. Harvey), an Abnormal Hirudo medicinalis, 392 Giglioli (Prof. Henry H.): Zefidosiven paradoxa, 343 ;_Dr. Modigliani’s Exploration of Nias, 342 Xvi INDEX [Wature, June 9, 1887 Gilded Chrysalides, Edward B. Poulton, 470 Gilman (Dr.), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 399 Ginger-Beer Plant, Prof. Bayley Balfour, 358 Ginnerup, in Denmark, Discovery of a Kitchen-Midden at, 112 Girls, Physical Training of, Dr. Rayner W. Batten, 495 Glacial Action, C. L. Griesbach, 594 Glaciation in the Australian Alps, on some Further Evidence of, James Stirling, 182 Glaciation, Lunar, S. E. Peal, 100 Glaciation of North America, Great Britain and Ireland, Com- parative Studies upon, Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, 89 Glacier, the Muir, G. Frederick Wright, 380 Glacier, Rate of Movement of the Pasterz, Herr Ferdinand Seeland, 520 Gladstone (Dr. J. H., F.R.S.), on the Nature of Solution, 64 Glaisher (Prof. J. W. L., F.R.S.), Mathematical Tripos, ror, 153, 199 Gland, Green, of Fresh-water Crayfish, 455 Glaser (Herr), his Journeys in South Arabia, 520 Glasgow, Botanic Garden, 545 Glass and other Surfaces, on the Intensity of Reflection from, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 64 Glass containing Lead, Note on the Manipulation of, H. G. Madan, 150; Prof. W. A. Shenstone, 223 Glass-blowing, Methods of, W. A. Shenstone, 123 Glass, Spun, Tenacity of, E. Gibson and R. E. Gregory, 406 Glow, Residual, Examination of the, on Radiant-Matter Spectroscopy, W. Crookes, F.R.S., 425, 447 Glycerinate of Potassa, M. de Forcrand, 288 Glycose in Development of Animal Heat, Action of, A. Chauveau, 120, 144, 191 Goebel’s (Dr. K.) “Outlines of Classification and Special Morphology of Plants,’’ on some Observations on Palzonto- logy in, Prof. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S., 535, 577 Gordon (General), Collection illustrative of the Coco de Mer (Lodoicea seychellarum) presented to the Museum, Kew Gardens, 494 Gore (J. E.): Nova Orionis, M. Dunér, Herr Schwab, 85 ; Variable near x! Orionis, Dr. G. Miiller, 329 ; Orbit of the Binary Star 14 (¢) Orionis, 569 Gorgeu (M. Alex.), on the Artificial Production of Zincite and Willemite, 288 Goss (Herbert), Aporia crategi, 473 Gothenburg, Proposed Free University at, 281 Gould’s (Dr.) Astronomical Journal, 59; New Variables in Cygnus, 282 Gould Collection of Australian Birds at Philadelphia, 204 Graham’s Ideas concerning the Constitution of Matter, on cer- tain Modern Developments of, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 522, 547 Grande Encyclopédie, 613 Grape-Vine: Treatment of, with Salts of Copper against Mil- dew, 144; Anti-Phylloxeric Disinfection of, 382 Gray (Thos.), Seismometry, 126, 198 Great Britain and Ireland, North America, Comparative Studies upon Glaciation of, Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, 89 Great Ice Age, Astronomical Theory of the, W. H. S. Monck, 7; Sic Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., 53; Rev. E. Hill, ror Great Men, Longevity of Joseph Jastrow, 10 Great Oceans, Similarities in the Physical Geography of the, J. Y. Buchanan, 76 Greely (Capt. A. W.), appointed Successor to the late Gen. Hazen, 443 Green (Prof. A. H., F.R.S.): Student’s Handbook of Historical Geology, A. J. Jukes-Browne, 218; Origin of Mountain Ranges, T. M. Reade, 361, 463 Green Light at Sunset, R. T. Omond, 391 Green Light at Sunrise and Sunset, Prof. A. Ricco, 584 Greenhill (A. G.): History of the Theory of Elasticity, Isaac Todhunter, F.R.S., 313 ; Wave-Motion in Hydrodynamics, 477; Units of Weight, Mass, and Force, 486 Greenleaf’s Bequest to Harvard College, 229 Greenwich, Solar Eclipse ‘‘ Invisible” at, A. C. Crommelin, 414 Grenfell (Rey. Geo.) : Ascent of the Quango, 547 ; Exploration of the Congo, 596 Gresham Lecture Fund, the, 16 Gresham Lectures, 229 Griesbach (C. L.), Glacial Action, 594 Griffen (H. H.), Bicycles and Tricycles for the Year 1886, 52 Grimaux (M. E.) and M. Ch, Cloez, Erythrene, 288 Gronland, Berattelse om en Resa til, Nils O. Holst, 340 Grosse (A.), a Wire Tape Rheostat, 334 Grote (Arthur), Death of, 133 Grothe (Dr.), Death of, 423 Guillemard (F. H. H.), Cruise of the AZarchesa, 369 Gulf of Genoa, on the Existence of Submerged Valleys in the, 336 Gulf Stream, Climate of Northern Europe and the, 91 Guppy (Dr. H. B.), Coral Reefs of the Solomon Islands, 77 Gurlt (Dr.), a Fossil Meteorite found in Coal, 36 Gurney (Edmund), Phantasms of the Living, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290, 345 Guthrie (Frederick), Obituary Notice of, 8; Guthrie Memorial Fund, 127, 327 Guthrie (F.), Virtual Velocities, 149 Gymnasial Instruction, Report of the Swiss Commission for the Reform of, 257 Gymnema sylvestre, an Examination of the Leaves of, David Hooper, 565 ; Hooper's Paper on, J. C. Shenstone, 594 4 Gymnodinum polyphemus, Pouchet, 48 J Gyroscope, New Collimating, 600 & Habenicht, on the Morphology of the Kosmos, 35 Hematoscopy, Hénocque, 48 Hagen (Dr. H. A.), Abnormal Cats’ Paws, 345 Hagenbach (Ed.), Propagation of Electricity in Telegraph- Wires, 333 Hahn (Prof. F.), Aurora, 8 Hailstones, Top-shaped, C. S. Middlemiss, 413; J. Spencer Smithson, 438 ; Alex. Johnstone, 536 Hairiness, Aino, and the Urvolk of Japan, F. V. Dickins, 534 Haldane (Dr. Daniel Rutherford), Death of, 567 Hale (Horatio), on the Origin of Languages, 17 Halibut, Capture of a, in the Lower Potomac, 569 Hall (Prof. Asaph) : Six Inner Satellites of Saturn, 257 ; Stellar Parallax, 258 Hall (Maxwell): Temperature and Pressure in Jamaica, 437 5 West Indian Meteorological Confederation, 485 Halo with Parhelia observed at Fontainebleau, 359 Halo, Solar, J. J. Walker, 272; R. T. Omond, 582 Halos, Lunar, Prof. S. T. Moreland, 414 Halsted (Prof. Geo. Bruce), the Association’s ‘‘ Geometry,” 557 Hampstead, Geology of, Logan Lobley, 454 Hand and Foot, Variations in the Nerve-Supply of the Lumbri- cales Muscles in the, with some Observations on the Perforating Flexors, 521 Harcourt (A. Vernon, F.R.S.), Lighthouse Illuminants, 41, 60 Harding (Chas.) : High Temperature in October, 18 ; the Gale of October 15-16, 1886, 95 Harley (Rev. Timothy), Lunar Science, 246 Harmony and Counterpoint, Elements of, F. Davenport, 339 Harrington (M. W.), the Chinook Winds, 568 Harris (T. E.), Hand-book of Acoustics, 270 Hartley (Prof. W. N), on the Nature of Solution, 64 Harvard College: Stellar Photography at, Prof. Pickering, 37 ; Mr.:Greenleaf’s Bequest to, 229 ; Observatory of, 424, 497 Hatch (Dr. Fred. B.), Petrography, 482 Hawaiian Fishing Implements and Methods of Fishing, Mrs. E. M. Beckley, 327 Hawaiian Volcano Mauna Loa, Discharge from, 376 Hay (J. S.) and Jos. M. Metzger, Earthquake in Sierra Leone, 141 Hay (W. D.), Text-book of British Fungi, 364 Hayward (Robert B., F.R.S.): on the Water in the Chalk beneath the London Clay of the London Basin, 335; Mass, Weight, and Dynamical Units, 604 Hazen (William Babcock), Obituary Notice of, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 541 Health and Disease, Dynamics of, Life-Energy or the, Surgeon- Major Nathl. Alcock, 366 Hearing, Acuteness of, Dr. K6nig, 480 Hearth, Prehistoric, under the Quaternary Deposits in Western New York, 476 Heat, Disinfection by, R. Strachan, 7 Heat, Lecture Experiments on the Expansion of Solids by, H. G. Madan, 89; C. E. Stromeyer, 126 Heat, the Sun’s, Sir William Thomson, F.R.S., 297 Heat into Work, on the Conversion of, W. Anderson, 387 Wature, June 9, 1887] \ Heatha (C. W.), Experimental Chemistry, 74 Heatsof Combustion, Calorimetric Bomb and Measurement of, 551 \ Heavens, Proposed Photographic Map of the, 35 Hector (Dr. Jas., F.R.S.), Oktibehite or Awaruite, 513 Heilprin\(Angelo), Geographical and Geological Distribution of Animals, 510 Heliography, Prof. Spérer on Sunspots, 72 *Helmholta (Prof. von): the Formation of a Thunderstorm, 24 ; Cohesion of an Air-free Column of Water, 456 Hemsley (WW. Botting): Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Commission, 173; Primroses, 561 Hennessy (Prof. H., F.R.S.): Trains of Pulleys and Drums, 452; Geometrical Construction of the Cell of the Honey-Bee, 502 Henocque (N.), Hzematoscopy, 48 Henrici (Prof. O., F.R.S.) Note on Mr, Budden’s Proof that only One Parallel can be drawn from a given Point to a given Straight Line, 100 Heptene, Action of Heat on, 455 Herbarium, Lamarck’s, Removal of, 312 Heredity in Cats, with an Abnormal Number of Toes, Observa- tions on, Edward B. Poulton, 38 ; William White, 125 Heredity, Pedigree Moth-breeding as a Means of Verifying certain Important Constants in the Theory of, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 453 Heritsch (A.), on Radiophony, 333 Hermes (Dr. Otto), Phosphorescence of Marine Fish, 377 Herring, Puzzling Migratory Habits of the, 567 Hertslet (Reginald H.), Earthquake at Sea, 157 Hesperia, Probable Re-Discovery of, Dr. R. Luther, 614 Hessian Fly, Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, on the, 256 Heughes (Sir W. W.), Contributions to the Adelaide Univer- sity, 255 Heurck (Dr. Van), Photo-Micrographs, 359 Hidden (William Earl), Mazapil Meteoric Iron, 572 Higgin (Thos.), Electrical Phenomenon, 173 Hill (Rey. E.), Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice Age, Iol i ee A.), Vertical Decrement of Temperature and Pressure, 10. Hinde (Geo. J.), on the Character of the Beds of Chert in the Carboniferous Limestone of Yorkshire, 582 Him (M.); on the Explosion of Meteorites, 303 firudo medicinalis, an Abnormal, R. J. Harvey Gibson, 392 Historical Geology, Student’s Hand-book of, A. J. Jukes- Browne, Prof. A. H. Green, 218 Hittite Inscriptions, Capt. Conder’s Translation of, 422 Hodd (J. Herbert), Abnormality in Cats’ Paws, 53 Hoffman (Dr. W. J.), Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte’s Island, 285 Holden (Edward S.), Photography the Servant of Astronomy, 317 Holetschek (Dr. J.), Comet Finlay (1886 e), 207 Holland (Sir Henry), Colonial Conference, 544 Holmes (W. H.), on the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio, 281 Holmesdale Natural History Club, 206 Holmestrand, Brilliant Meteor observed at, 352 Holst (Dr. Nils O.), Berattelse om en Resa til Grénland, 340 Holub (Dr.), Supposed Murder of, 379 Homeric Astronomy, A. M. Clerke, 585, 607 Hong Kong, the Meteorological Observatory of, 229 Honzo Dsufu, the, Japanese Work on Botany, 204 Hooper (David), an Examination of the Leaves of Gymnema sylvestre, 565 ; J. C. Shenstone, 594 Hopkinson (John, F.R.S.), Note on Specific Inductive Capa- city, 334 Hours with a Three-Inch Telescope,$Capt. Wm. Noble, 246 Houzeau (M.), Method for the Determination of the Constant of Aberration, 377 Howell (Mr.), Technical Education and the House, 326 Howietoun, the History of, Sir J. Ramsay Gibson Maitland, 337 Hughes (Prof. T. McK.): 167 ; on Caves, 454 Hulke (J. W., F.R.S.), Note on Polacanthus foxit, 357 Hull (Prof. Edward, F.R.S.), the Geology of the Lebanon, 10 Hungary, Sunspot Observations in, Carl Braun, A. M. Clerke, 227 on the Drift of the Vale of Clwyd, INDEX XVil Hunt (Thos. Sterry), Mineral Physiology and Physiography, 578 Hunterian Oration, W. S. Savory, F.R.S., 379 Huntington (O. W.): on the Crystalline Structure of Iron Meteorites, 16, 93 ; Coahuila Meteorites, 461 Hutton (Capt. F. W.), Meteorological Conditions at the Time of the Eruption of Mount Tarawera, New Zealand, 322 Huxley (Prof.): and Prince ef Wales on the Imperial Institute, 265; on the True Functions of the Imperial Institute, 305 ; Royal Society and Scientific Federation, 289 ; Organisation of Industrial Education, 493 ; Preliminary Note on the Fossil Remains of a Chelonian Reptile, Ceratochelys sthenurus, from Lord Howe’s Island, Australia, 615; the Gentians—Notes and Queries, 623 Hydrate of Chloral, Prof. Liebreich, 264 Hydraulic Power and Hydraulic Machinery, H. Robinson, Major Allan Cunningham, 460 Hydrodynamics, on Jacobi’s Figure of Equilibrium for a Rotating Mass of Fluid, Dr. G. H. Darwin, F.R.S., 188 Hydrodynamics, Wave-Motion in, A. G. Greenhill, 477 Hydrogen and Chlorine Gas, Mixed, Chemical Action of Light on, Dr. Pringsheim, 552 Hydrophobia, M. Pasteur’s Treatment of, 30 Hydrophobia, Society for. Prevention of, 57 Hygiene, Proposed School of, at the University of Michigan, 377 Hygiene, School, Arther Newsholme, 604 Hygrometers : Sensitive, 331 ; Recording, 331 Hymenomycetes, British Fungi, Rev. John Stevenson, 4 Hyotherium from the Pliocene of India, on a Jaw of, R. Lydekker, 94 Hysteria Studied in Art Manifestations of the Past, 376 Ice, Thickness of the, in North-Eastern Pennsylvania during the Glacial Epoch, 141 Ice Age, Astronomical Theory of the Great, W. H. S. Monck, 7; Sir Robert S. Ball, F.R.S., 53; Rev. E. Hill, ror Ice Cavern in Austria, Discovery of, 17 Ice Period in the Altai Mountains, an, E. Michaelis, 149; A. Bialoveski, 513 Ice and Brines, J. Y. Buchanan, 608 Iceland, Introduction of New Plants into, 356 Ichthyology, Fishes inhabiting very Deep Waters, M. Léon Vaillant, 288 Illinois, South-Eastern, Earthquake in, 444 Illuminants, Lighthouse, A. Vernon Harcourt, F.R.S., 41, 60; T. and D. Stevenson, 63 Imperial Institute, 34, 210 ; Sir Frederick Abel, elected Organis- ing Secretary to the, 111; Scientific Basis of Proposed, 254 ; Prince of Wales and Prof. Huxley on, 265 ; Possible Results of the, 280 ; on the True Functions of the, Prof. Huxley, 305 ; Work of the, Sir Fred. Abel, F.R.S., 617 Imperial University of Japan, Calendar of the, 4o1 Index-Catalogue, Medical, A. T. Myers, 196 Index, Subject, Two Hours with a, 123 India: Food-Grains of, A. H. Church, Prof. John Wrightson, 52; Indian Silk Industry, the Decline of the, $4; on the Cultivation of the so-called Wild Silks of India, T. F, Peppe, 256; Ipecacuanha Cultivation in, W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., 227; Indian Survey Staff, 281; Queen’s Jubilee in, India, 349; Administration Report of the Meteorological Department of India, 365; Butterflies of India, Lionel de Nicéville, H. J. Elwes, 436; Annual Report of the Geological Survey of, 472; Indian Engineering, Survey of the Straits Settlements, 472 Indian, West, Meteorological Confederation, Maxwell Hall, 48 india West, Seal (Monachus tropicalis), Henry A. Ward, 392 Indian Tribes of British Columbia, Dr. Franz Boas, 568 Indiana, South Western, Earthquake in, 444 Indians, Consumption among the, 400 Indo-Chine, La France en, A. Bouinais and A, Paulus, 221 Inductionless Coils, Theory of the, Dr. Aron, 383 Inductive Capacity, Specific Note on, John Hopkinson, F.R.S., 334 Industrial Education, Organisation of, Prof. Huxley, 493 Industrial Studentships, Col. J. F. D. Donnelly, 413 Infant Navajos, Notes on Certain :Traits of, R. W. Shufeldt, 346 XVill INDEX [Wature, June 9, 1887 Influence of Wind on Barometric Readings, G. J. Symonds, RES sys) Ingram (William), the Recent Weather, 173 Inosite, Preparation, Properties, and Constitution of, M. Maquenne, 335 Insect-Life in the East, 527 Insects and Petunias, J. W. Slater, 70 Insects, Protective, Value of Coloured Markings in, 502 Ins‘antaneous Shutters: A. Mallock, 324; Col. H. Stuart- Wortley, 366 j Instinctive Action, 392 Institute of France, Change of Professorships in the, 256 Institution of Civil Engineers, 503 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 355 Institution of Naval Architects, 538 Intensity of Keflection from Glass and other Surfaces, on the, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 64 Intermittent Downward Filtration, Ten Years’ Experience in Works of, T. Bailey-Denton, 195 International Committee of Weights and Measures, 203 International Medical Congress at Washington, Ninth Triennial Meeting of the, 350 International Polar Expeditions, 147 International Statistical Institute, 255 Invertebrates, a New Function of the Otocysts in the, Yves Delage, 48 Invisible at Greenwich, A. C. Crommelin, 414 Ipecacuanha Cultivation in India, W. T. BARS 46227, Tradier’s (Don Manuel) Explorations in Africa, 182 Treland, North America, Great Britain and, Comparative Studies upon Glaciation of, Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, 89 Tridescent Clouds, Jas. C. McConnel, 533; G. H. Stone, 581 Iron, Mazapil Meteoric, William Earl Hidden, 572 Tron in Strong Fields, Magnetisation of, Prof. J. A. Ewing, 622 Iron Ships, Deviation of the Compass in, considered practically, W. Hz. Rosser, 437 Tron, Wrought, J. Starkie Gardner, 422 Irritation in the Throat, Various Effects of, 575 Irving, (Rey. A.): Fresh-water Diatoms in the Bagshot Beds, 1o1; Physical History of the Bagshot Beds of the London Basin, 382 Isopyknal Lines, Rotation between the Gaseous and Liquid States of Matter by, 333 Italy : Geographical Society of, 60; Learned Society formed in Italy for the Study of Eastern Languages and Archeology, 328 ; Scientific Renaissance in, 350; Italian Emigration, 403 ; Italian Possessions on the Red Sea Coast, 446; New Edition of the Works of Galileo to be published at the Cost of the State, 473; Earthquake of February 23 in, 479; Stations established by the Italian Meteorological Society, 612 Thiselton Dyer, Jackson (John R.), Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 81, 225 Jade-handled Brushes, on Two, Prof. J. P: O'Reilly, 318 Jamaica: Temperature and Pressure in, Maxwell Hall, 437 ; Disease of Colocasia in, 478 Japan: Volcanses of, Prof. Milne, 19; Seismometry in, Prof. Joho Milne, 36; Prof. J. A. Ewing, 75; Seismological Society of, 518; the Active Volcano Asamayama, 133; Japanese Mission to inquire into the Norwegian Cod- Fisheries, 158; the Honzo Dsufu, Work on Botany, 204 ; Japan Educational Society, 204; Education of Women in, 229; Magnetic Map of, 330; Physical Geography of, Dr. Naumann, 330; Earthquake in, 399; Calendar of the Imperial University of, 4o1 ; Aino Hairiness and the Urvolk of, F. V. Dickins, 534; Important Points in the History of Earthqua‘e Investigation in, Prof. John Milne, 559 Jastrow (Joseph), Longevity of Great Men, 10 Java, the Disease eri-deri in, 206 Jaw, the Gecko moves its Upper, Edward B. Poulton, 511 Jeans (W. T.), Lives of the Electricians, 270 Jenner (J. H. A.), Macro-Lepidoptera of East Sussex, 230 Jersey, Geology of, Le P. Ch. Noury, 412 Jevons (W. Stanley), Letters and Journal of, 25 Johns Hopkins University : Marine Laboratory connected with, 329; Dr. Gilnan on, 399 Johnston-Lavis (Dr. H. J.), Sounding a Crater, Fusion-Points, Pyrometers, and Seismometers, 197 Johnstone (Alex.), Top-shaped Hailstones, 536 Joule (James Prescott, F.R.S.), Joint Scientific Papers of, 461 Journal of Botany, 212, 404 Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Prof. John Wrightson, 148 Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, 569 Journal of the Society of Telegraph-Engineers, 569 Jowett (Prof.), on University Colleges, 441 Jubilee, Science and the, 217, 241 ; the Jubilee in India, 349 Judd (Prof. Join W., F.R.S.): the Relations between Geology and the Mineralogical Sciences, 392, 414; the Relation of Tabasheer to Mineral Substances, 488; Vitality and its Definition, 511 Jukes-Browne(A.J.), Student’s Hand-book of Historical Geology, Prof. A. H. Green, 218 Junker (Dr.), on the Best Route by which to reach Emin Pasha, 258, 475 Jupiter: Rotation-Time of the Red Spot on, Prof. Young, 181 ; Mean Periodicity of the Spots of, 359 Jurassic Mammals, American, 622 Kakke, the Disease, 206 Kalocsa Observatory, Dr. C. Braun, 59 Kan (Prof.) Proposed Geographical and Geological Exploration of the Moluccas, 182 Karachi Museum, W. D. Cumming at, 593 Kathode, Metal Films arising from the Disruption of a, B. Dessau, 333 Keane (Prof. A. H.): European Prehistoric Races, 564; the Eskimo, Dr. H. Rink, 309 Kempe (A. B., F.R.S.), on the Theory of Mathematical Form, 574 Kennedy (Prof. Alex. B.), on the Use and Equipment of Engineering Lab pratories, 235 Kent (Saville), Report on Tasmanian Fisheries, 233 Kew, Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information issued from the Royal Gardens, 306 Kew Gardens: Presentation to, of Gen. Gordon’s Collection Illustrative of the Coco de Mer (Ladoicea seychellarum), 494 ; Thos. Moore’s Botanical Collection acquired for the Her- barium, 495 Kew, a Plant of Manilla Hemp at, 567 Kew Observatory, Report of the Committee, 307 ** Khevir,” or Great Salt Desert, 232 Kilauea after the Eruption of March 1886, 451 Kologramme, Standard, 408 Kinetic Theory of Gases, Prof. Tait, 311 King (Dr. Geo.), on the Genus Ficus, 525 Kingsmill (Thos, W.), Earthquakes, 319 Kinship, Algebraic Notation of, Prof. Alex. Macfarlane, 126 Kirchenpauer (Dr. Gustav Heinrich), Death of, 473 Kirkwood (Prof. Daniel), Co nets and Asteroids, 474 Kitchen-Midden discovered at Ginnerup in Denmark, 112 Kiu Sawa, Proposed Investigation of the Fish-bearing Properties of, 444 Klein (Dr. E., F.R.S.): the Cambridge Cholera Fungus, 171, 295; Etiology of Scarlet Fever, 452 Klein (Dr. L. Martial), Vitality of Seeds, 463 Klein (Sydney T.): the Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera of Middlesex, 167; Best Method of capturing Lepidoptera, 282 Klumpke (Miss), Assistantship in the Paris Hospitals, 306 Knife of Curious Workmanship found in the Thick Flesh of a Cod, 545 Knowledge, Scientific, First Year of, Paul Bert, 221 Koch (Dr. K. R.), Aurora Borealis, A. M. Clerke, 433 Kolenko (B von), Pyro-Electricity of Quartz, 333 Konig (Dr.), Von Kries’ Colour-mixing Apparatus, 336 Konig (Dr.), Acuteness of Hearing and its Estimation by means of Tuning-Forks, the Sound of which gradually died away, 480 Kosmos, Habenicht on the Morphology of the, 35 Kotter (Dr.), Mean Rate of Flow of a Fluid from a Small Aperture, 600 Krause (Herr G, A.), News from, 547 ; » June 9, 1887] INDEX } Xix ae (Prof.), on Serous Albumen, 504 Leyst (Herr), Remarkable Forms of Lightning-Flash, 85 Krueger (Dr. A.), Comet Finlay (1886 e), 85, 134 Kriimme] (Dr. Otto), Der Ozean, 6; Relief of the Australian Mediterranean, 447 Kurrachee Technical College, the, 84 \ La Pérouse Expedition round the World, Centenary of the, 443 Laboratories, Engineering, on the Use and Equipment of, Prof. Alex. B. Kennedy, 235 Laboratories, New Building for the, of the Paris Medical School, 473 Lacaze-Duthiers (Prof. de), Presentation from his Pupils, 473 Lake, Soundings at Crater, 353 Lake Ngami Region, Dr. Hans Schinz on, 547 Lake Kelbia District, Geology of, 455 Lake-Dwelling recently discovered at Wallishafen on the Lake of Zurich, 423. Lakes, North Germon, Dr. Otto Zacharias’s Investigation of, 473 Lamarck’s Herbarium, Removal of, 312 Lamb (Horace, F.R.S.): Origins of Geometry, 269 ; Ellipsoidal Current Sheets, 574 Lamellary Thomsonite from Bishopton, Renfrewshire, Descrip- tion of a, 335 Lamp, Herr Linnemann’s New, 432 Landerkunde des Erdteils Europa, 473 Langley (Prof. S. P.), Extension of the Corona, 52 Langner (Herr Hugo), Ueber eine Methode zur Messung kleiner Winkeldifferenzen, 329 Languages, on the Origin of, Horatio Hale, 17 Lapouge (M. de), on the Decline of the Birth-rate in France, 357 Larva, a Balanoglossus, from the Bahamas, W. F. R. Weldon, 477 Latent Heats of Vaporisation of some very Volatile Substances, 551 ** Latex,” on the Term, in Botany, M. A. Trécul, 600 Laurie (A. P.), Electric Charge on the Atom, 131 Lavas, Acid, Nature and Origin of Lithophysz and the Lamina- tion of, J. P. Iddings, 380 Law of Storms in the Eastern Seas, Dr. W. Doberck, 135 Le Conte (Prof. Joh), Lightning Flashes, 342 Lead, Note on the Manipulation of Glass containing, H. G. Madan, 150; W. A. Shenstone, 223 Leaf-beds, Ardtun, J. Starkie Gardner, 382 Leaves of Gymmema syivestre, an Examination of the, David Hooper, 565 Lebanon, Geology of the, Prof. Edward Hull, F.R.S., 10 Lechartier (M. G.), on the Composition of the Ashes of Cider, 382 Leclanché Battery, Modifications of the, 331 Lecture Experiment on the Expansion of Solids by Heat, H. G. Madan, 89 Lectures and Essays, W. K. Clifford, F.R.S., 270 “Legge (Prof. Di), Researches on the Sun’s Diameter, 595 Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, 180 Leicestershire, Flora of, including the Cryptogams, J. G. Baker, 4il Lemons, Irregularly Developed, 430 Lemstrom (M. S.), L’Auro'e Boréale, A. M. Clerke, 433 Lenses: Magnifying, Flat on both Sides, 331; Value of the New Apochromatic, 467 Lenz (Dr. Oscar): Exploration of the Upper Congo, 232; his Arrival at Zanzibar, 283; his Map of the Congo, 354; Re- turn of, from Zanzibar, 378 ; Letters from, 402, 520 Lepidoptera, Best Method of capturing, Sydney T. Klein, 282 Lepidoptera-Heterocera, Capt. H. J. Elwes, 503 Lepidosirven paradoxa, Prof. Henry H. Giglioli, 343 Leprosy on the West Coast of Norway, 519 Lesseps (M. de), Artesian Wells in Algeria, 287 Lewis (A. L.), Stone Circles, 503 Lewis (Prof. H. Carvill), Comparative Studies upon Glaciation of North America, Great Britain, and Ireland, 89 Ley (Rev. W. Clement): the Recent Weather, 54; a Few of our Weather Terms, 323 Leyden Museum, 181 Leyden Museum, Notes from the, 477 Libraries of the United States, Statistics concerning, 519 Lice, Tree-, at Rodriguez, Ravages of, 179 Lieberkiihn (Dr. Nathaniel), Death of, 612 Liebreich (Prof.), Hydrate of Chloral, 264 Life, Herbert Spencer’s Definition of, F. Howard Collins, 487 Life-Energy, or the Dynamics of Health and Disease, Surgeon- Major Nathl. Alcock, 366 Light, Diffraction of, Hermann Struve, 423 Light, on the Absolute Wave-length of, Louis Bell, 524 Light, Peculiar Radiation of, Robert D. Gibney, 536 Light, Chemical Action of, on Mixed Hydrogen and Chlorine Gas, Dr, Pringsheim, 552 Light, Aberration of, Phenomena connected with, 575 Light, the Zirconia Oxyhydrogen, Lewis Wright, 583 Lighthouse Illuminants, A. Vernon Harcourt, F.R.S., 41, 60; T. and D. Stevenson, 63 Lightning, Effects of, in Schleswig-Holstein, 360 Lightning-Flash, Remarkable Form of, Herr Leyst, 85 Lightning-Flashes, Prof. John Le Conte, Antoine d’Abbadie, 342 Lightning-Rods, Radius of the Circle of Protection of, Herr Schiller, 376 Lilley (H. T.), Geometrical Drawing for Army Candidates, 28 Lime, Silicostannate of, Preparation of a, corresponding to Sphene, M. L. Bourgeois, 335 Linneus, Through the Fields with, Mrs. Florence Caddy, 579 Linnean Society, 70, 142, 166, 358, 381, 430, 478, 525, 623 Linnean Society of New South Wales, 95; Annual General Meeting of, 519 Liquid Surfaces of Revolution, Critical Mean Curvature of, Prof. A. W. Riicker, F.R.S., 143 Liquid and Gaseous States of Matter, Preliminary Note on the Continuity of the, William Ramsay and Sydney Young, 262 Lisbon, Earthquake at, 612 Literature, Study of, John Morley, 422 Lithophysze, Nature and Origin of, and the Lamination of Acid Lavas, J. P. Iddings, 380 Liverpool Astronomical Society, 402 Liverpool Biological Society, 454 Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society, 546 Lives of the Electricians, W. T. Jeans, 270 Living: Phantasms of the, Edmund Gurney, Fred. W. H. Myers, and Frank Podmore, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290, 345 Lobley (Logan), Geology of Hampstead, 454 Local Scientific Societies, British Association and, 78 Localisation, Cerebral, Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S., 438, 464 Loch-buie Observatory, the, 58 Loch-buie Marine Institute, 205 Loch Creran, W. Alexander Smith, 484 Lochleven Trout, Dr. Day, 166 Lockhart (J. H. Stewart), Folk-Lore of China, 281 Lockwood (Samuel), Snowflakes, 414 Lodge (Prof. Alf.), Units of Weight, Mass, and Force, 557 Loewy (M.), New Method for the Determination of the Constant of Aberration, 263, 282, 407, 424, 431, 454, 479 Logarithms, Values of, Prof. J. C. Adams, F.R.S., 381 London Institution Lectures, the, 84 London, University for, 505 Long Lost Reefs, Capt. W. J. L. Wharton, F.R.S., 347 Longevity of Great Men, Joseph Jastrow, 10 Longitude of Rio, Prof. C. A. Young, 172 Longitudes in Brazil, Admiral E. Mouchez, 100 Loo-Choo Islands, Collection of Reptiles and Batrachians from, the, 431 Lord Hewes Island, Australia, Preliminary Note on the Fossil Remains of a Chelonian Reptile, Ceratoch-lys sthenurus, from, Prof. Thos. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 615 Louisville, University of, Semi-Centennial Anniversary of, 545 Lowe (E. J., F.k.S.): Recent Gales, 150; Snowstorm of January 7, 1887, 271 ' Lu River of Tibet, General J. T. Welker, F.R.S., on the, 615 Lubbock (Sir John, F.R.S.): the Forms of Seedlings— the Causes to which they are due, 235 ; Lecture on Savages, 255 5 Phytobiological Observations, 430; Habits of Ants, 518 Lucas (Felix), Entropy, 455 Lucasite, a New Variety of Vermiculite, 141 Lumbar Curve in Man and Apes, Prof. Cunningham, 46 xX Lumbricales Muscles in the Hand and Foot, Variations in the Nerve-Supply of the, with some Observations on the Perforating Flexors, 521 Lunar Glaciation, S. E. Peal, 100 Lunar Halos, Prof. S. T. Moreland, 414 Lunar Science, Rev. Timothy Harley, 246 Lung-Sick, E. J. Dungate, 29; Philip J. Butler, 54; Dr. Gérard Smets, 76 Lupton (Sydney), Chemical Arithmetic, 74 Luther (Dr. R.), Probable Re-discovery of Hesperia, 614 Liittich (Dr. Julius, Death of, 307 Luvini (Prof. Gioy.), the Electric Conductibility of Vapours and Gases, 85 Lydekker (Richard): on a Jaw of Hyotherium from the Plio- cene of India, 94 ; the Cetacea of the Suffolk Crag, 94 ; Cata- logue of Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum, 532 Lynn (Mr.), Alleged Ancient Red Colour of Sirius, 378 Lyre, 8, Atmosphere of, O. T. Sherman, 451 Macadam (Prof.), Sample of Talc used in Paper-making, 423 McConnel (James C.): an Error in Maxwell’s Electricity and Magnetism, 172; Magnetic Theory, 344; Iridescent Clouds, 533 Macfarlane (Prof. Alex.), Algebraic Notation of Kinship, 126 Machinery, Means of Controlling the Irregular Action of, 479 Mackinder (H. J.), on the Field and Methods of Geography, 331 McLennan (J. Ferguson), Studies in Ancient History, Dr. W. Robertson Smith, 3 Macro-Lepidoptera of East Sussex, J. H. A. Jenner, 230 Madagascar, Capt. Samuel Pasfield Oliver, 149 Madagascar : the French and, 306 ; Mr. Sibree on, 497 Madan (H. G.): Lessons in Elementary Dynamics, 51 ; Lecture Experiments on the Expansion of Solids by Heat, 89 ; Note on the Manipulation of Glass containing Lead, 150 ; Recently- discovered Deposit of Celestine, 391; a Method of illustrat- ing Combinations of Colours, 513 ; the Production of Newton’s Rings by Plane Soap-Films, 583 Madras Observatory, Mr. Pogson, 282 Madreporian Coral Fungia, Anatomy of the, G. C, Bourne, 404, Madrid Geographical Society, 182 Magnetism: on the Cause of Magnetic Rotatory Polarisation, 141 ; Magnetic Horizontal Intensity in Northern Siberia, A. C. von Tillo, 170 ; Theory of Magnetic Measurements, Francis E. Nipher, 295; Magnetic Theory, Rev. H. W. Watson, 296 ; Jas. C. McConnel, 344 ; Magnetic Map of Japan, 330; Determination of the Poles in Magnets, 479 ; Magnetic Effects of Recent Earthquakes, 479; an Error in Maxwell's ‘‘ Electricity and Magnetism,” Prof. A. Seydler, 512 ; Note on Magnetic Resistance, Profs. W. E. Ayrton and John Perry, 526; Mag- netisation of Iron in Strong Fields, Prof. J. A. Ewing, 622 Maitland (Sir J. Ramsay Gibson), the History of Howietoun, 337 Mallock (A.), Note on Instantaneous Shutters, 324 Malvern Hills: the Metamorphic Rocks of the, Frank Rutley, 190, 623; Inquiry into the Genesis of the Crystalline Schists of the, Dr. C. Callaway, 623 Mammalia, Fossil, in the British Museum, Catalogue of, Richd. Lydekker, 532 Manand Apes, the Lumbar Curve in, Prof. Cunningham, 46 Man, Palzolithic, in North-West Middlesex, J. A. Brown, 554 Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, 527 Manchester, Report of the Public Free Libraries of the City of, 134 Mandalay, Earthquake Shock, 472 Manganese and Bismuth, Fluorescence of, 144 Manganese Steel, Physical Properties of, Prof. W. F. Barrett, 311 Manilla Hemp at Kew, 567 Manipulation of Glass containing Lead, Note on the, H. G. Madan, 150 Manipulation of Glass containing Lead, Prof. W. A. Shenstone, 223 Manipur District, Dr. G. Watts’s Observations in, 308 Map of the World, lent by the Pope, Facsimile of the Famous, 447 Maps of the River Ogové in West Africa, 353 INDEX [Wature, June 9, 1887 Maquenne (M.), Preparation, Properties, and Constitution of Inosite, 335 Marayta (Prof. Miguel), Anthropological Discovery in the Valley of Rebas, 379 Marche (Alfred), Expedition to the Marianne Islands, 231 Marchesa, Cruise of the, F. H. H. Guillemard, 369 Mares and Foals attacked by Wolves, George Maw, 297 Marey (M.), Mechanism of the Flight of Birds studied by Chrono-Photography, 335; Movement of a Bird’s Wing represented according to the Three Dimensions of Space, 382 Marianne Islands, Alfred Marche’s Expedition to, 231 Marine Biology, Pouchet on Gymnodinium polyphemus, 48 Marine Meteorological Instruments and Apparatus, Exhibition of, 352, 443, 491 , . Marine Engineering, Die Schiffsmaschine, ihre Construction Wirkungsweise und Bedienung, 242 Marine Fish, Phosphorescence of, Dr. Otto Hermes, 377 Marine and Fresh-water Fishes, W. A. Carter, 472 Marine Temperature Observations, Dr. H. R. Mill, 527 Marion’s Practical Guide to Photography, 52 Maroni, Journey up the River, 354 Marseilies Observatory, Note on Earthquake of February 23 at, 455 Marshall (A. Milnes, F.R.S.), a Junior Course of Practical Zoology, 506 Marsupialia, Embryology of Monotremata and, W. H. Cald- well, 524 Martin (K.), Westindische Skizzen, Reise-Erinnerungen, Dr. A. Ernst, 459 Martin (T. C.) and Jos. Wetzler, Electric Motor and its Appli- cations, Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, 410 Marx (Dr. Walfried), Death of, 400 Mascart (M.), Waterspouts, 431 Mason Science College, Birmingham, 494 Mass, Weight and, 512 Mass, and Force, Units of Weight, Prof. A. G. Greenhill, 486 ; Rey. Edward Geoghegan, 534; Prof. Alf. Lodge, 557; Archd. C. Elliott, 605 ; Robt. F. Hayward, F.R.S., 604 Massee (George), Cambridge Cholera Fungus, 319 Masters (Dr. Maxwell T.): Autumnal Flowering, 11; on the Peculiar Conformation of the Flowers of Cypripedium, 142 Mastodonsaurus discovered on Juckatoo Island, Sydney, 445 Mathematics : American Journal of, 28 ; Mathematical Society, 70, 166, 287, 4c6, 503, 599 ; Music and Mathematics, Prof. J. J. Sylvester, F.R.S., 132; Mathematical Tripos, Prof. J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., 101, 153, 199; Acta Mathematica, 123; Elementary Results in Pure, G. S. Carr, 292; on the Theory of Mathematical Form, A. B. Kempe, F.R.S., 574 Matrix Excluder of Draught and Dust, Permanent, T. J. Porter, 569 Matter, Preliminary Note on the Continuity of the Liquid and Gaseous States of, William Ramsay and Sydney Young, 262 Matter, on certain Modern Developments of Graham’s Ideas concerning the Constitution of, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 522, 547 Mauna Loa, Eruption of the Volcano of, 423 Maw (George): Warcissus cyclamineus, 166, 381; Wolves, Mares, and Foals, 297 ; on some Phenomena connected with the Freezing of Aérated Water, 325 ; the Crocus, 348 Maxwell’s ‘‘ Electricity and Magnetism,” an Error in, James C. McConnel, 172; Rev. Henry W. Watson, 223; Prof. A. Seydler, 512 Mazapil Meteoric Tron, William Earl Hidden, 572 Mean Values, on the Determination of, 120 Measurements, Theory of Magnetic, Francis E. Nipher, 295 Measuring-Instruments used in testing Materials, on some New, Prof. W. C. Unwin, F.R.S., 334 Mechanics, Animal, Dr. B. W. Richardson, 57 Mechanism of the Flight of Birds studied by Chrono-Photo- graphy, M. Marey, 335 Medical Aspects, Alpine Winter and its, A. Tucker Wise, 170 Medical Index-Catalogue, A. T. Myers, 196 Medical Profession, Laws relating to, in the State of New York, 443 Medical Research, Endowment of, 409 Medical School in connexion with Dundee University College, proposed, 349 Medical School of Paris, M. Brouardel elected Dean, 422 Medical Students, Female, in Paris, Number of, 306 Nature, June 9, 1887] Medland’s Cabinet for Microscope-Slides, 158 Medlicoit (H. B.), the Use of the Bengalis in the Geological Survey of India, 472 Medusa, New Rhizostomatous, J. Walter Fewkes, 451 Medusz, Report on the, J. Walter Fewkes, 377 Melbourne Centennial International Exhibition, 421; First Meeting of the London Commission, 518 Melinite, the New Gun-powder, Accident with, 472 Melvill (J. C.), on Conus gloria maris, 230 Men, Longevity of Great, Joseph Jastrow, 10 Mendenhall (Prof. T. C.), Report on the Charleston Earth- quake, 31 Mental Straining in Young Persons, Bad Results of, 495 Mercadier (M.), Death of, 306 Mercer (John, F.R-S.), the Life and Labours of, Edward A. Parnell, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 145 Mercury, Mass of, Herr Backlund, 85 Mercury, on the Physical Properties of, 120 Merrill (Prof. Geo. P.), Deposits of Volcanic Dust, 174 Metal Films arising from the Disruption of a Kathode, B. Dessau, 333 Metal Plates, on the Deformation of, by grinding, 333 Metallic Propionates, 551 Metals and Alloys, Colours of, Prof. W. Chandler Roberts- Austen, F.R.S., 106 Metastasis in Man, Effect of Alcohol on, 383 . Meteoric Iron from Augusta County, Virginia, 381 Meteoric Iron, Mazapil, William Earl Hidden, 572 Meteorites, Iron: on the Crystalline Structure of, O. W. Huntington, 16; a Fossil found in Coal, Dr. Gurlt, 36; on the Crystalline Structure of Iron Meteorites,O. W. Hunting- ton, 93; on the Explosion of, M. Hirn, 303; Coahuila, O. W. Huntington, 451 Meteorology: Algiers Observatory, 16; High Temperature in October, Chas. Harding, 18 ; Investigations into Thunder- storms of July 1884, Prof. Bornstein, 24 ; Prof. von Helmholtz on the Formation of a Thunderstorm, 24; Sea-Level and Ocean-Currents, Prof. J. S. Newberry, 35 ; the Squall that capsized H.M.S. Zusydice, Hon. Rk. Abercromby, 36; the Law of Storms in the Eastern Seas, Dr. Doberck, 36; the Recent Weather, 198; F. T. Mott, 173; William Ingram, 173; Rev. W. Clement Ley, 54; the Climate of Carlisle, F.G, Benn, 95;the Gale of October 15-16, 1886, C. Harding, 95; Remarkable Phenomenon in Norway, 159; the Hong Kong Observatory, 229 ; Meteorological Conditions at the Time of the Eruption of Mount Tarawera, New Zealand, Capt. F. W. Hutton, 322; a Few of our Weather Terms, Rev. W. Clement Ley, 323; Low Barometric Readings, Henry F. Blanford, 344 ; Army Signal Service in the United States, 349 ; Comparison of the Daily Forecast issued by the Meteorological Office for the Midland District with the Actual Weather experienced in 1886, G. T. Ryves, 350; Exhibition of Marine Meteorological Instruments and Apparatus, 352 ; _ Exhibition of Marine Meteorological Instruments, 443, 491 ; Meteorological Society, 384, 504; Scottish Meteorological Society, 355; Berlin Meteorological Society, 360 ; Adminis- tration Report of the Meteorological Department, India, 365 ; Atlantic Weather Charts, 469; Blue Hill Meteorological Observatory, U.S., 472; West Indian Meteorological Con- federation, Maxwell Hall, 485; Marine Temperature Obser- vations, Dr. H. R. Mill, 527; Meteorological Stations established by Italian Meteorological Society, 612; Areas of High Pressure, Elias Loomis, 621 Meteors, 58, 224; Joseph John Murphy on a,{8; Rev. John Hoskyns-Abrahall, 29; E. Parry, 29 ; Meteor, November 17, 1886, P. L. Sclater, F.R.S., 76; W. F. Denning, 1o1 ; Meteor of December 28, 1886, W. F. Denning, 248; Brilliant Meteor seen on the South-West Coast of Sweden, 112; at Holme- strand, 352; in Dalcarlia, Central Sweden, 495 ; in Central Norway, 443; in Verdalen, Norway, 612; April Meteors, W. F. Denning, 606; Meteors and Auroras, Dr. M. A. Veeder, 126 Method of measuring the Mutual Induction of Two Coils, 478 Methyl Alcohol, Thermal Properties of, William Ramsay and Sydney Young, 358 Methylal, on the Physiological Action of, 336 Metre, the Measure of the, W. de Fonvielle, 388 on Electrical, established at the Paris Opera House, 15 INDEX XxI Metronome, New, 479 Metzger (Jos. M.) and J. S. Hay, Earthquake in Sierra Leone, 141 Mexican Codices and Graven Inscriptions, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, 307, 328 Miall (L. C.), the Structure and Life-History of the Cockroach, 365 Michaelis (E.), an Ice Period in the Altai Mountains, 149 Michigan, University of, Proposed School of Hygiene at, 377 Microbe of Yellow Fever, 528 Microscopy: Medland’s Cabinet for Microscope-Slides, 158 ; Flagellated Protozoa in Animals’ Blood, Dr. Crookshank, 191 ; Microscope, on a Perspective, G. J. Birch, 358; Size of Ancient Microscopes, 359; the Value of the New Apo- chromatic Lenses, 467 ; the Watson-Draper Microscope, 550 ; Studies in Microscopical Science, A. C. Cole, 568 Micro-organisms in Atmosphere, New Method for the Quanti- tative Estimation of, Dr. P. F. Frankland, 188 Micro-organisms obtained from Air, some New, G. C. Frank- land and Dr. Percy F. Frankland, 477 Midden, Kitchen, at Ginnerup, Denmark, 112 Middlemiss (C. S.), Top-shaped Hailstones, 413 Middlesex County Natural History Society, 167, 335, 454 Middlesex, North-West, Palzolithic Man in, J. A. Brown, 554 Migration of Primitive Peoples, 205 Mill (Dr. H. R.), Marine Temperature Observations, 527 Milne (Prof. John), Volcanoes of Japan, 19; Seismometry in Japan, 36: Sounding a Crater, 152; Important Points in the History of Earthquake Investigation in Japan, 559 Mineralogy : O. W. Huntington on the Crystalline Structure of Tron Meteorites, 16 ; Mineralogical Soeiety, 382; the Rela- tions between Geology and the Mineralogical Sciences, Prof. John W. Judd. F.R.S., 392, 414; Mineral Resources of the United States, 401 ; Mineralogical Magazine, 423 ; Catalogue of Minerals in the Australian Museum, 485; the Relation of Tabasheer to Mineral Substances, Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., 488 ; Mineralogical Study of the Fort Duncan Meteoric Iron, 528; Constituents of Minerai Naphthas, 552; Mineral Physiology and Physiography, Thos Sterry Hunt, 578 Mines, Royal School of, and Normal School of Science, Colonel J. F. D. Donnelly, 271 Minister of Education, Necessity for a, 481 Minor Planets: No. 262, 497; No. 264, 353; No. 265, M. Bigourdan, 474; New, Prof. C. H. F. Peters, 59, 282; Herr Palisa, 59, 425; Names of, 207, 569 ; Observations of, 312 Miocene Vertebrate Fauna, 383 Mitteilungen of the Vienna Geographical Society, 446 Mittheilungen aus dem Gebiete des Seewesens, 612 Mittheilungen of the Zurich Antiquarian Society, 423 Modern War-Ships, W. H. White, 306 Modigliani (Dr. E.), Excursion to Island of Nias, 60; Explora- tion of Nias, Prof. Henry H. Giglioli, 259, 342 Moduli of Alloys, 333 Moissan’s Researches on Isolation of Fluor, 71 Moluccas, Proposed Geographical and Geological Exploration of the, Prof. Kan, 182 Monaco (Prince Albert of), Experiments made to determine the Direction of the North Atlantic Currents, 288 Monck (W. H. S.): Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice Age, 7; Brightness and Mass of Binary Stars, 402 Mongalla, Lieut. Baert’s Journey up the, 446 Monotremata and Marsupialia, Embryology of, W. H. Cald- well, 524 Montagne Noire, French Pyrenees, Age of the Upheaval of, 551 Montgaudier Cave, the, 119 Moon, New Map of the, 55 Moore’s(Thos.) Botanical Collections acquired for the Herbarium, Kew Gardens, 495 Moreland (Prof. S. T.), Lunar Halos, 414 Morgan (Prof. C. Lloyd) : the Beetle in Motion, 7; Abnormali- ties in the Vertebral Column of the Common Frog, 53 ; Super- normal Psychology, 290 ; Abnormality in the Urostyle of the Common Frog, 344; Scorpion Virus, 534. Morley (Frank), Rule for escaping a Danger, 345 Morley (John), Study of Literature, 422 Morphiomaniacs, Characteristics of the Pulse in, 528 Morphology of Birds, Prof. W. K. Parker, F.R.S., 331 XXli Morphology of the Wings of Birds, 599 Morphology of the Sporophore in Mosses, J. R. Vaizey, 358 Morris (D.): Dispersion of Plants by Birds, 151; Botanical Federation in the West Indies, 248 Morris’s (the late Prof.) Catalogue of British Fossils, 158 Morse (Edward S.), Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow- Release, 12 Mosses, Morphology of the Sporophore in, J. R. Vaizey, 358 Moth-breeding, Pedigree, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 453 Mott (F. T.), the Recent Weather, 173 Mouchez (Admiral E.), Longitudes in Brazil, 100 Mount Tarawera : New Zealand, Meteorological Conditions at the Time of the Eruption of, Capt. F. W. Hutton, 322; Eruption of, 406, 472 Mountain Ranges, Origin of, T. Mellard Reade, 361, 463; Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S., 361, 463 Movements of the Atmosphere, 479 Mueller (Baron Von), on the Acacias (Wattles) of Australia, 282 Muir Glacier, the, G. Frederick Wright, 380 Miiller (Dr. G.), Gore’s Variable near x! Orionis, 329 Miller (Dr. Hugo), Recent Progress of Chemical Science, 536 Miiller (Dr. R.), Equinoctial Gales, 612 Mummy Seeds, Vitality of, Geo. Murray, 582 Murdoch (John), some Popular Errors in regard to the Eskimos, 518 Murphy (Joseph John) : Meteor, 8; Origin of Species, 76 Murray (Geo.), Vitality of Mummy Seeds, 582 Murray (John): Scientific Knowledge in Scotland, 305 ; Total | Rainfall of the Globe, 311 Murray-Aynsley (H. G. M.), Study of Asiatic Symbolism, 327 ; the Svastika as both Sun and Fire Symbol, 558 Muscle, Voluntary, Action of Caffein and Theine upon, T. Lauder Brunton, F.R.S., 599 Muscles in the Hand and Foot, Variations in the Nerve-Supply of the Lumbricales, 521 Music and Mathematics, Prof. J. J. Sylvester, F.R.S., 132 Mutual Induction of Two Coils, Method of measuring, 478 ; Prof. G, Carey Foster, F.R.S., 143 Myers (A. T.), Medical Index-Catalogue, 196 Myers (Fred. W. H.), Phantasms of the Living, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290 Myriapods, Respiration in, M. J. Chalande, 288 Mythical Zoology of the Far East, 591 Myzostoma-Cysts in Aztedon rosacea, the Supposed, Dr. P. Herbert Carpenter, F.R.S., 535 Naphtha Fountain, Outburst of Natural, at Baku, 352 Naphtha, on the Constituents of Mineral, 552 Narcissus cyclamineus, G. Maw, 166, 381 Nasal Index of the Living Subject, 357 Natal Observatory, Mr. Neison, 85 National Fish-Culture Association, 112, 350; Consignment of Whitefish Ova to the, 519 National Science Collections, 252, 272 National Union of Elementary Teachers, 567 Nationalities of Bohemia, 518 Natterer (Johann), his Ornithological Collection at the Vienna Natural History Museum, 204 Natural History Museum, 15; Additions to, 593 Natural History, its Rise and Progress in Britain, Prof. Alleyne Nicholson, 148 Natural History, the Handy, J. G. Wood, 341 Natural Philosophy, Mr. Maclean, 350 Natural Science at Oxford, 229 Naturalist in South America, Notes of a, John Ball, F.R.S., 529, 553 Naturalist, Field, in Eastern Bengal, 388 Naumann (Dr.), Physical Geography of Japan, 330 Mero: Notes on Certain Traits of Infant, R. W. Shufeldt, 34! Naval Architects, Institution of, 538 Naval Geometry, Developments of, 382 Naval Observatory, United States, 595 Nebulz at Arcetri, Observations of, Wilhelm Tempel, 198 Neison (Mr.), Natal Observatory, 85 Nematodes of Beetroot, Destruction of, 455 INDEX [Nature, June 9, 1887 Nerve-Supply of the Lumbricales Muscles in the Hand and Foot, Variations in the, with some Observations on the Per- forating Flexors, 521 Nervous System, Sympathetic, Dr. Walter H. Gaskell, F.R.S., 185 Nests and Eggs, Birds’, H. Seebohm, 236 New England: Planting of Foreign Trees in, 519; Fluviatile Swamps of, 524. New Guinea: German Exploration in, 403, 615 ; Proposal to cross South-East, 547 New York, Laws relating to the Medical Profession in the State of, 443 ; Educational System in, Andrew S. Draper, 445 New Zealand: Volcanic Dust from, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 56; Salmon Ova sent to, 112 ; Coleoptera of, David Sharp, 177; Red Sunsets and New Zealand Eruptions, Lieut.- Colonel A. T. Fraser, 224; Signs of Fresh Disturbances in the Lake District in, 306 Newberry (Prof. J. S.), Sea-Level and Ocean-Currents, 35 Newsholme (Arthur), School Hygiene, 604 Newton’s Rings, the Production of, by Plane Soap-Films, H. G. Madan, 583 Nias: Dr. E. Modigliani’s Expeditions to, 60, 259 ; Prof. Henry H, Giglioli, 342 Nicaragua, Proposed Canal across, 353 Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Twelve Jade Objects found in, 496 Nice, the Great Refracting Telescope of the Bischoffsheim Observatory at, 84 Nicéville (Lionel de), Butterflies of India, H. J. Elwes, 436 Nichols (Edward L.), and E. H. S. Bailey, the Sense of Smell, 74 Nicholson (Prof. Alleyne), Progress in Britain, 148 Nicols (Dr. W. W. J.) : on the Nature of Solution, 64 ; Super- saturation of Salt-Solutions, 527 Niederrheinische Gesellschaft fiir Naturkunde, 36 Nile Valley North of Khartoum, on the Tribes ef the, Sir Chas. Wilson on, 431 ; Nile and the Congo, on the Region between the, J. T. Wills, 21 Nipher (Francis E.), Theory of Magnetic Measurements, 295 Nitrate of Silver, Action of some Metals on Weak Solutions of, Natural History, its Rise and 4 Nitric Acid, Action of, on Sugar, 432 Nitrogen and Oxygen, Critical Temperatures of. 331 Nitrogenous Organic Matter of Soils, on the Condition of the, R. Warington, F.R.S., 403 Niua-Fu Friendly Islands, Volcanic Eruption in, Prof. T, G. Bonney, F.R.S., 127 Nixon (R. C. J.), Euclid Revised, 269 Noble (Capt. Wm.), Hours with a Three-Inch Telescope, 246 Nolan (James), Tidal Friction and the Evolution of a Satellite, 75 Nordenskjéld (A. E.), on Atomic Weight of Oxide of Gado- linium, 47 | Nordheinsund, West Coast of Norway, Earthquake at, 158 Norites of the Cortlandt Series, 524; G. H. Williams, 452 Normal School of Science and Royal School of Mines, 111 ; Col. J. F. D. Donnelly, 271 Norse Naval Architecture, G. K. Boehmer. 445 North America, Great Britain, and Jreland, Comparative Studies upon Glaciation of, Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, 89 North Atlantic Currents, Experiments made to determine the Direction of the, Prince Albert of Monaco, 288 North Sea, Exploration of the, 73 | Norway: Science in, 122; New Journal of Science, 356; Re- markable Meteor in, 159; Proposal for fixing a Standard Time for, 280; Brilliant Meteor seen in, 443 ; Earthquakes in, Dr. Hans Reuch, 517; Leprosy on the West Coast of, 519 Notation of Kinship, Algebraic, Prof. Alex. Macfarlane, 126 Nott (J. Fortuné), Wild Animals Photographed and Described, 220 Noury (Le P. Ch.), Geology of Jersey, 412 Nova Orionis, Gore’s, M. Dunér, Herr Schwab, 85 Number, Theory of, 477 Nuovo Giornale Botanico Italiano, 212, 405 Nuttall (Zelia), Mexican Codices and Graven Inscriptions, 307, 328 Nyt Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne, 356 Nature, June 9, 1837] INDEX XXill Obernetter (Herr J. B.), Death of, 612 Observatories ; the Algiers, 16; Ben Nevis, 517; Amount of the Rainfall at, 257; A. Rankin, 588; Blue Hill Meteoro- logical, U.S., 472; Baron D’Engelhardt’s, 546; Harvard College, 497; Prof. Pickering, 424: Kalocsa, Dr. C. Braun, 59; Report of the Leander McCormick, 35; Madras, Mr. Pogson, 282; Note on Earthquake of February 23, at Mar- seilles, 455 ; Report of the Natal, 85; Observatory of Rio de Janeiro, transferred to Santa Cruz, 593; Report of the Rousdon, 353 ; Sonnblick, 519; Temple, Mr. Seabroke, 4o1 ; U.S. Naval, 595; Washington, 308, 614; Captain R. L. Phythian, 569; for Women in America, 229 Ocean, the, Otto Kriimmel, 6 Ocean Air, Purity of, 595 Oceans, Similarities in the Physical Geography of the Great, J. Y. Buchanan, 33, 76 Ochsenius (Dr.), on the Age of certain Parts of the South American Andes, 547 October, High Temperature in, Charles Harding, 18 , Odell (W.), Industrial and High Art Education in the United States, J. Edwards Clarke, 97 Ogorodnikoff (M.), Tin-Mines near Meshed, 376 Ogové, Maps of the River, in West Africa, 353 Ohio, Great Serpent Mound in, W. H. Holmes, 281 Oil, ee Use of, in lessening the Effect of Dangerous Seas, 63, 37. Oktibehite or Awaruite, Dr. Jas. Hector, F.R.S., 513 Oldham (R. D.), Supposed Suicide of the Cobra, 560 Oldhamia, on, 515 ; Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 581 Olive Oils, Characteristic Properties of, 383 Oliver (Capt. Samuel Pasfield), Madagascar, 149 Olszewski (M.) : Critical Temperatures of Nitrogen and Oxygen, 331 ; his Experiments, 592 Omond (R. T.): Green Light at Sunset, 391; Solar Halos, 582 Onisin, Rev. Thos. Brydges on the Curious Subdivision of Labour among the People of, 283 Oppenheim (Dr. H.): Comet Barnard (1886 /), 85 ; Comet 1887 c (Barnard, January 23), 424 Oppermann (M_), Earthquakes, 600 Oppolzer (Theodor von): on Astronomical Obituary Notice of, 224 Orbit of the Binary Star 14 (z) Orionis, J. E. Gore, 569 Orchids, Fungus on, 230 Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom, Lieut.-Colonel T. Pilkington White, 170 O'Reilly (Prof. J. P.): the Recent Earthquakes, 197 ; on Two Jade-handled Brushes, 318 Organic Analysis, Commercial, Alfred H. Allen, Dr. C. R. Alder Wright, 293 Organic Evolution, Factors of, Herbert Spencer, Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 362 Organism, Demonstration of Active Oxygen in the Living, Refractions, 17 3 393 Origin of Mountain Ranges, T. Mellard Reade, Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S., 361, 463 Origin of Species, Joseph J. Murphy, 76; Edmund Catchpool, 76; Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 124 Orinoco, Exploration of the, M. Chaffaujon, 446 Orionis, Orbit of the Binary Star ra (2), J. E. Gore, 569 Orionis, x!, Gore’s Variable near, Dr. G. Miiller, 329 Ormerod (Eleanor A.), on the Hessian Fly and Barley, 256 Ornithology : H. Seebohm’s Specimens of Siberian Birds, 15 ; the Birds of Central Asia, 204 ; the Auk, 204 ; the Birds of Tasmania, 204; Types of Birds in the Vienna Natural History Museum, 204; Arctic Species of Birds, Henry Seebohm on, 256; Ornithological Observations in Belgium, | 423 ; Additions to the Natural History Museum, 593 Osler (A. F., F.R.S.), on the Forms of Clouds, 164 Otago University Museum, Notes from the, Prof. T. Jeffery Parker, 208 Otaria hookeri at the Zoological Gardens, 327 Otocysts in Invertebrates, a New Function of the, Yves Delage, 48 Owen (Sir Richard, F.R.S.), on the Skull and Dentition of Galesaurus planiceps, 94; Thylacoleo carnifex, 111 ; Thylacoleo, | Fossil, Lower Jaw of, 142 Owen (T. C.), Tea Planter’s Manual, 268 Owens College, the, Joseph Thompson, 385 Ox-Warble, Enormous Loss from, John Walker, 7; Dr, John Wrightson, 29 Oxford : Natural Science at, 229 ; General Pitt-Rivers’ Anthro- pological Collection at Oxford University Museum, 349 ; Readership in Geography at, 475 Oxidation, Atmospheric, Note on the Development of Voltaic Electricity by, C. R. Alder Wright, F.R.S., 598 Oxide of Lead, Action of the, on some Dissolved Chlorides, 382 Oxygen, Active, in the Animal Organism, Dr. Gad, Dr. Wurster, 383 Oxyhydrogen Light, the Zirconia, Lewis Wright, 583 Oyster-Culture in France, 400, 495 Oyster-Culture in Germany, 400 Oyster-Fisheries of Isle of Wight, 57 Oyster-Fisheries of Tasmania, 233 Ozone, Dr. A. Tucker Wise, 584 Ozone, Production of, 248 Ozone Papers in Towns, Dr. W. J. Black, 76 Palaobotany in Goebel’s ‘‘ Outlines of Classification and Special Morphology of Plants,” on some Observations on, Prof. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S., 535 Paleolithic Man in North-West Middlesex, J. Allen Brown, 554 Paleolithic Workshop Floor of Drift Period near Ealing, Dis- covery of, J. Allen Brown, 189 Paleontology : on the Skull and Dentition of a Triassic Saurian, Galesaurus planiceps, Sir R. Owen, F.R.S., 94; the Cetacea of the Suffolk Crag, R. Lydekker, 94; on a Jaw of Hyo- therium from the Pliocene of India, R. Lydekker, 94 ; Dis- covery of Rare Fossils at Sydney, 159; Discovery of Skull of Ceratodus in Austria, 181 ; Fossil Chilostomatous Bryozoa from New Zealand, A. W. Waters, 190; Purchase of the Hillock of Sansan by the French Government, 323; Palzontological Researches near Rheims, 407 Palisa (Herr), New Minor Planet, 59, 425 Palissy, the, of Calico Printing, the Life and Labours of John Mercer, F.R.S., Edward A. Parnell, Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 145 Papers, Ozone, in Towns, Dr. W. J. Black, 76 Parallel, to prove that only One, can be drawn from a given Point to a given Straight Line, Dr. E. Budden, 92 Parallax, Stellar, Prof. Asaph Hall, 258 Parallax of the Sun, New Method of determining the, 455 Parallax of = 1516, the, M. O. Struve, 546 Paris: Academy of Sciences, 23, 47, 71, 96, 119, 144, 167, 191, 263, 287, 312, 335, 359, 382, 497, 431, 454, 479, 503, 527, 551, 575, 599, 624; Astronomical Prizes of the, 258 ; Paris Geographical Society, 60, 180, 182, 354; Bulletin of the, 353; Proposed Telephonic Lin> between Paris and Brussels, 133 ; Number of Female Medical Students in, 306 ; New Medical Paper to be published in, 376; Alpine Flora Surviving in the Paris District, 431 ; Meeting of the French Congrés de Chirurgie in, 444 ; New Building for the Labora- tories of the Paris Medical School, 473; Bad Results of Mental Straining in Young Persons at Paris Academy of Medicine, 495 ; Alteration in the Mode of Competition for Fellowships of Paris Medical Faculty, 517 ; Proposed Tele- phone Line from Paris to London, 544; Statistics in Paris, 568 ; Astronomical Congress, 584 , Parker (Prof. T. Jeffery), Notes from the Otago University Museum, 208 Parker (Prof. W. K., F.R S.), Morphology of Bird:, 331 Parker (W. Newton), Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates, Robert Wiedersheim, 121 Parnell (Edward A.), the Life and Labours of John Mercer, F.R.S., Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 145 Parry (E.), Meteors, 29 , Pasterz Glacier, Rate of Movement of the, Herr Ferdinand Seeland, 520 Pasteur, Institute, the, 83; Statistics of Persons treated at the, 335; Treatment of Rabies, 30 Pathological Anatomy and Pathogenesis, a Text-book of, E. Ziegler, 246 Pathology, an Introduction to General, J. B. Sutton, 26 Paulus (A.) and A. Bouinais, La France en Indo-Chine, 221 Paws, Cats’, Abnormality in, J. Herbert Hodd, 53; E. W. Claypoie, 345; Dr. H. A. Hagen, 345 Peach (C. W.), Memorial Fund, 83 XXIV INDEX [Weture, June 9, 1887 Peal (S. E.), Lunar Glaciation, 100 Pearls and Pearling Life, Edwin W. Streeter, 339 Pedigree Moth-breeding, Francis Galton, F.R.S., 453 Peek (Mr.), Report on Rousdon Observatory, 353 Penfield (Sam. L.), Phenacite from Colorado, 451 Pennsylvania, North-Eastern, Thickness of the Ice in, during the Glacial Epoch, 141 Peppe (1. F.), on the Cultivation of the so-called Wild Silks of India, 256 Peripatus, Species of, obtained in British Guiana, 381 Peristaltic Movement, Prof. Falk, 264 Pernet (Dr.), on the Determination of the Air in the Vacuum of the Barometer, 72 ; Comparison of Barometers, 600 Peronospora of the Vine, 382 Peroxide of Hydrogen, Formation Richarz, 384 Perrin (M. R.), on the Variables, 335 Perry (Rey. S. J., F.R.S.), the Earthquake, 438 Perthshire Society of Natural Science, 206 Petermann’s Mitteilungen, 182, 232, 353, 403, 475 Peters (Prof.), New Minor Planets, 59, 282 Petrie (Prof.), Siberia as a Colony, 158 Petrography, H. Rosenbusch, Dr. Fred. B. Hatch, 482 Petroleum, Russian, the Coming Deluge of, C. Marvin, 120, 295 Petromyzon fluviatilis, some Points in the Development of, 404 Petunias and Insects, J. W. Slater, 70 Phantasms of the Living, Edmund Gurney, Fred. W. H. Myers, and Frank Podmore, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290 ; Edmund Gurney, 345 Phenacite from Colorado, Sam. L. Penfield, 451 Philadelphia, the Wagner Free Institute of Science, 230; Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 424 Philiatra, Earthquake Shocks in, 444 Philippine Archipelago, Exhibition of the Products of, 567 Philippine Islands, Tinguians of the, 446 Philippines, Folk-Lore Society established in the, 134 Phillips (Alfred), the Application of Gems to the Art of the Goldsmith, 495 Ebilips (John Arthur, F.R.S.) : Obituary Notice of, 248 ; Death of, 382 Phillips (Samuel), Old or New Chemistry, Which is fittest for Survival ? 270 Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 399 Phosphorescence of Marine Fish, Dr. Otto Hermes, 377 Phosphorescent Alumina, Crimson Line of, William Crookes, F.R-S., 310 Photography : Celestial, 35; Stellar Photography at Harvard College, Prof. Pickering, 37; Marion’s Practical Guide to Photography, 52 ; Wild Animals Photographed and Described, J. Fortuné Nott, 220 ; Photography the Servant of Astronomy, Edward S. Holden, 317; Progress of Astronomical, 321 ; Instantaneous Shutters, 324, 366; Mechanism of the Flight of Birds studied by Chrono-Photography, M. Marey, 335; Photo-Micrographs, Dr. van Heurck, 359 ; Application of, to the Determination of Stellar Parallax, Prof. Pritchard, 377; Convention of Photographers in the Hall of the Society of Arts, 377 ; Photograph of the Nebula No. 1180, M. Mouchez, 407 ; Photographic Chart of the Heavens, proposed, 567 ; Use of Eosin: Silver in Photography, 432; Measurement of the Photographic Plates of the Transit of Venus 1882, 455 Phylloxera, Incubation of, during the Winter Season, 431, 600 Phylogeny of the Camelide, 568 Physical Geography of the Great Oceans, Similarities of the, J. Y. Buchanan, 33, 76 Physical Geography of Japan, Dr. Naumann, 330 Physical Geography of Australia, Manual of, H. Beresford de la Poer Wall, 389 Physical History of the Bagshot Beds of the London Basin, Rey. A. Irving, 382 Physical Notes, 33 Physical Society, 94, 143, 334, 383, 478, 526, 575 Physical Quantities, the Z»gzzeer on Dimensions of, 462 Physics, Chemical, Prof. Josiah Parsons Cookes, 100 Physiology: on the Connexion between Physiological Action and Chemical Constitution, Dr. James Blake, 6; Experimen- tal Researches on the Cerebral Functions, Brown-Séquard, 47 ; a New Function of the Otocysts in the Invertebrates, Yves of, by Electrolysis, Dr. Theory of Algebraic Forms with 2 Delage, 48; Mr. Wallace on Physiological Selection, Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 247, 366, 390 ; Proposal to devote the Legacy bequeathed by Sir Erasmus Wilson to Physiolo- gical and Pathological Research, 280; Preyer’s French Translation of ‘‘ Physiology of the Embryo,” 376; Mineral Physiology and Physiography, Thos. Sterry Hunt, 578 ; Con- tributions to our Knowledge of the Connexion between Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action, Preliminary Communication on the Action of certain Aromatic Bodies, T. Lauder Brunton, F.R.S., and J. Theodore Cash, 599 Phythian (Capt. R. L.), Washington Observatory, 569 Phytobiological Observations, Sir J. Lubbock, 430 Piano, on the Time of Contact between the Hammer and String in a, 141 Pickering (Prof. S. U.): Stellar Photography at Harvard Col- lege, 37; Harvard College Observatory, 424; Influence of Temperature on the Heat of Dissolution of Salts, 453 Pierie (Dr. Victor), Death of, 16 Pierre (M.), Pension to, 545 Pigeons, Sparrows chasing Two, 536; J. Jenner Weir, 584 Pigeons, Fancy, Books on, 544 Pisciculture : Spawning of Brook Trout, 16; the Acclimatisa- tion of German Carp, 58; the Lochbuie Observatory, 583 Exportation of Salmon Ova to Antipodes, 181; Fish- hatching at the National Fish-Culture Association, 159 Pitt-Rivers’ (General) Anthropological Collection at Oxford Museum, 349 Plane Geometry, the Elements of, 27 Plane Soap-Films, the Production of Newton’s Rings by, H. G. Madan, 583 Planets, Minor: No. 262, 497; No. 264, 353; No. 265, M. Bigourdan, 474; Names of, 207, 569; New Minor, Herr Palisa, 59, 425; Prof. C. H. F. Peters, 59, 282: Observa- tions of, 312 Plant which destroys the Taste of Sweetness, W. T. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., 557 Plants, how to make Colourless Specimens of, to be preserved in Alcohol, Prof. Hugo de Vries, 149 ; Selmer Schonland, 173 Plants by Birds, Dispersion of, D. Morris, 151 Plants, Outlines of Classification and Special Morphology of, Dr. K. Goebel, 577 Plummer (John I.), Barnard’s Second Comet, 583 Plunkett (Major E. T.), Walks in Cairo, 256 Podmore (Frank), Phantasms of the Living, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290 Pogson (Mr.), Madras Observatory, 282 Polacanthus foxit, Note on, J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., 357 Polar Expeditions, British International, 147 Polar Stars, Reduction of the Positions of Close, from one Epoch to another, Prof. W. A. Rogers and Miss Anna Win- lock, 231 Polarisation, Magnetic Rotatory, on the Cause of, 141 Polarising Prisms, on the Cutting of, Prof. Silvanus P. Thomp- son, 184 Poles in Magnets, Determination of the, 479 Porter (T. J.), Permanent Matrix Excluder of Draught and Dust, 569 Portugal, Consignment of German Carp forwarded to, 350 Potanin (M.), M. Skassy, and M. Bérésofsky, Return of, from their Expedition to China and Mongolia, 309 Potassa, Glycerinate of, M. de Forcrand, 288 Potato Tercentenary, 16, 175 Pouchet, Gymnodinium polyphemus, 48 Poulton (Edward B.): Observations on Heredity in Cats with an Abnormal Number of Toes, 38 ; Gilded Chrysalides, 470 ; the Gecko moves its Upper Jaw, 511 Power, Transmission of, by Compressed Air, 272 Pre-Scientific Theories of the Causes of Earthquakes, 428 Preece (W. H., F.R.S.), on the Limiting Distance of Speech by Telephone, 501 Prehistoric Man, A. de Quatrefages, 23 Prehistoric Races, European, Prof. A. H. Keane, 564 Prehistoric Remains in America, 476 Prehistoric Station in the Wood of Chaville, Discovery of, 613 Pressure, Vertical Decrement of Temperature and, S. A. Hill, 606 Preyer’s ‘‘ Physiology of the Embryo,” French Translation of, 37 Price (F. G. Hilton), Vitality of Seeds, 463 Nature, June 9, 1887] INDEX XXV “* Primitive Marriage,” Reprint of McLennan’s, Dr. W. Robertson Smith, 3 Primroses, W. Botting Hemsley, 561 Primula imperialis, 430 Pringsheim (Dr.), Chemical Action of Light on Mixed Hydrogen and Chlorine Gas, 552 Priority, a Claim of, V. Ventosa, 513 ; Prof. H. S. Hele Shaw, 581 Prisms, on the Cutting of Polarising, Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, To4 Pritchard (Prof. ), Application of Photography to the Determina- tion of Stellar Parallax, 377 Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society, 133 Professorships, Scéerce on advertising for Candidates for Vacant, 22 Peete pisses; Prof. H. Marshall Ward, 300 Protoplasm, Living, Method for subjecting, to the Action of Different Liquids, 452 Psychical Research, American Society for, 281 Psychology, American Journal of, 400 Psychology, Supernormal, Phantasms of the Living, .Edmund Gurney, Fred. W. H. Myers, and Frank Podmore, Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 290, 345 Ptarmigan, the, Robert Service, 445 Pulleys and Drums, Trains of, Prof. H. Hennessy, F.R.S., 452 Peay Tribes in Africa, 497 Pyrometers, and Seismometers, Sounding a Crater, Fusion-Points, Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis, 197 ; W. Worby Beaumont, 296 Pyrometers and Fusion-Points, Thos. Andrews, 224 Quadrant Electrometers, 331 Quantin (M. H.), on the Action of Tetrachloride of Carbon on Chlorochromic Acid and the Phosphates of Sesquioxide, 335 Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 404 Quartz, Pyro-Electricity of, B. von Kolenko, 333 Quaternary Beds of Nevada, finding of a Spear-head in the, 476 Quaternary Deposits in Western New York, Prehistoric Hearth under the, 476 Quatrefages (A. de): on Prehistoric Man, générale des Races humaines, 389 Quedenfeldt (Lieut.), Ethnological Collection presented to the Anthropological Society by, 423 Queen, Sanitary Progress during the Reign of the, Capt. Douglas Galton, F.R.S., 160 Queen’s Jubilee in India, 349 Quincke (Prof. G.), Dielectric Constants of Fluids, 334 23; Histoire Rabbit, the Australian, 569 Rabies, M. Pasteur’s Treatment of, 30 Races, European Prehistoric, Prof. A. H. Keane, 564 Races humaines, Histoire générale des, A. de Quatrefages, 389 Radiant-Matter Spectroscopy, on Examination of the Residual Glow, W. Crookes, F.R.S., 425, 447 Radiation of Light, Peculiar, Robert D. Gibney, 536 Radio-Micrometer, Preliminary Note on, C. Vernon Boys, 549 Radiophony, A. Heritsch on, 333 Railways, Inauguration of, in France, 407 Rain-band Observations at the Ben Nevis Observatory, A. Rankin, 588 Rainfall of the Globe, Total, John Murray, 311 Ralstonite, Chemical Composition of, 141 Rambaut (A. A.), Spectroscopic Method of determining the Distance of a Double Star, 206 Ramsay (Prof. William) and Dr. Sydney Young: Preliminary Note on the Continuity of the Liquid and Gaseous States of Matter, 262; on Clausius’s Formula, 346; on Thermal Pro- perties of Methyl Alcohol, 358 Rance (C. E. De), Folkestone Gault, 296 Rankin (A.), Rain-band Observations at the Ben Nevis Obser- vatory, 588 Rats at the South Kensington Exhibitions, 205 Rau (B. Hanumanta), First Lessons in Geometry, 269 Rayleigh (Lord, F.R.S), on the Intensity of Reflection from Glass and other Surfaces, 64 Rays and Bands, Law of Distribution of the Common to several Spectra of Bands, 576 Reade, (T. M.), Origin of Mountain Ranges, Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S., 361, 463 Recording Hygrometers, 331 Red Colour of Sirius, Alleged Ancient, 378, 391 Red Sea Coast, Italian Possessions on the, 446 Red Spot on Jupiter, Rotation-Time of the, Prof. Young, 181 Red Star, New, 546 Red Sunsets and New Zealand Eruptions, Lieut.-Col. A. T. Fraser, 224 “*Red Wood,” on the Formation of the so-called, in the Fir and Epicea, 383 Red Worm, William Burgess, 445 : Reefs, Coral, of the Solomon Islands, Dr. H. B. Guppy, 77 Reefs, Long Lost, Capt. W. J. L. Wharton, F.R.S., 347 Reflection from Glass and other Surfaces, on the Intensity of, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 64 Refraction Tables, Corrections to, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, 134 Refractions, Astronomical, Herr Opp6lzer’s, 17 Refractions, Schaeberle’s Short Method for computing, 329 Reichenbach (Dr. Reinhold yon), Death of, 444 Reid (Clement), Coombe Rock, 502 ; Earthquake in the Riviera, 534 Reilly (Robert James), Aspects of Clouds, 391 Reinold (Prof. A. W., F.R.S.), Lecture on Soap Bubbles, 229 Rendiconti della R. Accademia dei Lincei, 405 Rendiconti del Reale Istituto Lombardo, 286, 357, 405, 477, 524 Residual Affinity, Valency and, Prof. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., 570, 596 j Residual Glow, Examination of the, on Radiant-Matter Spectro- scopy, W. Crookes, F.R.S., 425, 447 Respighi (L.), on the Objective Spectroscope, 405 Reuch (Dr. Hans), Earthquakes in Norway, 517 Revolving Spheres, Aérial Vortices, or Experiments Ch, Weyher, 514 Revue d’Anthropologie, 22, 187, 357, 495 Revue mensuelle d’Astronomie populaire de Meétéorologie, et de Physique du Globe, 310 Rheostat, a Wire Tape, A. Grosse, 334 Kehinolophus ferrum-equinum, Drawings of the, in the Zoologist, 256 Ricco (Prof. A.), Barnard’s Comet at Perihelion, 296; Green Light at Sunrise and Sunset, 584 Richardson (Dr. B. W., F.R.S.), Animal Mechanics, 57 Richarz (Dr.), Formation of Peroxide of Hydrogen by Electro- lysis, 384 eee (H. N.), Proposed Expedition to Fernando Noronha, 22 Righi (Prof. Augusto), on the Cause of Magnetic Rotatory Polarisation, 141 Right Hand and Left-Handedness, Dr. Daniel Wilson, 307 Rink (Dr. H.), the Eskimo, Prof. A. H. Keane, 309 Rio, Longitude of, Prof. C. A. Young, 172 Rio de Janeiro, Observatory of, 593 Rivers, List of 374, Dr. von Kléden, 354 Riviera, Earthquake in the, Clement Reid, 534 Rivista Scientifico-Industriale, 141, 237, 357, 405, 524 Rix (Herbert) Royal Society’s Soirée, 607 Roberts-Austen (Prof. W. Chandler, F.R.S.), Colours of Metals and Alloys, 106 Robinson (H.), Hydraulic Power and Hydraulic Machinery, Major Allan Cunningham, 460 Rocks: on the Texture of Massive, 381; Abrasion of, 383; Notes on the Structure and Relations of some of the Older Rocks of Brittany, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 550; Rocks of the Malvern Hills, Frank Rutley, 623 Rodriguez, Cochenille at, 179 Rogeria longiflora, 158 Rogers (Prof. W. A.) and Miss Anna Winlock, Reduction of the Position of Close Polar Stars from one Epoch to another, 231 Rees Dominion, on the Establishment of the, in South-East Britain, Sir G. B. Airy, F.R.S., 562 Romanes (Dr. Geo. J., F.R.S.): Origin of Species, 124; Mr. Wallace on Physiological Selection, 247, 366, 390; Factors of Organic Evolution, Herbert Spencer, 362 Rome, First General Meeting of the International Statistical Institute at, Preparations for, 306; Monument to Galileo in, 612 Roscoe (Sir H. E., F.R.S.), a Treatise on Chemistry, 316 on, XXv1 INDEX [Wature, June 9, 1887 Rosenbusch (H.), Petrography, Dr. Fred. B. Hatch, 482 Rosser (W. H.), Deviation of the Compass in Iron Ships con- sidered practically, 437 Rostock, University of, Removal of Lamarck’s Herbarium from, 312 Rotation-Time of the Red Spot on Jupiter, Prof. Young, 181 Rotatory Polarisation, Magnetic, on the Cause of, 141 Rousdon Observatory, Report of, 353 Rowland (Prof. Henry A.), Wave-Length of the Lines of the Solar Spectrum, 524 Rowney (Thos.), Tabasheer, 512 Roy (Chas.), Cambridge Cholera Fungus, 223 Royal Agricultural Society of England, Journal of the, Prof. John Wrightson, 148 Royal Geographical Society, New President of the, 615 Royal Institution, Lecture Arrangements, 133 Royal Meteorological Society, 95, 335, 406, 527 Royal Microscopical Society, 191, 359, 550 Royal Nayy and the Merchant Service, Connexion between the, Sir Nathaniel Barnaby, 538 Royal School of Mines, Normal School of Science and, Col. J. F. D. Donnelly, 271 Royal Society, 34, 83, 142, 165, 188, 262, 287, 310, 334, 357, 381, 430, 452, 477, 501, 524, 549, 598, 622; Anniversary Address by Prof. G. G. Stokes, P.R.S., 113 ; Royal Society and Scientific Federation, Prof. Huxley, F.R.S., 289 ; Philo- sophical Transactions of, 399 ; Annual General Meeting, 406 ; Sotrée, Herbert Rix, 607 Royal Society of Gottingen, Prize offered by the, 350 Royal Society of New South Wales, 71, 305 Royal Society of Victoria, Transac'ions and Proceedings of the, 473 Riicker (Prof. A. W., F.R.S.), Critical Mean Curvature of Liquid Surfaces of Revolution, 143 Rule for escaping a Danger, Frank Morley, 345 Russian Central Asia, Proposed Administrative Changes in, 258 Russian Petroleums, 120 Russian Petroleum, the Coming Deluge of, C. Marvin, 295 Rust, Nature and Genesis of, 539 Rutley (Frank), the Metamorphic Rocks of the Malvern Hills, 190 Rutot (A.) and E. Van den Broeck, Observations nouvelles sur le Tufeau de Ciply, et sur le Crétacé supérieur du Hainault, 317 Ryves (G. T.), Comparison of the Daily Forecast issued by the Meteorological Office for the Midland District with the Actual Weather experienced in 1886, 350 Saharanpur, Report on the Botanical Garden, Mr. Duthie, 356 St. Domingo, Botanical Investigation of the Higher Mountains of, Dr. Urban, 494 St. Petersburg, University of, Sixty-eighth Anniversary of, 422 Salmon Ova sent to New Zealand, 112 Salomons (Sir David), Complete Hand-book on the Manage- ment of Accumulators, 603 Salt-Solutions, Supersaturation of, Dr. W. W. J. Nicol, 527 Salts, Influence of Temperature on the Heat of, Dissolution of, Prof. S. U. Pickering, 453 Sandstone of Organic Origin, 407 Sanitary Assurance Association, Sixth Annual Meeting of, 375 Sanitary Conditions of the City of York, 423 Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, 257 Sanitary Legislative Conference, 593 Sanitary Progress during the Reign of the Queen, Capt. Douglas Galton, F.R.S., 160 Sanitary Registration of Buildings Bill, 282, 352 Sankuru, Dr. Wolf's Exploring Work on the, 520 ey Purchase by the French Government of the Hillock of, 32 Sardine-fishing, 383 Sardine, on the Food of the, 479 Satellite, Evolution of a, Tidal Friction and the, James Nolan, 75 Saturn, Six Inner Satellites of, Prof. Asaph Hall, 257 Sauropsida, Culminating, Prof. John Cleland, 391 Savages, Sir John Lubbock’s, F.R.S., Lecture on, 255 Savory (W. S., F.R.S.), John Hunter, 379 Sawyer (Edward), Observations of Variable Stars in 1885, 378 Scarlet Fever, Etiology of, E. Klein, F.R.S., 452 Schaeberle (Mr.), a Short Method for computing Refractions, 329 Schafer (Prof. E. A., F.R.S.), Cerebral Localisation, 438, 464 Schiller (Herr), Radius of the Circle of Protection of Lightning- Rods, 376 Schinz (Dr. Hanz), Lake Ngami Region, 547 Schizonemertians, Peculiarities in the Organisation of the, 336 Schleswig-Holstein, Effects of Lightning in, 360 Schonland (Selmer), how to make Colourless Specimens of Plants to be preserved in Alcohol, 173 School Hygiene, Arthur Newsholme, 604 Schorlemmer (C.), a Treatise on Chemistry, 316 Schoyen (Herr), Zylenchus hordet, 336 Schuster (Arthur, F.R.S.), Total Solar Eclipse of August 29, 1886, 549 Schwab (Herr), Gore’s Nova Orionis, 85 Science and Art, 544 Science, Art and, in a New Light, 250 Science and Art Department, Calendar and General Directory of the, 320 Science and Art Department, Speeches in the Commons on, 443 Science Collections, National, 252, 272 Science, English and American Professors, Difference in the Number of Lectures given by, 351 Science, Experimental, in Schools and Universities, Prof. G, F. Fitzgerald, 284 Science and the Jubilee, 217, 241 Science, Lunar, Rev. Timothy Harley, 246 Science, Normal School of, and Royal School of Mines, Col. J. F. D. Donnelly, 271 Science in Norway, 122 Science, Popular Lectures on, 35 Science in the Secondary Schools of America, Present Position of, Pres. Eliot, 375 House of | Scientific Masis of the Proposed Imperial Institute, 254 Scientific Federation, 289 Scientific Knowledge, First Year of, Paul Bert, 221 Scientific Knowledge in Scotland, 305 Scientific Papers, Joint, of James Prescott Joule, F.R.S., 461 Scientific Relief Fund, Sir William Armstrong, 349 Scientific Renaissance in Italy, 350 Scientific Research, Mrs. Elizabeth Thompson’s Fund for the Advancement of, 471 3 Scientific Results of the Exploring Voyage of the Challenger, Report of the, 351 Scientific Societies, Local, and the British Association, 78 “* Scientist,” Meaning of the Word, 519 Sclater (P. L., F.R.S.), Meteor, 76 Scorpion Virus, Sir J. Fayrer, F.R.S., 488; Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, 534 Scorpions, D» they commit Suicide ? 590 Scortechini (Father), Death of, 157 Scotland : Fishery Board for, Fourth Annual Report of the, 128 ; Fish-Culture in, 205 ; Scientific Knowledge in, 305 ; Trial of University Extension Scheme in, 327 ; Scottish Geographical Magazine, 334; Scottish Meteorological Society, 355, 544; Value of Fish landed on the Coasts of, 473 ; Scottish Natural- ist, 4743; Physical and Biological Work at Scottish Marine Station, 575 Sea, Earthquake at, Reginald H. Hertslet, 157 Sea, Official Report on the Use of Oil at, for modifying the Effect of Breaking Waves, 63 Sea-Level and Ocean-Currents,, Prof. J. S. Newberry, 35 Sea-Lion, or Eared Seal of the Auckland Islands, Specimens of, at the Zoolegical Gardens, 327 Sea-Trout in the Delaford Park Fishery, 519 Seabroke (Mr.), Temple Observatories, 401 Seal, West Indian, Afonachus tropicalis, Henry A. Ward, 392 Seal-Fisheries, W. H. Emory’s Investigation of, 351 Seals destructive to Fisheries, 377 Seas, Law of Storms in Eastern, Dr. W. Doberck, 135 Sedgwick (W. T.), General Biology, 413 Sedgwick Memorial Museum, Cambridge, Sites for, 494 Sée (Prof. G.), Diet in Disease, 327 Seebohm (Henry): Specimens of Siberian Birds, 15; Birds’ Nests and Eggs, 236 ; Arctic Species of Birds, 256 Nature, June 9, 1887] INDEX XXVIil TT a Seedlings, the Forms of, the Causes to which they are due, Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., 235 Seeds, Vitality of, 414; F. G. Hilton Price, 463; L. Blome- field, 463 ; Dr. L. Martin Klein, 463; Geo. Murray, 582 Seeland (Herr Ferdinand), on the Rate of Movement of the Pasterz Glacier, 520 Seelberg, Further Excavations in, 518 Seeliger (Prof.), Influence of Astigmatism in the Eye on Astro- nomical Observations, 59 Seismology: Volcanoes of Japan; Prof. Milne, 19, 36; Seis- mometry in Japan, Prof. J. A. Ewing, 75, 172, 606; Thomas Gray, 126, 198 ; the Recent Earthquakes, Prof. J. P. O'Reilly, 197; Sounding a Crater, Fusion-Points, Pyrometers, and Seismometers, Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis, 197; W. Worby Beaumont, 296; Report on the Charleston Earthquake, Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, 31; Earthquakes, Thos. W. Kingsmill, 319; Earthquake at Aquila, 376; at Vilayet Konia, 376 ; Earthquake in Japan, 399; Earthquake Shock at Tashkend, 399; Pre-scientific Theories of the Causes of Earthquakes, 428 ; the Earthquake, Rev. J. S. Perry, F.R.S., 438; Seis- mological Society of Japan, 518; Seismic Phenomena of February 1887, 575 Sekei Sekiya on the Comparison of Earthquakes, 593 Selborne Society, Letters on the Objects and Work of, 328 Selection, Physiological, Mr. Wallace on, Dr. Geo, J. Romanes, i Od Saks Be fel) Self-Induction : Lecture Experiment in, Shelford Bidwell, 526 ; on the Determination of the Coefficient of, 551 Sensation and Movement, Ch. Féré, 518 Sense of Smell, Edward L. Nichols and E. H. S. Bailey, 74 Sensitive Hygrometers, 331 Serous Albumen, Prof. Kronecker on, 504 Serpent Mound in Ohio, Great, W. H. Holmes, 281 Service (Robert), the Ptarmigan, 445 Seton-Karr (Lieut. H.), Alpine Regions of Alaska, 475 Severn Fishery Board Almanac, 257 Seydler (Prof. A.), an Error in Maxwell’s ‘‘ Electricity and | Magnetism,” 512 Sharp (David), New Zealand Coleoptera, 177 Shaw (Prof. H. S. Hele), a Claim of Priority, 581 Sheets, on Ellipsoidal Current, Horace Lamb, F.R.S., 574 Shenstone (J. C.), Hooper’s Paper on Gymmnema sylvestre, 594 Shenstone (W. A.), Methods of Glass-blowing, 123 ; Manipu- lation of Glass containing Lead, 223 Sherman (O. T.): Bright Lines in Stellar Spectra, 378 ; Atmo- sphere of B Lyre, 451 Shetland, Flora of, W. H. Beeby, 474 Ships of War: Fuel-Supply in, 539 ; Armour of, 540 Shore (Thos. W.), Elementary Practical Biology—Vegetable, 556 Showers, Frequency and Duration of, 479 Shufeldt (R. W.), Notes on certain Traits of Infant Navajos, 346 Shutter, Instantaneous, A. Mallock, Wortley, 366 Siberia as a Colony, Prof. Petrie, 158 Siberia, Northern, Magnetic Horizontal Intensity in, A. C. von Tillo, 170 Siberian Birds presented by Mr. Seebohm to Natural History Museum, 15 Sierra Leone, Earthquake in, J. S. Hay and Jos. M. Metzger, 141 Silicostannate of Lime, Preparation of a, corresponding to Sphene, M. L. Bourgeois, 335 Silk, Indian, Industry, the Decline of the, 84 Silk Cocoons, Machinery for winding from, 595 Silks, Wild, of India, Cultivation of the, J. F. Peppe, 256 Silver, on the Phosphates and Arseniates of, 144 Similarities in the Physical Geography of the Great Oceans, J. Y. Buchanan, 33, 76 Simson (Alfred), Travels in the Wilds of Ecuador, 437 Simson (Frank B.), Letters on Sport in Eastern Bengal, 388 Singapore, Crustacea of, 525 Sirius, Alleged Ancient Red Colour of, Mr. Lynn, 378, 391 Skassy (M.), MM. Bérésofsky, Potanin and, Return of, from their Expedition to China and Mongolia, 309 Skuse (F. A. A.), British Stalk-eyed Crustacea and Spiders, 324; Col. H. Stuart- 532 Slater (J. W.), Insects and Petunias, 70 Smell, the Sense of, Edward L. Nichols and E. H, S. Bailey, 74 Smets (Dr. Gérard), Lung-Sick, 76 Smith (Charles Shaler), Death of, 229 Smith (W. Alexander), Loch Creran, 484 Smith (Dr. W. Robertson), Studies in Ancient History, J. Ferguson McLennan, 3 Smith (Dr. W. R.), Ammoniacal Decomposition of Urine, 404 Smithson (T. Spencer), Top-shaped Hailstones, 438 Smithsonian Institution, Prof. Baird’s Annual Keport of the, 372 Smyrna, Earthquake at, 112, 158 Snowflakes, Samuel Lockwood, 414 Snowstorm of January 7, 1887, E. J. Lowe, 271 Soap-Bubbles, Prof. A. W. Reinold’s Lecture on, 229 Soap-Films, Plane, the Production of Newton’s Rings by, H. G. Madan, 583 Society of Antiquaries, 189 Society of Arts, 57 Soda, Heat of Formation of some Alcoholates of, 312 Soda Cell, Bichromate of, 381 Soils, on the Constitution of the Nitrogenous Organic Matter of, R. Warington, F.R.S., 403 Solar Activity in 1886, Prof. Tacchini, 445 Solar Eclipse, Total, of August 29, 1886, Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., 549 Solar Halos, J. J. Walker, 272; R. T. Omond, 582 Solar Heat, Measurements of, Dr. Frolich, 455 ce Solar Phenomena during the Year 1886, M. P. Tacchini, 335, 479 Solar Spectrum, Wave-Length of the Lines of the, Prof. Henry A. Rowland, 524 Solid in a Liquid, on the Movement of a, 527 Solids, Expansion of, by Heat, Lecture Experiments on the, HG. Madan, 89 Solids by Heat, Lecture Experiment on the Expansion of, C. E. Stromeyer, 126 Solly (R. H.), Recently-discovered Deposit of Celestine, 414 Solomon Islands, Coral Reefs of the, Dr. H. B. Guppy, 77 Solubility of Substances, on the Variation of, 551 | Solution, Opening of the Discussion by Prof. Tilden, British Association, 21, 64 Solution, on the Nature of, Dr. Nicols, Prof. Tilden, Dr, Arm- strong, Prof. W. N. Hartley, Dr. Gladstone, 64 Solutions, Natural, of Cinnabar Gold and Associated Sulphides, 24 Sonnblick Observatory, 519 Sorghum Sugar, 184; Experiments in the Manufacture of, at Fort Scott, 472 Soudan, the Western, Dr. Colin on the Population of Bambouk, 22 Sound, Light, and Heat, Lecture Problems on, Charles Bird, 52 j Sounding a Crater, Fusion-Points, Pyrometers, and Seismo- meters, Prof. John Milne, 152; Dr. H. J. J ohnston-Lavis, 197 Soundings in the Australian Mediterranean, Dr. Otto Kriimmel, 447 South America, Dutch Colonies in, and the West Indies, K. Martin, Dr. A. Ernst, 459 South America, Notes of a Naturalist in, John Ball, F.R.S., 529; 553 South American Andes, on the Age of certain Parts of the, Dr. Ochsenius, 547 South Kensington Exhibitions, the Rats at, 205 Southampton, Proposed University College for, 473 Southern Comet, 329 Spain and Portugal, Antiquities of, M. Emile Cartailhac, 244 Sparrow chasing Pigeons, a, 536; J. Jenner Weir, 584 Spear-head in the Quaternary Beds of Nevada, finding of, 476 Species, Origin of, Joseph J. Murphy, 76; Edmund Catchpool, 76; Dr. Geo. J. Romanes, F.R.S., 124 Specific Inductive Capacity, Note on, John Hopkinson, F.R.S., 334 Spectrum Analysis: a New Method of Analysing Blood by means of the Spectroscope, Heénocque, 48 ; Spectroscopic Method of determining the Distance of a Double Star, A. A. Rambaut, 206; on the Objective Spectroscope, L. Respighi, 405; on Radiant-Matter Spectroscopy—Examination of the Re- XXVIli sidual Glow, W. Crookes, F.R.S., 425, 447; Sunlight Colours, Capt. W. de W. Abney, F.R.S., 498 Speech by Telephone, on the Limiting Distance of, W. H. Preece, F.R.S., 501 Spencer (Herbert): Factors of Organic Evolution, Dr. Geo. J. | Romanes, F.R.S., 362 ; Definition of Life, F.- aa) z Zt : fel : ama tel a ee ee SY Plow l th ey ein - a A! - > o> ve 3 ylateiee. © i ee ee i age Auge) 1) SEA. 5 te hime 4 PA t , ita “0 i a au CG as i 7 rihen abs fae bh. aS 18a le mile Pie ee nO 3a tan i “i, ; ‘_ - 7 : ” = - Pee’ oe es, , v7 mali lay | at +f 7 - oy <- fe ny Ohl , 7 5 7 st > ; ae be /t 4 ™ " ig ; er. ae) 7 i ra 7 » in : “Wakes eerie - ' i . ‘ ay » sp x o t it S ~ tm - i - J ‘ ‘ € or fe yj A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE “© To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”—WORDSWORTH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1886 EXPLOSIONS JN COAL-MINES Explosions in Coal-Mines. By W. N. and J. B. Atkinson, H.M. Inspectors of Mines. (London: Longmans, 1886.) 4 VERYBODY in the least degree conversant with matters connected with coal-mining will at once admit that our knowledge of the remote causes of colliery explosions has increased enormously during the last few years. Whether, however, the practical application of this knowledge has kept pace with the rate of increase in the knowledge itself is another matter. Since 1851, when the first Mines Inspection Act was in force, the number of fatal explosions in collieries has steadily diminished, but the annual loss of life from these catastrophes is as great as ever. During the ten years ending 1860 there were 820 fatal explosions, resulting in 2441 deaths, or an average of 2°98 deaths per fatal explosion ; during this decade there was an average of 3000 persons employed in and about the mines for every fatal explosion, and 1008 persons for each resulting death. During the ten years ending 1870 the number of fatal explosions fell to 565 ; the deaths were 2267, or an average of 4:01 per fatal explosion ; and the ratio of persons employed to each fatal explosion was 5650, and hence to each resulting death 1408. During the ten years ending 1880 the number of fatal explosions was 424 ; the resulting deaths were 2686, or an average of 6°33 per fatal explosion ; the ratio of persons employed to each fatal explosion was 11,372, and to each resulting death 1795. During the five years ending 1885 we have had 146 fatal explosions, with a loss of 906 persons, or an average of 6°20 deaths from each explosion ; the ratio of persons employed to each fatal explosion was 17,503, and to each resulting death 2820. These figures are in the highest degree significant, but they are not capable of telling everything. They do not, for example, bring out the fact that the actual violence of colliery explosions when they do occur is nowadays greater than formerly. This may seem to be indicated by the increase in the average number of deaths from VOL. Xxxv.—No, 888 each fatal explosion, but then, on the other hand, there are far more men employed in pits now than formerly. The diminished number of explosions is probably due, in the first instance, to the more general employment of safety-lamps, and, during late years, to the restrictions which have been placed upon the use of explosives. The increase in the average number of deaths to each explosion is doubtless owing to the gradual deepening of the pits and to differences in the mode of origin and character of the explosion. Thirty years ago the pits as a rule were comparatively shallow and damp. Such a sinking as that of the Ashton Moss pit at Audenshaw, which is upwards of half a mile deep, was unknown. Explosions in these damp shallow pits were usually caused by the ignition of gas, most frequently by naked lights ; they were very local in their action, and the loss of life was small. Nowadays an explosion in a deep and dry mine not unfrequently penetrates throughout the whole pit ; it is often extremely violent, and the number of deaths, mainly from after-damp, is correspondingly great. There can be very little doubt that such explosions are, in the main, caused by dust. The fact that fire-damp is not the only explosive agent which may be present in coal-mines is now generally recognised. It is, however, a moot point with many practical men whether coal-dust alone, in the entire absence of gas, can bring about an explosion of any magnitude. It is generally conceded that a very small amount of gas, an amount, indeed, too small to be recognised by the elongation of the flame of a safety-lamp, or the formation of a “ cap,” is sufficient in the presence of coal-dust to form a dangerously explosive atmosphere, but colliery managers and many mining engineers have, apparently, been slow to believe that dust itself may, under certain conditions, effect an explosion quite as violent in its character as the most formidable gas explosion of which we have any record. The Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into accidents in mines reported that in their opinion it was well estab- lished that even when the air is quite free from fire-damp, an exceptionally inflammable coal-dust, in a very finely- divided and dry condition, and existing in abundance in the immediate vicinity of a blown-out shot, may when B 2 NATURE raised by the shot be ignited so readily and carry on the flame so rapidly that it may produce explosive effects of a similar character to those caused by a gas explosion. The flame as it rushes along, if fed by freshly raised dust, may extend under these circumstances to very consider- able distances, with results resembling, in their disastrous nature, those of explosions originating with, and mainly due to, fire-edamp. This conclusion is very greatly strengthened by the evidence which the Messrs. Atkinson have brought together in the book before us. Their work indeed constitutes the most formidable indictment against coal-dust as a cause of colliery explosions which has yet been drawn up. In their capacity of Inspectors they have investigated with the most patient care the circum- stances connected with what we may call six typical explosions. These were— Name of colliery Deaths ee Seams affected Seaham 164 2.20a.m. Maudlin and Hutton Feb. 16 Trimdon Grange 74 2.30p.m. Harvey April18 Tudhoe 37 I.15a.m. Brockwell Apriltg West Stanley 13 1.0 a.m. Basty April 25 Whitehaven 4 I11I5p.m. Main Band 1885 March 2 Usworth 42 8.58 p.m. Manudlin All the explosions with the exception of that at White- haven were in the county of Durham. It would be quite impossible in the space at our disposal to follow the suc- cessive steps in the minute analysis to which the authors have subjected each of these explosions. We should require, moreover, many of the numerous plans of the colliery workings with which the book is illustrated were we to attempt such a task. All that can now be done is to point out the characteristic features of the several explosions, and to indicate the general conclusions which the authors draw from the consideration of the various circumstances connected with them. We are conscious that in some respects this method of treating their work hardly does justice to the authors. It fails to convey any idea of the thoroughly scientific manner in which the Messrs. Atkinson’s investigations have been conducted ; of the minute and painstaking mode of their observation ; or of the care and skill with which their deductions have been made. The authors, even in the earlier pages of the book, make their position in regard to the question of Gas versus Dust perfectly clear, but not even the most prejudiced opponent of the dust hypothesis can complain of the manner in which the evidence is presented. The Durham explosions presented many features in common. In the first place no accumulations of gas were known to exist in quantity sufficient to cause the widespread destruction which happened, nor were such accumulations considered possible. In all these explo- sions the downcast shafts were more or less damaged. At Trimdon Grange, Tudhoe, West Stanley, and Usworth the explosions did not cross the downcast shafts; these were wet, and the roadways near them were damp. At Seaham the shaft was dry, and the explosion crossed it and extended far beyond it. In all cases the violence and ame of the explosions were confined to roads on which there was much coal-dust. The explosions were most violent in the intake and haulage roads, or between [Vov. 4, 1886 practically no gas was to be expected, and where naked lights were in constant use. The path of the explosion was in all cases that of the fresh air traversing the pit: in no case did it extend by means of the return air-way The return air-ways carry off the gases evolved in the pit, but are practically free from dust. In certain of the intake air-ways at Seaham and Usworth no coals were led, and they were consequently comparatively free from coal-dust; no traces of the explosions were observed in these roads. The explosions were in many cases arrested where the haulage roads were wet. In no instance did the explosion ascend or descend vertically through staples or shafts communicating with other planes of workings. If the explosions were due to gas, their extension would not be influenced by the direction of a communicating passage ; on the other hand, very little coal-dust collects in vertical passages. In almost every case of an explosion which could with certainty be attributed to fire-damp, there is evidence that men have been alarmed and have attempted to escape from the workings before the actual occurrence of the disaster: in all the five Durham ex- plosions there was no indication that any movements had taken place amongst the men suggestive of alarm; their bodies were found in the places where their work required them to be, close to their tools and lamps. At Seaham, Tudhoe, West Stanley, and Usworth the explosions were simultaneous with the firing of shots in stone ; in these cases the explosions occurred when the pits were occupied by stonemen and repairers and at the only time when the operations of the mines allowed the firing of shots. At Seaham, Tudhoe, and Usworth the shots were fired on a main intake air-road and at points where currents of air of between 20,000 and 30,000 cubic feet per minute were passing. At West Stanley the shot was fired, in stone, at a working place by a naked flame, and the air in the vicinity would probably contain a small quantity of fire-damp, but not sufficient in amount to show its presence in the safety-lamp or by itself to be explosive. In the other cases it is almost impossible to conceive that the air could contain any sensible quantity of gas. At Seaham it would be necessary to assume that the gas came down the shaft, or that there were three separate and simultaneous outbursts of it on the three main roads diverging from the shaft. At Tudhoe, where the air came direct from the surface by two shafts, it would be necessary to assume two separate and simultaneous outbursts. At Usworth the air had passed no working place, and could hardly have contained even a trace of fire-damp. At West Stanley no appreciable quantity of gas could be present in the main intakes, although a small quantity might be contained in the air near the place where the shot was fired. There remains the Trimdon Grange explosion, which, was unconnected with shot-firing. There was distinct evidence that it originated with the ignition of gas at the light of a boy engaged at a pump in connection with some drowned workings from which gas was found to issue and that it extended with great force to parts of the pit more than a mile distant from its origin along the main intake air-ways. Now all the circumstances connected with the Durham disasters make it almost certain that the main agent in the downcast shafts and lamp-stations, z.c.in places where | the propagation of the explosion was dust, and in three Nov. 4, 1886] out of the five cases it was dust alone. In four out of the five cases the immediate cause was shot-firing, du¢ zz 10 tustance was the shot blown out. It is not at all necessary that the shot should be blown out to cause the ignition of the dust-cleud which the concussion raises in a dusty road. Properly fired shots show flame even when they dislodge the stone or coal; and the flame is often con- siderable if there has been an overcharge of powder, or if small coal or earth mixed with coal-dust has been used, as frequently happens, in the tamping. At Seaham, Tudhoe, West Stanley, and Usworth the flame of the shot ignited the dry inflammable dust dislodged from the roof or raised from the floor by the concussion of air which followed, and the explosion was propagated by fresh dust-clouds raised in the manner described by the Royal Commissioners. At Trimdon Grange an explosion of fire-damp operated in the same way : the violent move- ment of air resulting from the ignition of fire-damp and air raised a cloud of coal-dust into which the flame from the fire-damp passed, and the ignition of the coal-dust propagated itself as in the other cases, and, as in these, continued so long as it was fed by fresh fuel. This rapid ignition of dust containing upwards of 80 per cent. of carbon would result in the formation of large quantities of carbonic acid, and possibly even of the more poisonous carbonic oxide; when it is considered that it is impossible to live in air containing even 3 per cent. of carbonic acid, the deadly character of the after-damp so formed is readily conceivable. In striking contrast to the Durham explosions was that at Whitehaven. This was in a wet pit; the coal being worked was wet, and all the surroundings were damp, and free from dust. The cause of the explosion was gas, which was known to be in the pit, and frequently present in large quantities. Although it is probable that some 30,000 cubic feet of an inflammable mixture of air and fire-damp were ignited, the explosion was confined to a limited area of the workings, which extend to nearly three miles from the shafts. Seven men were within the district of the explosion, of whom three escaped. The survivors stated that all the men were alarmed by the appearance of gas immediately before the explosion, and hurried away. In the act of retreating the gas ignited at a lamp which was afterwards proved to have been defective and to allow of the passage of the flame. This the authors say was the most considerable explosion of fire-damp and ‘air that they are acquainted with. They have personally investigated during the last twelve years almost all the explosions occurring in the North of England, and they cannot point to a case where there was direct evidence of so large a quantity of fire-damp and air exploding. The moral of all this is obvious. It can scarcely be gainsaid that some of the most disastrous explosions of the last thirty years are primarily to be attributed to the practice of firimg gunpowder in dusty mines. That under certain circumstances gunpowder can be used with safety is allowed. But the Royal Commissioners have issued a warning in no uncertain terms. They have convinced themselves that the abolition of the use of powder in dry and dusty mines will not generally involve any formidable inconvenience, inasmuch as the work which is accom- - plished by its employment both in coal and in stone can now be performed with equal efficiency, and at very little NATURE 3 if any greater outlay, by other means. Unless, therefore, mining engineers, or those immediately responsible for the working of collieries, can devise some satisfactory method of minimising the danger due to dust, they will be compelled before very long, in deference to public opinion, to renounce the practice of blasting by means of gun- powder, or by any other agent which causes a flame. T. E. THORPE McLENNAN’S “STUDIES IN ANCIENT TS TORMY Studies tn Ancient History: comprising a Reprint of “Primitive Marriage.’ By the late John Ferguson McLennan. A New Edition. (London: Macmillan and Co, 1886.) HE first edition of “ Primitive Marriage” appeared in 1865, and the book was already extremely rare when, in 1876, it was reprinted as the first part of the “Studies in Ancient History.” The reprint also soon became scarce, and while the influence of the author has been steadily growing, and almost all students of early society have come to attach great importance to his speculations, his principal writings have for some years been almost inaccessible. This new edition therefore sup- plies a real want, and it is doubly welcome for the sparing, but judicious, notes and appendixes which the editor, Mr. D. McLennan, has attached to his brother’s book. “Primitive Marriage” broke ground in a new field of research, and, as the point of view was wholly novel, the collection, sifting, and marshalling of the evidence on which the argument was based was entirely pioneer’s work. At the close of his life, McLennan was in posses- sion of a much larger material ; he had pursued his argu- ment in new directions and to further conclusions, and on one or two points he had come to change his views. But new research had only confirmed the main lines of the argument sketched with so firm a hand in his original essay ; and read with the caveats which his brother has introduced at one or two points—chiefly as regards the interpretation of the Levirate, and the prevalence of Ag- nation—the present reprint may be taken as generally representing, so far as it goes, the author’s final conclu- sions on the subjects discussed. I say so far as it goes, for in many directions his conclusions had been added to and his views developed. The editor promises us a second volume, to consist for the most part of writings hitherto unpublished, which will throw a good deal of light on these new developments ; meanwhile he has re- stricted himself in the notes “to certain matters on which the author had announced a change of view, and to cer- tain others where circumstances had made an additional statement imperative.” Of the additional statements, the most important is contained in two long notes appended to the essay on Morgan's “ classificatory system” of re- lationships, in which it is clearly made out that Morgan’s theory rests on misconception of the facts, and that the supposed classificatory system of relationship is not a system of relationship at all, but a system of terms of ceremonial or friendly address, used in conversation even between persons who are not related to one another in any way. This comes out so clearly in the cases about which we are best informed, that it is very questionable 4 NATURE [Vov. 4, 1886 whether the facts so laboriously collected by Mr. Morgan can be used to throw light on the early history of the family. From his plan of reprinting the book as it stood, with no more annotation than was absolutely necessary, the editor has departed only in one point. The appendix containing “‘additional examples of the form of capture” has been re-cast and enlarged upon the basis of a paper of J. F. McLennan published in the Avgosy in 1866, but with additions from other and more accurate sources. The reasons for adopting this course are obvious: the new matter in this appendix could not conveniently have been reserved for the promised second volume, and the facts are so arranged and explained as to confirm the author’s argument, and effectually dispose of the notion that the form of capture in marriage is to be explained by maidenly bashfulness. It will be seen from this brief account that, sparing as the editor’s additions are, they make the new edition of the “Studies” well worthy of the attention of those who already possess the book in its older form. And to the not small class of students of early society who know McLennan’s work only at second hand or by one hasty perusal, it may not be unprofitable to say that this is emphatically a book of which a general knowledge is not sufficient, inasmuch as some of the most important and interesting points are precisely those which are almost sure to be missed on a first reading. For this, perhaps, McLennan himself is partly responsible, for in giving to “Primitive Marriage” the subordinate title “an inquiry into the origin of the form of capture in marriage cere- monies,” he seems to fix attention on what is only the starting-point of a far-reaching research. In print and in conversation one often meets with the notion that the doctrines of marriage by capture and kinship through women only are meré archeological curzosa, and that for the study of later law and custom it is quite indifferent whether these things are true, or whether, on the con- trary, mankind started from the first with male kin- ship. But the importance of McLennan’s researches lies largely in the demonstration that the structure of society under a system of kinship in the male line which has been preceded by kinship through women cannot be the same as would be reached by a race which has had male kinship from the first. Other writers have taught a doctrine of the priority of kinship through women, but no one except McLennan has accurately developed the con- sequences of the doctrine, and shown how it solves a problem which, though ignored by most writers, is of the highest importance, namely, the origin of genes within a nation. Like all really original thinkers, McLennan has for one of his chief merits that he recognised the exist- ence of difficult problems in matters which ordinary people pass over without seeing any difficulty at all. And therefore precisely those passages in his writings which on a hasty reading seem needlessly laboured and proper to be skipped are found upon re-perusal to be particularly useful and stimulating. A word may be said in conclusion on what is promised for the second volume. It is satisfactory to know (p. 75) that it will include a short essay on the origin of exogamy. And from a note at p. 176 it may be inferred that in this essay the origin of exogamy will be sought in a state of | should satisfy all reasonable expectations. society where marriage by capture was an established custom. We are also promised (p. 63) an essay on the marriage law of the Australian Kamiraloi, one of those highiy complex problems in which McLennan’s powers of analysis ought to appear at their best. From notes on pp. 109 and 228 it appears that part at least of McLennan’s hitherto uncollected essays in the Fortnightly Review, including the papers on Totemism, or “On the Worship of Plants and Animals” (1869-70), will also be re- published. It is to be hoped that in these reprints the editor will allow himself, in one direction, greater freedom of annotation than in the present volume. The Totem papers are in some respects the least finished of McLennan’s writings, the evidence of totemism in the nations of ancient civilisation being much too largely drawn from second-hand sources. This gives an appear- ance of weakness to the whole structure of the argument, which has been very prejudicial to the influence of a most original and striking investigation. In point of fact afew of the detailed pieces of evidence ought to be abandoned altogether, but enough remains to leave the substance of the argument unaffected, and this ought to be clearly brought out by notes, referring to original authorities of unquestioned reputation, or giving up statements that cannot be authenticated. Even in the present volume one misses some notes of this kind. The polyandria of the Athenians (p. 235) rests on better evidence than the story which Augustine cites from Varro (Clearchus af. Athen. xiii. p. 556 d.). Again, the note at p. 47,in which an attempt is made to prove the existence of the form of capture among the Hebrews from the phrase “to take a wife,” ought rather to have been withdrawn than again built upon by the editor at p. 181 ; and what is said of the marriages of the Persians at p. 219 sg. requires careful revision. W. ROBERTSON SMITH BRITISH HYMENOMYCETES British Fungi, Hymenomycetes. By Rev. John Steven- son. With Illustrations. Vol. II. Cortinarius—Dacry- myces. Pp. 336. 8vo. (Edinburgh : William Blackwood and Sons, 1886.) V E are glad to welcome this second volume so speedily after the first, although we fear that expe- dition has been secured by some sacrifice of efficiency. It is a misfortune when the reader is impressed at once with the feeling that a volume has been hurried out to meet certain exigencies. That feeling is by no means absent in scanning these pages. As soon as p. 165 is reached, and there is no longer Fries’s “ Monographia” to fall back upon, descriptions give place to diagnoses, notwith- standing the remarks in the preface, which would seem to regard diagnoses with something of contempt. From p- 166 to the end the stwden¢ must be content with the diagnoses from Fries’s “ Hymenomycetes Europzi,” al- though there might have been collected together valuable notes from Fries’s “Systema,” Observationes,” and “Elenchus.” Nevertheless some advantage has been taken of the few descriptions published in the letterpress to Fries’s “ Icones.” It is of considerable importance to students that a work which professes to include all British species, up to date, The first Nov. 4, 1886] volume omitted some forty species, and the present is by no means perfect. We open at p. 232, and find under the genus So/enza one solitary British species recorded, that of Solenia ochracea. Surely our author could not have been ignorant of the fact that So/enéa anoma/a, P., is still more common, and was recorded by Berkeley in the “ English Flora” (p. 199) fully fifty years ago. Neither could he have forgotten that another species was included in Cooke’s “Hand-book” (p. 329) under the name of 5. candida, since corrected to S. fasciculata. As these specimens were collected near Batheaston, by no other than Mr. C. E. Broome, and confirmed by the Rey. M. J. Berkeley, no doubt can be entertained of their being authentic. Furthermore, the name was corrected and the species figured by Berkeley and Broome in the Annals of Natural History, December 1870, No. 1301. The fourth species is Solenta stipitata, Fuckel, of which there are specimens in the Kew Herbarium. It cannot be conceded that a “Flora” satisfies all reasonable expectations when in one genus only one of four species is recorded. Turning to an allied genus, that of Cyfhe//a, we seek in vain for C. Curreyz or C. albo-violascens (which may be identical), C. cyc/as, Cke. and Phil., C. pusctzformis, Fries, C. villosa, Pers., all but one of which are well-known and widely-distributed species. Whether the species under the genera S/erevm and Corticium might have been arranged in a manner more in accordance with modern ideas, and far more useful to the student in their identification, may be left an open ques- tion. Those who are not facile in the use of the micro- scope may find it convenient to follow Fries, who paid little attention to microscopical characters, but surely in a large and difficult genus, such as Cortic/um, no assist- ance should be despised. We observe, with some surprise, the genus A/zcrocera, of Desmaziéres, included in a work devoted to British Hymenomycetes (p. 308) with the intimation ‘no British species.” The fact is that MJicrocera coccophila, Desm., which is the type of the genus, has been found in Britain, and is recorded on p. 556 of Cooke’s “ Hand-book,” and furthermore it is also true that it is not a Hymeno- mycete at all, but the conidia of one of the Spheriacet, and is included as such in Saccardo’s “Sylloge Fun- gorum” (vol. ii. p. 513). This singular double error might have been avoided had some mycologist been consulted who had not confined his attention exclusively to the Hymenomycetes. The limits of species is another open question, and it is scarcely advisable to make too much of the insertion of what some may regard as doubtful species in a “ Flora” wherein the author is not free to give reasons in their favour ; nevertheless, we venture to hint that Polyporus armeniacus, Berk. (p. 215), is generally admitted to be only a resupinate condition of P. amorphus, Fries, and should not be continued as a distinct species. /P. Herbergit, Rost (p. 195), is placed as an ally of P. sud- phureus in the section “ Caseosi,” whereas P. cuticularis is found (at p. 202) in “ Spongiosi.” Unfortunately for this arrangement, the two species (P. Herbergiz and P. cuticularis) are so closely allied that sometimes it is diffi- cult to distinguish the one from the other, except by the difference in size of the pores, and hence some regard NATURE 5 them as varieties of one species. At any rate, there is no good reason why such closely-allied forms should be separated by four-and-twenty intermediate species, The mention of localities for species throughout the work is so vague, that some explanation should have been offered. When only one locality is given, the inference which would be drawn by the majority of readers would be that no other British locality was known at the time for that particular species. That this conclusion would be wrong is manifest from AHydnum Weinmanni (p. 242), which may be taken as an example. The locality cited is “ Bristol,” but Bristol is not the only, or the most important station for this species in Britain, because it occurs plentifully in the neighbourhood of Carlisle. If the intention was simply to indicate the locality where the species was first found in these islands, then again we fancy it is inaccurate, because, as we believe, it was first discovered by the late Rev. A. Bloxam, at Gopsall. The only solution we could suggest is that “ Bristol” is the locality mentioned in Berk considered a standard of reference regarding the physical history of the Syrian mountains. I may perhaps be allowed to remark that his admirable geological map would have been improved by following the English custom of showing the dip of the strata by means of small arrows, and of distinguishing between ordinary boundaries of formations and those which are produced by faults and fractures, and the book itself would have been rendered easier for reference by an index. EDWARD HULL AUTUMNAL FLOWERING HE “extraordinary gooseberry” season seems to have set in this year with more than usual severity. Country clergymen and amateur gardeners, who would see nothing unusual in the autumnal flowering of a hybrid perpetual rose (which reminds them, perhaps, of their old school-days, when they read of “diferique 12 vosaria Pesti”), are moved with astonishment at the sight of a second crop of flowers on an apple-tree or a laburnum. Common as the phenomenon is, however, not many persons, even among botanists, bestow a thought as to how it is brought about. Gardeners recognise two distinct modes in which flowers may be produced, either from the “old wood,” meaning the wood formed in the previous season, or from the shoot of the present year’s growth. A rhododendron with its flowers packed up in a “winter-bud” destined to unfold in spring, an apple or a laburnum with their winter-buds at the ends of short contracted shoots or ‘‘spurs,” afford illustrations of the one type, while a rose, with its newly-formed shoots crowned with one or more rose-buds, supplies an example of the latter. There is the same sort of difference be- tween these two kinds of flowers that there is between the so-called “ annual” plants whose course of life is outrun in a single season, and “herbaceous perennials” which die down in winter, leaving a winter-bud to carry on the work when circumstances become propitious in spring. The second growth of flowers in autumn may, therefore, be due to two different causes. In the one case it is an anticipation of spring; the flowers being produced afore time. Conditions of growth being persistently favourable, the winter-bud, instead of remaining dormant, bursts prematurely into growth, and repeats in autumn what its predecessor had done in spring. The great difficulty in such a case is to explain why one bud, or at any rate only a small proportion of the total number of buds, acts in this way when the circumstances of the case would appear to be substantially alike in all. To talk of the individuality of buds is to denote a fact which every observer must be conversant with, but which does not supply any explana- tion. In the second class of cases the flowers are, as in “hybrid perpetual ” roses, placed at the ends of some of the shoots of the year. In this case gardeners have availed themselves of what was originally an occasional tend- ency to continue the development of flowers on the end of certain shoots, and have, as it were, converted an accidental into a constant occurrence. Doubtless they might do the same in the case of the laburnum, were they so disposed. It is here that the skill of the gardener comes in, and even enables him, to some extent, to baffle adverse climatic influence and induce a plant, as a regular thing, to flower twice in a season, or even more or less continuously, when, if left to itself it would either not do so at all, or only in a fitful, uncertain manner. It is worth notice, too, that these second blooms are often (but by no means invariably) malformed. Some rhododendrons now before me are so, while the double- flowered apples that one occasionally sees are always, in my experience, formed on the midsummer shoots of the tree. So, again, with pears, the second crop of flowers is usually produced on shoots of the year, and very generally the flowers are more or less imperfect or mis- shapen. The “ Napoleon” pear behaves in this way every year. Every year, too, 1am indebted to Mr. Burbidge, of the Trinity College Botanic Garden, Dublin, for speci- mens of “ Bishop’s Thumb” pears, produced on the summer shoots. These pears are more like fingers than thumbs, and are destitute of core. The flower-stalk swells up as usual, and produces an eatable pear, but the carpels and seeds are conspicuous by their absence. The developing force has been energetic enough to produce flower- and fruit-stalk, but it has failed in the more essential process of seed- and embryo- formation. Possibly in some cases the absence of seed may be the result of want of fertilisation. It may be that in the flowers some at least of the carpels are present with their contained ovules, but, owing to the want of effective fertilisation, they have dwindled away and left no trace. It would be a curious and important matter to ascertain whether, and to what extent, this repeated flowering pro- cess exhausts the plant. If no seed were produced the NATURE [Mov. 4, 1886 extra outlay of energy would probably not be severely felt. But every rose-grower knows how great are his losses, and how difficult it is to keep his “standards ” in good form and good health. Of course there are many causes for this, but it is not unreasonable to suppose that one of them arises from exhaustion from continuous flowering, which produces a condition that predisposes to disease. Another phenomenon of a somewhat similar character is very commonly met with this autumn, although, not unnaturally, it does not attract so much attention. I allude to the production of buds and leaf-shoots on the partially withered stems of herbaceous perennial plants, such as various species of Epilobium, Malva, &c. The branches of these plants usually dry up after flowering, leaving only a rosette of leaves or a winter-bud to carry on the growth next season; but occasionally they retain some amount of vitality, and, as at this season, produce a new generation of shoots from the old ones. These variations show how artificial are the distinctions denoted by the terms annual, perennial, herbaceous, and the like, and they show what a wide range of physio- logical diversity may exist within the limits of the same species. MAXWELL T. MASTERS ARROW-RELEASE' T the commencement of this very interesting and instructive monograph, Prof. Morse tells us that when he began collecting data illustrating the various methods of releasing the arrow from the bow, as practised by different races, he was animated merely by curiosity ; nor was it until he had accumulated quite a collection of sketches and other memoranda on the methods of arrow- release, not only of existing but of ancient races, as shown by frescoes and rock-sculptures, that he realised that even so trivial an art as that of releasing the arrow might possibly lead to interesting results in tracing the affinities of races. Hence he publishes in the present pamphlet the data which he has thus far collected, in the hope that further material may be secured for a more extended memoir on the subject. The great difference which Prof. Morse observed between the ordinary English and Japanese methods of using the bow first led him to investigate the subject, with the curious results to be presently narrated. The various forms of release, with their different modifications, are classified, and perhaps Prof. Morse’s investigations may be most succinctly described by using his classification. (1) Ordinary Release.—This is the simplest form of release, and is that which children all the world over naturally adopt in first using the bow. It consists in simply grasping the arrow between the end of the straightened thumb, and the first and second joints of the bent forefinger (Figs. 1 and 2). With a light or weak bow, says Prof. Morse, this release is the simplest and best; it makes little difference on which side of the bow the arrow rests, provided the bow is held vertically. On the other hand, however, a stiff bow cannot be drawn in this way, unless one possesses enormous strength in the fingers. This simple or primary release is that in use amongst the Ainos of Yezo, by the Demerara Indians, apparenily also by the Utes. The Navajos employ it when shooting at prairie dogs, so that the arrow will not penetrate the ground if it misses its mark; so do the Chippewas. The Micmac Indians of the Cascapedia settle- ment, on the north shore of the Bay of Chaleur, used it, and it is said that the other tribes in this part of Canada draw the arrow in the same way. A member of the Penobscot tribe at Moosehead Lake, seemed incredulous when Prof. * “Ancient and Modern Methods of Arrow-Release.” By Edward S. Morse, Director Peabody Academy of Science. Essex Institute Sudletie, October-December, 1285. Nov. 4, 1886 | NATURE ES Morse told him that there were other methods of drawing the arrow. (2) Secondary Release.—This is a direct outgrowth from the primary release. It consists in grasping the arrow with the straightened thumb and bent forefinger, while the ends of the second and third fingers are brought to bear on the string to assist in drawing (Figs. 3 and 4). centuries, and among those of the southern Mediterra- nean for tens of centuries, and is the oldest release of which we have any knowledge. It is practised to-day, continues Prof. Morse, by all modern English, French, and American archers, and is the release used by the European archers of the Middle Ages. It consists in drawing the string back with the tips of the first, second, Figs.l1&2. Primaryrelease. The Ottawas and Zufi Indians practised this, as also did the Chippewas of Northern Wisconsin. (3) The Zertiary Release differs little from the second- ary. The forefinger, instead of being bent, is nearly straight, with its tip, as well as the tips of the second and third fingers, pressing or pulling on the string, the thumb, as in the primary and secondary release, active in assist- ing in pinching the arrow and pulling it back. This is used amongst various tribes of American Indians— Sioux, Araphoes, Cheyenne, Assinboins, Comanches, Figs.3&4. Secondary release. Crows, and Blackfeet. The Siamese, too, practise this release, with the difference that one finger only is used on the string instead of two. It appears, too, from Mr. Man’s recent paper before the Anthropological Institute, that the Andaman Islanders use this method. (4) The Mediterranean Release.—This release has been in vogue among the northern Mediterranean nations for | Figs.5&6. Mediterranean release. and third fingers, the balls of the fingers clinging to the string, with the terminal joints of the fingers slightly flexed. The arrow is held lightly between the first and second fingers, the thumb straight and inactive (Figs. 5 and 6). A leather glove or leather finger-strings are worn, as Roger Ascham expresses it in his “ Toxophilus,” pub- lished in 1584, “to save a man’s fingers from hurtinge, Figs.7&8 Mongolian release. that he may be able to beare the sharpe stringe to the uttermoste of his strengthe.” In this release, the arrow must be to the left of the bow vertical. The Eskimo of Alaska employ this release, using, however, only the first and second fingers in drawing the string, and it appears to be almost universal in the Arctic regions. apa These four releases may be considered, Prof. Morse 14 NATURE [Mov. 4, 1886 thinks, as successive modifications of each other; but the next release is an entirely independent form, having no relation to the other. (5) The Mongolian Release.—In this the string is drawn by the flexed thumb bent over the string, the end of the forefinger assisting in holding the thumb in position (Figs. 7 and 8). The arrow is held at the junction of the thumb and forefinger, the base of the finger pressing the arrow against the bow. For this reason the arrow is always placed to the right of the bow vertical. This release is characteristic of the Asiatic races, such as the Manchu, Chinese, Corean, Japanese, and Turk. The Persians also use it. The thumb is protected by a guard : the Manchus, Chinese, and others use a thick ring worn near the base of the thumb. It may be made of any hard material, such as horn, bone, ivory, quartz, agate, or jade. The Japanese archer uses a glove consisting of the thumb and two fingers. These are the principal and most efficiert forms of re- lease, although doubtless there are others. Of the methods employed by ancient peoples, as represented in manu- scripts, sculptures, &c., the Assyrians at one stage of their history appear to have used the primary form, while sub- sequently they used the secondary, and still later the Mediterranean release. The ancient Egyptians appear to have practised three, if not four, definite and distinct methods of release, but many of the representations in the old sculptures are evidently purely conventional, while some are clearly impossible. Following on these, Prof. Morse discusses the methods employed in ancient Greece, Persia, Japan, China, India, Mexico. Here he is naturally on less secure ground, for he has to endeavour to spell out a conclusion from various and conflicting positions of the hand in various ancient graphic representations of life amongst these peoples. The discussion involves a considerable amount of detail and numerous woodcuts by way of illustration, for which the reader must be referred to Prof. Morse’s pamphlet. We must content ourselves with reproducing briefly his conclusions, which, it will be understood, are at present for the most part provisional, pending additional information and wider discussion. The persistence of a particular release in a people is well illustrated in the case of the Ainos. For centuries the Ainos have battled with the Japanese, and must have been mindful of the superior archery of their enemies ; indeed, on all hands, with the exception possibly of the Kam- chatdales to the north, the Ainos have been surrounded by races practising the Mongolian release, and yet have adhered to their primitive methods of shooting. The two strongest releases—both perhaps equally powerful—are the Mediterranean and Mongolian, and it is interesting to note that the two great divisions of the human family who can claim a history, and who have been dominant in the affairs of mankind, are the Mediterranean nations and the Mongolians. For several thousands of years each stock has had its peculiar arrow-release, and this has persisted through all the mutations of time to the present day. Language, manners, customs, religions, have in the course of centuries widely separated these two great divisions into nations. Side by side they have lived; devastating wars and wars of conquest have marked their contact ; and yet the apparently trivial and simple act of releasing the arrow from the bow has re- mained unchanged. At the present moment the Euro- pean and Asiatic archer, shooting now only for sport, practise each the release which characterised their re- mote ancestors. The following classified list shows in a general way that the primary, secondary, and tertiary releases are practised by savage races to-day, as well as by certain ancient civilised races, while the Mediterranean and Mongolian releases, though originating early in time, have always characterised the civilised and dominant races. The exceptions to this generalisation are curious : the Little Andaman Islanders practise the Mediterranean release, and those of the Great Andamans the Tertiary ; various groups of Eskimo practise the Mediterranean release, and have designed a distinct form of arrow for this method. Primary Release—Savage : Ainos, Demerara Indians, various North American tribes ; civilised : early Assyrian, Egyptian, and Grecian (?) Secondary Release.—Savage: some North American tribes ; civilised: later Assyrian and Indian (?) Tertiary Release.—Savage: North American tribes, Great Andamans ; civilised : Siamese, Egyptian, Grecian, and Mexican (?) Mediterranean Release.—Savage : Eskimo, Little Anda- mans ; civilised : European nations now, and the archers of the Middle Ages, later Assyrian, early Egyptian, Arabian, Indian, and Roman. Mongolian Lelease. — Manchus, Chinese, Coreans, Japanese, Turks, Persians, Scythians, Egyptians (?) In conclusion, Prof. Morse expresses a belief that the me- thod of using the bow may form another point in establish- ing or disproving relationships, in identifying the affinities of past races. ‘Travellers and explorers should not con- tent themselves with observing the simple fact that such and such people use bows and arrows, but they should accurately record (1) the attitude of the shaft hand ; (2) whether the bow is held horizontally or vertically ; (3) whether the arrow is to the right or left of the bow vertical; and (4) whether the extra arrows are carried in the bow hand or shaft hand. The method of bracing the bow is of importance also. While anxious to get information respecting the arrow-releases of tribes and peoples, he is particularly desirous of hearing about those employed by the Veddahs of Ceylon, the hill-tribes of India, African tribes, and those of South America, espe- cially the Fuegians. Such material, in the shape of descriptions, photographs, drawings, and if possible specimens of bows and arrows, may be sent to Prof. E. S. Morse, Peabody Academy of Science, Salem, Massachusetts, and will be acknowledged and used in a future publication on the subject. CLIMATOLOGY OF THE CROYDON DISTRICT? 1 a little tract of thirty-six pages, which has just appeared in the 7yansactéons of the Croydon Micro- scopical and Natural History Club, Mr. Eaton has dis- cussed the climatology of this part of England witha skill, clearness, and fairness seldom met with in local climatologies. The observations of temperature, which were conducted on the same systematic plan with Steven- son’s screens, were made at seven stations, these being, in the order of their heights, Park Hill, Addiscombe, South Norwood, West Norwood, Waddon, Wallington, and Beddington. The periods selected for discussion are the five years 1881 to 1855 inclusive. The stations are included within an area measuring 4 miles from north- ea-t to south-west by 2} miles from south-east to north- west. The monthly results are given on fourteen pages with satisfactory fullness; and with them are conjoined, for the sake of comparison, the corresponding records of temperature at the Greenwich and Kew Observatories. The heights and mean temperatures of the five sta- tions from which observations are available for the whole of the five years are these :—Beddington, 102 feet, 43°°8 ; Waddon, 156 feet, 49°°0 ; South Norwood, 190 feet, 49°°4; Addiscombe, 202 feet, 49°°3 ; and Park Hill, 259 feet, 49"4, Park Hill, the highest station, being thus 06 warmer than Beddington, the lowest station. This subversion of the general rule that the temperature diminishes with greater elevation is shown to be due to the frequency with which, on clear calm nights, the air in contact with the ground is cooled and rendered denser by radiation, t “ Report on the Temperature and the Rainfall of the Croydon District, 1881-85,” by Henry Storks Eaton. Nov. 4, 1886] NARORE T5 and thereafter descends to the low-lying grounds of the valleys, displacing the warmer air below. During the unusually dry clear months of January and July 1881 the mean temperature of Park Hill exceeded that of Bed- dington by 35 and 25 respectively. Hence the first three of the five stations which are on sloping ground have, though at greater elevations than the other two stations below, higher mean temperatures. This peculiarity in the distribution of the night and the winter temperature becomes the more intensified as the valley is deeper and its sides steeper, and as calms and light winds prevail. Thus at Klagenfurt, situated in one of the valleys of the Tyrol, the mean temperature of January is 20°7, whereas at the station of Obergipfel, about seven miles distant and 4270 feet higher, the mean for the same month is 19° 9, being thus less than a degree lower than that of Klagenfurt. The subject is one that has seldom received the earnest attention it deserves, particularly in drawing the isothermals of the globe. The Croydon Club would make a clear addition to their observing-system if new stations were established on knolls in the valley of the Wandle for the further prose- cution of this inquiry. The means of temperature from Greenwich and Kew would have had real value in this inquiry if Mr. Eaton could have availed himself of observations made at these Observatories with thermometers exposed in the Steven- son screen. But, as pointed out, the different modes of exposing the thermometers render the results of the three systems of observing incomparable zzfer se. Thus the mean of the daily highest temperature of August for the five years is 72°°5 for Greenwich, and 69°°5 for Kew. The rainfall has been far more extensively observed in the district, the returns of no fewer than seventy stations being available. Grouping the stations according to height, the annual amounts at stations below 200 feet show a mean of 2327 inches; 200 to 400 feet, 25°39 inches ; 400 to 600 feet, 29°12 inches ; 600 to 800 feet, 31°66 inches; and above 800 feet, 31°36 inches. The largest amounts of rain occur not on the ridge of the North Downs, but some distance on the lee-side in re- gard to the prevalent rainy south-westerly winds ; and the amount at like elevations seems also to diminish from west to east. As regards the monthly rainfall, the depth is greater in the upper groups; but the ratios of the monthly to the annual fall show that in spring, but more particularly in summer, there falls proportionally a larger amount of rain in the lower group of stations, whose average elevation is 193 feet. The relatively large in- crease in the summer rainfall over low-lying plains is one of the most striking facts in the geographical distribution of the rainfall, and is probably due to the physical causes concerned in the development of thunderstorms. NOTES ON THE RECENT SWARMING OF APHIDES Core immediate cause of the sudden appearance of clouds of insects in certain localities is not very apparent, but it may be surmised that the predominance or scarceness of their natural insect foes has much con- trol over the phenomenon ; added to which must be taken into account the effects of weather and temperature. A few days ago I had a notice from an obliging Birming- ham correspondent, Mr. George Baker, who kindly fur- nished me with the following particulars :— On October 5 the town of Mansfield, on the borders of Sherwood Forest, was visited by a cloud of Aphides, which swarmed in the town and over the country round, across an area of many miles. The town was visited “literally by millions; every one, as they walked along, waving their handkerchiefs or newspapers before their faces to avoid inhaling the insects. ... Wet paint was covered by a mass of these black Aphides.” This swarm continued with decreasing numbers throughout five days, and heavy rain during part of this time did not seem much to affect them. Onthe road to Nottingham these insects were noticed as engaged in singular gyrations and undulatory dances above the tops of the spruce-firs, there forming dense pyramidal columns. A similar cloud, but less remarkable as to numbers, was observed about the ggme time at Birmingham ; which, however, as the town must be at least 50 miles distant, can be scarcely considered as forming a part of this same swarm. Possibly similar causes operated to produce the like phenomenon in both places. These insects proved on examination to be Rhopalo- siphume diantht of Schrank, which is identical with Aphis persice of Morren, and A. vafe of Curtis, and A, vastatoy of Smee. It is averitable pest in some years, doing considerable damage to turnip, mangel, and other crops, and in our gardens injuring our peach-trees. This present notice of its-swarming is, however, by no means unprecedented. In September and October 1834 Morren noted an im- mense swarm all over Belgium, and states his belief that it came across the sea from England. He says they ob- scured the light of day, and covered the walls of the houses so as partially to conceal them. Gilbert White notes that in August 1785 the people of Selborne were surprised by a swarm of “smother flies.” Those that were walking in the street found themselves covered with these insects, which blackened the hedges and vegetables round. White thought these might be emigrations from the hop-gardens of Kent and Sussex, and from those near Farnham, If so, the species differs from the insects above noticed. The choice of high objects to dance over is not con- fined to Aphides, e.g. many of the Tipulide. The singular persistent dance of Axthomyia meteorica over the heads of horses is familiar to all. G. B. BUCKTON NOTES A Mos? attractive group of birds has just been placed by Prof. Flower in the great hall of the Natural History Museum at South Kensington. The case is intended to illustrate the hybridisation of species in a state of nature, and the species selected are the hooded and carrion crows (Corvus cornix and C. corone) and the European and Asiatic goldfinches (Carauelis elegans and C, orientalis). The series of these birds has been presented to the Museum by Mr. Ifenry Seebohm, who procured the specimens himself during his travels in Siberia. «The case of the crows is one of the few instances known of actual wild hybridisation, though many more are suspected, especially among the game birds. It is certain, however, that wherever the colonies of hooded crows meet the carrion crow throughout the Palearctic region the two species interbreed freely, and the result is shown in the young, the gray saddle-back of the hooded crow exhibiting a considerable admixture of black owing to the strain of C. corone in the parentage. The case of the goldfinches is not quite so completely proved, but is apparently a parallel instance of hybridisation. The British Museum has been for some time indebted to Mr. Seebohm for very valuable presents of birds, which have been mounted in the bird-galleries. Not long ago he gave a specimen of Ross’s gull (A4odostethia rosst), one of the rarest of the Zavide, and a species which was a desideratum to the national collection. He presented also, last year, a fine case of Steller’s sea-eagle (Haliactus pelagicus) from Kamchatka. Tue Geodetic Conference began its meetings in Berlin last week. The countries represented are Belgium, by two dele- gates ; Denmark, by one; Germany, by fourteen, including Prof. Dr, Forster, of the Royal Observatory, Prof. Helmholtz, 16 NATURE [WVov. 4, 1886 Dr. W. Siemens, and Colonel Golz, of the Trigonometrical Survey : France, by two, namely, MM. Faye and Tisserand ; Italy, by one; the Netherlands, by one; Norway, by one; Austria, by three; Portugal, by one; Roumania, by two; Russia, by two, including Dr. von Struve, of the Observatory at Pulkowa ; Sweden, Switzerland, and Spain, each by one, England, strange to say, is not represented; nor has any one come from the United States. Prof® Dr. Forster, of Berlin, was elected President, and Dr. von Struve, of Pulkowa, Vice-President of the Conference. In his opening address, Herr von Gossler, Prussian Minister of Public Worship, in- dulged in some general observations as to the progress and aims of geodetic science, and, in the name of the Prussian Government, thanked the various foreign deputies for their appearance in Berlin. The chief task of the present Conference has been to settle the organisation of the central geodetic bureau, which is to have its permanent seat in Berlin, in con- nection with the Geodetic Institute of Prussia, founded by the late Lieut.-General von Bayer. It was at the instance of Lieut.-General Bayer that the first constituent international meeting of geodetic experts was held in Berlin in 1864, and it is by the establishment of a central international bureau here, supported by quotas from the various countries which it represents, that it is intended to preserve to Prussia the leading part she has always taken in promoting the science of earth-measuring and all its kindred branches. The permanent Committee elected includes Prof. Hirsch, of the Neuchatel Observatory (Secretary), Professors Forster (Prussia), Sande (Holland), Faye (France), Ferrero (Italy), Ibannez (Spain), Ragel (Saxony), Oppolzer (Austria), Stepnicki (Russia), and Zachariae (Denmark). The next Conference will be held in 1887 at Nice, on the invitation of M. Bischoffsheim, owner of the great Observatory there. Before separating, the Conference passed a resolution requesting the Prussian Government to invite other States to join the Inter- national Geodetic Society. AT a recent meeting of the Common Council it was decided that it be referred to the Gresham Committee to consider whether the moneys now paid for lectures under the provisions of Sir Thomas Gresham’s will might be devoted to the en- couragement of students destined for commercial careers acquir- ing a useful knowledge of modern languages, with instructions to confer with the Mercers’ Company, and to report thereon forthwith. THE Professor of Physics of the University of Vienna, Dr. Victor Pierie, died suddenly of appoplexy in his laboratory on Friday last. AT the Potato Centenary on December 2 and 3, to which we have already referred, the following subjects for conferences have been proposed :—First day, Morning: (1) historic considera- tion of the question, Whence came the potato to England? (2) the Incas and their cultivation of the potato; (3) distinct wild species of the potato as at present recognised ; (4) the produc- tion of varieties by cultivation. Afternoon: (5) the potato dis- ease ; (a) historic sketch, (/) our present knowledge of the disease. Second day, Morning: (1) proposed methods for preventing the disease ; (2) methods for using partly diseased potatoes ; (3) methods for storing and preserving potatoes. Afternoon ; conference of cultivators on rates for transport of potatoes. THE French Government has granted the funds required for the completion of the Algiers Observatory, which will be in full Operation next spring. Two assistant astronomers have already been sent to join M. Trépied, and two others will be selected from among the pupils of the School of Astronomy this winter. A special Congress will be held in Paris, in the month of April, for determining the part that the Algiers Observatory will take in stellar photography. The direct image of the sun will be 6 centimetres in diameter. A spectroscope by Thollon will be put into operation. The extent of the spectrum will be 10 metres. M. Trépied has organised the electrical transmission of the time to the Hotel de Ville of Algiers and Tunis. Colonel Perrier, head of the French and Algerian Survey, is arranging the measurement of the requisite triangles for connecting the Algiers Observatory with the Colonne Voirol, the starting-point of the Algerio-Tunisian system of triangulation. Mr. W. A. CarTeRr, of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, writes to us that during this last spring he placed a specimen of the Mexican axolotl in an empty (? dry) receptacle, where it has remained ever since. It is ina lively condition. The colour of the animal has become less intense, the gills have apparently disappeared, and the powers of locomotion seem quickened. Ir is worthy of note that at the establishment of the National Fish Culture Association many of the brook trout (Sa/mo fontinalis) hatched during February 1885 commenced to spawn last week, yielding about five hundred ova each. This fact is another proof of the extraordinary reproductive capacity of fishes in spite of age and artificial existence, for the fish in question have been maintained in a pond of limited dimensions. The size of the ova is small as compared with those of mature fish, therefore it is not likely that the trout when hatched will be large. The parents are in a healthy condition, and seem in no way weakened. A CONSIGNMENT of nearly a thousand German carp of various kinds has arrived at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. The great hardihood of the carp is evidenced by the fact that the fish in question were retained in carriers for sixty hours before being placed in tanks, when only two were found to have succumbed. IN a paper in the October number of the American Fournal of Science by Mr. O. W. Huntington, ‘‘On the Crystalline Structure of Iron Meteorites,” the author concludes as follows :— “We have tried in this paper to establish the following points : (1) that many of the masses of meteoric iron in our collections are cleavage crystals, broken off probably by the impact of the mass against the atmosphere; (2) that these masses show cleavages parallel to the planes of all the three fundamental forms of the isometric or regular system, namely, the octahedron, the cube, and the dodecahedron ; (3) that the Widmanstattian figures and Neumann lines are sections of planes of crystalline growth parallel to the same three fundamental forms of the iso- metric system ; (4) that on different sections of meteorites Wid- manstattian figures and Neumann lines can be exhibited in every gradation, from the broadest bands to the finest markings, with no break where a natural line of division can be drawn ; (5) that the features of the Widmanstattian figures are due to the elimina- tions of incompatible material during the process of crystallisa- tion. This investigation throws no new light upon the origin of meteorites, except so far as it strengthens the opinion that the process of crystallisation must have been extremely slow. The occurrence of large masses of native iron occluding hydrogen gas, and containing nickel, cobalt, phosphorus, sulphur, &c., implies a combination of conditions which the spectroscope indi- cates as actually realised in our own sun and in other suns among the fixed stars, and the most probable theory seems to be that these masses were thrown off from such a sun, and that they very slowly cooled, while revolving in a zone of intense heat. In this paper we have not taken into consideration a number of iron masses, whose meteoric origin has been generally accepted, which show no Widmanstittian figures, and not even any Neu- mann lines. A considerable proportion of these are certainly not meteoric. In the Harvard cabinet there are two specimens, labelled respectively Campbell County (Tennessee), and Hominy Nor. 4, 1886] NATURE 17 Creek (North Carolina), which are evidently nothing but cast- iron, and a third, labelled Tarapaca Hemalga (Chili), which is probably of similar material. We could find’ on the specimens of this class in the Harvard collection no distinct evidences of crystallisation ; but also we could find no features incompatible with that unity of structure which it has been the chief object of this paper to illustrate.” Mr. Horatio HALE has issued in pamphlet form his address **On the Origin of Languages and the Antiquity of Speaking Man,” delivered before the Anthropological, Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at Buffalo last August. The author’s views were much discussed at the time, and those interested in the subject will be thankful to have them presented in this convenient form. Rejecting all the theories hitherto advanced by Lyell, Frederick Miiller, and others, he endeavours to account for the vast number of sfecific- ally distinct languages spoken by races not specifically distinct by assuming that they originated from children’s prattle in inde- pendent centres after the spread of speechless man over the globe. The cases are mentioned of the Boston twins born in 1860 and of some other ‘‘Geschwister,” who appear to have evolved and practised for some time infantile jargons understood only amongst themselves, which it is argued might, under favour- able conditions of isolation and so forth, develop into regular forms of speech consistently worked out with their own vocabu- laries and grammatical structure. In this way linguistic families differing absolutely one from the other need not be of any great antiquity, and in fact may have been developed from slight germs in many places and at different times since the dispersion of the **homo alallus” from some given centre. This homo alallus himself is admitted to be the lineal descendant of the men of the Stone Age, who are assumed to have been speechless, so that all forms of speech now current may be of comparatively recent date, say, not more than 8000 or 10,000 years, notwithstanding their great number and profound differences. This theory, which refers human speech in the first instance to ‘‘ the language- making instinct of very young children,” is presented with con- siderable force and plausibility, but will scarcely be taken seriously either by philologists or anthropologists. The latter especially will find it difficult to accept the conclusion that man properly so called, the 4omo sapiens, as distinguished from his precursor of the Neolithic Age, does not date further back than “somewhere between 6000 and 10,000 years ago.” The theory also requires us to regard this first speaking man as already fully developed, possessing ‘‘ intellectual faculties of the highest order, such as none of his descendants has surpassed,” thus reversing the conclusions of modern anthropology. Ir is reported from Vienna that a great ice cavern has been discovered on the southern slope of the Dachstein, or Schnee- berg, the very conspicuous lofty mountain in Lower Austria, which is visible from the ramparts of the capital. The genera} direction of the cavern runs from south to north, and it has been explored for a distance of 600 metres, a sharp precipice seemingly 14 metres deep having stopped for the time further progress. The cavern is from § to 6 metres broad, and very lofty, giving the impression that the ice is enormously thick. The explorers are of opinion that a subterranean lake will be found in the cavern. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinicus Q ) from India, presented by Miss Edith Prowse; four Common Hedgehogs (Zvinaceus eurvopeus), British, presented by Mr. W. Walkinshaw ; a Buzzard (Buteo ) from Mogador, North Africa, presented by Mr. P. L. Forwood; a Ring- necked Parrakeet (Paleornis corguatus 9 ) from India, presented by Mr. W. S. Bradshaw; an Aldrovandi’s Skink (Plestiodon auratus) from North Africa, deposited ; a Rusty-spotted Cat (Felis rubiginosa) from Ceylon, two Diuca Finches (Diuca grisea) from Chili, two Wood Larks (A/awda arborea), British, purchased ; eight Long-fronted Gerbilles (Gerbid/us longifrons), born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THE BINARY STAR y Coron AusTRALis.—Mr. H. C. Wilson, of Cincinnati Observatory, has published elements of the orbit of this interesting southern double star in the Stdereal Messenger for October. These elements, which do not differ much from a set recently computed by Mr. Gore (AZonthly Notices, vol. xlvi. p. 104), are as follows :— P = 78°80 years A = 13970 T = 1887'40 Qe— AiO A O5324) Zao Y = 5075 Comparing observations made 1834°47 to 1883°62 with this orbit, Mr. Wilson finds that the position-angles are well repre- sented, with the exception of those observed by Powell from 1859 to 1864, which seem to be affected by systematic error, and thinks we may conclude the period is not far from eighty years. It is to be hoped that numerous observations of this . star will be obtained during the next ten years, while the dis- tance is small and the angular motion rapid. Oppoizer’s ASTRONOMICAL REFRACTIONS.—Herr Oppolzer has recently published, in the Zyazsactions of the Mathematical and Natural Science Section of the Imperial Academy of Sciences of Vienna, vol. liii., a paper containing a theoretical discussion of the problem of astronomical refraction, followed by numerical tables intended to facilitate the practical applica- tion of the results at which he arrives. The relation between the temperature (¢) and density (p) of the’ atmosphere which Herr Oppolzer adopts is ot —=e+ Shp, 5p where & and o are quantities depending on the state of the atmosphere and on the place of observation. Whatever may be thought of the legitimacy of a relation of this form from a theoretical point of view, it at all events has the advantage, in Herr Oppolzer’s skilful hands, of leading to a comparatively simple expression for the amount of refraction, deduced from a modification of the ordinary differential equation. And that it is capable, when the approximations are carried far enough, of giving results of great accuracy for large zenith distances, 1s shown by a comparison made between the computed values of the refraction and the well-known observations of Argelander, which form the basis of Bessel’s supplementary table given in the ‘* Tabula Regiomontane,” with the following results :— Z.D. Observed—Computed Z.D. Observed—Computed Sn ° a” 850 =r 88 0 — 2°5 860 + 12 | 89 0 +253 87 0 - 13 89 30 + 1°8 Comets FINLAY AND BARNARD.—The following ephemerides for Berlin midnight are from the Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 2752 :— Comet Finlay (1886 e) 1886 RA Decl. Log x Log A js, IG jj Nov. 8 19 25 22 24 50°38 S o°0751 0°0970 10 33 49 24 30°5 12 42 2 24 14'1 00718 0°0932 14 Hee 8) 23.495 16 19 59 51 23 22°77 S. _0°0697 0°0899 Comet Barnard (1886 f ) 1886 R.A Decl. Log r Log 4 We ine & a ; Nov. 7 ie) 8) 8 18'5 N. 0'0735 0°2031 9 BSE 5 yes) Il 23 31 9 44°3 070551 O'1772 13 32 29 10 30°7 15 12 42 | 11 192 N. 0°0366 0°1507 18 NATURE [WVov. 4, 1886 ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1886 NOVEMBER 7-13 Eos the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed. ) At Greenwich on November 7 Sun rises, 7h. 6m. ; souths, 11h. 43m. 49°6s.; sets, 16h. 22m. ; decl. on meridian, 16° 21’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, Igh. 29m. Moon (Fullon November 11) rises, 15h. 4m. ; souths, 20h. 58m. ; sets, 3h. 2m.*; decl. on meridian, 1° 49’ S. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridizn h. m. h. m. h. m. . a Mercuryer ss Qb22)) scan 3 ir 17 10 23 59S. Venus... Oy26ei. UT 120 16 14 13 25S. Mars RLOWA2 Mitere) L427; ite} 112) 24 27S. Jupiter... 4.550 so. TOMO) 15 43 7. 4315. AUNTOSe ya 2O0 GO" hen 4) G2) 12 34 21 18 N. * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and thesetting that of the following morning. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresy onding angles from ver- Nov, Star Mag. Disap Reap fexitaimienetor inverted image Ine Sri h. m. A a Fieeas Ceti . 6 D74bueeselor 32 32 321 Five SAGAS) 435 SON est) Ou) UL 48 311 Vitesse Ba AC. uhh. « ID) Gane LOU2B) ws LORA2 89 281 9 ... »v Piscium... Ak cos, US GAs. LO) (On we. OOnZ TH C2 yeAS MANE cee esq OD Asc LOVES 2ONLS i) ee ORRZS IE 2c) har pe eon DOG re eed as bee I She Thee 75 lau) o. (Sea eats 3 37 162 275 13... 6! Tauri Aiki rice AOL ES SS eae) a OSE) BQ) cean9> ar 4$ .... 3 6 nearapproach 39 — MGB seat C wise ceN Sh cesses $50G0) ssc A AOame yell bE 13 ... Aldebaran I G27) 08 7) LO eee LOS M284! Saturn, Nov. 7.—Outer major axis of outer ring = 43’'5 ; outer minor axis of outer ring = 16'°8 ; southern surface visible, Nov. h, Le cog 07) Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun, 22° east. Variable Stars Star R.A. Decl. h. om. S028 h. m Si Cassiopeie: <.5) (0 17 =... 55) LOUN. -2. Nov. (9; M U Cephei OG2°25...60 DOIN... aseeess) Spaonc 95 12,- 329 m ENO] re e<=-n-<8 3 tO One and at intervals of 20 8 Blbyre.. <2. <1 18. 45:0)..4.33 14. N. «.. Nova 12, 1980 772 R Lyre Be ists, TS! SIO). MAS ASENE sce a5 aE 3} m Nedguilee ty... es LORAOT Ew OLAS wu uGsianC ys" (SaNECEZ/z RO Varlpecule” Ge-. 205973)... 23) 220Ne cee syns M ORGEPHEIN cee) ny 22/2400) - “229025975! “70 75) Wee) 2 Belgium—Brussels ... ... ... 76 64 71 75 77 73 Austria— Vienna wi ee, 73) 7S) 273" 2 Oe Spain { Barcelona... ice) ag O52 100) 8 OS. (Ouse) 2 and Madrid ... ... ... 62 72 75 70 68? 69 Portugal ies OMe wes eee, FO, 68) 168" JOD NSS) TGR Turin den haa, San WZ) aS, Cua eres 3 Italy \ Rome Som cchieescoamley 17) 79 Sr 81 81 xo ( Palermo (Sicily) ... 82 84 84 82 84 83 Means 473) 2) ish Sie The stations have been selected as representative of Western, Central, and Southern Europe, and the table shows well the area over which the warm weather extended. The more northern parts of Europe did not experience any exceptional heat, the highest temperature at Copenhagen beinz 63°, and at Stockholm 61°. The more western parts were also but little affected : in Ireland the highest maximum was 66° at Parsonstown on the 5th, and at no other station was the tem- perature above 65°. In Scotland the temperature did not reach The Greenwich observations from- 1841 show that a higher temperature has only once been registered in October, viz. 81° on the 4th in 1859; but the daily mean, which was 67° on the 4th this year, is hizher than any previously recorded, The observations which were made in the apartments of the Royal Society from the year 1794, excepting the years 1811 to 1819, do not show so high a reading between 1794 and 1840. Central, and Southern Europe. During this time atmospheric | At Kew Observatory the highest temperature recorded was 77° . | Nov. 4, 1880] NEATOTLL:, 19 nnn n ne TEESE on the 4th, and this is the highest ever observed in the month of October; on the 5th, 76° was registered, which corresponds with the temperature observed on October 4, 1859. The returns of the Meteorological Office show that 80° was observed on the 4th in London and at Cambridge, whilst 77° was registered at several stations in the east of England and in the Midland Counties. It is difficult to make any satisfactory comparison with pre- vious records, except at one or two places, but these tend to show that so high a temperature at this season does not occur more than about twice in a century. CHAS. HARDING VOLCANOES OF JAPAN oy HE last number (vol. ix. part 2) of the 7vazsactions of the Seismological Society of Japan is wholly occupied by a paper of Prof. Milne’s, on Japanese volcanoes, which is the longest contribution that has yet appeared in the Society’s Transactions. The paperis partly historical and partly scientific, and contains, so far as the writer has been able to collect, refer- ences to everything that is known on the subject. Very much comes from his own observations, for he has travelled over the greater part of Japan, and has ascended many of the volcanoes. The paper also contains an epitome of some thirty or forty works in Japanese. On the whole, it is a systematic account of material which has been accumulating for the last eleven years. The following are the more important conclusions which Prof. Milne has formulated in the paper :— 1. Number of Volcanoes.—As Japan has not yet been com- pletely explored, and, moreover, as there is considerable diffi- culty in defining the kind of mountain to be regarded as a volcano, it is impossible to give an absolute statement as to the number of volcanoes in the country. If under the term volcano be included all mountains which have been in a state of eruption within the historical period, those which have a true volcanic form, together with those which still exhibit cn their flanks matter ejected from a crater, we may conclude that there are at least 1co such mountains in the Japanese Empire. If to this list be added the ruins and basalt wrecks of volcanic cones, the number would be considerably increased. These mountains are distributed as follows :— Kuriles MOZ, Scucsstscxsceestooes 28 Northern main island Ih Central 5 a 35 | Oshima group | Northern Region.. Central Region ... f Southern main island ... I Southern Region.. ) Kiushiu............ I re Southern islands J “""""’ 2) Totaly seismnerosscntess 3 100 Of this number about 48 are still active, or have been so during the historical period. These active volcanoes are distributed as follows :— ae ee : Kuriles ...... Northern Region.. ) 0, 27 Central Region........... 12 OME EL COION cecae ta jontcsceiten(acessicesesse- 9 MO tallenwdecsectees ose es 48 From this it will be seen that volcanic activity in Japan decreases from the north towards the south. ' 2. Number of Eruptions.—Altogether about 232 eruptions have been recorded, and of these the greater number took place in the southern districts. This may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that Japanese civilisation advanced from the south. In consequence of this, records were made of various phenomena in the south when the northern districts were still unknown and unexplored regions. The greater number of eruptions took place in February and April. Comparing the frequency of eruptions in the different seasons, the volcanoes of Japan appear to have followed the same law as the earthquakes, a greater number having taken place during the cold months. This winter frequency of volcanic eruptions may possibly be accounted for in the same manner that Dr. Knott accounted for the winter frequency of earthquakes. During the winter months the average barometric gradient across Japan is steeper than in summer. This, coupled with the piling up of snow in the northern regions, gives rise to long-continued stresses, in conse- quence of which certain portions of the earth’s crust are more prepared to give way during the winter months than they are in summer. 3. Position and Relative Age of Fapancese Voleanoes.—The youngest of the Japanese volcanoes appear to be those which exist as, or on, small islands. On the islands in the Kuriles, in the Oshima group, and in the Satsuma sea, many of the vol- canoes are yet young and vigorous. Moreover, many of these islands have been formed during the historical period. The island-forming period in the Satsuma sea, for example, was about the year 1780. The volcanoes of Japan form a long chain running from N.E. towards S.W.; but a closer examination of the distribution of the volcanic vents shows that there are probably four lines :— (a) The N.E.-S.W. line running from Kamchatka through the Kuriles and Northern Yezo. (2) The curved line following the backbone of the main island, and terminating on the western side of the Yezo anti- clinal. (c) The N.N.W.-S.S.E. line of the Oshima group. This line, coming from the Ladrones, passes through Oshima and Fujisan parallel to and near to the line of a supposed fault. Here it intersects the main line running through the main island. Volcanic vents are here very numerous. As the main island line is intersected, while the Oshima line is the inter- sector, it may be argued that the Oshima-Fujisan line of volcanoes are younger than many of those on the main island line. (7) The Satsuma line, coming from the Philippines through Sakurajima and culminating in the famous Mount Aso, which is the nucleus of Kiushiu. 4. Lithological and Chemical Character of Lavas.—Although Prof. Milne has made an extensive collection of the volcanic rocks of Japan, the opportunity for examining them has not yet presented itself, and therefore he can only speak of them in general terms. They are at present being carefully studied by the officers of the Geological Survey. The rocks in his posses- sion are chiefly andesites. Those containing augite, like the rocks of Fujisan, closely approximate to basalts. True basalt is, however, rare. Another common rock is hornblende andesite, some of which contains free quartz. Quartz trachytes occur in the north of Japan. The following table shows the percentages of silica, and ferrous and ferric oxide, contained in the rocks of ten volcanoes :— Locality. SiO, FeO Fe,03 1. Norokura ... ; 2 Leshan 350 2. Misake .... ae hey) coo ee) 3. Kusatsu .......: : P3830) 6 4935 4. Amagi (Hakone) . BOSSY can Parl mes 8) 5. Komagadake 56'27 ... 2°19 ... 6°69 6. Moriyoshi ... A Ee) oco PMOL) con ZES ee 60264). SiS oo Sula: Ua @HOK Al 2. sere ese aes acis 54°55 .. 5°19... 4°42 8. Hakone (Tonosawa)...... 48°97 ... 402 ... 4°81 Go) TRUNAISEIN, Goqocnenanedeoe ~A4Q'G0)ss. 5:l «=. 0:00 TOs @Bhimayeca- taconite sates 52°00 ...13°70(?) One feature exhibited by the table is that the rocks of Oshima, Fujisan, and Tonosawa are basic, while those like Chokaisan and Moriyoshiyama belonging to the line of volcanoes of the main island, are relatively acidic., More extended observations of this description may show that different lines of volcanoes have thrown out different lavas, or that the lavas of different constitu- tion are of different ages. 5. Magnetic Character of Rocks.—In a study of the soils in the neighbourhood of Tokio, Mr. E. Kinch refers specially to the magnetite they contain. A great portion of this comes from the disintegration of volcanic rocks. Many of the Japanese lavas have a distinct effect upon a compass needle, and many of the black layas from the crater of Fujisan wiil easily turn the needle of an ordinary compass through 360°. Many of the pieces of lava are not only magnetic but polar. Dr. Naumann found a block of augite trachyte on the top of Moriyoshiyama which would deflect the needle of a compass through 155°. The most curious observation made by this investigator was that the magnetic declination near Gaujusan has during the last eighty years (when it was about 14° 30'E.) decreased 19°, being now about 5° W. As we recede from this mountain the amount of 20 NATURE [Vov. 4, 1886 change is Jess. Assuming this result to be correct, it would seem justifiable to look to Gaujusan as connected with these local changes. Some of the volcanoes in the Kuriles are said to exert a marked influence upon the compasses of ships. When a vessel is lying near certain mountains, as, for instance, in Bear Bay at the north end of Iturup, a distant mountain will have a very different bearing to that which is indicated by the same compass when the vessel is a short distance outside Bear Bay. In both cases the ship may be lying in the same direction, and the direc- tion of observation is practically along the same line. This leads Prof. Milne to urge, as he has already done, that a mag- netic observatory should be placed on or near one of the nine active volcanoes of Japan. Changes in volcanic activity are probably accompanied by local changes in the magnetic effects produced by subterranean volcanic magmas. These changes may be due to alterations in position, alterations in chemical constitution, and changes due to the acquisition or loss of heat. If such is the case, he argues, the records of a magnetic obser- vatory would lead up to a knowledge of the changes taking place beneath the ground. When it is remembered that vol- canoes like Oshima (Vries Island), where it seems probable that there may be local and rapid changes in magnetic variation taking place, lie in the track of so many vessels, the proposed investigation has a practical as well as a scientific aspects An investigation of earth-currents at and near volcanoes might be added to the magnetic investigations. 6. Intensity of Eruptions.—It appears from the accounts of eruptions which are given in the paper that the intensity of volcanic action in Japan has been as great as in any other part of the world. One period of unusual activity was between the years 1780 and 1800, a time when there was great activity elsewhere in the globe. It was during this period that part of Mount Unsen was blown up, and from 27,000 to 53,000 persons (according to different accounts) perished, that many islands were formed in the Satsuma sea, that Sakurajima threw out so much pumice material that it was possible to walk a distance of 23 miles upon the floating déér7s in the sea, and that Asama ejected so many blocks of stone—one of which is said to have been 42 feet in diameter—and a lava-stream 68 kilometres in length. 7. The Form of Volcanoes.—The regular so-called conical form is very noticeable in many of the Japanese mountains, especially perhaps in those of recent origin. Outlines of these volcanoes, as exhibited either by sketches or photographs, show curvatures which are similar to each other. From a collection of photo- graphs Prof. Milne traced the profiles of a number of important mountains in Japan. ‘These are reproduced in the paper (see Fig. 1). From an examination of these figures he found that the a a ae a ~~ Sis NG ee us NY Fic. 1.—Outl.ne of Fujiyama, from a photograph. This may be taken as typical of many Japanese volcanoes. Sage Wey curvature of a typical volcano was logarithmic, or, in other words, the form of such a mountain was such as might be pro- duced by the revolution of a logarithmic curve round _ its asymptote. In his original paper on the subject he said that the form agreed with that which would be produced by the piling up of loose material. He ought to have said it was the form assumed by a self-supporting mass of coherent material. Mr. George F. Becker (American Fournal of Science, October 1885) continues these observations by an analytical investigation of the conditions of such equilibrium. If the height of a column is a, its radius y, the distance of any horizontal plane from the base .r, the specific gravity of the material p, and the co-efficient of resistance to crushing at the elastic limit 4, then the equation of the curve, which by its revolution about the « axis will generate the finite unloaded column of the ‘‘least variable resistance” is— | where 2k p This latter quantity is of course different for different materials. It can be expressed in terms of + and y— = 2k y Pp (tan? d = n)FS d being the angle which the tangent at any point makes with the x axis. The value of ¢ can be obtained from photographs or drawings of a mountain, while p may be obtained from pendulum experiments or from specimens of volcanic material. With these data we can determine the modulus of resistance at the elastic limit of the materials which compose a mountain on a large scale for many constituents of the earth’s crust. Mr. Becker concludes his observations by remarking that a study of the form and ‘ ; kh dimensions of lunar volcanoes would lead to values of =, from p whence we might approximately determine whether the lunar lava is similar to that of terrestrial origin. In the table which follows. Prof. Milne has followed out Mr. Becker’s suggestion, and calculated the modulus of resistance to crushing at the elastic limit in pounds per square foot for a number of Japanese - , 2k . mountains. The different values for = for the same mountain p is in great measure due to the absence of an accurate scale for the various photographs which had to be investigated. Another difficulty was obtaining a value for 7, or the density of the mountain. Prof. Mendenhall, who made a number of experi- ments with pendulums on the summit of Fujisan, says the rocks of that mountain have a density of 1°75. This is when they have air in their pores. As powder the density becomes 2°5. Wada gives the specific gravity of the rock on Fujisan as 2°6. 24,000 ft. Fic. 2.—Theoretical Mountains. Assuming the density of the earth at 5°67, then the density of Fujisan, as determined by Prof. Mendenhall’s experiments, is 2°08. In the following table the density of the materials of all the mountains mentioned is taken at 2°5. Load in lbs. per square foot Height 2k k in feet ro Pp p 4200 5000 4240 505 3500... {54201 (5450 J 5440 { 3945 | 4133 4430 3640 Fiujisan’......... 12,441 Photograph nee ” ” ” Surveyed section ” ” Average Fujisan Twakisan ...... Nantaisan...... .-» 4490 5260 2360 38co0 ! 2000 Sond) 205 || 7773 2120 f 2745 1310) re. Tos 2245 1180 1000 350,220 90 174,080 Photograph 156,000 163, 168 ” ” 1078 ” 655 102,180 Surveyed section Comparing the results given in the above table with the numbers given in the next section, which are based on experi- 1 This is the height above Lake Chuzenji. ( Nov. 4, 1886] NATURE 21 ments referred to in Rankine’s “‘ Civil Engineering,” it may be said that the average strength of Fujisan lies between that of rubble work and sandstone ; Iwakisan, Nantaisan, and Alaid are like good rubble masonry, while the strength of the ill-fated Krakatao is not much above that of ordinary brickwork. 8. Theoretical Mountains.—As it might be interesting to com- pare actual mountains with theoretical mountains constructed from the equation— such mountains have been drawn, and are shown in Fig. 2. The values of ¢ are given in the following table. In drawing up the table the instantaneous breaking strength of granite and its crumbling strength, which is the largest pos- sible value for &, are taken as being equal. For sandstone the crumbling strength is assumed to be three-fourths of the breal- ing strength, while for rubble work and brickwork it has been taken as one-half. Instantaneous Crumbling Weight ok Material breaking strength strength or cubic c= = 7 in Ibs. square feet ® in Ibs. foot lbs. p RECANVILG iesleere nnctos=iee 1,584,000 1,580,000 170 18,500 Sandstone............ 790,000 590,000 144 8,200 Rubble masonry .... 316,000 150,000 120 2,500 Brickwork ......... 144,000 72,000 112 1,300 The diameter of the base of each of these mountains is 48,000 feet, and the height to which mountains of the following different materials could be built upon such a base without crushing would approximately be :— Brickwork ..... .... 4,600 feet Sandstone...... 14,500 feet Rubble masonry .. 7,300 ,, Granite ......... 20,000 -,, 9. Causes Modifying Volcanic Forms.—Causes modifying the natural curvature of a mountain are :— (1) The tendency during the building up of the mountain of the larger particles to roll farther down the mountain than the smaller particles. (2) The effects of atmospheric denudation, which carries materials from the top of the mountain down towards the base. (3) The position of the crater, and the direction in which the materials are ejected. (4) The existence of parasitic craters on the flanks of a mountain. (5) The direction of the wind during an eruption. (6) The sinking of a mountain in consequence of evisceration beneath its base. (7) The expansions and contractions at the base of a mountain due to the acquisition or loss of heat before and after eruptions. 10. Effect of Volcanic Eruptions on the People.—The erup- tions in Japan from time to time have exerted a very marked influence upon the minds of the Japanese people. Divine in- terference has been sought to prevent eruptions, priests have been ordered to pray, taxes have been repealed, charities have been instituted, special prayers against volcanic disturbances have been formulated, and have remained in use for the period of 100 years, while special days for the annual offering up of these prayers have been appointed. At the present day a form of worship to mountain deities is not uncommon. SOLUTION 1 Opening of the Discussion by Prof. Tilden for want of time, the consideration of various phenomena connected with the subject was necessarily omitted. Thus no reference could be made to the various formulz relating to expansion or density of solutions, nor to their optical properties, magnetic rotation, nor to the subject of electrolysis. In what follows, a review is presented of the principal phenomena ob- served in the act of solution of solids (especially metallic salts and other comparatively simple compounds) in liquids, and the chief properties of the resulting solutions, with the object of arriving (if possible) at some conclusion as to the physical ex- planation of the facts. The question must atfonce arise whether these phenomena are to be considered as chemical or mechani- cal, and all the theories which have been put forward to explain the nature of solution are roughly divisible into two classes, according as, on the one hand, they represent the process as a kind of chemical combination, or, on the other, explain the _* Report of a discussion at the Birmingham meeting of the British Asso- ciation, phenomena by reference to the mechanical intermixture of molecules, or by the influence of the rival attractions of cohesicn in the solid and liquid, and of adhesion of the solid to the liquid. The former hypothesis seems to have been universally adopted by the older writers, such as Henry and Turner, and it seems pretty clear that Berthollet also regarded solution as an act of chemical combination. Among modern chemists, Pref. Josiah P. Cooke takes a similar view, but M. Berthelot is the most consistent and powerful supporter of the same hypothesis. In his ‘‘ Mécanique Chimique,’’ tome ii. p. 160, will be found a very clear and formal statement of the views upon this subject which, it is interesting to know, are retained by M. Berthelot without modification in any essential particular. On the other hand, there are a number of writers who, whilst referring the phenomena of solution to a molecular attraction of some kind, do not attribute solubility to the formation of che- mical compounds of definite composition, Graham distinctly ranges himself on this side. Brande also appears to have taken asimilar view; Daniell, Miller, Nicol, and Dossios may be more or less ranked with them. A theory differing in some im- portant respects from those of the above writers was briefly enunciated in a paper communicated to the Royal Society by Tilden and Shenstone in 1883. In discussing the connection between fusibility and solubility of salts, the authors point out that the facts tend to ‘‘ support a kinetic theory of solution, based on the mechanical theory of heat. The solution of a solid in a liquid would accordingly be analogous to the sublimation of a solid into a gas, and proceeds from the intermixture of mole- cules detached from the solid with those of the surrounding liquid: Such a process is promoted by rise of temperature, partly because the molecules of the still solid substance make longer excursions from their normal centre when heated, partly because they are subjected to more violent encounter with the moying molecules of liquid.” This theory, however, only relates to the initial stage of the process of solution, and does not sufficiently explain saturation nor the influence of dissolved substances upon vapour-pressure, specific heat, specific volume, &c. How far is it true that evolution of heat indicates chemical combination : does the evolution of heat which often takes place on dissolving a solid in water, or on adding more water to its solution, indicate the formation of hydrates, ze. compounds of the dissolved body with water in definite proportions? Thomsen answers this question in the negative (‘* Thermo- chemische Untersuch.,” Band ili. p. 20). : Take the case of sulphuric anhydride (SO3). It is evident from the diagram exhibited that more than half the total evolu- tion of heat occurs on addition of the first molecule of water to the solid substance ; yet the succeeding molecules give quite an appreciable thermal change. At what point in such a curve should we be justified in setting up a distinction between the effect due to chemical combination and that due to other causes, such as the change of volume consequent on dilution or the possible loss of energy from the adjustment of the motion of the molecules of the constituents to the conditions requisite for the formation of a homogeneous liquid, or (though not in the present case) the decomposition of the compound by the water? In the act of solution of the solids, and especially of anhydrous salts in waier, the volume of the solution is always less than the sum of the volumes of the solid and its solvent, with the exception of some/ammonium salts in which expansion occurs. Similarly the addition of water to a solution is followed by contraction. This contraction may bedue to mere mechanical fitting of the mole- cules of the one liquid into the interspaces between the mole- cules of the other (see Mendelejeff’s abstract in Yourn. Chem. Soc., Feb. 1885, p. 114). This would probably not be attended by loss of energy. Or the contraction may arise from tn- readjustment of molecular motion already referred to. If we know the coefficient of expansion of the liquid and its specific heat, we can calculate the amount of heat evolved for a given contraction. If this is done for sulphuric acid, and many other cases, it is found that, after accounting for the thermal change due to alteration of volume alone, there is a surplus of heat evolved which may really indicate some kind or some amount of chemical combination. Thomsen has found that as a rule the heat of solution and of dilution are both either positive or negative. Of thirty-five salts examined, only four supply well-marked exceptions. How- ever we may ultimately explain the anomaly exhibited by these salts, the fact remains that the heat evolved or absorbed during the admixture of any substance with water is in every case a continuous function of the quantity of water added. Similarly 22 NATURE [WVov. 4, 1886 the contraction which ensues on diluting an aqueous solution proceeds continuously, and the molecular yolume of a salt in solutions of different strengths is continuously greater the larger the amount of salt present. So that in none of these thermal or volumetric phenomena is any discontinuity observed, or any indication of the formation of compounds of definite composi- tion, distinguishable by characteristic properties. The question we are now considering, as to whether in a solution the solvent and the substance dissolved in it—or any portion thereof—exist independently of each other, is in some degree answered by the facts known as to the specific heats and vapour-pressures. For instance, when water is added to a solu- tion of sodium nitrate, the molecular heat of the resulting liquid seems to show that all the water added is influenced at least until a very large quantity is present. In this case one molecule of sodium nitrate can affect the movements of a hundred mole- cules of water, and probably more. It is also well known that the vapour-pressures of water holding in solution almost any dissolved solid is less than the vapour-pressure of pure water, and that the boiling-point of a liquid is raised by the addition to it of any soluble non-volatile substance. This fact of reduction of pressure can only be explained upon the hypothesis that there is no free water present at all; that is, that there is no water present which is not more or less under the influence of the dissolved substance. What becomes of water of crystallisation forms a part of the same question as to the relation of solvent to solvent. Observed facts lead us to conclude that white copper sulphate, blue anhydrous cobalt chloride—and, by analogy, other salts which are colourless—retain their hold upon water of crystallisation when they are dissolved in water. A very important observa- tion has been made by Dr. Nicol which bears directly upon this question. In his study of the molecular volumes of salt solutions he finds that, when a salt containing water of crystallisation is dissolved, this water is indistinguishable by its volume from the rest of the water of the solution. In the report presented to the British Association last year, the following passage occurs : “« These results point to the presence in solution of what may be termed the anhydrous salt in contradistinction to the view that a hydrate, definite or indefinite results from solution ; or in other words, no part of the water in a solution is in a position rela- tively to the salt different from the remainder.’”” These two statements, however, are not strictly consequent upon each other. The view seems preferable that (save, per- haps, in excessively dilute solutions) the dissolved substance is attached in some mysterious way—it matters not whether it be supposed to be chemical or physical—to the whole of the water. We cannot otherwise get over the difficulty presented by the hydrated salts, which give coloured solutions, by the control of the vapour-pressure of the dissolved salt, and by the altered specific heat. With regard to water of crystallisation, E. Wiedemann has shown that hydrated salts in general expand enormously at the melting-point; and the observations of Thorpe and Watts on the specific volume of water of crystallis- ation in the sulphates of the so-called magnesium group show that, whilst the constitutional water occupies less space than the remaining molecules, each successive additional molecule occu- pies a gradually increasing volume. So that when a salt, with its water of crystallisation, passes into the liquid state (either by melting or by solution in water), it requires a very slight re- laxation of the bonds which hold the water to the salt for it to acquire the full volume of liquid water, whilst the water of con- stitution is not so easily released. And this conclusion accords with Nicol’s observations on the molecular volumes of the salts when in solution. Now comes the question as to what determines the solubility of a substance. Why, for example, is magnesium sulphate very soluble in water, whilst barium sulphate is almost totally in- soluble? With regard to salts the following propositions seem to be true :—(1) Nearly all salts which contain water of crystal- lisation are soluble in water, and for the most part are easily soluble ; (2) insoluble salts are almost always destitute of water of crystallisation and rarely contain the elements of water ; (3) in a series of salts containing nearly allied metals the solubility, and capacity for uniting with water of crystallisation generally, diminish as the atomic weight increases. The fusibility of a substance has also much to do with its solubility. Neither fusibility alone nor chemical constitution alone seems to be sufficient to determine whether a solid shall be soluble or not. But it may be taken as a rule to which there are no exceptions that when there is a close connection in chemical constitution between a liquid and a solid, and the solid is at the same time easily fusible, it will also be easily soluble in that liquid. Salts containing water of crystallisation may be considered as closely resembling water itself, and these are for the most part both easily fusible and easily soluble in water. But space is wanting for the discussion of the details of these matters, as well as of the relation of molecular volume to fusibility of solids. The fascinating character of the phenomena of supersatura- tion has attracted a host of experimenters, but no definite explanation has been generally accepted. In the opinion of the speaker supersaturation is identical with superfusion. Super- saturated solution of, say, alum, thiosulphate of sodium melted in its water of crystallisation, and fused sulphur at 100°, exhibit phenomena of exactly the same kind. Finally, we are led to the consideration of what is meant by chemical combination. From the phenomena under discussion, and others, the conclusion seems inevitable that chemical com- bination is not to be distinguished by any absolute criterion from mere physical or mechanical aggregation; and it will probably turn out ultimately that chemical combination differs from mechanical combination, called cohesion or adhesion, chiefly in the fact that the atoms or molecules of the bodies concerned come relatively closer together, and the consequent loss of energy is greater. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE CAMBRIDGE.—Of the students in Natural Science entered at Cambridge this term no fewer than 116 have already announced their intention of studying medicine, DusLin.—The Senate of the Royal University has conferred the degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa upon James Bell, Ph.D., F.R.S., Principal of the Somerset House Laboratory. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS Revue @’ Anthropologie, troisiéme série, tome 1, Paris, 1886,— On the Simian characters of the Naulette jaw, by M. Topinard. This celebrated find, which was discovered at the bottom of an obscure cavern 25 m. below the present level of the Lesse, near Dinant, in Belgium, is chiefly remarkable for its excessive prognathism, which is due alike to the great thickness of the horizontal branch of the jaw when compared with its height, and to the special obliquity of the axis of the alveolus of the second molar. In its relative proportions the Naulette jaw must be characterised not only as non-human, but as_plus- Simian. A careful comparison of the Naulette jaw with the maxillary processes of the anthropoids, and of several of the lowest extant human races, has led M. Topinard to the conclu- sion that in the age of the mammoth, tichorine rhinoceros, and cave-bear, there had already appeared numerous mixed human types, to one of the lowest of which it may be presumed that the Naulette jaw belonged.—On the population of Bambouk, on the Niger, by Dr. Colin. An interesting paper on an exten- sive, but very imperfectly-known, region of Western Soudan, exclusively inhabited by a branch of the great Manding race, known as the Mali-nkés. The Bambouk territories, more than 600 kilometres in length, and from 80 to 150 in width, are divided into numerous little States, most of which enjoy a com- plete autonomy. Their want of consolidation, and the indiffer- ence of the people to all forms of religion, have made the Mali- nkés objects of contempt to their Mussulman black neighbours, but according to the narrations of the Griotes, or itinerant bards, who are to be met with in every part of Western Africa, they had at one time extended their dominion over all the tribes on the right banks of the Niger, and were preparing to invade Saigon when the advance of the French forced them to fall back within their original limits. For a time they submitted to the restrictions of Mohammedanism, but now they appear to have absolutely no religion. They prepare an intoxicating drink from honey, called ‘‘dolo,” in which women as well as men indulge to excess. The men are indo- lent, hunting only to avert starvation, and working their exten- a Now. 4, 1886] sive gold-mines imperfectly, and chiefly by the help of the women, to whom falls the chief share of providing for the wants _ of the community, but who, after marriage, enjoy great freedom, although the young girls are kept under strict supervision.—On the human bones found in France in caverns belonging to the Quaternary age, by M. Cartailhac. Of such finds, none can _ be referred to the early period of the Saint Acheul, or Chelles deposits, the oldest belonging apparently to the Mousterian aze, while the most abundant human remains are found in the com- paratively recent beds of Solutré and La Madelaine. The former of these are remarkable for the enormous number of horse-bones accumulated about the stone hearths and in the kitchen-middens of this station. According to Dr. Cartailhac, 40,009 skeletons might be reconstructed from these equine remains, which seem to have been exposed to the action of fire, the greater number of the bones having been broken for the extraction of the miarrow, whence he assumes that the horse must have reached iis maximum development and served in the place of all other game at the period of the Solutré deposits. The writer ¢ mpares together the human and other remains found in various Mediterranean and inland caves, with the special object of ascer- tiining how far the condition and mode of deposition of the skeletons can throw light on the vexed question whether the great preponderance of fractured over whole bones in these yrimzeval graves indicates the practice of cannibalism, or whether it may not be dependent on the observance of special modes of burial, involving the burning or dismemberment of the body after death.—The facial angle proposed by Cuvier and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire for comparative anatomical determinations and for measuring facial differences in the living subject, by Dr. Collignon. The writer, who considers at length the merits of the various angles proposed by Camper and others, concludes by showing the superiority, for practical purposes, of adopting Cuvier’s facial angle, measured by Topinard’s goniometer for determining the median angle. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES Paris Academy of Sciences, October 26.—M. Jurien de la Graviére, President, in the chair.—On the unequal flow of gases, by M. Haton de la Goupilli¢re. In continuation of his recent communication on this subject the author here deals with the reverse problem of a receptacle originally filled with compressed air discharging itself freely into the atmosphere.—On the intensity of the magnetic field in dynamo-electric machines, by Marcel Deprez. Assuming that the most important element of a dynamo-electric machine, whether employed as a generator or receiver, is the magnetic field, the author deals with the influence of the deviation of the magnetic pieces, and shows that, contrary to the opinion of certain electricians, the intensity of the field decreases far less rapidly thin the distance of the magnetic pieces increases. The influence of the dimensions perpendicular to the lines of force is also considered.—Researches on the de- composition of the bicarbonate of ammonia by water, and on the diffusion of its components through the atmosphere, by MM. Berthelot and André. From the experiments here described, the authors are led to the corclusion that it is the diffusion of the carbonic acid that determines the decomposition by water of the bicarbonate of ammonia, and consequently the transport of the ammonia itself. These results are of the greatest importance even for the purely physical study of the circulation of gases between the ground, the waters, and atmospheric air, apart altogether from the phenomena of vegetation.—Note accompanying the presentation of his work entitled ‘‘ An Intro- duction to the Study of the Human Races,” by M. de Quatre- fages. This isthe first volume of the ‘‘ Bibliotheque d’Ethnologie,” edited jointly by the author and M, Hamy. It contains asummary of the views expounded in greater or less detail in his other writings, while dealing more fully with a number of other matters, which he had hitherto merely indicated, or else entirely neglected for lack of the fresh data and discoveries which now enable him to discuss them seriously. One of the most important is the ques- tion of prehistoric man, and he now shows that,even in Quater- nary times the human race had already spread over the whole earth to the remotest extremities of the Old and New World. This ubiquity of Quaternary man already suggested the exist- ence of the species in the previous epoch, and direct proofs of NATURE ae this fact have recently been multiplied to such an extent that the presence of man in Europe during Tertiary times may now be regarded as placed beyond reasonable doubt, although his presence in America is not yet established. The results yielded by paleontology, geology, and even history point to the extreme north of Asia as the cradle of the human race and the centre of dispersion, which had already begun in Tertiary times. Here also were differentiated the three fundamental types, to which all races may still be reduced, as well as the three linguistic types diffused throughout the globe. It is further shown that hypsistenocephaly is the main feature distinguishing the Ameri- can from the European primitive race, and that the man of Canstadt, hitherto regarded as the oldest Quaternary type, in reality dates back to the Tertiary epoch. —Note on the meteorite which fell on January 27, 1886, at Nammianthu!, in the Presi- dency of Madras, by M. Daubrée. This meteorite, a specimen of which has been received from Mr. Medlicott, of the Indian Geological Survey, presents the ordinary characters of the group of small sporadic asters.—Experiments on the transmission of force by means of a series of dynamo-electric machines coupled together, by M. Hippolyte Fontaine. These important experi- ments (carried out with seven Gramme machines, under the inspection of the Commissioners, MM. Bertrand, Becquerel, Cornu, Maurice Lévy, Marcel Deprez, and Mascart) show that it is possible to transmit an effective force of fifty horse-power through a resistance of 100 ohms at a loss of less than 50 per cent.—On algebraic surfaces capable of a double infinity of birational transformations, by M. E. Picard. In supplement to his previous communication on algebraic surfaces, the author here shows that, for all surfaces capable of a double infinity of birational transformation, the co-ordinates of any given point are expressed by the uniform (Abelian) functions of two para- meters.—On the transformation of surfaces in themselves, by M. H. Poincaré. It is shown in connection with M. Picard’s theorem that, in certain cases, the Abelian functions may de- generate into triply periodical, elliptical, or even rational func- tions.—Extension of Riemann-Roch’s theorem to algebraic surfaces, by MM. Noether.—On the recomposition of white light by means of the colours of the spectrum, by M. Stroumbo. A process is described by means of which the recomposition of white light is effected, taking as the starting-point the very colours of the spectrum, and utilising, as in Newton’s experi- ment with the disk, the persistence of the images on the retina. —Note on the principal showers of shooting-stars and the aurora borealis, by M. Ch. V. Zenger. A careful study of M. Rubenson’s great Catalogue of the Auroras from 1800 to 1877 has unexpectedly revealed the fact that August 10 and November 14 show a great frequency of these lights, thus coinciding with the periods of the shooting-stars and suggesting a connection between these two orders of phenomena. —Influence of the amplitude of the lunar oscillation in declination on the shiftings of the northern trade-winds, by M. A. Poincare. A study of the tables for 1880 83 shows certain relations between these phenomena, which, however, differ greatly according to the seasons.—On the phenomena associated with the heating and cooling of molten steel, by M. Osmond. It is shown that, as the quantity of carbon is increased, the temperature of trans- formation of the iron is lowered, and that of recalescence raised, so that both coincide in the hard steel.—Saturation of normal arsenic acid by the water of baryta, by Ch. Blarez.—On the function of the semicircular canals of the inner ear, by M. Yves Delage. The chief function of this apparatus, as already recog- nised by Goltz, Flourens, and others, is shown to be distinct from that of the auditory sense, and connected rather with the rotatory movements of the head, either alone or with the body. —On Syndesmis, a new type of Turbellariz described by W. A. Sillimann, by M. Ph. Francois. This organism is shown to be, not an ectoparasite of the large green nematoid, as supposed by Sillimann, but a true endoparasite of Sty. dvidus.—On two Synascidians new to the French sea-board (Diazona hebridica, Forbes and Goodsir, and Distaplia rosea, Della Valle), by M. A. Giard.—Organisation of Lepidomenia hystrix, a new type of Solenogaster, by MM. Marion and Kowalevsky.—On the Gephyrians belonging to the family of the Priapulidee collected by the Cape Horn Mission, by M. Jules de Guerne. The dis- covery of these organisms is a remarkable instance cf the presence in the southern seas of forms almost identical with those of the Arctic Ocean.—The simple epidermis of plants considered as a reservoir of water, by M. J. Vesque.—Remarks on Poroxy- lon stephanense, by MM. C. Eg. Bertrand and R. Renault.—On 24 MA TORE [Mov. 4, 1886 the taxonomic importance of the petiole, by M. Louis Petit.— On the reproductive organs of vegetable hybrids, by M. Leon Guignard.— On the relations of geodesy and geology : a reply to the observations of M. Faye, by M. A. de Lapparent. BERLIN Meteorological Society, October 5.—Dr. Brix, in the name of the Telegraph Administration, handed over to the Society a paper containing the results of observations respecting earth- currents instituted through the medium of German telegraph lines, and giving a brief history of these investigations.—Dr. Assmann spoke of the thunderstorms of the summer of 1886. Physical Society, October 22.—Prof. von Helmholtz in the chair.—Prof. Bornstein communicated the results of his investi- gations into the thunderstorms of July 1884. The days from July 13 to 17 were very prolific in thunderstorms, and respecting them the speaker had collected and elaborated observations from more than 200 stations in Germany. For twenty-four Separate thunderstorms, drawings were made of the “‘isobronts,” isobars, and isothermals, from which it appeared that a fall in the baro- meter always preceded the outburst of the storm ; that with the occurrence of the sinking of the barometer the atmospheric pressure srose very steeply and then relapsed gradually to its former level ; and that the temperature, which was very high before the storm, declined rapidly with the outbreak of the storm. Local observations had formerly led to the same result. The ‘‘isobronts,” or the lines uniting the places where the first peal of thunder was simultaneously heard, had in general a north— south direction. The ‘‘isobronts ”made the passage from west to east with an average swiftness of from 38 to 39 kilometres an hour. The ‘‘isobronts” were attracted by the mountains, so that the part in whose west-east direction a mountain was situ- ated approached it sooner, and, after the passage of the ‘‘iso- bront,” delayed there longer than did the remaining part, Rivers retarded the progress of thunderstorms, and small thunder- storms often terminated at large rivers without crossing them. This relation of thunderstorms to mountains and rivers might be explained on the assumption that the storms were caused by ascending air-currents, When such an ascending air-current approached a mountain, then the mountain hindered the hori- zontal air from flowing in at the anterior side of the ascending current. The air flowing in at the posterior side, on the other hand, thereby obtained the preponderance, and urged the phe- nomenon with all the greater force to the mountain. The reverse occurred after the thunderstorm had surmounted the mountain. ‘The horizontal currents in front then obtained the preponderance, and delayed the progress of the storm. The influence of the rivers found its explanation in the fact that the air above the water was considerably cooler than the air above the land, whereby a descending air-current was continuously maintained, operating in opposition to the ascending current of the thunderstorm, to the possible degree even of annulling it. The speaker had been able artificially to produce an imitation ofall these processes by causing, in accordance with the direc- tions of Dr. Vettin, visible currents to ascend in a glass box filled with tobacco smoke, by means of local depressions of temperature, by setting these currents in constant motion, and making them strike against obstructions (corresponding with the mountains), as also on descending currents which were likewise artificially created. In the discussion which followed the above address, Dr. Vettin laid stress on the fact that precisely at the moment when the barometer mounted steeply from its lowest position, the thunder followed the lightning most rapidly, and discussed how, in accordance with his conception of the nature of thunderstorms, by the curving round of the ascending air- current, a whirling movement round a horizontal axis came into shape, whereby, as determined by its situation and its extent, were produced thunderstorms, sleet, and hail.—Prof. von Helm- holtz described the formation of a thunderstorm observed by him in Rigi-Kaltbad. From a free point of prospect, allowing a survey of the plain as far as the Jura, he observed how the lower warm and moist layer of air was distinguished by a sharp horizontal boundary of somewhat long strips of cloud from the upper dry and cooler air. The cloud-masses resembling the stripe-shaped cirri diffused themselves and formed a coherent ‘level boundary-layer between the two air-masses. He next.noticed, at different spots, balls of cloud arise above the boundary-layer, evidently as the effects of ascending air-currents. The different cloud-heaps then rose higher and grew into larger cloud-masses within which different electric sparks leapt from one spot to another. It was only subsequently that he saw the lightning fly downward to the earth. At last a heavy rain rendered the lower air-mass, bounded by the horizontal cloud-basis occupying a position nearly at a level with the height of the stand-point, which had hitherto been clear, opaque. ~The phenomenon had developed itself under weather in which the wind was at rest, and could be followed very precisely into its details. —Prof, Schwalbe reported on an investigation of Herr Meissner, who, in the Strasburg Laboratory, had determined the warmth effect on the wetting of powdery bodies. In the way of powder were used amorphous silicic acid, glass, emery, carbon ; as fluids, distilled water, benzol, and amyl alcohol. In all cases an increase of temperature was observed. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED La France en Indo-Chine: Bouinais and Paulus (Challamel, Paris).— Zeitschrift fiir Wissenschaftliche Zoologie, October 1886 (Engelmann, Leip- zig).—Huddersfield Technical School Calendar for 1886-87 (Broadbent, Huddersfield).—Student’s Hand-Book of Historical Geology : A. J. Jukes- Browne (Bell and Sons).—Units and Physical Constants, 2nd edition: J. D. Everett (Macmillan and Co.).—Princ.ples and Practice of Canal and River Engineering, 3rd edition: D. Stevenson (Black, Edinburgh).—Monthly Weather Report, June 1886.—Quarterly Weather Report, January to March 1886.—Report of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, Part 11, for 1883 (Washington).—Phantasms of the Living, 2 vo's.: Gurney, Myers, "and Podmore (Triibner and Co.).—Den Norske Nordhaus Expedi- tion, 1876-78, XV. Zoologi; Crustacea, II.: G. O. Sars (Grondahl, Christiania).—Bulletin of the U.S. National “Museum, No: 30s) mee Marcou (Washington).—Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, October (Triibner and Co.).—Scientific Prevention of Consumption: G. W. Hambleton (Churchill). CONTENTS PAGE Explosions in Coal-Mines. By Prof. T. E. eee WeSH go on & oo ODO Jblonc- 3.0 I McLennan’s ‘‘Studies in Ancient History.” By Dre W. RobertsSoniSmiith ss Gy. as) eee 3 Britishyblymenomiy. cetesiamanen lenin site 4 TheiOcean-, 5 eye wtewoas Anes Whale as ye ee 6 Letters to the Editor :— On the Connection between Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action.—Dr. James Blake ... . 6 Disinfection by Heat.—R. Strachan . 7 The Beetle in Motion.—Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan. (Wiastrated))) a teens 5 Bra) oy 0 : 7 The Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice APA WV ard oS vlOmC kau Ean 7) The Enormous Loss from Ox-Warble. —John Walker 7 Aurora.—Prof, F. Hahn... eo 8 Earthquakes.—Dr, F. A. Forel; ‘H.duBois .., 8 Meteor.—Joseph John eo cide ee eas 8 PrederickiGuthrie =... cet ore OS The Longevity of Great Men. aE, Joseph Jastrow. 10 The Geology of the Lebanon. By Prof. Edward beh ISS 6 ooo oo aime Kuao 0 10 Autumnal Flowering. By Dr. “Maxwell T. Masters II Arrow-Release! (7//ustrated)\- 5 2. «<1 =) oe) Climatology of the Croydon District ...... 14 Notes onthe Recent Swarming of Aphides, By G. B. Bucktonjeh Risse. . Gs 6 Acerca US Notes! (fh ho MoO 15 Our Astronomical Column :— The Binary Star y Corone Australis. ....... I7 Oppolzer’s Astronomical Refractions. . ...... I7 Comets Finlay ‘and Barnard) “2)/5 <0) = eure aig] Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 November 7-13. . a Dun Sse ue The High Temperature ‘in October. By Chas, Harding . 3 fomeok See, SRS Volcanoes of Japan. By Prof, “Milne. '(Lllustrated ) 5 ie Solution... wy fe) s) elas) ORL University and Educational Intelligence ede) (olhfey nor eZ Scientific)/Serials) (252700. meee ele co) ao ae Societies‘and Academies) 2.8/5 4.5.1. 0c) oe OME S Books and Pamphlets Received. ......... 24 ee rn ie ee ee) iA al J MOU se ak 25 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1886 LETTERS AND JOURNAL OF W. STANLEY JEVONS Letters and Journal of W. Stanley Jevons. Edited by His Wife. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1886.) STRIKING but sad book is this autobiography ; for though “ written to give the best idea of the character of the man in the various relations of life more than to recount scientific work,” it is practically an autobio- graphy: there is scarcely a critical remark upon his thoughts or conduct in it. The family for many generations had been settled in Staffordshire. The grandfather came to Liverpool, and commenced business as an iron-merchant there, and his son Thomas, a man of ability in many ways, joined him init. This was the father of William Stanley Jevons, who had, moreover, the almost invariable precedent of a clever man (face Mr. F. Galton), viz. a clever mother, whom, however, he had the misfortune to lose at ten years old. She was the daughter of William Roscoe, author of the “ Life of Lorenzo de Medici ” and “‘ Leo the Tenth.” Another misfortune, from which, however, he learnt the value of money in a practical sense, befell him at the age of thirteen, when the firm of Jevons and Sons failed ; and his grandfather, who died in 1882 at the advanced age of ninety-one, came to live with them. A characteristic very marked, and to a marvellous extent affecting his whole subsequent life, was a bashful- ness or “natural timidity of character which,” his father wrote him, “is the worst, or perhaps I may say the only, weakness you have.” This led to self-depreciation, and at school the French master complained that he was far too quiet and made no noise, and did not read above his breath. Shrinking from his companions and their fun, however, he early acquired the habit of directing his attention and mental powers at his will, and nothing tried his naturally passionate temper more than to be compelled to leave the pursuit of the moment while still engrossed in it. Reports of him as a scholar naturally kept continually improving, and, though laboriousness is throughout his characteristic, his sister writes in her diary that she saw in Stanley at the age of fourteen the dawnings of a great mind. Botany and chemistry, in both of which he subsequently took honours, were the two sciences which attracted him first. The former was begun under the loving eye of his mother: the latter was the first that he took up at Uni- versity College School, and “ followed fiercer and fiercer till he gained the University gold medal.” He had decided at seventeen to go into a chemical manufactory at Liverpool, in order to remain near home ; but before he had ended his last term of study at the University his wishes and plans were all upset by Profs. Williamson and Graham recommending him for the appointment of Assayer to the new Mint in Australia. He shrank from it as being too heavy a post for a youth of eighteen, and as going terribly against his wish to settle at home. But an income of 675/. a year was too good an offer to be refused. On June 29, 1854, not yet nineteen years old, he set sail for Sydney. VoL. xxxv.—No. 889 While at Sydney he attacked the Australian meteorology, and published his observations ; more, as he explains, to show what phenomena had to be solved and what inter- esting connections of cause and effect might be suggested. Geology also, which he had commenced shortly before he left England, he there followed up. There he first suggested a collection of newspapers from all parts of the world as a curious exhibition ; there also he heard of the death, after seven years of re- viving prosperity in trade, of his father in November 1855. Though doing so well financially, he still cherished the feeling that he was losing time which he might put to better advantage. After four years he resigned his post, and on his return, vz@ Callao, Panama, St. Thomas, Havanna, and several cities of the United States, he made his way up country past Minneapolis, to visit a brother who had gone out to settle there. Returning thence by way of Niagara and Montreal to New York, he landed at Liverpool, but soon went on to London and re-entered the University. He joined several senior classes in com- pany with his younger brother, whose education he was then paying for. He had decided thenceforth to follow up political economy and mental philosophy. His “ Theory of Political Economy” was read as a paper but not “approved” by the British Association at Cambridge in 1862. It was published in 1871, and reached a second edition in 1879. Though it attracted the attention of some eminent foreigners, it was coldly received in England—the free use of mathematical symbols placing it above the heads of those practically engaged in commercial pursuits. In 1875, at the British Association meeting at Bristol, he read another well-known paper on the connection between sunspots and the price of corn—bad crops of the latter, we need hardly add, being followed by a high price and bad trade—and though he spoke at first very doubtfully of his theory, yet up to the time of his death, in 1882, he believed that a great revival of trade would take place almost immediately, to be followed by seven years of unprecedented prosperity, and he had speculated accordingly. Gold, howevers alas, seems a more important factor than sunspots. A more famous paper still was his ‘‘ Coal Question,” published in 1865. It was a question in which the whole nation took an interest, and it supplied a text for one of Mr. Gladstone’s economical budgets. Accordingly it was discussed in every paper, political, economical, or social, and is perhaps better known now than any of his other writings. His earlier writings had brought him in very little, and in 1863 he had accepted the not very lucrative post of tutor at Queen’s College, Manchester. In 1866 he was appointed Professor of Logic and Mental and Moral Philosophy, and Cobden Professor of Political Economy, at 300/.a year. A thorough teacher, he was much liked by his pupils, never tiring of making them understand, and watching their careers in after life. In December 1867 he married the daughter of Mr. J. E. Taylor, founder and proprietor of the A/anchester Guardian. To her we are indebted for this well-arranged selection of letters. In 1864 he published his first work on ‘‘ Pure Logic,” chiefly founded upon Prof. Boole’s system. In 1865 he invented a logical machine or abacus which he c ae NATURE describes as working in a few moments any logical problems involving no more than four distinct terms or things. It was like a small piano, three feet high, with twenty-one keys. A second book upon logic was pub- lished in 1869, just after this had been made to work correctly, entitled “The Substitution of Similars,” con- taining a sxetch of the fundamental doctrine of his great work, “The Principles of Science,” which was not pub- lished in full till 1874, but reached a second edition in one volume in 1877. In 1870 his “Elementary Lessons in Logic” ap- peared in Macmillan’s series of science class-books, followed in 1876 by the “Primer of Logic,” one of the same publishers’ more elementary series ; and in 1880 “Studies in Deductive Logic” for students desiring a more thorough course of logical training. In 1868 he had prepared three articles attacking J. S. Mill’s system of logic. They were declined at first, but three years afterwards, soon after the death of Mr. Mill, they were accepted by the Contemporary Review. It is curious to see two such mighty champions of sucha learned science referring their differences to an unedu- cated public and to their instinctive logic ! Though sorry on many accounts to leave Manchester, his heart had never left London and its University, to which he returned in 1876 as Professor of Political Economy. In that year he boldly read a paper laying it down that the United Kingdom Alliance was the worst existing obstacle to temperance reform in the kingdom— driving the enemy to a man into fierce opposition. His first illness throuzh over-work had occurred in 1869, and from that time his letters in large pro- portion are from various places — Norway was _ his favourite resort—to which he had been driven to regain strength. Trip after trip was taken, but with no per- manent effect. As soon as he returned he again over- whelmed himself with work, involving too great tension of the brain. The labour especially of taking his class when out of sorts was a “painful” labour to him, To relieve himself from this he resigned his Professorship in 1880, and in 1882, after two years more of work at home, -but still at high pressure, a plunge into the sea was too sudden a chill for his enfeebled frame, and insensibility and death were the sad result, at the prime age of forty- Six. One cannot help sorrowfully noting how his childish bashfulness was the cause of his early death. It led to unsociability and abstinence from recreation. Instead of rejoicing in his strength, he shunned his companions, and persuaded himself, moreover, that it was his duty to do so, though he bitterly regrets it afterwards, one result being an inability to speak in public and communicate his ideas as he would wish. The ardent cultivation of his many talents, again, increased a feeling of superiority, yet often left him low-spirited. In some it might have brought carelessness and improvidence, but in Jevons it was attended by a feeling of responsibility almost religious. At twenty-three he threw up his easy and lucrative post at the Sydney Mint in obedience to this feeling, and, later on, he resigned one laborious duty only to buckle to another, and under such labour his life was quenched. [Mov. 11, 1886 GENERAL PATHOLOGY An Introduction to General Pathology. By J. B. Sutton, F.R.C.S. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1886.) bs recently, pathologists have confined their attention to studying the processes of disease in human beings, and but little effort has been made to take advantage of the vast field of material presented by the animals which die in the Gardens of the Zoological Society. Since 1878 the author has systematically ex- amined the bodies of 12,000 animals and of over 800 still-born and immature foetuses; and from this vast stock of material he has, for the purposes of the present work, selected, from all parts of the animal kingdom, striking examples which illustrate the main pathological and physiological processes of life. The same principles govern both, and processes which in one group of ani- mals are the cause of disease, in another, owing to ana- tomical differences, habits of life, and surroundings, have no such influence. Moreover, pathological defects are frequently inherited, and become looked upon as racial peculiarities. Thus the horns of the Ungulata, the curved canines of the Babiroussa, the atrophied right ovary and right carotid artery in many birds, the large third with the small second and fourth metarcarpals of the horse, are now persistent, but were probably originally accidental and pathological. The degree of development of the muscular tissue of the gizzard of a bird is dependent upon the nature of its food. The herring-gull of the Shetland Islands changes its food twice every year—in the summer living on grain, when its gizzard is of the granivorous type, and in the winter on fish, when the gizzard reverts to the carnivorous condition. The same variations have been artificially produced by varying the food of sea-gulls, pigeons, ravens, and owls. While ex- cessive function is the great cause of hypertrophy of organs, deficient usage is the determining factor in the abnormal overgrowths of hair, nails, beaks, and teeth. Rodents in captivity frequently require their teeth to be artificially shortened in order to avert the fatal effects of excessive overgrowth. Monkeys, when in confinement, frequently die with symptoms of more or less complete paraplegia, which has recently been shown to be due to an overgrowth (frequently rickety) of the vertebrae near the intervertebral lamellae. This gradual compression of the cord also occurs in tigers, lambs, bears, and others. These facts observed in animals throw light upon the agonising pains of mollities ostium, which are doubtless in like manner due to compression of the cord and nerves, which is per- mitted by the softening of the bones which the disease causes. Metschnikoff’s definition that inflammation is a struggle between irritant bodies and white blood-corpuscles is adopted. Illustrations are given showing the white corpuscles surrounding and digesting micro-organisms and other foreign bodies, or dying in the attempt to do so. When the tails and gills of larval batrachians are being absorbed, numerous amceboid cells can be seen containing fragments of nerve-fibres and muscle. Our present knowledge of the nervous system quite fails to offer any explanation of the experiment which the author | performed by transposing the median and ulnar nerves in Nov. 11, 1886} acat. The two nerves were divided about the middle, and the distal end of the median was united to the proximal end of the ulnar, and wce versd. Union occurred : sensation and motion returned in six weeks. The cat regained complete use of the limb, and did not appear to suffer any inconvenience. It would be of great interest to repeat the experiment by attaching the proximal end of the median to the distal end of the ulnar, but to prevent the other ends from uniting. Would the result be an unimpaired function of the median nerve, transmitted from the portions of the brain and cord formerly associated with the function of the ulnar? The classification of the cysts and neoplasms of the animal kingdom are illustrated by many typical ex- amples. The teratomata are fully discussed, and it is shown that they almost invariably occur only in spots where the epi-, meso-, and hypo-blastic layers have been temporarily but directly in continuity with each other. Thus presacral tumours are associated with the obso- lete neurenteric canal ; pituitary tumours with the canalis craniopharyngeus (a canal through the floor of the basi- sphenoid), lingual dermoid cysts with the ductus thyreo- glossus (a canal running from the basihyoid to the foramen cecum of the tongue), and ovarian dermoid cysts with the obsolete Miillerian and Wolffian ducts. The predis- position of obsolete ducts to disease has for some time been recognised, but the close relationships of teratomata to such ducts is a more recent piece of work. The novel illustrations of the leading pathological pro- cesses make the work one of extreme interest, and we heartily congratulate the author on the good use to which he has turned his exceptional opportunities. PLANE GEOMETRY The Elements of Plane Geometry. Part Il. (correspond- ing to Euclid, Books III., IV., V., VI.). (London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1886.) HIS book contains a revised edition of Books III., IV., V., of the “ Syllabus of Plane Geometry” drawn up by the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching, with demonstrations of the propositions, and an excellent, though limited, collection of suitable exer- cises. If nothing else than these two parts had been the outcome of the movement first set on foot in our columns, the Association would have amply justified its formation. Much difference of opinion has prevailed as to the desira- bility or expediency of the Association producing such a work as this. The late Mr. Merrifield for some years strenuously opposed any such proceeding, but at the annual meeting of 1881 he expressed himself as “now satisfied from the experience which he had had in dealing with the examining bodies that they would not get their work really adopted by the public until they had a text- book. Everywhere he was met with the impossibility of wading through a dry Syllabus. Nobody who was not thoroughly versed in mathematics could judge whether there was any real possibility of teaching from the Syllabus at all.” Circumstances appear to-have compelled the Association at last to take the field with demonstrations put forward by a selected committee of its members: a principal reason being that the Association was bound to help teachers. The plan of teaching the Syllabus without NATURE 27 giving written proofs was found to succeed so long as the teaching was confined to the earlier parts of the subject, but when the later books were reached it was found necessary to give formal written proofs for subsequent reference (Report, 1881, p. 30). Some teachers who wish for the more copious intro- duction of modern ideas and methods into the very elements may not consider the work of the Association as satisfactory as could be wished, and may think there is very little of the influence of the aforesaid modern ideas in the Syllabus, yet even such admit, and express satisfaction in making the admission, that “ the use of the Syllabus has spread pretty widely, and it is to be hoped that it will continue to do so” (Prof. Henrici, British Association address, NATURE, vol. xxviii. p. 500). It is to be borne in mind that the Professor hardly gave the Syllabus a fair trial, though he says that when it appeared “T resolved to give it a thorough trial, and took the best means in my power to form an opinion on its merits by introducing it into one of my classes. The fact that it did not quite satisfy me, and that I gave up its use again, does not of course prove that it fails also for use in schools, for which it was originally intended.” These students had, we assume, to take down in writing the Professor’s proofs, and it is not as agreeable work to “srind up” manuscript as it is to read a printed page ; then there would be by-gone remains of the old text-book haunting the students’ brains, want of fami- liarity with the Syllabus possibly on the teacher’s part, and finally shortness of time over which the trial ex- tended. At this point we may cite some remarks by the late Dr. Todhunter, which make as much for Syllabus upholders as for Euclidians. “‘ It will be hard to secure that pupils shall be selected of equal power, and be trained with equal assiduity; and then if our teacher is to try various methods he is liable, since he knows that a con- troversy is now existing as to the result, to deviate from impartiality in his treatment of the rival methods. More- over, there may naturally arise some disagreement as to the means to be used for testing the value of the results, and as to the accurate application of the principle which may be finally adopted for this end” (“Conflict of Studies,” &c., p. 156). A fair trial would be to take two classes of students of as nearly as possible equal mental calibre, and with equal want of acquaintance with geometry, and to take each through the re- spective courses for the same time, and to take care that each teacher should be equally skilled and acquainted with his author and equally enthusiastic, for, as our essayist just cited writes, “if the teacher is only languid without being positively hostile, his real sentiments are soon discovered; hypocrisy has but a slender chance of deceiving school-boys” (p. 164). But such a fancy is Utopian ; the hope of the Association at first lies in such far-away parts as the Cape and India, where its work is being taken up by enthusiastic and able teachers. We have read the proofs, and believe them to be thoroughly accurate; there is also a careful avoidance of all looseness of language. Dr. Todhunter’s “ deliberate judgment” was that “our ordinary students would suffer very considerably if instead of the well-reasoned system of Euclid any of the more popular but less rigid manuals were allowed to be taken as a substitute” (p. 168). So 28 NATURE [Vov. 11, 1886 fearful was he of looseness or slipshoddiness that he more than once returns to this matter, and upon this very point of an Association text-book writes as follows :—“ There are various considerations which seem to me to indicate that ifa change be made it will not be in the direction of greater rigour” (p. 172). He owns himself once to have been in favour of Ayfothetical constructions, but that he had subsequently seen reason to alter his opinions: in many places in his essay he shows that he has not renounced hyfothetical statements. His idea of an Associationist seems to have been that he is a being who tries to evade the difficulty of passing a pupil in geometry by asking for a less stringent text-book than that of Euclid. It is vain to wish for the verdict of such able critics as De Morgan and Todhunter on the work before us, but we feel sure that the former would not have written con- cerning it “ Non est geometria,” nor the latter have found it wanting in Euclidian rigour. As to this matter of a different order from Euclid’s sequence we cite with cordial approval the following remarks of a writer in our columns (vol. xxxiv. p. 50) :— “We believe that those who have most carefully con- sidered the question of a rival order of sequence of geo- metrical propositions would agree that the best order in a logical arrangement does not seriously coz/fizct with Euclid’s order, except by simplifying it. Rather, by bringing the proofs of each proposition nearer to the fundamental axioms and definitions than Euclid does, it renders less assumption of previous propositions neces- sary for the proof of any given proposition. It stretches the chain of argument straight instead of carrying it round one or many unnecessary pegs.” The influence which the Syllabus has had upon modern editions of Euclid is patent to any reader of the works in question. And now, little book, that the Association has at the end of days sent forth on to (it may be) tempestuous seas, we wish thee don voyage / OUR BOOK SHELF American Journal of Mathematics. (Baltimore, August 1886.) THE number opens with a memoir, by M. Poincaré, “ Sur les Fonctions Abéliennes.” The author gives here a résumé, with additional details, of a demonstration and generalisation of two of Weierstrass’s theorems, which he had previously published in the Proceedings of the Mathe- matical Society of France (tome xii. p. 124). He then extends a theorem of Abel’s from plane curves to sur- faces, and refers, for fuller details, to a crowned memoir of M. Halphen’s, “ Sur les Courbes gauches algébriques.” He next discusses some properties of ‘‘ fonctions inter- médiaires,” using the term in the sense given by MM. Briot and Bouquet. This memoir occupies fifty-four pages. The second paper, on “ A Generalised Theory of the Combination of Observations so as to obtain the best Result” (24 pp.), is by the editor, Prof. Newcomb. A very valuable article, with important practical applications. The final article (22 pp.), “‘ On Symbolic Finite Solutions and Solutions of Definite Integrals of the Equation — dry ee ae ” =2X my, ax LSM Yee Vir) eCemtields, | slit Vol. viii. No. 4. discusses finite solu- tions analogous to the symbolic solutions of Riccati’s equation. A Seguel to the First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid ; containing an Easy Introduction to Modern Geometry (with numerous Examples). By John Casey, LL.D., F.R.S. (Dublin: Hodges, 1886.) TuHIs is the fourth edition of a book which has been received with warm approval by English and Continental geometers. The first eight sections present no notable changes from the corresponding sections in the last edi- tion. In our previous notice (NATURE, vol. xxix. p. 571) we remarked that the author was “not so well up in the literature of the modern circles as he might be.” This reproach is quite removed in the present edition. Indeed in this direction the author has himself now done excel- lent yeoman’s service. The “ supplementary chapter” of fifty-eight pages gives an admirable account of this modern branch in six sections. The first section states and illustrates the theory of isogonal and isotomic points, and of anti-parallel and symmedian lines. The second discusses ‘“‘two figures directly similar” in homo- thetic figures. The third section is headed ‘“ Lemoine’s and Tucker’s circles.” The fourth discusses the “ general theory of a system of three similar figures.” The fifth gives “special applications of the theory of figures directly similar,” more particularly with reference to Brocard’s circle and triangles. In the sixth section on the ‘‘ theory of harmonic polygons,” the author, starting from Mr. Tucker’s extension of the Brocard properties to the harmonic quadrilateral, and Prof. Neuberg’s continuation of the same, gives his own beautiful generalisations to the harmonic hexagon and other allied polygons. This latter extension has been made the subject of a com- munication by MM. Tarry and Neuberg to the French Association meeting at Nancy in August of the present year. The paper, which is not expected to be published until April 1887, contains a complete generalisation of points of Lemoine and Brocard, and the modern circles cited above for polygons and polyhedra. The success of the “ Sequel” is due to the fact that the author and the subject are exactly suited to each other : the union is a most harmonious one, and the result is a work indispensable to all lovers of geometry. Geometrical Drawing for Army Candidates. Willey; MSA" Ppyx5 54: 1886.) IN a short introduction to this little work the author gives some useful advice to those beginning practical geometry, and rightly lays stress on the proper method of handling instruments, and on a good style of working. The book contains altogether 300 problems in plane constructive geometry; they are nearly all straight- forward and easy, but 180 of them are specially indicated as forming, according to the author's experience, a suit- able first course for the majority of students. The problems are conveniently grouped together, and hints are given in aid of the solution of typical ones, and of those presenting extra difficulty. Beginning with the construction of scales, we have the usual series on polygons, proportionals, equivalent areas, and, in con- clusion, several cases of circles touching other circles or given lines. As a book of examples this collection seems likely to prove useful in class-teaching. But in order to insure sound instruction, much that is not contained herein will have to be provided for the student. Thus in the notes to the problems before us no reasons are given or indi- cated for the various steps in the constructions, and there is no distinction drawn between those methods of con- struction which are exact, and those which do not admit Byblos (London: Cassell and Co., | of proof. Nov. 11, 1886] EETTERS TO THE EDITOR [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- scripts. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts.) The Enormous Loss from Ox-Warble I HAVE read Mr. John Walker’s remarks on ‘‘ warbles.”’ This is one of the many important subjects to which Miss Eleanor Ormerod has lately drawn attention. I can readily believe that there is a loss of two to three millions to the country through the ravages of this fly, but such statements, it must be remem- bered, should be qualified by the thought that it might cost two or three millions to protect all the cattle of this country against such attacks. The labour would be great, the vigilance would entail higher-classed stock-men, in almost all cases with higher wages, for you cannot get our labourers, dairy-men, and bailiffs even, to attend to such matters without great difficulty. The loss does not, I think, fall upon farmers, unless it is from the irritation to the cattle when they hear the buzz of the fly meditating her attack. As to the damage to the hide, I never, in my experience, heard a butcher or dealer make warbles in the hide a pretext for offering one shilling less for a bullock. They take no notice of them at all; and, if the maggots iniure the hide, this is a matter for fell-mongers and tanners, rather than for farmers. This is one of the cries emanating from the scientific friends of agriculture which it is well to listen to. It will probably gain the ear of only a select circle of agriculturists, because, to use a very homely phrase, ‘‘the game is scarcely worth the candle.” Animals pass through the market too rapidly, and the prices asked and given are so approximate only to the absolute value, that a few warbles in the skin do not in the least influence the selling price. Still, anything which can be shown to influ- ence the comfort of live stock or the value of their products must be considered as worth attention. JoHN WRIGHTSON College of Agriculture, Downton, Salisbury, October 31 “Lung Sick” Mr. H. RipER HAGGARD, in his excellent novel, ‘‘ King Solomon’s Mines,” has the following passage. He is speaking of Zulu oxen, and says :— “As for ‘lung sick,’ which is a dreadful form of pneumonia very prevalent in this country, they had all been inoculated against it. This is done by cutting a slit in the tail of an ox, and binding in a piece of the diseased lung of an animal which has died of the sickness. The result is that the ox sickens, takes the disease in a mild form, which causes its tail to drop off, as a rule about a foot from the root, and becomes proof against future attacks.” Presumably this account is dov@ fide. It will be gratifying to me, then, if any of your correspondents will kindly explain how it is that the virus, which has not been weakened by cultivation, produces the disease in a mild rather than in a virulent form. E. J. DUNGATE 6, Marchmont Road, Edinburgh, November 1 The Beetle in Motion WITH reference to Prof. Lloyd Morgan’s letter in last week’s NATURE (p. 7), the following passage, which occurs in an interesting chapter on ‘‘ Motions of Insects” in Kirby and Spence’s ‘‘ Entomology,” may be quoted :— “* In walking and running, the hexapods, like the larvee that have perfect legs, move the anterior and posterior leg of one side and the intermediate of the other alternately.” This passage is in complete accord with the observations of your correspondent. Cy: November 9 Meteors YESTERDAY (November 2), about 8.8 p.m., I chanced to see here a meteor that, I think, deserves record, especially if my NATURE 29 Teport of its position in the sky can be compared with that_of Some one who observed it at another place. Returning from Oxford, I was about half a mile east of Combe Church, on the lofty plat that is the remnant of Combe Common. ‘‘ Stepping westward,” I was startled by a sudden splendour, flooding with light the moonlit heaven. This splen- dour was above me and before me; it was a little on my left. A large meteor was rapidly descending, at an angle of 60° or 70°. Not much east of it shone the half-orbed moon ; but little west of it stretched the eastern branch of the Milky Way’s western termination. When it had traversed about three-fourths of the distance between its apparent starting-point and the undulating ground beneath, it swelled out for a moment grandly, and, before it burst, displayed a globe at least as big as the sun, and of about the same hue, though not of dazzling lustre. After it had vanished, its track was marked for a second or two by a brilliant trail, which, in the light of the neighbouring moon, sparkled with all the tints of the rainbow, and resembled a gorgeous shower of precious stones. Joun HoskyNns-ABRAHALL Combe Vicarage, near Woodstock, November 3 I HAVE read Mr. Murphy’s letter (NATURE, November 4, p- 8). At the same time as Mr. Murphy saw a large meteor (October 31, 8.25 p.m.) I also saw an imwense one coming from the same portion of the sky, and travelling west. It disappeared behind a cloud. There was a loud rushing noise. E. PARRY Dinorwic Quarries, Llanberis, North Wales INFLUENCE OF WIND ON BAROMETRIC READINGS I AM glad to see (NATURE, vol. xxxiv. p. 461) that the Scottish Meteorological Society recognises the im- portance of the effect of wind upon the barometer. I assume that the gradient, the density, and all other sources of error had been fully corrected for before con- cluding the existence of the large effect attributed to the wind on Ben Nevis. There certainly is a purely local and dynamic effect of the wind on the barometer due to the exposure, and for which there must be found some method of correction or elimination before we can proceed much farther in baro- metry : this effect has been independently reasoned out by G. K. Gilbert (“ A New Method, &c.,” 1883), and has been discussed by Prof. H. A. Hazen (Anua/l Report, C.S.O., 1882, p. 897), and by Mr. Clayton and others in recent numbers of Scéence, but its existence was long since demonstrated by Sir Henry James (7vavsactions Roy. Soc. Edinburgh, vol. xx., 1853), whose memoir seems to have been quite lost sight of by meteorologists. The suction of wind on tubes, cowls, and chimneys was | investigated by Ewbank (_/owrnaZ of the Franklin Insti- tute, 1842), Wyman (Proceedings of the American Aca- demy, Boston, 1848), Fletcher (B.A.S. Reports, 1867 and 1869), Magius (Copenhagen, 1875?), Holten (Copen- hagen, Oversigt Vidensk-Selskabs, 1877), and was used by Hagemann as the basis of his anemometer ; it was Hagemann’s memoir (Copenhagen, 1876, translation will appear in Van Nostrand’s Magazine, Dec. 1886) that sug- gested a method of determining and correcting for the amount of this important effect, whose existence had long been known to me. This method is sketched out in the Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer, U.S.A., 1882, p. 9y, where I state that a close determination simultaneously of both dynamic wind-pressure and static air-pressure is probably attainable by exposing above the roof, side by side, a Pitot tube facing toward the wind and a vertical tube over which the wind blows. Close the lower ends of these tubes and place within each an aneroid barometer, and the latter will record respectively the static pressure plus the effect of the wind-velocity and the static pressure minus the wind’s effect. A stop-cock, cutting off at will communication between the aneroids 30 NATURE [Mov. 11, 1886 and the exposed mouths of the tubes, allows one to catch the influence of any gust and read the pressure at leisure. The theoretical problem of the precise mechanical action of these tubes, especially that which Hagemann calls a Magius tube, ze. one across which the wind blows at right angles, will, I hope, prove attractive to the mathematical physicists of England. Some interesting experimental work by Robinson will be found in Van Nostrand’s Magazine, vol. xviii., 1878, p. 255, and xxxv., 1886, p. 89. A small closed room with only a chimney flue opened, such as usually obtains at the mountain stations of meteorologists, is virtually a Magius tube, and the barometer within must, under favourable conditions, show a depression depending on the so-called suction or draft up chimney. The direction of the wind combines with the structure of the building and the aspect of the various doors and windows to modify the influence of the force of the wind; the sluggishness due to the close cisterns, and the pumping due to the inertia of the liquid of ordinary mercurial barometers, further complicate the phenomena of suction during gusty winds, so that a simple general rule for correcting the observed baro- metric readings becomes impracticable, but the use of aneroids within closed Pitot or other tubes, with air-tight stop-cocks as above, simplifies the wind’s action, and allows of its measurement at definite moments. The distribution of pressure over the face of a large building fronting the wind, and in some part of which is the window of the room containing the barometer, is approximately known from Curtis’s and Burton’s measure- ments for a thin flat plate. The location of each station with respect to mountains or other orographic features has also an influence on the pressure, which will still remain to be investigated ; thus, on the leeward side there is a diminution, and on the windward side an increase of pressure, but this may be generally inappreciable. It may also be mentioned in this connection that in delicate barometric measurements, such as those made by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, it is important to prevent even the slightest currents from blowing across the open end of the siphon tube. The suction effect of wind blowing over chimneys sur- mounted by cowls of different shapes was under investi- gation from 1878 to 1881 by a special committee of the Sanitary Institute, but, so far as I can learn, their experi- ments were never completed. Lord Rayleigh also read a short paper on the same subject at the meeting of the British Association in 1882, but as I do not know of its publication, I take this opportunity to express the hope that he will give meteorologists both a theoretical and experimental exposition of the action of the Pitot, the Magius, and the reversed Pitot tubes, and a suggestion as to the best method of determining, by means of stationary apparatus, the static pressure within a mass of moving air. CLEVELAND ABBE Washington, October 23 M. PASTEUR'S TREATMENT OF RABIES T the meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences on November 2, M. Pasteur submitted a further com- munication on the results hitherto obtained from his method of treating hydrophobia by inoculation, which has now been in operation for a twelvemonth. The paper is divided into three parts, the first giving the statistical details brought down to the present date, the second describing certain modifications in his method as originally applied, the third giving the results of fresh experiments on animals. Up to October 31 as many as 2496 persons were inoculated at his Paris establishment, and at first the treatment was uniform for all alike, what- ever their age, sex, or other varying conditions. Of the total number 1726 were from France and Algeria, 191 from Russia, 165 from Italy, 107 from Spain, 80 from England, 57 from Belgium, 52 from Austria, 22 from Roumania, 18 from the United States, 14 from Holland, the rest from various other parts of Europe, besides 3 from Brazil and 2 from British India. Of 1700 French patients, apart from 2 who arrived too late, 10 only suc- cumbed, whereas of the small minority not treated at the laboratory as many as 17 died in the same period in the rest of France, while for the last five years the average yearly mortality from hydrophobia was 11 in the Paris hospitals alone. Last year it rose to 21, but since November 1885, when the new system was introduced, 2 only died, and these had not been inoculated, besides a third who had been imperfectly treated. Most of those who perished were children bitten in the face and sub- jected to the simple treatment, which experience now shows to be insufficient in such cases. A first lesson on the necessity of stronger doses was taught by the 19 Russians bitten by a mad wolf, one of whom died while under treatment, and two others shortly after. In consequence of these deaths the 16 sur- vivors were subjected to a second and third treatment with the strongest and freshest virus from the spine of the rabbit of 4, 3, and 2 days’ standing, whereas, for the milder treatment, virus from 14 to 5 days’ old had alone been used. To these repeated treatments should most probably be attributed the recovery of these Russians, who are reported to be all still in excellent health. Encouraged by these results and by the fresh experi- ments described further on, M. Pasteur modified his treatment, making it at once more rapid and more active for all cases, and even still more energetic for bites on the face, or for deep and numerous lacerations of exposed parts of the body. In such cases the inoculations are now hastened, in order to arrive more promptly at the freshest virus. Thus, on the first day, virus of 12, 10, and 8 days will be used at 11, 4, andg o’clock; on the second day that of 6, 4, and 2 days, at the same hours; on the third, virus 1 day old. Then the treatment is repeated : the fourth day with virus 8,6, and 4 days old; the fifth with that of 3 and 2 days; the sixth with that of 1 day ; the seventh with virus of 4 days; the eighth with that of 3; the ninth that of 2; the tenth with that of 1 day. If the bites are not healed, or the patients arrive some- what late, the same treatment may be renewed at inter- vals of two or a few days for four or five weeks, which are the critical periods for children bitten in the face. This system of vaccination has been in operation for the last two months, hitherto with excellent results, as shown by comparing the case of the six children who perished under the mild treatment, with that of ten others also seriously bitten last August, and subjected to the more energetic treatment, and all of whom were doing well on the first of this month. This new system requiring an increase of the staff, M. Pasteur and his assistant, Dr. Grancher, have been aided for some time past by Dr. Terrillon, Dr. Roux, Dr. Chantemesse, and Dr. Charrin. With regard to the fresh experiments on dogs, an ob- jection to the inoculation of human beings after being bitten might be raised on the ground that the immunity of animals treated before being bitten had not been sufficiently demonstrated after their undoubted infection by the virus. In reply to this objection M. Pasteur points to the immunity of dogs after trepanning and intra-cranial inoculation with the virus of ordinary street rabies. Trepanning is the surest method of infection, and its effects are constant. The first experiments on this point, dating from August 1885, had but partial suc- cess. They were resumed during the last few months, with certain modifications which produced the best results. The vaccination is begun the day after inocula- tion, and proceeded with rapidly, the series of pro- phylactic virus being all administered within twenty-four hours and even in a shorter period, and then repeated ~oee “&& Nov. 11, 1886] once or twice at intervals of two hours. The failure of Dr. Frisch, of Vienna, in experiments of this kind is due to the slow process of vaccination adopted by him. Suc- cess can be secured only by the rapid method here described. The immunity conferred under such condi- tions is the best proof of the excellence of this method. REPORT ON THE CHARLESTON EARTHQUAKE} apes earthquake of August 31, which, from the locality in which its greatest power was displayed, will generally be known as the “ Charleston Earthquake,” was, perhaps, the most notable disturbance occurring within the limits of the United States of which we have any knowledge. It is entitled to thisrank both on account of the wide area over which it was distinctly felt, and of the magnitude of the disaster which it caused in the immediate vicinity of the point of maximum intensity. The earthquake consisted of a series of seismic dis- turbances which began in slight but distinctly noticeable tremors occurring on August 27 and 28, at the town of Summerville, about twenty-five miles north-west of Charleston, South Carolina. The shock of greatest violence occurred a little before ten o’clock on the night of Tuesday, August 31. It was followed by several of lesser magnitude on that night, and during the succeeding three or four weeks. The great shock began in the city of Charleston within a few seconds of 9.51 p.m., 75th meridian time. The duration of the vibratory motion of the earth at that point was probably about forty seconds; the motion at first being moderate, but increasing with great rapidity during the last ten or fifteen seconds. All of the loss of life and property during the whole series of disturbances is to be attributed to this first shock, Five minutes later another occurred, and ten minutes later still another; the latter being of con- siderable violence, but neither alone would have done any damage. The same may be affirmed of the succeed- ing series of disturbances, which, with greatly diminished intensity and at increasing intervals of time, continued to maintain the conditions of alarm and terror into which the people of the afflicted locality were naturally thrown by the first disturbance. Although some injury to build- ings resulted from these after shocks, it is tolerably cer- tain that in all such cases displacement and fracture had taken place in the great shock; the lesser disturbances simply finishing what had then been nearly completed. The origin of the disturbances, appears to have been somewhere below a point fifteen or twenty miles north- west of Charleston ; that is, in the neighbourhood of the town of Summerville. A chart of provisional co-seismal lines drawn by Mr. Hayden of the Geological Survey, and published in Sezence for September 10, seems to locate this centre somewhat further north than the point indicated above. At the time of its construction, how- ever, information from many points was lacking, and that which was at hand was admittedly doubtful in some degree. Reference is made later to the iso-seismal chart which accompanies this Report, and which indicates that the origin was near the point referred toabove. Strong proof of this is also furnished in the intensity and character of the disturbance as shown by the effects which were still visible when an examination was madea few days after the principal shock. The appearance of the brick piers upon which many houses in Summerville rest was such as to justify the conclusion that the principal component of the motion at that point was vertical, and it was evident that the destruction of buildings was much less than would have resulted from a horizontal movement equal to that t By Prof. T. C. Mendenhall, Assistant. Review, U.S. Signal Sery.ce, August 1886. From the Monthly Weather NATURE 31 oO which had taken place in Charleston and elsewhere in the neighbourhood. Another fact of importance is that in the vicinity of Summerville the disturbances preceding that of August 31 took place, and here they have been most numerous and most persistent. Indeed, at the present writing, nearly a month after the first perceptible shock, they still occur at irregular intervals varying from a few hours to a few days. Only the most violent of these have been felt as far as Charleston. Nearly all the movements in Summerville and vicinity have been accompanied by, and, indeed, generally pre- ceded by, a low rumbling sound, lasting one or two seconds, and not unfrequently this sound, always un- mistakable in its character, was neither accompanied nor followed by a perceptible movement. This was a com- mon occurrence at Summerville and in the immediate vicinity, and it was found that among several observers there would be no agreement upon the direction from which the sound appeared to come. T ae soa = St.Paul Esoduabattackinaaty > o-- JAA AUpena \PSange’ | | on LafCrosse andHtve | -afilwaukge Jubug Des Moites — x . Sandusky han me eoee i Chart of iso-seismal lines. At a distance from ten to fifteen miles from Charleston in the direction of Summerville some of the most curious and interesting effects of the disturbance were to be seen. These were the “‘sand craters” and crevices, out of which extensive eruptions of sand and water had taken place on the night of August 31. The craters thus formed varied in size from an irregular oval, twenty-five feet long by fifteen feet wide, to shallow cones not over an inch in diameter and beautifully symmetrical inform. The area surrounding these openings was generally flooded with sand, often acres in extent, to a depth varying froma fraction of an inch to fifteen and eighteen inches. About the larger cavities the average depth was probably not less than six inches, and the area covered often an acre or more. The flow of sand was unquestionably only an inci- dent to the outflowing of vast quantities of water, the greater part of which disappeared within a few hours after its appearance. The few crevices or “ cracks” in the earth which were found were in character and origin similar to the “craters,” being long and narrow openings, through which water with sand had been ejected. It was difficult, in fact quite impossible, to obtain reli- 32 NATURE [Vov. 11, 1886 able information concerning the nature of this pheno- menon at the moment of its occurrence. The locality in which it was principally exhibited is near a station on the South Carolina Railway, between Charleston and Summer- ville, known as “ Ten-mile Hill.” It is thinly populated, and almost entirely by negroes. Several persons who pre- tended to have been eye-witnesses of the outburst gave widely different testimony as to its character. According to one account, the water and sand from one of the “ geysers” spouted to a height greater than that of a tele- graph pole and continued to flow for four or five hours. Another, and apparently an equally credible witness, de- clared that the stream reached a height of six or eight feet, and that the flow continued four or five minutes. The latter statement is probably nearer the truth than the former. A few instances of sand eruptions were found in the city of Charleston, and a few also at Summerville, and at the latter place water continued to flow from one of the openings for several days after the first shock. It is important to observe that in no case was it found that the water thus issuing from the earth was hot or noticeably above the temperature of water in shallow wells in the neighbourhood. Reports of boiling water having been thrown up were very numerous, but no evidence that the water was really hot appeared. ‘The use of the word “boiling” doubtless grew out of the appearance of the water as it issued from the openings, and was probably used by eye-witnesses to describe this appearance with no reference whatever to temperature. There were also reports of the appearance of blue flames in the neighbourhood of these eruptions, but no reliable testimony to their existence could be obtained. There was also a report that was circulated extensively through the medium of the press of the country that two or three showers of hot stones had fallen upon and near the office of the Charleston News and Courier. An ex- amination of some of these shortly after they had fallen forced the conviction that the public was being made the victim of a practical joke. In the city of Charleston about forty lives were lost. The greater number of casualties resulted from injuries sustained by persons who were either in the street at the time of the shock or who rushed out and were caught by the falling debris. No adequate description of the injury to property can be given in this place, and, indeed, the results of this earthquke have been so thoroughly con- sidered in the public press that note is unnecessary. While there was probably not a single house in the city which was not in some degree affected by the shock of August 31, there was naturally great diversity as to the extent of the damage in different localities. Some parts of the city are built upon what is called ‘made land,” resulting in many cases from the filling up of old creek bottoms and from other extensive levelling and grading. A more careful study of these peculiarities and their distri- bution may lead to the discovery of some relation between local differences in structure and the areas of greatest destruction. Unquestionably much is to be attributed to the differ- ence in the character of the buildings themselves, and to the relation of their lines of greatest or least strength to the direction of the wave front. As was to be expected, buildings constructed of wood suffered much less than those of brick. The interior of wooden buildings, how- ever, would often exhibit a scene of total destruction, furniture, book-cases, &c., having evidently been moved with great violence. A very brief examination of injured buildings sufficed to establish, in a general way, the principal direction of the movement, which was probably in a north-west and south-east line. The probability of the destruction of a building depends so largely on conditions other than the amplitude or direc- tion of the vibration of the earth particle that the study of destroyed or damaged structures can yield little exact information concerning these elements. The displace- ment of bodies of simple form and structure, lying near to or upon the surface of the earth itself, is a vastly more reliable index of the direction and intensity of the dis- turbance. In the churchyards of Charleston many instances of displacement and overturned monuments, columns, urns, &c., were found. These were examined with some care, and a careful study of the results may bring out some information concerning the dynamics of the earthquake. A cemetery containing many pyramidal or cylindrical shafts resting upon flat stone bases is toler- ably certain, when disturbed by an earthquake, to exhibit not only displacement but also instances of twisting about a vertical axis; cases of this kind were numerous at Charleston. Such rotations by no means imply a similar gyratory motion of the earth, as it is well known that they may result, and doubtless.always do, from vibratory motions ina single plane. It was not at all uncommon to find two columns, very near to each other, twisted in opposite directions. A table was given containing a 7éswmé of information received at the office of the Chief Signal Officer from regular observers of the Service and from a number of voluntary observers. The place, time, supposed direction, duration, and estimated intensity were given. Much dis- crepancy is observable in the records of time. Con- fusion is especially great in a few portions of the country in which so-called “local time” is still adhered to. When- ever “standard time” is known to have been used reduc- tion has been made to that of the 75th meridian. In a few cases, however, no reasonable supposition can explain the discrepancies. Such records must be erroneous. A study of this column will show the great importance, in making such observations, of determining the error of the clock or watch at the earliest possible moment by comparison with the time of some known meridian. It must be said, however, that the extended use of standard time has rendered these results vastly more accurate than they otherwise would have been. Telegraphic time- signals are now within the reach of most people, and during the past two or three years a great improvement in the accuracy of time-keeping among the people has taken place. The direction of the movement recorded against each station is that given by the observer. As it is based in many instances on the motions of swinging objects, or easily movable objects, it is of necessity often erroneous. In the absence of correct instrumental records, however, such observations are of value. The numbers expressing the intensity of the disturbance were applied at this office, from descriptions furnished by observers, according tu a scale adopted by the Director of the Geological Survey. This scale is as follows :— No. 1. Very light. Noticed by a few persons; not generally felt. No. 2. Light. Felt by the majority of persons ; rattling windows and crockery. No. 3. Moderate. Sufficient to set suspended objects, chandeliers, &c., swinging, or to overthrow light objects. No. 4. Strong. Sufficient to crack the plaster in houses, or to throw down some bricks from chimneys. No. 5. Severe. Overthrowing chimneys and injuring the walls of houses. With these intensity numbers an attempt has been made to plot a chart of iso-seismal lines, or lines of equal intensity. The result is shown in the chart. Nothing short of the use of well-constructed seismographs can furnish satisfactory measures of the amplitude of vibra- tions of the earth particle or the maximum velocity of the same, but in the absence of records of such instruments, this chart, or a more perfect one constructed upon the same plan, will afford opportunity for study. Nov. 11, 1886] NATORE 33 In conclusion, it ought to be stated that this brief review of the Charleston earthquake must be regarded only as an attempt to place some of the leading facts upon record, for the benefit of the readers of the AWonthly Weather Review. It is in no way intended to anticipate the investigations now in progress by the United States Geological Survey, a full report from which, based upon all attainable information, will be looked for with great interest. LHE SIMILARITIES IN THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE GREAT OCEANS! — T the outset Mr. Buchanan reminded the audience of the similarities observed in the eastern and western continents, especially in their southern extremi- ties. Such similarities in corresponding localities had been called homologous geographical features, in imitation of the homologies of comparative anatomy, and they had received much attention from students of geography. A remarkable group of similarities of this kind is to be found in the arrangement of inclosed seas lying to the northward of the three southern continents. To the northward of South America there are the Gulf of Mexico and the different basins of the Caribbean Sea; to the northward of Africa there are the Mediterranean with its different basins, and on the north-east the Red Sea; and to the northward of Australia there are the well- known seas of the Eastern Archipelago. These seas are bounded on all sides by islands and insular groups, and they are in continuous connection with two oceans, the Pacific and the Indian. The African seas are bounded entirely by continental land and communicate directly with two oceans; but in the limited sense that one sea, the Red Sea, communicates with the Indian Ocean by a single channel, and the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic, likewise by a single channel. Finally, the American seas are all in continuous communication with only one ocean, the Atlantic, the continental barrier towards the Pacific being continuous. It is not unworthy of remark that the great depths (over 4000 fathoms) of the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans occur immediately to the northward of these groups of seas, and in the western sinus of the northern portions of both oceans; while the greatest depression of the con- tinental land, the region of the Dead Sea, is found similarly situated with regard to Africa. The analogy here, how- ever, does not hold good all through, because it is a mere accident of climate that this area does not form a large and not excessively deep fresh-water lake. The seas of the Malay Archipelago and those of the West Indies have important functions in the physical geography of the oceans, as they receive the warm dense water of the westerly-running equatorial currents of the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. The Pacific current finds no obstacle in the chains of islands which bound the Malayan seas, and is able to pass freely through into the Indian Ocean ; while the Atlantic current is stopped by the continuous continental barrier of South America, and the head of water thus produced is relieved by the over- flow of the Gulf Stream all the year round. Although there is no static barrier, in the shape of continuous land, to the westerly Pacific current, there is, during one season of the year, a kinetic one, furnished by the prevalence of the south-west winds during the monsoon season. These furnish the intermittent 470 siwo. The main cause of the westerly equatorial current is the propulsive action of the trade winds. These winds have also great evaporating power ; and, by making the surface water salter, they furnish the mechanical means of propagating the surface heat into the deeper layers of the ocean. Hence the leading cha- * Abstract, by the Author, of a Paper read at the meeting of the Royal | ss Bi x 5 8 *" torial current in the open ocean was well observed by the | Geographical Society on Monday, November 8, by Mr. J. Y. Buchanan. racteristic of the westward or leeward regions of the intertropical oceans is water of considerable density and of high average temperature in the sub-surface layers. This characteristic is seen most clearly in the Atlantic, where there is no communication with another ocean. In the Pacific the non-continuous boundary neutralises to some extent this effect, and gives to the eastern parts of the Indian Ocean a borrowed leeward character, inde- pendent of its own climate. A secondary consequence of a leeward position in the ocean, and due to the above- mentioned characteristics of the temperature and density of such water, is the prevalence of coral formations in the western regions of the Atlantic and Pacific, and, owing to the mixture of conditions, in both eastern and western regions of the Indian Ocean. Continental homologies, or similar features in corre- sponding localities, are found on the western as well as on the eastern sides of the continents. One of the most striking is the resemblance of the Gulf of Guinea on the African coast with the great Central American bight stretching from Cape St. Lucas at the extremity of the Californian Peninsula, by Panama, to the mouth of the Guayaquil River, and with the unnamed bight in the Indian ocean bounded continentally by the north-west coast of Australia and insularly by the chain of islands stretching from the Peninsula of Malacca to Australia. Oceanically these bights are homologous. It is in them that the beginnings of the westerly-running equatorial currents are to be found, and perhaps more important still, it is in them that the easterly-running counter equatorial currents end. They are to be found in each of the three oceans, and generally on the northward side of the axis of the westerly-running current. In the Atlantic it is best known by its eastern portion, the Guinea current. The observations here recorded of the Guinea current, a hitherto unexplored region of the ocean, were made on board the steamship Azccaneer, at the invitation of the owners, the India-rubber, Gutta-percha, and Telegraph Works Company, of Silvertown, and were carried out during a survey for a telegraph cable from Sierra Leone to St. Paul de Loanda. From a diagram showing the variation of salinity of the surface water of the Guinea current, with distance from the coast, it appeared that for a considerable distance along the Guinea coast the salinity of the surface water was an almost accurate test of the proximity of the land. The Guinea current starts in mid- ocean, but it is most constant near the African coast. The density of the water is low, its temperature high, and its velocity, especially in-shore, is sometimes as great as three miles an hour. It varies somewhat with the season. Bottle experiments showed an average rate of fifteen miles per day in the months of January and February, for athousand miles along the coast. In March, the Bzc- caneey experienced no easterly current, and in connection with this absence of easterly currents off the coast may be taken the very remarkable under-current which is found setting in a south-easterly direction with a velocity of over a mile per hour at three stations almost on the equator, and ,to the northward of the Island of Ascension. For the double purpose of examining the currents and of obtaining a large specimen of the bottom, the Buccaneer was anchored in 1800 fathoms of water by means of an ordinary light anchor fitted with a canvas bag to receive the mud which would otherwise fall off the flukes on its being weighed. While the ship was lying thus at anchor, the surface water was found to have a very slight westerly set. At a depth of 15 fathoms there was a difference, and at 30 fathoms the water was running so strongly to the south-east, that it was impossible to make observations of temperature, as the lines, heavily loaded, drifted straight out, and could not be sunk by any weight the strain of which they could bear. In the Pacific the counter equa- 34 es ae \ Challenger on her voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti. Her observations were illustrated by two diagrams, one show- ing the direction of the current, and the other the dis- tribution of temperature and density in the upper layers of the water traversed. The easterly current was found between the parallels of 5° N. and 10’ N., there being two streaks of maximum velocity, one between 7° and 8 N., and the other between 9° and 10°. In the former the mean daily set was 54 miles ; in the latter it was probably quite as high, but it could not be accurately determined, as the ship passed from westerly to easterly current in3the course of the 24 hours, and the observed current of 20 miles represented the difference of the two. The streaks or axes of strong easterly current are sharply defined by areas of abnormally low surface density. The whole of the area of easterly-running water has a comparatively low density, but where there is a sudden acceleration of its velocity, there is a correspondingly sudden drop in its density, so that the existence of a strong easterly cur- rent in equatorial regions may be guessed with great proba- bility by the use of the hydrometer. The diagram showed also in a very marked way the protective action of the fresh surface water in preventing the penetration of heat into the lower layers of the water. A temperature of 60° Fahrenheit is found here at a depth of 50 fathoms from the surface, while in the westerly-running current, a little further south, the same temperature occurs at a depth of over 100 fathoms. In this region there are great inequalities in the density of layers of water at the same depth and within a short distance of each other. Thus, if the column of water between 20 fathoms and 70 fathoms from the surface be considered, its weight at the station where the westerly-running equatorial current prevails is only 88 per cent. of its weight under the counter equatorial current, the distance between them being not more than 200 miles. This disturbance of statical equilibrium must be balanced by circulation of water between the localities, and hence the violent and conflicting currents observed in these regions. The study of the currents of equatorial regions would well repay the trouble of the investigation. The counter equatorial current is particularly interesting, and its dynamics obscure. Its range is very super- ficial, and its physical conditions can be studied without the elaborate and costly equipment required for the research of oceanic depths. To the north and to the south of the equatorial bights of the western shores of Africa and America we have a remarkable similarity in the distribution of temperature in the coast waters. The transition from equatorial heat to extratropical cold is very marked : on the North American shore, at Cape St. Lucas, the southern extremity of the Californian peninsula ; on the North African, at Cape Verd; on the South American shore, at Cape Blanco; and on the South African, at Cape Frio. In rounding Cape St. Lucas the temperature was observed to fall from 75° to 65° F. in less than an hour ; and a similar difference of temperature was found in rounding Cape Blanco between Payta and the Guayaquil river. On the Morocco coast the water is found to have a temperature quite 10° lower than is found twenty miles to sea. These sharp transitions are found only close in- shore, and they have usually been attributed to surface currents from higher latitudes. This explanation is at variance with the observations of navigators on the coasts, who do not notice any currents which would be strong enough to bring water many hundreds of miles under a burning sun without sensible rise in temperature. The occurrence of these coast areas of abnormally cold water is explained when we recognise that they are the wind- ward shores of the oceans. The trade winds blow from them towards the equator, and in doing so mechanically remove water, which has to be supplied from the readiest source. This source is the deep water lying off the conti- nental coasts, which is supplied by a gradual drift of cold NATURE [Wov. 1 1, 1886 water from high latitudes. Hence, though the low tem- perature of the coast waters referred to is due to the cold of high latitudes, it is not supplied by a long coast Polar current, but by a short vertical one. This view was very strongly supported not only by the temperature of the water, but by its other characteristics, especially colour. The outside ocean water is of an intense ultramarine blue ; the coast water off Mogador had the clear olive-green colour met with constantly in Antarctic seas. The same is observed on the west coast of North and South America, and it would be of the highest interest to have these waters. investigated from a biological point of view. No waters. in the ocean so teem with life as those on the west coast of South America. A bucket of water collected over the side is turbid with living organisms, the food of countless. shoals of fish, who, in their turn, afford prey for innumer- able schools of porpoises. One remarkable school which accompanied the ship for some time consisted entirely of females, each accompanied by a calf following in her wake and mimicking her every movement. Along with abund- ance of life this coast unites facilities for investigating it. At every port there are plenty of shore boats anxious for a fare, and with a tow-net and a few bottles a naturalist might make a rich collection of the shore-water fauna of the coast in one trip from Valparaiso to Panama. The most remarkable confirmation of the view that the cold water on the windward shores is due to a submarine source has been quite recently supplied by the observations of Capt. Hoffmann, of the German man-of-war J/éwe, on a voyage from Zanzibar to Aden. He kept close to the coast as far as possible, and observed a very uniform surface temperature of 78° to 80° F. from Zanzibar to Cape Warschek, when it began to fall, and remained at a temperature of from 60° to 65° F., until Cape Guardafui was reached, when the temperature went up rapidly to 86°. The minimum tem- perature observed was 59° F., and Capt. Hoffmann calls. particular attention to the dark-green colour of the water, and in speaking of its low temperature he recognises that its source can only be the deep water in the neighbour- hood, as the surface water on both sides has a temperature bordering on 80°F. The A/éwe passed through these seas in the month of July, when the south-west monsoom is blowing most strongly, and at this season the Somali coast is a pronounced windward shore, and exhibits the same characteristics as the windward shores of Morocco or South America. The coral growths, too, which are so abundant north and south of it are here quite absent, thus accentuating the eastern or windward character of the shore. NOTES THE following is the list of selected names to be submitted to the Fellows of the Royal Society at the forthcoming anni- versary meeting (November 30) for election into the Council for the ensuing session :—President: Prof. George Gabriel Stokes, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D.; Treasurer: John Evans; D.C.L., LL.D.; Secretaries: Prof. Michael Foster, M.A.,. M.D., Lord Rayleigh, M.A., D.C.L.; Foreign Secretary = Prof. Alexander William Williamson, LL.D. ; other Members of the Council: Prof. Robert B. Clifton, M.A., Prof. George Howard Darwin, M.A., LL.D., W. T. Thiselton Dyer, M.A., Prof. David Ferrier, M.A., Edward Frankland, D.C.L., Arthur Gamgee, M.D., Archibald Geikie, LL.D., Prof. Joseph Henry Gilbert, M.A., John Hopkinson, M.A., Discs Norman Lockyer, F.R.A.S., Sir Lyon Playfair, K.C.B., LL.D., Prof. Bartholomew Price, M.A., Prof. Pritchard, M.A., Admiral Sir George Henry Richards, K.GsB:, Brot Arthur Schuster, Ph.D., Philip Lutley Sclater, M.A., Ph.D. IN the third volume of Ray’s ‘‘ Historia Plantarum” there is a list of plants collected in the Island of Luzon by George Joseph . Nov. 11, 1886] Camelli. This botanist was a member of the Society of Jesus, and was born at Brunn, in Moravia, April 21, 1651; after a life spent for the most part in the Philippines, he died at Manila, May 2, 1706. Linnzus commemorated him in the genus Camellia, and the introduction of this well-known plant into Europe is generally attributed to him. The manuscript transmitted by Camelli to Ray was accompanied by a large number of drawings, part only of which Ray seems to have been able to afford the expense of publishing. We learn from the Comptes rendus of the Société Royale de Botanique de Belgique for October 9, 1886, that the whole of the drawings still exist in a folio volume in good preservation in the library of the Jesuits’ College at Louvain. It contains 257 autograph plates, with 556 figures of plants, and three plates, with nine figures relating to zoology. It was purchased at the sale of the library of Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (February 6, 1858), in whose handwriting it is carefully annotated, and was presented to the Jesuit College by Count Alfred de Limminghe. Dr. Watter L. Butter, C.M.G., F.R.S., the well-known New Zealand ornithologist, has been promoted to the Knight- hood of the Order of St. Michaei and St. George. THE honorary degree of D.Sc. has been conferred by the Senate of the Royal University of Ireland upon the Rey. S. J. Perry, F.R.S., and Prof. John Perry, F.R.S. THE Committee appointed by the Prince of Wales to assist in framing a scheme for the proposed Imperial Institute is ludicrously inadequate and unrepresentative. The President of - the Royal Academy appears, but why is the President of the Royal Society omitted? Surely science will have far more to do with such an institute than art. The only representative of science is Sir Lyon Playfair, and he has been appointed probably more on account of his connection with the 1851 Exhibition than with science. If the Committee is to gain the confidence of the public it must be of a very different character. In view of the progress achieved of late in the domain of celestial photography, the French Academy of Sciences has decided to propose that an International Conference be held in Paris next spring to make arrangements for the elaboration of a photographic map of the heavens to be simultaneously executed by ten or twelve observatories scattered over the whole surface of the globe. ACCORDING to the Report of the Director of the Leander McCormick Observatory of the University of Virginia for the year ending June 1, 1886, the buildings and instruments are in excellent repair ; the great 45-feet dome revolving fully as easily as when first erected. The Parkinson and Frodsham clock, formerly belonging to the Physical Laboratory, has become the property of the Observatory. It is now in Washington, in the hands of a jeweller, to be cleaned and recased. The great equatorial has been chiefly employed in the examina- tion and sketching of southern nebula. The nebula in Orion and the Trifid and Omega nebule have received special attention. 351 observations of miscellaneous nebulze have been made, resulting in 226 drawings, and the dis- covery of 233 nebule which are supposed not to have been hitherto detected. The features seen indicate that the perform- ance of the instrument employed surpasses that of any of the great reflectors which have been used in the examination of nebulz, the examination of complicated structures seldom fail- ing to show features not noticed elsewhere. Only a few nights have been suited to the micrometrical measurement of double stars. Seventy-six observations have, however, been made of stellar pairs, nearly all of which are close and difficult. Ac- cording to the Director, Mr. Ormond Stone, the past year has been, without exception, the poorest for astronomical observa NATURE 35 tions which he has ever known. Not only have there been an unusual number of cloudy nights, but even on clear nights the definition has been almost always extremely poor. The Obser- vatory is open to the general public every day, except holidays and Sundays, between 2 and 5 p.m. It is also open toa limited number of visitors once each month at 8 p.m. By the kindness of the under-mentioned gentlemen, lectures will be delivered as follows before Christmas at the Royal Vic- toria Hall and Coffee Tavern :—November 16, Mr. A. T. Arundel (Madras Civil Service), ‘‘ Glimpses of India and its People”; November 23, Mr. Arthur Brown, ‘‘ The Yellow- stone Region” ; November 30, Prof. A. W. Riicker, ‘‘ Early History of the Earth and Moon”; December 7, Rev. W. H. Dallinger, -‘‘ Plants that Prey on Animals and Animals that Fertilise Plants” ; December 14, Prof. Boyd Dawkins, ‘‘ In- troduction of the Arts into Britain.” With regard to the classes now held in the building, about eighty students have joined, many of whom are attending more than one class, and it is expected that fresh classes will shortly be started. A very satisfactory feature of the matter is that the students are genuine artisans, who would not otherwise have good teaching within their reach. IN the form of a leaflet reprinted from «emdboldt (Band v. Heft 10), M. Habenicht, of Gotha, sends us a “ Contribution to the Morphology of the Kosmos,” Although his emendation of the nebular hypothesis can scarcely be called an improvement upon it, it is one among many symptoms of the breaking up of ideas on the subject, and their tendency to flow into new channels. M. Habenicht remarks that, in the primitive nebula, “the laws of Nature slumber.” For the convenience of the majority of speculators on origins, their awakening should be indefinitely postponed. His theory of planetary formation depends upon disparity of temperature, the inner side of the originating ring being warmed by the central body, while the outer side radiates freely into space. The result is unequal contraction occasioning rupture at the weakest place, whereupon a remarkable process ensues. Through the ¢ightening of its outer surface, the ring coils up from the outside into two spirals containing very different quantities of matter, which eventually rush together from opposite directions, and coalesce into a planet. This dual origin is visible in the dissimilarity of the terrestrial hemispheres, as well as in certain aspects of Mars, and in sume rare glimpses by Dawes of the disposition of light and shade on Jupiter’s third satellite. The analogy is even carried out, we are told, in the organic world, from the tiny seed-leaves of the embryo-plant to the symmetrical yet not strictly balanced arrangement of limbs in the highest order of beings. But the planet-producing rings, to behave as M. Habe- nicht suppo-es them to have behaved, should have possessed rather the qualities of caoutchouc than those of any known or imaginable ‘‘ nebulous” stuff. UNDER the title of ‘‘Sea-Level and Ocean-Currents,” Prof. J. S. Newberry sends the following letter to Science :—‘‘ Put-in Bay Island, October 16, 1886.—At 11 o’clock Thursday evening, the r4th inst., I witnessed here a remarkable fact, the effect of the late tremendous wind-storm. This commenced about 7 a.m., and began to let up at 11 o'clock in the evening, or a little later. I then went down to the shore in front of my house, and found the lake lower than the average by fully 6 feet! This is the greatest depression from such cause I have noticed during a residence here of nearly twenty-four years. We have not, within this period, had such a high wind stealily continued for so long atime. The captain of the steamer Chief Fustice Waite, running between Toledo and the islands, reports the fall of water-level at Toledo as about 8 feet.” In discussing the general question with reference to previous correspondence, Prof. Newberry says:—‘‘The question is, not whether the 36 NATURE [Vov. 11, 1886 wind has the power of raising the water-level on a coast, but whether wind-friction can, in the great equatorial belt and in the track of the Gulf Stream, produce the flow of water which is there observed. The striking cases of the power of wind to heap water on coasts, and to move bodily great masses of it in lakes, are only interesting and relevant as demonstrating the sufficiency of wind-friction to produce broad and rapid surface- currents. This conceded, and the case is won, because, in the lakes and open ocean, like causes produce like effects. Wind of given velocity raises in both places waves of equal height in equal times: against these waves the wind presses in the direc- tion of its flow, with no opposing force. As a consequence, the roughened water-surface, from greatly increased friction, is moved bodily forward just as though impelled by the paddles of a revolving-wheel. This surface-flow is in time communicated to underlying strata, and, if the wind continue to blow in the same direction, ultimately a large body of water will be set in motion; in other words, an ocean-current will be produced. There is no escape from this conclusion. The great truth remains that wind-friction can produce ocean-currents.” A sHockK of earthquake of a more or less severe nature was felt at noon on November 5 at Washington, Richmond, Wil- mington, Raleigh, Augusta, Charleston, Savannah, Macon, and other places in North and South Carolina. At some points the seismic disturbance was the severest since August 31. A shock of earthquake was also felt at Greenville, Alabama, on Friday last. The captain of a vessel which has since arrived at Charleston reports having experienced a seismic disturbance on that day while at sea. ProF. JOHN MILNE, of Tokio, Japan, writes with reference to Prof. Ewing's article on seismographs in NATURE, vol. xxxiv. p- 343, that the instruments therein described represent the state of general knowledge of the Seisnological Society of Japan with regard to seismometry at the time of Prof. Ewing’s departure from that country. With the exception of one or two which have been modified, a set of instruments like those recommended by Prof. Ewing are, so far as Japan is concerned, quite obsolete. A very much better form of instrument is Prof. Milne states, now in use in the Government observatories and throughout the country. In a paper by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, reprinted from the Quarterly Fournal of the Meteorological Society, on the origin and course of the squall which capsized H.M.S. Zurydice on March 24, 1878, the author concludes as follows :—‘‘ The squall which capsized H.M.S. Zurydice was one belonging to the class which is associated with the trough of V-shaped depres- sions. The line of this trough was curved like a scimitar, the convexity facing the front. The whole revolved round a point near the Scaw, in Denmark, like the spoke of a wheel. For this reason the portion of the squall over the east of England moved only at the rate of 13 miles an hour, while the western portion travelled nearly 50 miles in an hour. The portion which struck the Zuvydice was advancing at the rate of 38 miles an hour. The length of the squall over England was more than 400 miles, but only 1 to 3 miles in breadth. Hence we have the picture of a scimitar-shaped line of squalls, 4oo miles long and about 2 miles broad, sweeping across Great Britain at a rate varying from 13 to 50 miles an hour. The V-depression was one of an uncommon class, in which the rain occurs after the passage of the trough, and not in front of it, as is usually the case. The weather generally for the day in question was un- usually complex, and of exceptional intensity, and for this reason some of the details of the changes cannot be explained.” At a recent meeting of the Niederrheinische Gesellschaft fiir Natur- und Heilkunde at Bonn, Dr. Gurlt described a fossil meteorite found in a block of Tertiary coal, and now in the Salzburg Museum. He said it belonged to the group of meteoric irons, and was taken from a block of coal about to be used in a manufactory in Lower Austria. It was examined by various specialists, who assigned different origins to it. Some believed it to be a meteorite ; others, an artificial production ; others, again, thought it was a meteorite modified by the hand of man. Dr. Gurlt, however, came to the conclusion, after a careful ex- amination, that there is no ground for believing in the intervention of any human agency. In form, the mass is almost a cube, two opposite faces being rounded, and the four others being made smaller by these roundings. A deep incision runs all round the cube. The faces and the incision bear such cha- racteristic traces of meteoric iron as to exclude the notion of the mass being the work of man. The iron is covered with a thin layer of oxide; it is 67 mm. high, 67 mm. broad, and 47 mm. at the thickest part. It weighs 785 grammes, and its specific gravity is 7°75 ; it is as hard as steel, and it contains, as is generally the case, besides carbon, a small quantity of nickel. A quantitative analysis has not yet been made. This meteorite resembles the celebrated meteoric masses of Saint Catherine in Brazil and Braunau in Bohemia, discovered in 1847, but it is much older, and belongs to the Tertiary epoch, Dr. DoBeERCK, the Government Astronomer in Hong Kong, has published a pamphlet entitled ‘‘ The Law of Storms in the Eastern Seas,” containing the practical results of investigations of about forty typhoons, continued during three years. He divides typhoons into four classes, according to the paths which they usually follow :—(1) Those which cross the China Sea and travel either in a west-north-westerly direction from the neigh- bourhood of Luzon towards Tonquin, passing south of, or cross- ing the Island of Hainan ; or, if pressure is high over Annam, they travel first westward and then south-westward. These, which occur at the beginning and end of the typhoon season, can generally be followed for five or six days. (2) The second class are most frequently encountered, and their paths can be traced farthest. They generally travel north-westward while in- the neighbourhood of Luzon, and either strike the coast of China south of the Formosa Channel, in which case they abruptly lose the character of a tropical hurricane, re-curve in the interior of China, and re-enter the sea to the north of Shang- hai, pass across or near Corea, and are finally lost to the east- north-east. Typhoons of this class may pass up the Formosan channel, and re-curve towards the coasts of Japan, or they may strike the coast of China north of Formosa. A third of the typhoons belong to this class; they can be followed between five and twelve days, and are most common in August and September. (3) This class is probably the most numerous of all, although not so frequently encountered. Their path is along the east of Formosa, travelling northwards and passing near Japan. (4) Typhoons of this class pass south of Luzon, travelling westward. Their dimensions are very limited, and hitherto they have not been followed for more than a day or two. When a few hundred typhoons have been investigated, no doubt complete lists of the sub-classes of these four main classes will be obtained, and exceptional cases will be better understood. The pamphlet, which is largely written for the guidance of ship-masters and others, concludes with the remark that typhoons are of simpler construction, and their paths are more regular, than the storms of Europe. Typhoons are so violent near their centre that the whole dis- turbance is evidently ruled thereby ; whereas storms in the North Atlantic and in Europe appear to be made up of a num- ber of local eddies, some of which are by degrees detached from the chief disturbance and form subsidiary depressions. Dr. Doberck has not been able to ascertain the existence of a subsidiary depression in the China Seas during the last three years, and it is, therefore, doubtful whether they ever occur. c q Nov. 11, 1886] NATURE a THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Rhesus Monkeys (J/acacus rhesus 9 9) from India, presented respectively by Col. J. M. McNeile and Mrs. E. White ; a Rose-crested Cockatoo (Caca/ua moluccensis) from Moluccas, presented by Miss Townshend Wilson ; twelve Barbary Turtle Doves (Zurtur risorius) from Africa, presented by Mr. E. L. Armbrecht, F.Z.S. ; four Copper-head Snakes (Cenchris contortrix), two Rattlesnakes (Crotalus durissus), a Hog-nosed Snake (Heterodon platyrhinos) from North America, presented by Mr. W. A. Conklin, C.M.Z.S. ;a Long-nosed Snake (Heterodon nasicus) from Indiana, U.S.A., presented by Miss Catherine Hopley; a Fire-bellied Toad (Bombinator igneus) from Germany, presented by Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.Z.S. ; a Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrinus 6), bred in England, two Eleonora Falcons (falco elevnore) from North Africa, a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cynomolgus 8) from India, deposited ; two Mantchurian Crossoptilons (Crossoptilon mantchuricum & 9), two Bar-tailed Pheasants Prastanus reevest & 2) from Northern China, purchased ; ten Barbary Turtle Doves ( Zurtur risorius), four Ring Doves ( Zurtus communis), bred in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN STELLAR PHOTOGRAPHY AT HARVARD COLLEGE.—Prof- Pickering has recently presented to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences an important memoir on the work in stellar photography which has been carried on at Harvard College, mainly by aid of an appropriation from the Bache Fund. The memoir commences with a brief sketch of the history of stellar photography, from its origination in 1850, when Mr. J. A. Whipple succeeded in obtaining a satisfactory daguerreotype of Vega with the Harvard 15-inch equatorial, the first stellar photograph ever secured. In 1857, the collodion process having then been introduced, Prof. G. P. Bond resumed the investiga- tion, and showed that photography was capable of doing real work in the observation of double stars. In 1882 some preli- minary experiments with a lens of 24 inches aperture were made, and with such satisfactory results that in 1885 the work was resumed with a Voigtlander lens of 8 inches aperture, and about 45 inches focal length, that focal length having been selected that the photographs might correspond in scale to the maps of the ‘* Durchmusterung.” Of the three departments into which stellar photography may be divided, viz. star-charting, photo- graphing star-trails, and spectrum photography, Prof. Pickering has chiefly interested himself in the two latter. Star-trails—the images, that is, produced on a plate when the telescope is stationary, or is not following the star with precision—are made exceedingly useful. It furnishes the best method of determining the magnitudes of stars photographically, and the average devia- tion of the measures of the brightness of circumpolar stars on different plates proved to be less than a tenth of a magnitude, a greater accordance than is given by any photometric method. It is Prof. Pickering’s intention to obtain determinations of the brightness of all stars north of 30° S. decl. by this method, and the work is now nearly completed. One of the plates taken on No- vember 9, 1885, incidentally affords conclusive evidence that Mr. Gore’s Nova Orionis was then much less bright than it was on the night of its discovery, some five weeks later. By photographing on the same plate circumpolar stars near their upper and lower culminations, the means for determining the atmospheric ab- sorption on the nights of observation have been secured. Prof. Pickering has also made some experiments on the applicability of photography to the transit instrument, and concludes that the position of a star may be determined from its trail with an average deviation of only 0°03s. Prof. Pickering also shows how star-trails may be made useful in determining the errors of mounting of the photographic instrument. Photographs of stellar spectra have been obtained by simply placing a large prism in front of the object-glass. The spectra of all the stars over an extended area are thus obtained at a single exposure ; an exposure of five minutes giving the spectra of all stars down to the sixth magnitude in a region 10° square. The entire sky north of 23° S. decl. is to be examined in this way, and the work is now far on the way to completion. An exposure of an hour shows the spectra of stars down to the ninth magnitude. A photograph of the Pleiades in this manner brings out the in- ' teresting fact that, with very few exceptions, all have spectra of the same class—a circumstance which seems strongly to confirm the idea of a community of origin. The exceptions may not improbably lie at a considerable distance on this side or the other of the group, and should, as Prof. Pickering suggests, receive attention in any study of the parallax of the Pleiades. Prof. Pickering also here discusses several theoretical points of interest, one being the relation between the dimensions of the lens employed and the light of the faintest star that can be photographed with it. He concludes, on the whole, that, where the telescope follows the star with exactness, the limiting amount of light may be assumed as proportional to the aperture divided by the square root of the focal length. Three photographic plates accompany the memoir: the first showing the photo- graphic instrument, the second the trails of a number of close circumpolar stars, and the third several specimens of photo- graphs of stellar spectra, those of Vega, Altair, and of the Pleiades being amongst the number. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1886 NOVEMBER 14-20 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.) At Greenwich on November 14 Sun rises, 7h. 18m. ; souths, rth. 44m. 35'5s. ; sets, 16h. 11m. ; decl. on meridian, 18° 18’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 1gh. 46m. Moon (at Last Quarter November 18) rises, 17h. 34m.* ; souths, th. 43m. ; sets, 9h. 37m. ; decl. on meridian, 18° 13/ N. Planet Rises Souths Decl. on meridian » m b aire, h h. m. ‘Seay Mercury 9 37 13.17. 16 57 25. Tas. Venus ... 6 49 1D 27 16 5 16 16S. Mars - 101/99 W423 18 7 24 36S Jupiter... 4 35 9 57 15 19 8 15S Saturmi.., .::/20) j2*) ; 4 4 I2 6 21 19 N. * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening. Occultation of Star by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding Noy Star Mag. Disap. Reap. “nelesfromver: inverted image h. m. h, m. © a Amsco DTG AUS 8 acess OlNm =< mr ANT ng - 139 295 Nov. h. 16° v.13 Saturn in conjunction with and 3° 3’ north of the Moon. Variable Stars Star R.A. Decl. Ie frets On h. m. U Cephei Os5 262) eT LOMN a NOVA0L Oso ON772 RvArietis) 5. <2 2930... 240 3r No. saan Ss me Algol 3) 1078) =s21 40) 30 Nic. 55) 14 ON 45a 7e A LON 2) 347 ¢ Geminorum GBR ceo OMENS ong pn en eat She) 27: U Canis Minoris... 7 35°2 BINA oro A5 Me ME RUM AIyAS 65, cys WOE on 9/ BHPIN xo ay HES me S Urse Majoris ... 12 39'0...61 43 N.... ,, 14, m WiWarginiswe- 24 T2045-3. GO TON. nO; AM R Scuti HET SG? 4ICAW 5) 5OUN Aes. 55) BZs mm Buloyrce sateen TS) 45 Olea SQuI4uNe ees | 55216; (Oy OF1% pA quilces wesc) LON4O7ee Orgs Nin.-1 5, 10) TORO SiC epheteyers =-4) (22) 240-2057) SOLN. 33) 145 cOn Olu M signifies maximum ; 7 minimum. Meteor Showers November 14 is the date of the Zeonid shower, R.A. 149°, Decl. 22° N. THE EROSION OF THE ENGLISH COASTS p= opening meeting of the present session of the Geologists’ Association took place last Friday evening at University College, when an address was delivered by Mr. W. Topley, President of the Association and Secretary of the British Asso- ciation Committee on Coast Erosion. The subject of the address was ‘‘The Erosion of the Coasts of England and Wales.” : Mr. Topley, in his address, referred to the great service 38 rendered to the country by Mr. J. B. Redman, who had given much attention to the question of coast erosion, and to whom the British Association Committee was greatly indebted. The speaker then proceeded, by the aid of diagrams and drawings on the blackboard, to describe the mode in which the sea acts on coasts of various kinds, and stated the rate at which erosion is taking place in different parts of the country. It was greatest along the coast of Holderness and Norfolk, where the sea gained on the Jand at the average rate of from 2 to 3 yards per year. But locally and during exceptional gales the rate was much higher. On January 30, 1877, parts of Norfolk lost an average of 3 yards for several miles, and near Bacton the loss was 15 yards. Typical instances of erosion were cited, among the places mentioned being Folkestone, Brighton, Worthing, Bourne- mouth, Westward Ho! and Pembrokeshire. The speaker then went on to describe the shingle beaches and their changes, and to discuss the effects of natural and artificial groynes. On the south coast of England the shingle travelled from west to east, and if left to itself it would form a natural protection along the greater part of the coast, and the average amount of erosion would be small. But in certain places land-owners, town- councils, and other corporations desired that there should be no Joss of land, and they erected groynes to collect the shingle, and so robbed the coast to the east ofits natural protection. Worthing was heavily groyned and the shingle largely collected, but just east of the town the coast was rapidly receding. Folkestone pier was a large groyne which had collected an extensive area of shingle on its west side; Copt Point and Eastwear Bay, once protected by a continuous band of shingle, were now nearly bare, and the coast was rapidly going. At Copt Point land was laid out for building, and roads were made; but the notice-board advertising ‘‘this desirable freehold building land,” was seen half-way clown the cliff. Natural groynes were sometimes recklessly destroyed, and this was the case at Hengistbury Head, where ironstone was quarried from the cliff and foreshore; the reef had held back sufficient shingle to protect the land to the west, but when the reef was re- moved, the shingle travelled on, and the land rapidly receded. Great damage was done by taking shingle for road metal, bal- last, or other purposes. The amount so taken appeared small and unimportant because a single storm might throw up as much as might be taken in many months, but the aggregate amount so removed was enormous, and must tell in time. It had been estimated that the shingle removed near Kilnsea in twenty years represented a bank 3 miles long, 31 yards wide, and 6 feet deep. 1t was interesting to note that the erosion of that part of the coast averaged only from three-quarters of a yard to a yard and a half per year for some time before the shingle trade was so largely developed ; but later on, owing to the loss of the shingle, the rate of erosion rose from 3 to 6 yards per year. The change might not be entirely due to the cause mentioned, but it clearly was so to a large extent. Although the Board of Trade had now stopped the practice at that part of the coast, it was still in full action in a large number of places. The speaker then passed to the consideration of the land gained from the sea. A great part of the material worn from the coasts of Holderness and Norfolk was carried into the estuaries of the Humber and the Wash, and there formed banks of sand and silt of great hindrance to navigation, but when reclaimed of great agricultural value. Recent estimates showed that the area of land thus made in the Humber and Wash was far in exce-s of that lost. Taking the whole coast-line of England, it was probable that the total area of land was as great now as it was 500 years ago. Although the general result of a survey of this question was less serious than was generally supposed, it was evident that greater control was requisite over the action of land-owners and public bodies along the coast. The powers now vested in the Board of Trade might be more rigorously and systematically applied, or fresh powers obtained. This was especially desirable along the south coasts, as there the damage done by reckless groyning was enormous, but the area of land now gained was small, OBSERVATIONS ON HEREDITY IN CATS WITH AN ABNORMAL NUMBER OF TOES N 1883 I contributed an article to NATURE (vol. xxix. p. 20) upon this subject, giving an account of my observations from 1879 up to the date at which the paper was written. The last observation was concerned with a family of four male tabby | NATURE [A’ou. 11, 1886 kittens, all of which possessed the abnormality to a very marked extent. This was the first family produced by a female tabby (and slight tortoiseshell) cat which, when born, was the most abnormal form which had come under my notice, possessing two extra toes on all the paws, 7.e. seven on each fore-paw and six on each hind-paw. The right paws of this cat were figured in or P Ov AK? |; a Fic. 1.—Right fore-paw from Fic. 2 —Right fore-paw from above, with extra toes. b-low, w.th extra toes. Fic. 4.—Right fore-paw from Fic. 3.—Right fore-paw from below, nor.nal. above, normal. Fic. 5.—Right hind-paw from Fic. 6.—Right hind-paw from above, with extra toes. below, with extra toes. Fic. 8.—Right hind-paw from I'ic. 7.-—Right hind-paw from below, nornal. above, normal. the paper referred to, together with the corresponding paws of a normal cat, for comparison. These figures are now repro- duced in order to illustrate the present paper. I quote the description of the figures from the previous paper. ‘“‘ It is seen that the extra toes (in the fore-feet) are those labelled A and B (in Figs. 1 and 2), and they confer the extraordinary breadth upon the foot. The most recently added is B, which is still : Nov. 11, 1886] NATURE 39 partially coalesced with a, and has but one pad in common with it (Fig. 2)... . There is seen to be an extra pad behind the additional toes, of which there is no trace in the normal foot.” In some families to be described, and also in two previously noted, the large extra toe, A, is present, while the insignificant pollex (Fig. 1, 1) is absent, and thus the paw appears extremely broad, although with only the normal number of toes. In the hind-paws (Figs. 5 and 6) ‘‘there is little doubt that the innermost toe I is the hallux lost in the normal foot... . The second extra toe is that labelled A. . . . On the under side (Fig. 6) all the toes have separate pads, and there is an addi- tional pad behind the extra toes,” which is sometimes fused with that behind the normal toes. This cat produced her first family, described in the previous paper, on July ro, 1883. Continuing the observations from that date, the next family (of four tabby kittens) was born in June 1884. (1) and (2) were normal—a male and a female. (3)—a female—possessed six toes on the fore-paws, each toe with a sepa- rate front pad, and a bifid hind pad (distinct from that for the other toes) to the two inner toes (I and A in Figs. 1 and 2); the toe shown in the figure and absent in this kitten is of course that marked B—thie last to be added inall cases. The hind-paws possessed six toes each, as in the mother, and with the same arrangement of pads as in her left hind-paw, z.e. with separate front pads to each toe (as in Fig. 6), but with the hind pads for the extra toes I and A continuous with those for the four normal toes (unlike Fig. 6 in this respect). (4), a female, possessed seven toes on the right fore-paw; the front pads separate except in the case of those for the toes A and B, Fig. 2, which were slightly fused. The hind pad for the three innermost toes was quite separate from that for the others. This paw, in fact, almost exactly resembled that of the mother- cat on the same side, shown in Figs. r and 2. The left fore- paw possessed six toes, the small one marked B in Figs. 1 and 2 being absent. The pads were in other respects similar to those of the right paw. Thus the relative amounts of abnor- mality on the two sides are as with the mother, the preponder- ance being on the right side in both cases. But the difference is here greater in both directions, the right paw having rather more abnormality than in the mother, because of the less com- plete fusion between the front pads of the toes A and B, while on the left side the abnormality is much less than in the mother, in the complete suppression of the toe B. The hind- paws were as in the last kitten, and similar to the left hind-paw of the mother. The next family (of three) was born September 22, 1884. (1), a female tabby kitten, was normal. (2), a female tabby kitten, possessed seven {oes on the right fore-paw, with separate front pads to each toe and the hind pad as in Fig. 2. The inner- most claw was double, the two divisions being arranged vertic- ally one above the other, the lower being small and incomplete. Jn this respect, and in the separate front pad to the toe B, this paw is far beyond the mother’s paw of the same side in abnor- mality. The left fore-paw possessed six toes, that marked B being absent. Otherwise the arrangement of pads was similar to that shown in Fig. 2. Hence this paw is more normal than that of the mother on the same side, and bath fore-paws compare with those of the mother in the same manner as those of No. 4 of the last family, the only difference being the even greater abnor- mality of the right paw in the present instance. The hind-paws possessed six toes with separate front pads and continuous hind pads, as in the left hind-paw of the mother. (3), also a female tabby kitten, possessed seven toes on both fore-paws. The arrangement of pads on both paws was similar to that on the left fore-paw of the mother, except that the toe B could not be said to possess a front pad at all. The hind-paws were as in the last kitten and the left hind-paw of the mother. The next family (of three) was born in September 1885. (1), a female tabby and slight tortoiseshell kitten, possessed the normal number of five toes on the fore-paws, but the foot appeared almost as broad as in the abnormal kittens. This was because the large extra toe (A in Figs. 1 and 2) was present while the much smaller pollex I was absent. The front pad of the large abnormal toe was also slightly bifid, so that there was some indication of the next small toe B. The hind-paws pos- sessed five toes with separate front pads and fused hind pads. (2), a female tortoiseshell and tabby kitten, possessed fore-paws like those of the kitten just described. The right hind-paw was also similar, with five toes, but the left possessed six like the mother. The front pads were separate, as usual, on the hind- paws. (3), a female tabby and slight tortoiseshell kitten, with fore-paws having seven toes like the mother, and also resembling her in the difference between right and left. The right paw possessed most abnormality, and was more advanced than the mother, as all the toes—even that marked B—possessed separate front pads. On the left side, however, the toe marked B pos- sessed no separate pad. The hind-paws were like those of the mother, possessing six toes with separate front pads. This kitten was given to a friend, and will be again referred to. The next and last family (of four kittens) up to the present time was born about July 1, 1886. (1), a female tabby kitten, was normal. (2), a female tabby kitten, possessed five toes on the fore-paws, but the feet were very broad, because the large abnormal toe (marked A, Figs. 1 and 2) was present instead of the small pollex. The hind-paws possessed six toes like those of the mother. (3), a male sandy kitten, possessed seven toes on the left fore-paw, the innermost (pollex) being exceedingly small and rudimentary, while the right paw possessed only six toes, the pollex being absent, although both abnormal toes (a and B, Figs. 1 and 2) were present. In this kitten the difference between the sides is therefore the reverse of that in the mother. The hind-paws possessed six toes like those of the mother. (4), a male tabby kitten,—by far the most abnormal form which has yet come under my personal notice. Both fore-paws have seven toes, each possessing a separate front pad, while the claw of the small toe B is well formed and large, and its pad is large and quite distinct and separate from that of a. The claw of the pollex 1 on both sides is partially divided (towards the apex) into a large upper, and rather smaller lower, division. This tendency towards a vertical proliferation has been already described in one of the kittens of the family born September 22, 1884. In the hind pads this was also the most abnormal form yet seen, for, interior to the normal fused hind pads for the four normal toes 2, 3, 4, and 5, were arranged three pads forming an almost continuous series with each other and with those belong- ing to the four normal toes. These three pads diminished in size from within outwards, and the one behind the toe B was very small, and was somewhat separated from the others, and especially associated with the internal side of the fused normal pads. The hind pads for the toes 1 and A were fused, but a distinct furrow indicated the line of separation. There was no practical difference between the fore-paws of the right and left side. The right hind-paw possessed sevez toes, or three more than in the normal animal. This is the first time that I have come across so great an abnormality in the hind-paws, although Mr. Vaughan remembers it on both right and left sides in two individuals. All the seven toes are large and distinct, and have separate front pads. Interior to the normal fused hind pads, and continuous with them, is an ill-defined series of three pads, irregularly diminishing in size towards the interior, and crowded together so that the innermost is not behind the innermost toe. The foot is somewhat deformed. The left hind-paw possesses the usual six toes with separate front pads and fused hind pads. I now return to (3) of the family mentioned before the last— the highly abnormal female tabby which was given to a friend in Oxford. This cat produced a family (of four) on July to, 1886. (1) and (2), both sandy male kittens, were normal ; (3) and (4), both tabby female kittens, were like the mother, possess- ing seven toes on the fore-paws and six toes on the hind-paws. These two kittens were given to Prof. Meldola and Mr. W. White, and I trust that they will be frequently referred to in some future number of NaTuRE. I am now able to give a somewhat longer account of these two kittens. In Prof. Mel- dola’s kitten the left fore-paw is somewhat less abnormal than the right, because the toe B is very small, although it possesses a front pad separate from that of a. Of course the pollex r has a distinct front pad. There is a single, although somewhat divided, hind pad for the three inner toes, separate from the normal pad behind the four outer digits. On the right side the toe B is large, but the arrangement of front and hind pads is the same as that on the left side. The hind-paws have large and distinct front pads on all the six toes of both sides, and the hind pads of the abnormal toes form a continuous series with those behind the normal digits. ; The fore-paws of Mr. White’s kitten are precisely similar in every respect, the toe B being much larger on the right side, and the arrangement of pads being exactly the same. The hind-paws only differ in the fused hind pads for the abnormal toes being somewhat? separated from those behind the normal [Vov. 11, 1886 NATURE 40 S90} jo Joquinu [euli0u ayy ATuo WIM ySnoyyye ‘peorq ATjeusouqe wed ayy Suryeur ‘eovjd sy ur st z pur 1 SSIq Ut V 20} [ew1OUqe oB1e] ay} Inq ‘Juasqe st xapjod ]peus oy JwYI sazZoLpur ,, [VULOUqE nq Gialel,, gant ‘Lany ‘Ldap ar dqquy, QdH ‘Q dau ‘Laatp mi Apurs Q9adH {euouqe nq Sada } “Ul aan jeutiou § ‘T \ “WL Ue! 9881 (S) gaH ‘Lada & ‘Al pu “mm sarqqe lL, jewsou p ‘m pue t Apues es (1) apts Ya] IO WYS = a1ojoq T 10 W si19}2[ Py} esas = $90} = Jaye saquinu ayy} «dH, med-aloj = .dd,, pexyye are Kay) yr oF sarprurey ay} JO YIAIq Jo saovjd puv sautty ayvorpul Sart[woo] puw sayvq Ayimey yora ur suayry = “OY 1 Ts, sayimry = ‘on ,“2 ‘I,, suoreiouas = ‘97x “IT “Is, uayxe} Uaaq sey a}0U aWIOS YOIYM Jo sarpttury paonpord aavy YOIYM s}vo apeway esoy} 1OoF pas syrj2go7 | g dH ‘Lada §({[2YSeSto}10} ysis YT) & AGAV “MI gda1‘S dHu _— ) [Jaysasto} ‘euouqe nq Sdas “W | -10} auOS Sau \ yan ‘ewsouqejng Sau 4 1) saiqquy (P#}x0) Sggi (b) gaH ‘Lad 8 ue) @) cist | ‘Laau aK yeuuou 4 ‘1 Ue ON Ces (£) ‘ocd aur sarqqeL 9dH ‘9 qda1 ‘L dau & QdH ‘Oda § yeuliou & P ‘“U pue ‘t (p19yxQ) Fggt (Zz) “XI )3 9 4H )e atl ‘9adat ‘“Laau p “a( & ale oau‘Laaye (2 b pue p ye mr pue mn 1) & I a (projxQ) aoe (1) ‘TIIA sajOU Ule}qO 0} ayqeun sea J nq ‘Ajypeuouge jo uon1odoid adie] ze skemye pue ‘Surpeayy ut usoq sartuey sayjo Aue (pajouun A[rumey ames ut s1ayjQ) (p10JxQ 0} uss) 9aH ‘Lada 5 AMAVL (veak auies p1ojxQ 0} JUAS pur ‘Burpeay) Zgst | C$ aH ‘fewsouqe jnq$ da 3 ‘at ) are 9 dH ‘feutouqe nq § da } “Mp pes : jemiou 4 P “1 pue “1 | adateytoro) (Suipeoy) ae (1) ‘IIA sa10u UIe]qO 0} ayqeun sea 7 nq ‘Ay yeuouqe so uoniodord asavy v skemye pur ‘Surpvay UL utoq saris tayo Aur smud [][v uo g fpajouun xas “Lt | payouun savd [Jv uo g 6 IW puv Tf AM0joD (Surpuay) rggt (£) smud [je uo g 6 ‘I | jeuutou 6 P “i pue ‘Ty (Surpvay) 1ggt (z) | OUCLAD (Surpray) 9 d H ‘euouqe nq Saad AMHW], ‘AL jeauou 6 ‘1 pur 11 Ve : Salt ‘qewmicuye nq Sada p Tf salqqeL (Surpeoy) ogg (1) “TA | [eUlIoU se paquosap are suaz}1y [[ ee pjo uy AAvY WUOF [LWAIOU puUe dWAI}x9 ay) UaaMjoq *AqyuB}suUoD patiMns90 sarjaea [Py “patinoo0 aavy sMed qe UO sao} Z YIM sua}P] OM} YOryM Suowe ‘sorry Auvia Ard A (Sutpvayy 0} juas pur (Ler us0q) yoay [JB WO S90} 9 6 ALAVL “A (JsaMpsojaavy) savd [fe vo seo} g ,“youNd,, & TIAHSASIOLYOL “AT (JSOMPAOJOAVET PUB ‘[OISIIg ¢) Uax1{8} JOU SajoU ynq “[BUILOUqL 6 T1GHSASIOLYOL “TIT (JSaMplOJIAVFT ¢ puv ‘[oysligq) jeuuou 3 TTHHSASIOLYOT, [I (joistig) Jeuttou 6 TIAHSaSIOLUOL ‘T r Nov. 11, 1886] NATURE 4t digits on the left side, while the two sets are continuous on the right paw, as in Prof. Meldola’s kitten. All the observations recorded in this paper were made in Oxford, The abnormality has now been observed through nine _ generations, and I have recorded notes of ten families, so that now there is sufficient material to present in a tabular form. The notes given in this paper are much more complete than _ before, because the families were born in my own house or in that of a friend living near, who kindly gave me every oppor- tunity of making notes. The results, however, would have been far more extensive if I had received intelligence of the birth of families in various quarters to which kittens had been sent. I believe there is little doubt that the next period of three years will produce much better results in this way, for at the recent meeting of the British Association at Birmingham I exhibited the cats, and was able to give away three abnormal females to scientific gentlemen (Prof. Haddon, Prof. Meldola, and Mr. W. White) who I am sure will assist me by sending complete accounts of all the families born. I remarked in my last paper on the immense strength of heredity which was shown in the observations then recosded, remembering that the results were in all cases due to the mothers of the families. The con- tinued observations now published serve to illustrate the same facts. As I said before, ‘‘it is practically certain that the fathers of the families have always been normal.” There has, indeed, been an abnormal male cat in Oxford for the last two years—one of my kittens which I gave to Prof. Moseley for a museum specimen, and which has been kept in order that it may be quite mature. But this cat lives at some distance from my house and that of the friend to whom I gave the female kitten in 1885, and it has never been seen in our neighbourhood, while numbers of normal cats have been seen in company with our abnormal females. But nevertheless a family containing ab- normal kittens was born in a house near that in which Prof. Moseley’s cat is being kept, and of which, of course, the latter must be the male parent. Unfortunately, as in so many other cases, I was unable to obtain any data, and the kittens are, I believe, all dead. We therefore see in these observations a proof of the extra- ordinary ease with which a distinct breed can be produced from a spontaneously appearing variety. In spite of all the swamping effect of continual and uninterrupted crossing with the normal form, I have never been able to record a normal family, while in many cases some of the kittens were equal to, or even beyond, the abnormal parent in her peculiarity. This being the case, it is clear that a breed would have been quickly established if abnormal males had been selected to pair with the abnormal females. These observations have, therefore, an interesting bearing upon the existence of such a local breed as the tailless Manx cats, as Prof. E. Ray Lankester pointed out to me when talking over the subject. Prof, Lankester supposes that a tail- less individual appeared spontaneously, and that it was con- sidered interesting and a curiosity ; and when the abnormality re-appeared in some of the offspring, these were kept in preference to the normal forms. It seems quite certain that the result might have been produced in this way, and I have arranged with Dr. Grabham, of Madeira, that some of my abnormal kittens shall be sent to him to turn loose upon some neighbouring Atlantic rock on which rabbits are the only other living mammals. I should add that Prof. Lankester found a support for the theory of the origin of the Manx breed of cats in the fact that there are tailless breeds of other animals which are also fashionable in the locality, and which seem to point to the existence of the same peculiarities of taste working upon a spontaneous variety. In fact, as Prof. Lankester suggested, the people may have rather looked out for other tailless or abnor.nally short-tailed animals, when their interest had been excited by the existence of one such breed. But the observations here recorded have also a bearing upon those cases in which natural, instead of artificial, selec- tion has been the agent. Granting, as I believe we must do, that some adaptive characters of great importance owe their beginning to flashes of structural or functional origin- ality—appearing suddenly and spontaneously in one individual, as the extra digits appeared in the ancestor of my cats,— we see from these observations that in spite of all the effects of constant intercrossing with normal forms, there would be a most persistent offer of material upon which natural selection might work, for the variation would appear to a greater or less extent in a very large proportion of the individuals of the various families produced, while again and again the peculiarity would be inherited in a form equal to or even beyond that of the parent. It is therefore of interest to actually test a few instances in as complete a manner as possible, taking care that only one parent possesses the abnormality, for this is what must have happened for the first few generations of any such variety which originally appeared in asingle individual in a natural state. It is chiefly with the object of adding another to the instances already known and worked out that these observations have been undertaken, and will be continued and rendered as complete as possible. It need scarcely be pointed out that such instances differ essentially from all the cases in which breeds of domestic animals have been established, for in these well-known and numerous breeds heredity has had undisturbed possession of the field, without any confliction between the normal and abnormal forms, except indeed in the case of the first family produced by the original parent of certain breeds of which the peculiarity appeared spontaneously in a single individual, as in the breed of ‘‘ otter” sheep. EDWARD B. POULTON LIGHTHOUSE ILLUMINANTS1* HE details of the construction of the three towers and lanterns, and of the lenses and lamps in each lantern, of the magneto-electric machines, and of the gas-works, have no doubt been placed on record, and will be reported by the Trinity House engineers. But the following may serve as a general description of the arrangements. Three low towers, constructed of massive timber, have been erected in a line inland from the higher of the two permanent lighthouses on the South Foreland, the nearest being 245 feet distant from the lighthouse, and the three being separated one from another by intervals of 180 feet. Their height, varying with the level of the ground, so that the lanterns may be on the same level, is from 20 to 30 feet; upon these structures rest three similar lanterns about 20 feet in height and 14 feet across. Within the lanterns are columns of lenses forming two opposite sides of a hexagonal framework which rises from the base to near the top of each lantern. ‘The whole framework can be made to revolve so that either column of lenses may be made to face in any direction; each column consists of three or four similar lenses superposed, but the lenses forming different columns are different in their purpose and structure, and in their size. One column in each lantern consists of lenses designed to gather the divergent rays which fall upon them from the central source of light into a level sheet which spreads over the surface of sea or land, but not downwards or upwards ; each of these lenses is a segment of a cylinder, and may be described as a cylindrical lens. The opposite column in the gas and oil lanterns consists of lenses designed to gather the divergent rays, not into a sheet, but into a single cluster or cone of small vertical angle, which is sent forth horizontally in any one direction. These lenses are made up of a central circular lens, surrounded by annular prisms and segments of such prisms, the whole fitting into a rectangular frame ; they may be called annular lenses. The correspond- ing column of lenses used with the electric light consists of cylindrical lenses with condensing prisms placed in front of them ; the cylindrical lens flattens a broad cone of light into a fan, the condensing prisms close the fan. The size of the cylindrical lenses placed in front of the gas and oil lamps is the same, but the lenses in front of the superposed electric lights are smaller. The annular lenses, of which three form a column in the oil lantern, are each 6 feet 3 inches in height, while the four superposed annular lenses in the gas lantern are each 3 feet 9 inches in height. Both sets of annular lenses have the same width, namely, 3 feet 5 inches. The electric lights are large are lights, supplied with the electric current by three magneto-electric machines, which are worked by the steam-engine in the engine-house built for the ordinary work of the station. The electrical apparatus is of the construction of Baron de Méritens. The gas-burners tried hitherto are of Mr, Wigham’s con- struction, consisting each of a multitude of small fish-tail jets on brass stems about 6 inches long and an inch one from another, arranged on the same level in concentric rings. A tall funnel, a few inches above the cluster of burners, draws their flames to- gether into the form of a bell. The number of concentric rings may be changed quickly so as to increase or reduce the size of X Preliminary Report of Mr. Vernon Harcourt to the Board of Trade on the Experimental Lights exhibited at the South Foreland. 42 the burner from a diameter of about 4 inches with 28 jets, to a maximum of If inches diameter and 108 jets. The oil lamps are of the usual Trinity House pattern with six concentric wicks, and are fed with paraffin oil. Cannel gas is manufactured and stored at a short distance from the experimental towers, and supplied through a meter to the gas-burners. For the observation of the lights, which were first shown in the week beginning March 30, three huts have been erected at different distances along a line perpendicular to the line of the towers, and this line has been marked by posts showing the distance from the central tower. The lighthouse-keepers who are stationed in one or other of these huts are instructed to make hourly observations during the time the lights are ex- hibited, expressing in figures their estimate of the relative brightness of the three lights. When the night is misty the keepers are instructed to patrol the line of posts, and to record the distance at which each light is lost or becomes visible. To avoid prejudice in favour of either an old or a new mode of lighting, the towers have been labelled, and are called A (electricity), B (gas), and C (oil), The huts are numbered. No. 1 is rather more than 700 yards distant from the central tower, No. 2, about 1% mile, and No. 3, 23 miles. Steps have also been taken to obtain estimates of the relative brightness of the three lights from observers at greater distances. To secure the identification in each hut of the lights observed when all three are not visible, three tubes have been fixed in each hut directed towards the lights A, B, and C, and labelled ac- cordingly. The huts serve also for measurements by various photometric methods of the light sent forth from each lantern. A number of such measurements have already been made, the results of which have been communicated to the Board of Trade by the Trinity House. Near the engine-house on the South Foreland a long gallery has been built, in which the light emitted by the various lamps employed or proposed to be employed, can be measured so as to ascertain the value of these lamps independently of the lenses by which, within the lighthouse lanterns, their apparent brightness is variously augmented. The experimental inquiry thus instituted will serve :— (1) To ascertain the amount of light given by the six-wick and seven-wick oil-lamps, and of other oil-lamps, or modifi- cations of them (if any) which may be proposed for lighthouse service. (2) To ascertain similarly the amount of light given by Wigham’s gas-burners on different scales (28, 48, 68, &c.) with different rates of consumption, and, if thought well, with different qualities of gas, and to test other gas-bumers in like manner. _ (3) To furnish further and trustworthy measurements of the light given by the electric are with various carbons and with various tensions and quantities of electricity, and to test the efficiency of the De Méritens magneto-electric machines in con- verting mechanical into electrical energy, and whether they work without difficulty or risk of break-down or need of repair or loss of power; also to test the working of the De Méritens electric lamp, and of other electric lamps, if thought well. (4) To furnish additional data for estimating the cost of main- taining any given light for a certain time, say 1000 candles for one hour, by each mode of producing light, and on the various scales suitable to different localities. (5) To measure the efficiency of the lenses employed, especially with flames of different sizes in their foci. (6) To prove experimentally (if such proof be desired) that 2 or 3 or # similar lights, when juxtaposed, give twice or thrice or # times as much light as a single light gives. (7) To ascertain what light is sufficient to be visible from its horizon on a clear night, and in what ratio on the average of many nights the visibility of a light at great distances increases with its total intensity, or lens area, or proportion of red or of blue rays. (8) To test the effect of the variations last named in haze, or mist, or fog, or rain, or snow, that is, when the air is made more or less opaque by particles of liquid or solid water of various sizes suspended in or falling through it. Such testing may be made either photometrically, which is only possible in slight haze and at small distances, or by observations of the distance at which each light is lost or reappears. (9) To try the question of the utility of ex-focal light, whether, NATURE [Mov, 11, 1886 that is, it often happens that the position of a lighthouse may be seen by the illumination of cloud or fog above or around it, when its position would be unknown if equal light from a smaller focus were directed almost wholly towards the mariner, and not allowed to spread. (10) To test further whether in mist or haze sudden flashes of a powerful beam of light are noticeable when an equal light maintained constantly, or waxing and waning gradually, would not be noticed. It is likely that other subjects of experimental inquiry may be suggested by those experienced in lighthouse illumination, or may occur as the experiments proceed. But, taking those above enumerated in order, 1 will attempt to indicate the conclusions which at present appear probable, and to make some suggestions as to points still to be investigated. (1) It appears that the six-wick oil lamp behind the annular lens sheds light of as great intensity as the seven-wick lamp, while its consumption of oil is much smaller. Probably this result is due, in part, to the fact that the outer ring of flame which the seventh wick adds is further from the focus of the lens, while each ring of flame is partially opaque to the light from the rings inside it ; and partly to the fact that the seven-wick lamp has not yet been brought-to so perfect an adjustment of oil- supply to air-supply as the six-wick lamp. I do not know whether any oil-lamp used in other than English lighthouses is such as to merit a trial against the Trinity House lamp. (2) Some observations have been made with Mr. Wigham’s burners with 88 and with 108 jets, which seem to show that with gas as with oil, behind the annular lens, no gain in intensity of light results from the circaposition of another ring of flame. Some evenings should, I think, be devoted to trying this question out. The value of ex-focal light behind an annular lens seems to be almost 7z/ as regards intensity, and, if so, it may be well to use with revolving light a smaller flame than that of the six-wick lamp. Excellent experiments on this question can be made with Mr. Wigham’s burner by exhibiting on a clear night through the annular lens one of these burners, whose size should be reduced, after an interval sufficient for photometry, from 108 jets to 88, and so on to the smallest size, measuring also after each change the consumption of gas. It will probably be found that a large fraction of the d/vecfed light is still obtained with a relatively small consumption of gas, and with the accom- panying advantage of a low temperature within the lantern, Similar measurements should be made with a cylindrical lens and with the naked flame in the photometric shed. At present one other gas-burner besides Mr. Wigham’s has been tried, a ten-ring gas-burner devised by Sir J. Douglass, which has ‘given an excellent yield of light. Two others, by W. Sugg and Co., and by the F. Siemens Company, await a trial. The problem which the maker has to solve is to pack as much highly luminous flame as possible into a sphere of 3 or 4 inches diameter. Where gas has to be manufactured expressly for a lighthouse, it would generally be best to make cannel gas, but near a town where common gas could easily be laid on, it would be cheaper to use common gas. It might, therefore, be worth while during the course of the experiments to charge the small gas-holder with common gas, and to note the consumption and the light developed. burners the chief disadvantage in using common gas was the greater development of heat, the same light being obtained from the consumption of a larger volume of lower priced gas. (3) Many measurements have been made in recent years of the light of the electric arc, but the difficulty of making measure- ments of so yariable a light, and the uncertainty attaching to the standards of light employed, and the great differences between one arc light and another, according to the electric current and the carbons employed, make it clearly desirable to have further measurements of the electric light at the South Foreland. Photometry should be accompanied, as with oil and gas, by a measurement of consumption. The mechanical energy absorbed can be measured at the strap which connects the magneto: electric machine with the steam-engine. The electrical energy developed can be measured in tension maintained, and quantity used, at the leads connecting the machine with lantern A. The cost of each horse-power per hour on the actual scale of working at the South Foreland must te already known. The rate at which the two forms of carbons which have been tried are con- sumed is also known. It would probably be found that with suitable — ee Nov. 11, 1886 | NATURE 43 ¢ Hl __ It is essential to the value and significance of the photometry _ that simultaneous electrical measurements should be made. __ The possible variations in the coupling of the magneto- _ electric machines, in the rate of running, and in the nature, form, and adjustment of the carbons, present a wide field of experimenting. The continuance of the experimental working for many months _ will serve for a trial of the trustworthiness of the De Mériten’s _ apparatus for lighthouse service. (4) The cost of maintaining a lighthouse supplied with gas has _ been very variously estimated. It must vary from place to place, _ especially with the price of coal. The actual working expenses of oil lighthouses on the English coast, and gas lighthouses on the Irish coast, with allowance for the price of coal and labour, should furnish trustworthy data for a comparison. But to com- plete these data the quantity of light produced and utilised in each case needs also to be known, and as both the oil and gas burners tried hitherto at the South Foreland are of the service kind, the photometry now in progress will supply this knowledge. Some information may also be gathered from the expenditure on each illuminant at the outset and during the course of the experiment. It should be possible to state, if it were desired to maintain on the South Foreland a light of 50 or 100 or 200 thousand candles, what its annual cost cost would be with each illuminant. (5) Although the action of lenses is mainly calculable, and, so _ far, does not require trial, it is modified by two quantities which vary slightly, namely, the reflection and absorption of light by glass, and is affected to some extent by errors of workmanship. It will, therefore, be of interest to obtain an exact comparison between the light emitted by a naked flame, and that from the same flame concentrated by different types of lighthouse lens. The prediction of the effect of a lens is less possible when the illuminant is of large size ; and the failure of lenses, constructed for use as a revolving light with gas, to utilise (except by broadening the beam) the light produced at a distance of more than two or three inches from the focus of the lens, if they are found to fail so far, may be worth demonstrating. With the electric light a very close correspondence should be found between the calculated effect of the cyliadrical lens and of the condensing prisms and the results of photometry. ' (6) The measurements which have been made of multiform gas and oil may be taken to show that any number of lights at a given distance cause so many times the illumination which one light causes ; or assuming that the above must be the case, and is involved in the conception of comparative illumination, the pro- portional variation of the photometric results with the changes from uniform to biform, &c., on clear nights, gives evidence of the trustworthiness of the photometric methods. (7 and 8) The two questions, which I have numbered thus, can hardly be treated separately, since clearness differs only in degree from slight haze, and slight haze from fog. Together they con- stitute the chief object of this inquiry. The observations of the experimental lights which have been made from a distance, may be expected to yield, when they are collected and compared, much information as to the distances at - which the several lights have been seen in various weather. But the changes which are necessary when photometric testings are to be made, or when an extensive programme is to be exhibited, must to some extent have interfered with the observation of the changes due to variations in the transparency of the atmosphere. It might be well for at least one month, to show the same lights nightly, and to inform the distant observers that this was about to be done, in order that their observations might have the more value. A single light of each kind shown through the cylindrical lenses would serve as well as multiform lights, and it would be best to use that size of gas-burner which had through the lens equal illuminating power with the six-wick oil lamp. Unless, indeed, it is assumed, as I should be inclined to assume, that equal lights from gas and oil have the same power of penetrating haze ; in which case it would be more instructive to show from tower A a single electric light supplied from one machine, and from B and C either gas or oil also single, and either oil or gas of such size and number as to have at close quarters on a clear night an illuminating power equal to that of the electric light. A Sufficient series of distant observations of these lights would show (1) whether the electric light maintained its equality with the larger hydrocarbon flame through slight haze, or became more nearly equal to a flame of much less initial brightness ; and (2) whether the taller beam of multiform oil or gas had much advantage over the beam sent forth fromasingle lens. I believe it will be found that the relative brightness of two, or more, to one, will be maintained at any distance and through any haze which permits of photometry, but that, when the single light is lost at 5 miles or 500 yards, the triple light will be invisible at 6. The actual figures corresponding to these conjectural figures must be found, and the Trinity House Committee will then be able to judge in what cases such an extension of range is worth the increased expenditure. é In the case of the electric light, the observations which have already been made show that it loses in haze a larger proportion than the hydrocarbon flames. © Further observations on this point will be of much interest and importance. The most valuable are observations of the distances at which an electric and a gas or oil light, whose relation in clear weather is known, cease to be visible. Such observations are strictly photometric observations, in which the lights observed are brought to an equality of minimum appreciable brightness, and the distances at which their brightness is equal are measured. These are dependent upon the weather, and may be practicable on only a few days in each month. Still more rarely will the opportunity offer of measuring the lights in hut No. 1 through a slight uni- form mist; but such measurements ought to be made. I would suggest the possibility of testing in the photometric shed through an artificial mist produced by blowing steam from the boiler in the adjoining engine-house into the middle of the shed. It is said that Faraday proposed at first the use of a very smal! lens with the electric light. Unless conclusive experiments have been made on this point, it may be well to place the experi- mental electric light in the focus of a larger and of a smaller annular lens, each subtending- the same angle, and to note whether the effect differs. It might also be worth trying whether biform gas, with a small enough number of jets to have the same illuminating power as single oil, would be better seen through slight haze. The trial would not be between gas and oil, but between placing a strong light behind one Isns, and placing half the light behind each of two superposed lenses. P (9) Owing to the nearness of the three lanterns, the «illumi- nation or halo which spreads round each of them in a fog seems almost to blend. That which surrounds the gas lantern is not much greater than that around its neighbours on either side. I do not think that, on the one occasion on which I have seen the lights in a fog, the ex-focal light was of much service. If a lighthouse lantern was surrounded by a mist or cloud ex- tending far enough laterally to extinguish its principal beain, but so little above it as to allow the scattered light to fall upon a higher stratum of cloud, the position of the lighthouse might only be seen from the illumination of the cloud above it. But this state of things would happen rarely in most places, and a better plan of turning it to account than the addition to a burner of rings of ex-focal flame would be to employ the upper prisms to send a second beam skyward. Whether the general illumina- tion about the experimental lanterns has been visible when the three centres of light were not visible to an observer towards whom the beams were directed, may perhaps be gathered from the record of observations. (10) When engaged on a clear night in judging of the experi- mental lights, the eye of the observer is continually caught by the sudden flashes of the Calais light. The revolving light at Grisnez is equally visible, but does not catch the eye in the same manner. It might be well to try on some rather hazy night, whether, if one lantern alone were lighted, and during successive quarters of an hour the light were alternately kept steady and flashed in some such groups of flashes as the Calais light, the observers patrolling the line of posts became aware of the light at a greater distance when it was flashed than when it was steady or revolving. Even a slight mist is a great leveller of distinctions, but it seems possible that the use of flashing may increase the range of a light as much as an addition to its intensity or size. Some of the questions raised in the latter part of this report might perhaps have been omitted, as having already received an answer, if, while thinking the matter over, I had been able to consult some of the experienced members of the Trinity House Committee who are charged with the conduct of this inquiry. I have ventured here in writing, as at other times by word of mouth, to make the suggestions which have occurred to me, knowing that they will receive friendly attention if they are 44 NATURE [Mov. 11, 1886 submitted to the Committee, and hoping that some of them may be of service. (Signed) July 26, 1884 A. VERNON HARCOURT Since! the foregoing preliminary report was presented to the Board of Trade, the experimental inquiry has come to an end, and a complete account of the apparatus, observations, and test- ings has been published by the Committee of the Trinity House who had charge of the inquiry, followed by a statement of the conclusions at which the Committee have arrived. I propose to arrange the remarks I have to offer under the following heads :— I.—Apparatus for the exhibition of the experimental lights. II.—Arrangements for observation. ILI.—Photometry. 1V.—Comparison of lights. V.—Range of lights in hazy weather. VI.—Cost of each system. l.—Apparatus for the Exhibition of Experimental Lights In my preliminary report I have given a general description of the temporary towers, the lensesand lamps. In Parts I. and II. of the Trinity House Report are to be found plans and measure- ments giving the full details of these constructions. The towers are admirably suited to their purpose, and their situation and the distance between them proved most convenient for observation. In regard to the arrangements for exhibiting the electric light, it is to be observed that, although the electric light completely outshone its competitors, it was heavily handicapped in the competition. The ‘‘leads” were not of sufficient calibre to carry the large electrical currents used, for a distance of nearly 300 yards, without considerable loss. Prof. Adams estimates the loss at more than one-fourth the electrical energy supplied. The five vertical prisms used in the case of the electric arc to bring together the horizontai rays, subtended an angle of only 30°, while the annular lenses which served the same pur- pose in the gas and oil lanterns subtended an angle of 60°. Thus the fraction of the light emitted from the central source of light, which composed the revolving beam, was only half as great in the case of the electric arc, as in the case of the yas and oil flames. It seems probable also that a beam of less divergence may be used with advantage to obtain a maximum range in hazy weather; and such a beam may be obtained from the electric arc with lenses of moderate size. On a few occasions when an annular lens similar to those used in the other two lanterns was placed in front of the electric arc, the light was dazzling at a distance of more than a mile, and surprisingly vivid at a Cistance of 20 miles. I see that on a clear night when the 108-jet gas burner behind an annular lens gave a light of 60,000 candles, the electric arc behind its cylindri- cal lens and vertical prisms gave a light of 1,200,000 candles, and behind an annular lens a light of 12,000,000 candles. In the one case the arc was five times as powerful as Mr, Wigham’s ““quadriform,” in the other fifty times as powerful. For the sake of uniformity and comparison under similar conditions, only the central belt of the Fresnel apparatus was _ placed round the electric lamp as round the gas and oil burners. ‘The suppression of the top and bottom prisms, though entailing a loss of 30 per cent. of the light produced, is a necessary sacrifice where large burners developing great heat are placed immediately one over the other. But each of the electric lamps in tower A might have been surrounded with a complete Fresnel apparatus, adding nearly one-third to their light, without any difficulty or any necessity for separating them more widely. Thus, if the principle which has been enunciated had been followed, of doing for each illuminant the best that could be done within the limits of the lighthouse lantern, if a triform electric light had been exhibited, with leads of low resistance, with a lens subtending an angle of 60°, and with top and bottom prisms, the power of this light might have been more than tripled. By also reducing the divergence of the beam, which I think might be done with advantage, a further increase of power could have been gained. This fact should be borne in mind in comparing the results which were obtained with the three illuminants. _? Further Report of Mr. Vernon Harcourt to the Board of Trade on the Experimental Lights exhibited at the South Foreland. In M. Allard’s interesting and important ‘‘ Mémoire sur les Phares électriques,” 1880, he gives the results of a trial of three Gramme dynamo-machines and an electro-magnetic machine of the Alliance Company. The former gave for the same horse- power 40 or 45 per cent. more light than the latter. But M. Allard measured only horse-power and light, not the electrical energy developed ; and it does not appear whether the larger yield of light was due to a more powerful electrical current, or to the position of the carbons, and the form of the incandescent ends, being more favourable to the emission of light with the continuous current. Probably the De Méritens machines, which produced a light of about 1000 candles per horse-power, are superior to those of the Alliance Company, which yielded only 540 candles, and are equal to the Gramme machines which yielded Soo candles per horse-power. Of all that relates to the economical production of powerful arc lights, knowledge is advancing rapidly. The ample provision of steam power, and the excellent photometric gallery at the South Fore- land, will no doubt be used from time to time for the trial of new types of electrical machines, of regulators, and of carbons. For the past experiment, and apart from the question of cost, the De Meéritens machines worked admirably, converting, 2c- cording to the measurements of Prof. Adams, mechanical into electrical energy with a loss of only 16 per cent. The current supplied was more than sufficient for the largest carbons ; indeed, carbons exceeding 13 inches in diameter were heated to redness through their entire length. In regard to the apparatus for exhibiting the gas system of Mr. Wigham and the oil lamps of the Trinity House, little can be added to the full and clear account of the Trinity House Committee. But as it has been stated, since the publication of the Trinity House Report, that Mr. Wigham’s foreman was not left unfettered to make the best display which the apparatus in his charge would allow, I may here put on record what I saw and believe in the matter. I paid many visits to the gas light- house by day and by night, and was in frequent communication with the foreman, Mr. Higginbotham, from the beginning to the close of the experiments. The arrangement of each night’s programme rested with the Committee of the Trinity House, who so ordered matters that abundant opportunity was given for the observation and measurement of all the varieties of each illuminant. Among these were Mr. Wigham’s combinations of 28 jets, 48 jets, 68 jets, 88 jets, and 108 jets, the ready con- version of one of which into another is among the merits of his ingeniously constructed burner. When the effect of the smaller number of jets was to be observed, it is clear that the full power of the burner could not also be shown. Therefore, there were necessarily times when Mr. Wigham’s foreman was not free to make the best display which the apparatus in his charge would allow. With this exception only, I believe that Mr. Wigham’s foreman was perfectly free to do his best and make any improve- ments Mr. Wigham or he could devise. I see from the summary in the Trinity House Report that the full power of Mr, Wigham’s burners was shown on 127 nights ; and it appears from the photo- metric record that it was measured 57 times. This ought to suffice for an accurate judgment of its merits. Comparing the gas and oil towers as they appeared to a visitor’ when in full operation, the gas had one striking advantage, and one equally obvious disadvantage. The advantage was that it needed no care. When the lenses had not to be revolved by hand, nor the number of jets changed, one attendant in the tower was sufficient, and he had little or nothing to do, In the oil tower, on the other hand, I have seen a keeper on every one of the three stages, each man watching and from time to time adjusting his lamp. The disadvantage encountered in the gas tower was the excessive heat from the large gas-burners, which by causing unequal expansion of the glass lenses and their metal framing, and of the outer and inner surfaces of the lenses them- selves, caused cracks to appear, which in the continuous belt of thick glass gradually spread from side to side. But though the burning of gas yields for the same livht more heat than the burning of oil, there is no reason to think that with a diminished consumption cf gas, e.g. the 160 cubic feet an hour of the 68 jets instead of the 300 of the 108 jets, such a disaster would recur. When the gas flame is surrounded by a chimney, as in Sir James Douglass’s and Mr. Sugg’s multiple Argands, the heating of the lenses is greatly diminished. When the lights were first exhibited, the behaviour of the oil lamps in C tower was a matter of much interest. U-ing gas, Mr. Wigham had succeeded in quadrupling the power of a large Nov. 11, 1886] burner behind a lens more than a yard square, by placing over it three other similar burners and lenses. But it seemed a hazardous experiment to imitate this plan by placing three lamps fed with mineral oil one over the other. However, the skilful arrangements of Sir James Douglass were completely successful. Thé three superposed oil lamps burnt as safely and well as if each had had the lantern to itself. Il.—Arrangements for Observation A short account of these arrangements have been given in my previous report, and a complete account is to be found in the report of the Trinity House Committee. The plans for making observations on shore at small distances had been well laid. The home at St. Margaret’s, stationed between the two observing huts, with telephone to all points ; the measured distances ; the huts themselves, welcome refuges on a cold night, and most convenient for photometry with their helpful occupants ; all bore witness to the wise forethought which had been bestowed upon the details of the inquiry. For obtaining records of the relative brightness of the different lights from the impressions of those who saw them, probably no better plan could have been devised than that of distributing forms to be filled in with a numerical estimate of the ratio which two of the lights bore to the third. And the enlisting a multitude of observers, by the wide distribution of these forms, secured the two advantages, of an average drawn from a very large number of observations, and of an obviously impartial judgment. The observations made at sea from the ‘Trinity House yacht Argus, which was in constant attendance, were of great im- portance ; and I may add that, for the landsmen whose main business was photometry at small distances on shore, taking part in these observations was an essential help towards the full appreciation of the problem before them. ILI.—Photometry The chief assistance which I found myself able to render to the Committee was in devising and improving photometric apparatus and methods. A full description of these is given in the Committee’s Report, especially in Mr. Dixon’s ‘‘ Record,” part ii., pp. 30-36. During my visits to the South Foreland, I was principally occupied with photometry, in the dark gallery by day, and in one of the huts by night. Frequently Mr. Long- ford or Mr. Dixon worked with me, and the observations which I made are included in the general record. I believe that the standard of light employed was constant and of a definite and reproducible value, and that the methods of comparison were trustworthy and accurate. The excellent idea of Sir James Douglass, of using a large lens to concentrate the rays from the lighthouses upon the photometric disk, made possible the measurement in the more distant hut of lights whose intensity was too feeble to be accurately estimated without such aid. Mr. Dixon’s polariscope photometer and the ingenious obscura- tion photometer of Captain Nisbet, are instruments well adapted for the direct comparison of distant lights or lights enfeebled by haze ; the former can only be used for lights which are near together. Two movable photometer-bars, designed by Sir James Douglass, and suitable for use with any form of disk and any standard, were in constant employment throughout the trial. These were placed in the photometric gallery and in hut Il. The observations in hut I. were reduced by means df a portable bar devised and made by Mr. Dixon. A glance at the 16 columns of the closely-printed photometric record,—each number being, as a rule, the average of many observations,—will give to those who know the effort of atten- tion which accurate photometry requires a conception of the diligence with which this branch of the inquiry was pursued. I have spent many hours in one or other of the huts with Mr, Dixon or Mr. Longford, and I wish to express my conviction that the results which they obtained and which are printed in the Trinity House Report, are as complete and trustworthy as zealous, patient, and skilful work could make them. IV.—Comparison of Lights Although an obseryer’s opinion on the relative brightness of two or more lights, like an opinion on the force of the wind, is better expressed by means of numbers than by descriptive terms, such numbers must not be regarded as expressing the relative intensity of the lights so compared. Perhaps on any future occasion it would be better to call the brightest light 1o rather than 100, since the use of the larger number suggests that an NATURE a1) inferiority just sufficient to be noted with confidence is to be expressed by a difference of 2 or 3 per cent., whereas it probably amounts to at least 10 per cent., and 9/10 or 8/10 would be nearer the ratio of the two lights than 98/100 or 95/100. No doubt by practice in comparing lights whose relative intensity is known, a fair power of judging may be acquired ; but without such training the natural tendency is to under-estimate differ- ences. For example, the average of 294 estimates by eye of the relative power of ‘‘triform oil” and ‘‘quadriform gas,” assigns to the gas a superiority of 6 per cent., whereas the actual Superiority as shown by measurement is 23 percent. According to the same series of estimates the electric light has a superiority over “‘quadriform gas” of 59 per cent., the actual superiority being more than 400 per cent. Equally remarkable evidence of the tendency to overlook differences of intensity when the estimate is made directly by eye, is found on comparing the values assigned to ‘‘ multiform ” lights. The figures relating to the 108-jet gas-burners, and representing the relative value of the single, biform, triform, and quadriform lights, each by comparison with the electric light, are 56, 61, 59, and 63. If these numbers represented the intensity of the light falling upon the eye from the whole surface of the illuminated lenses, they should stand in the ratio of 1, 2, 3, and 4. The explanation at once suggests itself that while the photometer measures the total light received from a large illuminated surface, the eye judges of the brightness of the surface or the light received from equal areas. To an observer looking down a street ona clear night, the more distant gas- lights seem as bright as those which are nearer, though smaller in size ; if asked to estimate the lights he would probably assign the same figure to all. And the visual angle subtended by the flame of a street-lamp at 100 yards is about the same as that sub- tended by 18 feet of lenses at a distance of 4 miles. The singular fact that as estimated by eye, on a separate comparison with the electric light, ‘‘ multiform”’ have no superiority to single lights, may to a small extent admit of the explanation which applies to the familiar case which has been given. In this case the observer distinguishes between size and brightness, and sets himself to judge of the latter only ; or it may be that the intensity of the sensation of light depends upon the brightness and not the size of the spot of light formed upon the retina. But the South Foreland observations were not made chiefly at distances of only 2 or 3 miles; nor were the observers likely to disregard the apparent magnitude of a light in estimating its value. At dis- tances of from 12 to 14 miles, at which the largest lights have no appreciable magnitude, the average values assigned to the biform, triform, and quadriform lights are 75, 66, and 60. I fear the true explanation is that the results have suffered from the electric light having been adopted as the term of com- parison. To a small extent its fluctuations and difference of colour, and to a much greater extent its incomparable power, have made the estimates entirely uncertain ; and thus it is vain to institute cross comparisons between the different lights which were not seen together, but only estimated by reference to the electric light as a standard, This conclusion, however, does not affect the value of the comparisons, chiefly aimed at, between the gas and oil lights, which were seen together, nor the significance of the direct comparison of the flame lights with the electric light at all distances and in all weathers. Indeed, the adoption of the electric light as the standard with which all others were to be compared, has served to establish on the basis of thousands of observations the important fact that, as far as the eye can judge, the electric light appears to excel the light of gas or oil lamps almost as much at greater as at smaller distances, and in hazy weather as in clear. The mean ratio of the electric light to all the gas and oil lights exhibited, taken from the whole number of recorded observations, is, at distances of from 1 to 8 miles 1000/626, at distances of from 8 to 15 miles 1000/613. In clear weather the mean ratio is 1000/591 ; in weather not clear it is 1000/608. The photometric record presents many points of interest. In the measurement of naked flames the long gallery, which has wisely been made a permanent structure at the South Fore- land, afforded unexampled facilities. The electric arc was measured at a distance sufficiently great for its intensity to be similar to that of the other lights which were measured. The values assigned to it, from 10,000 to 15,000 candles, are not so high as some which have been obtained ; but this is perhaps due to the fact that extreme values were rejected, and care was taken to obtain an average result. 46 NATURE [Vov. 11, 1886 In one respect the observations are incomplete, and need to be supplemented at some future time. Within the lighthouse the source of light is surrounded by an apparatus which gathers together the light sent forth in all directions, excepting a small angle above and below. Thus, the intensity of the light sent in a sloping direction upwards and downwards is of as great im- portance as that of the light sent forth in the horizontal plane. But only the latter has hitherto been measured in the photo- metric gallery. According to M. Allard the electric are pro- duced by an alternate current sends out horizontally an amount of light which is 11 per cent. greater than the average amount sent in all directions. With a continuous current the strongest light is thrown on the side opposite to the positive carbon ; but it happens that with an arc light of this description horizontal measurement gives the average value. Probably Mr. Wigham’s wide cluster of gas jets sends forth less light horizontally, owing to the imperfect transparency of one flame to the light of another, than it sends in an upward direction ; and the same may be the case with the concentric gas-burners and oil lamps. Mirrors might hereafter be arranged within the photometric gallery, which would serve for making these measurements. To determine accurately at a distance the power of the various lights exhibited was an essential preliminary to calculating the range of any of the lights in hazy weather. And although this power is approximately calculable, the power and dimensions of each flame, and the structure of each lens being known, it was of great interest to make actual measurements of the intensity of the light at two different points, and in different states of the atmosphere. I am not aware that such measurements had ever before been attempted. Owing to the novelty of the photo- metric problem, and to some extent of the methods employed, it was highly important to have some means of testing how far the results were trustworthy. Such means were furnished by the multiform system of Mr. Wigham. Atany distance, and in any state of the atmosphere, the illumination produced by a com- bination of two or more similar lamps and lenses is so many times as great as the illumination produced by a single lamp and lens ofthe same kind, Thus, among the lights to be measured were several whose relative power was known beforehand. If testings of single and multiform lights, made in succession while the degree of clearness of the air was unchanged, gave values vary- ing approximately as the number of lights, an equal degree of exactness may be ascribed to the testings of other lights and lenses. On July 12, the weather being ‘‘clear, calm, overcast,” the light from the single, biform, triform, and quadriform 108-jet burners, showing through Mew Island lenses, was measured at hut I. The results in thousands of candles were 50, 98, 168, and 214. Three testings intervened between the second and third, and probably the air had become a little clearer, but the numbers are not far from the ratio t, 2, 3, 4. Three days later the same single, -triform, and quadriform combinations were tested one after the other, also at hut I. The values found are 48, 145, and 186. Similar testings were made on July 23, on a clearer night, of all four combinations ; their power was found to be 58, 112, 171, and 220 thousands of candles. Pro- bable values in the ratio of I, 2, 3, 4, are 56, 112, 168, and 224. On the same night the value found for a single six-wick oil lamp behind an Eddystone lens was 56,000 candles, and for three such lamps behind three such lenses 168,000 candles. November 1, in thick haze, the value found at the nearer hut for ‘‘ I, Gas, 108, M.,” was 25,500 candles, and for ‘‘IV. Gas, 108, M.,” 102,000, The results obtained at hut II., with a wholly different photometer, are confirmed in the same manner. For example, on February 7, consecutive testings on a misty night of ‘‘ single” and ‘‘ quadriform gas” gave in thousands of | candles the numbers 26 and 101. On March 20, on a very clear night, the values found for the same two lights were 63 and 252. In looking over the tables of the photometric record, and comparing the figures standing against combinations of equal numbers of oil lamps behind Eddystone lenses, and of the larger gas-burners behind Mew Island lenses, in all weathers in which the lights were measurable, the eye is struck by the similarity of the numbers. The rival systems are nearly equal ; there is little to choose between them. Still less difference, as has been pointed out, was discernible on looking, as we did night after night, at the lights themselves. Other considerations than that of visibility in either clear or hazy whether, must decide which, On | if either, of the two systems is to be generally adopted for light- ing our coasts. By multiplying burners and lenses, and by enlarging the size of the lenses, more powerful lights. still may be produced, if it is thought desirable, with either illuminant. But the most prominent fact on the face of the photometric record is the immense superiority of the electric light. The conclusion forces itself upon the reader of these tables that if greater power is needed, it is to be found, not by magnifying lenses or multiplying combinations of gas or oil burners, but by substituting the light of the electric are. The Trinity House Committee report that the electric light in clear weather is certainly not popular with sailors, chiefly on account of its dazzling effect at short ranges. But at ranges exceeding two or three miles, ‘‘ hyper-radiant,” or even multi- form lenses, are not visibly larger than such a lens as is suitable to the electric arc; and at such ranges the “dazzling effect” is simply that due to the power of the light. If a double quadri- form were as powerful it would dazzle as much, Also the use of a powerful electric are in clear weather may be avoided. It would not be difficult to arrange for the use of a small electric arc during clear weather, and the quick substitution of a power- ful arc light when the weather became hazy. I would venture to suggest that the singular circumstance which led or contributed to the removal of the electric light at Dungeness, that a vessel went ashore near the lighthouse, may have been due, not to the dazzling effect of the light, but rather to the diminution of bright- ness as the approaching vessel passed within and beneath the range of the light. With the condensed and sharply-defined beam of the electric light, it may perhaps be desirable to devote some part of the optical apparatus to spreading a portion of the light over the space intervening between the coast and the point, a mile or two away, at which the principal beam first strikes the sea. If this is done, the light at short ranges might be made sufficient, but not too dazzling ; and for longer ranges there seems to be no reason why the powerful beam produced by the electric arc behind one of the Mew Island lenses should not be em- ployed. This beam had a divergence of about 1°. Even from the high level of the South Foreland lights, if the axis of such a beam were so inclined that only about + of the light passed over the horizon, the full light would extend to within about three miles of the shore. Since the apparent brightness of every light must vary with the state of the atmosphere, as well as with the distance of the light, and as the angle subtended, even by a multiform light, at a few miles distance is very small, it cannot be possible by the appearance of a light without other data to judge of its distance. The electric light is not singular in this respect. (To be continued. ) THE LUMBAR CURVE IN MAN AND APES V E are indebted to Prof. Cunningham, of Trinity College, Dublin, for a well-illustrated and exhaustive memoir on the subject of the lumbar curve in man and apes. This memoir has been printed by the Royal Irish Academy as one of the Cunningham Memoirs, and is illustrated by thirteen plates, several of which are large folding ones, and two of which are large coloured drawings of the two surfaces of a mesial section of a male chimpanzee; these are life-size, and are the first accurate representations of the topographical anatomy of this anthropomorphic ape we have seen. The structural differences between man and the anthropoid apes are no doubt in a great measure due to the assumption by man of an erect attitude, and to his having from an early period of his life dispensed with the use of his anterior extremities as organs of locomotion. The vertebral column of man might be expected to exhibit in a marked degree differences distinguishing it from other animals, and that more or less deep convexity forwards in the region of the loins has been considered by some not only as a marked character of the human spine but even as peculiar to humanity ; other anatomists have denied that this is so, and consider that man and certain of the man-like apes have it in common. In this memoir Prof. Cunningham seems to minimise the importance of the lumbar curve as a distinctive character of any special group. Not only the higher, but also the majority of the lower apes, possess this curve ; and, under Nov. 11, 1886] certain conditions, even some quadrupeds show clear traces of it. In the course of his investigations, Prof. Cunningham has brought many new and interesting facts and phenomena to light. Thus in man and the chimpanzee the quality of this lumbar curve is identical; the only differences are its extent and its development. And then among the members of the human race this curve does not appear to be equally prominent ; upon some —as the Australian, the Negro, and the Andaman Islander —the curve is by no means so well marked as it is in the Euro- pean. Not that the absolute degree of curvature is less in these races, but whereas in the European the bodies of the vertebrae are more or less moulded in adaptation to the curve, in the lower races there is to be found no trace of this. With this subject the first part of this memoir is taken up, and the adaptation of the vertebral bodies with reference to the lumbar curve is con- sidered ina first section. The method of making the measurements, and the results derived from them, are given, and special points in connection with the European and several of the lower races (Australian, Tasmanian, Andaman, Negro, and Bushman) are given. Then follow details of the indices of the lumbar ver- tebrae in the four man-like apes, as well as in nine of the lower apes. The statement that this curve is more marked in the female than in the male is strongly supported by the evidence adduced in this memoir, and it would seem that the vertebral bodies of the female are moulded more in adaptation to the curve than those of the male. The second section of this part of the memoir treats of the entire lumbar curve as found in man and the apes. The diffi- culties in the way of securing accurate curvatures of the living spine seem to be insuperable. Parow, who worked hard on this subject, has signally failed ; hence the standard of comparison must be sought for in the dead, and the details of how this has been done are given at some length. Racial differences are next discussed, and the deyclopment of the spinal curve is treated at great length, with some excellent illustrations. The condition of the lumbar column in the anthropoid apes is next considered. It was, as we have seen, thought that the lumbar curvature did not exist save in man. Goodsir is positive about it. Sir W. Turner at one time was equally so. Sir Richard Owen denies its presence in the gorilla and orang-utan. Huxley was among the first to assert its existence. Broca and Topinard followed. As to the facts to be seen by frozen sec- tions, Cunningham has not succeeded in getting fresh material for the gorilla; but in the case of the chimpanzee the curve differs but little from that in man. In the orang it is feeble, resembling that in man in some respects, and in others differing from that in the chimpanzee. In a gibbon (Aylodates agilis) it stands intermediate between the chimpanzee and orang. In some of the monkeys it is also to be found, and even in some quadrupeds. In a second part of his memoir, Prof. Cunningham, taking advantage of the same anatomical method which enabled him to make such interesting discoveries as to the extent of the curves of the vertebral column, viz. by sections through recently frozen bodies, has been able to advance our knowledge of the topographical anatomy of the orang, chimpanzee, and gibbon, very considerably. Certain relations of distinct morpho- logical importance cannot by any other method be with accuracy ascertained. The question of how far the cerebrum in the anthropoid apes projects backwards in relation to the upper surface of the cerebellum, was at one time a burning question, and, although fairly set at rest, cannot be said to have been un- mistakably demonstrated until now ; when the whole of the parts were frozen in their places, sections were made, and we have the results in this memoir amply corroborating previous induc- tions. Sections of the brain 7 situ in the adult male and newly-born child, in the male and female chimpanzee, female orang, and gibbon, are all figured. Other points in the anatomy of the brain, as the condition of the corpus callosum, and of the hippocampus minor are also alluded to, anda few further details as to other visceral anatomy are given. The memoir forms a quarto volume of some 150 pages, the typography of which is extremely creditable. The woodcut illustrations and plates are excellent, and the publication of this treatise as a Cunningham Memoir marks the appreciation of its value by the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, as the series of its publication—known as the Cunningham Memoirs, because the expenses thereof are defrayed out of the funds left by a Mr. Cunningham—is reserved only for works which the Council believe contribute some new facts to science. + NALTORE 47 SCIENTIFIC SERIALS Bulletin de ? Académie Royale de Belsique, August. —Note’on the eruptive rocks of the islands of Marion, Prince Edward, Macdonald, and Heard, by A. F. Renard. These insular groups, which stand on the great submarine plateau in the southern regions of the Indian Ocean, are shown to be entirely volcanic, in no way connected either with the Madagascar group or with the lands of the South Polar seas. Marion and Prince Edward, which were visited and partly explored by Mr. Buchanan, of the Chal/enger Expedition, consist of old plutonic formations, such as feldspar basalts and much more recent black and other lavas. Heard, discovered in 1853 by the American captain Heard and also visited by the Challenger, is largely covered with a black volcanic sand formed of grains of mag- netite and augite. Elsewhere occur more recent lava forma- tions, which show no trace of the erosive action exercised by the sands on the older rocks. All the specimens collected here belong mainly to the group of feldspar basalts. —On the presence in Belgium of Bothriocephalus latus, Bremser, by Edouard van Beneden. A few recent instances are recorded of the presence in Belgium of this human parasite, which is common enough in Holland.—Experimental researches on the influence of mag- netism on the phenomenon of polarisation in dielectrics, by Edmond van Aubel. In this second communication the author gives the result of fresh experiments, showing how, by means of a specially-constructed electro-magnet, the electric field which interfered with previous researches may be completely eliminated, while preserving an intense magnetic field. The electro-magnet here described may also be used in ordinary physical experi- ments, wherever it is necessary to ascertain whether the phe- nomena observed with the Ruhmkorff and other electro-magnets are due to magnetism and not to the electric field or to the heat of the current traversing the bobbins, SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES PARIS Academy of Sciences, November 2.—M. Jurien de la Graviere, President, in the chair.—Fresh communication on rabies, by M. Louis Pasteur. (For summary of this report, see p- 30).—Note on the unequal flow of gases, by M. Haton de la Goupillicre. Having, in previous papers, given a complete analytical solution of the various problems connected with this subject, the author here determines the true character of his formulas in their relation to experimental applications,——Re- marks on M. Fontaine’s report concerning his experiments on the transport of power by electricity, by M. Marcel Deprez. It is pointed out that M. Fontaine’s method, which replaces the generator and receiver by a series of machines coupled together in sufficient number to produce the desired effect, so far from being based on any new principle, is the same as that proposed by all electricians who have sought to obtain high tensions without having recourse to the construction of the special machines first suggested by the author. The means employed by M. Fontaine to control simultaneously the four series of generators is also stated greatly to resemble that described in a patent taken out on April 28, 1885, by M. Deprez.—Experimental researches connected with the cerebral functions, by M. Brown-Sequard. These researches have been undertaken in order to show how varied and numerous are the purely dynamic effects proceeding from influences exercised on the encephalon by the sensitive nerves, and on the motor nerves by the nervous centres. Ex- periments carried on for seven or eight years lead to the general conclusion that all the motor nerves, and nearly all the excitable parts of the nervous centres, may have their excitability greatly modified, even under the influence of remote and slight irrita- tions of the greater part of the nervous system.—On the atomic weight of the oxide of gadolinium, by M. A. E. Nordenskjold. This compound is not a simple oxide, but consists of the three closely-related oxides of yttrium, erbium, and ytterbium, all with very different atomic weights. Nevertheless, even when derived from quite different minerals occurring in localities far removed from each other, it is here shown to possess a constant atomic weight. On the other hand, this substance is not a true chemical combination, but an isomorphous mixture, thus presenting a new phenomenon in chemistry and min- eralogy. It is the only known instance of three isomorph- ous substances of the class which must still be regarded as 48 elements that are found in Nature not only always together, but always together in like proportions. —On a new function of the otocysts in the invertebrates, by M. Yves Delage. A long series of researches recently conducted at the laboratory of Roscoff leads to the conclusions that these organs, occurring chiefly in the higher crustaceans and mollusks, serve not only as organs of hearing, but also, and perhaps mainly, as organs of locomotion, thus corresponding to the labyrinth of higher animals.—On Gymnodinium polyphemus, P., by M. Pouchet. Although hitherto regarded as a member of the vegetable kingdom, this organism presents the remarkable peculiarity of possessing an organ of vision of a somewhat com- plicated type. It is a headless Peridinian, occurring on the French coast, and, like all Peridinians, feeds on vegetables by endosmotic absorption. The eye, which always occupies a uniform position, is formed of two parts—a true crystalline and a true choroid—and its real character cannot be mistaken, resem- bling, as it does, in the most striking manner, the eyes of certain worms and Turbellarize.—Saturation of selenious acid by the bases, and acidimetric analysis of this acid, by M. Ch, Blarez.—On the heat of neutralisation of the homologous or isomerous monobasic acids, by MM. H. Gal and E. Werner. The heat of neutralisa- tion, already determined by Berthelot and Louguinine for formic, butyric, and some other fatty acids, is here determined, together with the heat of dissolution for others, such as isobutyric, iso- propylacetic, trimethylacetic, caproic, &c.—Synthesis of penta- methylenediamine, of tetramethylenediamine, of piperidine, and of pyrrolidine, by M. A. Ladenburg.—On two new chloruretted derivatives of methylbenzoyl, by M. Henri Gautier. The pro- cess is explained by which the author has obtained a tri- chloruretted and a bichloruretted methylbenzoyl.—A new reac- tion of the chloride of aluminium : syntheses of the fatty series, by M. Alph. Combes. The chloride of aluminium, which has effected so many syntheses in the aromatic series, is here for the first time systematically applied to the production of substances of the fatty series. —Hzematoscopy, a new method of analysing blood, based on the employment of the spectroscope, by M. Henocque. This method, already tested on 200 subjects, com- prises two classes of observations : (1) determination of the quantity of oxyhzemoglobin, or active colouring-matter of the blood, by means of instruments here figured, and named ‘‘hemato- scopes” and ‘‘hzematospectroscopes”; (2) duration of the reduction of the oxyhemoglobin estimated by spectroscopic examination.—Fresh remarks on the stem of Poroxylon, a fossil Gymnosperm of the Carboniferous epoch, by MM. C. Eg. Bertrand and B, Renault. By comparing together homologous sections of stems of the same order but of different periods, the authors have succeeded in determining the variations introduced by time into the normal stem of this plant.—On a fundamental condition of equilibrium for the living cells of plants, by M. Léo Errera.—Petrographic study of a carboniferous diabase from the neighbourhood of Dumbarton, by M. A. Lacroix. The rock here under consideration, a vertical greenish stratum traversing the old red sandstone, presents an opportunity of studying in a small space the various structural forms which a volcanic rock may assume under the influence of a progressive cooling process. —The dislocations of the globe during recent periods, their lines of fracture, and the conformation of the continents, by M. Jourdy.—On the unity of forces in geology (continued), by M. H. Hermite. It is argued that simple oscillations of sea- level, produced by meteorological causes, would suffice, with- out having recourse to internal agencies, to explain the apparent oscillations of the land in relation to latitude, which are character- istic of the Quaternary epoch.—On the pathologic physiology of the supra-renal capsules, by M. Guido Tizzoni.—On the con- tractions determined by the currents of polarisation of the living tissues, by MM. Onimus and Larat. The experiments here described place beyond doubt the existence and energy of the currents of polarisation in our tissues, thus exposing the errors of the fundamental experiments carried out by Du Bois-Raymond and most German physiologists.—Note on a remarkable sub- stance collected at Luchon on July 28, 1885, after the fall of a thunderbolt, by M. Stanislas Meunier. STOCKHOLM Academy of Sciences, October 14.—Contributions to the anatomy and histology of the limnivore Annelids, by Dr. A. Wiren.—On the electric nature of drift-snow, by Prof. A. Holmgren,—On the work and activity of the Ornithological NATURE [Vov. 11, 1886 Committee of the Academy for studying birds of passage, &c., by Prof. F. A. Smitt.—On new acquisitions to the Botanical Garden of the Bergian donation, by Prof. V. Wittrock.—On the lichens of the islands of the west coast of Sweden, by Dr. P. Hellborn.—Contributions to the anatomy of the Marcgravia- cee, by Hr. H. O. Juel.—Studies of the influence of woods and forests on the climate of Sweden, by Dr. Hamberg.—On remains of Dryasoctopetala, L., in calcareous tuff near Vad- stena, by Prof. A. G. Nathorst.—On combinations of phenyl- methyl-triazol, by Hr. J. A. Bladin.—On the orbit of the comet 1877, VII., by Dr. R. Larsén.—Demonstration of the propo- sition that the complete integral of differential equations of the nth order contains 7 arbitrary constants, by Dr, G. Enestrom. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED Chemical Arithmetic, 2nd edition: S. Lupton (Macmillan),—Charter, By-Laws, and List of Members of the Institution of Civil Engineers (25, Great George Street).—Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vols. Ixxxiii. to Ixxxvi (25. Great George Street).—Lectures and Essays, 2nd edition: W. K. Clifford (Macmillan).—The Rotifera or Wheel Animalcules. part 6: C. T. Hudson and P. H. Gosse (Longmans) — Calendar of University College of North Wales, 1886-87 (Cornish, Man- chester).—Persia as it is: Dr. C. J. Wills (S. Low).—High Life and Towers of Silence: Mrs. Fred Burnaby (S. Low).—Smithsonian Report, 1884, part 2 (Washington),.—Proceedings of the U.S. National Museum, vol. viii., 1885 (Washington).—Practical Dynamo-Building: F. W. Walker (liffe and Son).—Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, October (J. Murray).—Rendiconto dell’ Accad. delle Scienze Fisiche e Matematiche, anno xxii., xxiil., xxiv., 1883-84-85; anno xxv., fasc. 1, 2, 3 (Napoli.)— Nature Musings on Holy-days and Holidays: Rev. N. Curnock (Wool- mer).—Commercial Organic Analysis, vol. ii.: A. H. Allen (Churchill). —A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics: G. S. Carr (Hodgson).—Our Temperaments: A. Stewart (Lockwood).—The Coming Deluge of Russian Petroleum: C. Marvin (Anderson). — Methods of Analysis of Commercial Fertilisers (Washingion).—Publications of the Leander McCormick Observatory of the University of Virginia, vol. i., part 3, Nebula of Orion, 188s. CONTENTS PAGE Letters and Journals of W. Stanley Jevons ... 25 General Pathology, fags) ees eee ee PlaneGeometryaeaenene cy tie 27 Our Book Shelf :— ““ American Journal of Mathematics” ....... 28 Casey’s ‘Sequel to the First Six Books of the Ele- ments) of, Euclid 7cypeee ey ceil elie a iate nn Lilley’s ‘‘ Geometrical Drawing for Army Candidates” 28 Letters to the Editor :— The Enormous Loss from Ox-Warble.—Dr. John Wrightson 4. 206. ec. e i Be ee ‘Lung Sick-7—E. J) Dungate: cn. uc us) lee eee The Beetle in Motion,—C.J.G. ... 5... 4.) 20 Meteors.—Rev. John Hoskyns-Abrahall; E. Parry 29 Influence of Wind on Barometric-Readings. By Prof, (Cleveland 7Aipbe!- sss -iur-icil-iisiio mci nee M. Pasteur’s) Treatment of Rabies); © 3 =) .)...30 Report on the Charleston Earthquake. By Prof. T. C. Mendenhall. (Witha Map)........ The Similarities of the Physical Geography of the Great Oceans. By J. Y. Buchanan . . ... .. 933 Notes. oo ago's, Shee done tts eee oe) ec Our Astronomical Column :— Stellar Photography at Harvard College... ... 37 Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 November 142200) ee ee OSs Sz) The Erosion of the English Coasts. By W. Topley 37 Observations on Heredity in Cats with an Abnormal Number of Toes. By Edward B. Poulton, (///us- i) eons cin oo Oo Oia oo a a 6 - ae) Lighthouse Iiluminants, I. By A. Vernon Har- court, F.R.S. 3 Gh sie Nerney mente Bon aa ene The Lumbar Curve in Manand Apes....... 46 Scientific Serialsia.) eee ics be epee Societies and Academies) 1/2) -) 4) -) s)he] Books and Pamphlets Received. . . NATURE 49 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1886 THE ZOOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE “CHALLENGER” EXPEDITION Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of H.M.S.. “ Challenger” during the Years 1873-76 under the Com- mand of Capt. G. S. Nares, R.N., F.R.S., and Capt. F. T, Thomson, R.N. Prepared under the Superintendence of the late Sir C. Wyville Thomson, F.R.S., &c , and now of John Murray, one of the Naturalists of the Expe- dition. Zoology—Vols. XV. and XVI. (Published by Order of Her Majesty’s Government, 1886.) OLUME XY\V. contains three Reports on the uni- valve Mollusca collected. The first is a short Report, by Dr. Rudolph Berg, on the Marseniadze. This family has slowly gathered round the Helix perspicua of Linneus and the Bud/a latens of O. F. Miller. These species are found in all seas. The shell is either altogether enveloped in the mantle or is very partially exposed, always either calcareous or horny. Six genera are re- cognised, with 33 species, 11 of which are described and figured as new. The great bulk of the volume is taken up with the Report, by the Rev. R. Boog Watson, on the Scaphopoda and Gasteropoda. This laborious memoir occupies over 750 pages, and is illustrated by an atlas of fifty plates. Some 1300 species, new and old, were recognised among the mass collected, and there were some 400 indistinguishable forms. In a short appendix, the Marquis de Folin de- scribes and figures the Cecide. The classification adopted, “for want of a better,” is that of the Messrs. Adams. The more important of the general conclusions based on the examination of the facts attending the habitat of all the distinguished forms are as follows :— (1) Depth is an important condition in connection with Molluscan life ; (2) but temperature is even a more im- portant condition than depth; (3) great differences in either depth or temperature prove barriers to distribu- tion ; (4) where these do not exist, there would seem to be no limit to universality of distribution ; (5) there are without doubt such universally distributed forms. The author sees no evidence in the oldest or most widely dis- tributed species of any essential, lasting, and progressive change. The last Report is on the Polyplacophora, by Prof. A.C. Haddon. The number of Chitons collected was, considering the frequency and wide distribution of the group, surprisingly small. Almost the only shore-collect- ing done during the cruise was on or near coral-reefs, and Chitons would seem to be rare in such places. The really deep-sea forms belong to Leptochiton, of which 4 species were found, and 2 are new. These species were taken at depths of from 60 to 2300 fathoms. Three plates accompany this Report : two are from drawings by the author, and the third, a coloured plate, gives the por- traits of the new species by T. H. Thomas. Volume XVI. contains the four following Reports ;— (1) On the Cephalopoda, by W. Evans Hoyle, M.A. Oxon., Naturalist on the Editorial Staff. In a preface to this valuable Report, the author acknowledges the kindly and generous assistance which he received in its execution VoL. XXXV.—NO., 890 from Prof. Steenstrup, of Copenhagen, whose knowledge of the Cephalopods is immense, and the collection under his charge is unrivalled. This Report is almost exclu- sively systematic in its scope, but we are promised a supplement with anatomical details. It commences with a provisional synopsis of recent Cephalopods, which will certainly be of immense value to all workers. While it is true that no systematic treatment of the class can for some time to come be other than provisional, yet the author seems to have taken the greatest pains that his shall be as natural as possible,and until we haveanearly complete knowledge of the life-history of all the forms, more will not be attainable. This list contains 388 species referred to 68 genera. It would have been, we think, an improve- ment if all those collected during the Expedition had been in this list distinguished by some special mark, as well as having the recorded habitats for each given. Of the 72 species found, some 32 are described as new, and for these 4 new genera and 1 family had to be esta- blished. Out of the 388 species, some 60 or 70 had been so badly described as not to be recognisable, but of some of these no doubt the types still remain. Of the new species, none pertain to those great monster cuttles— source of many a battle. The exceedingly interesting genus Cirroteuthis is enriched with three species—one, C. magna, being the giant of the group, and measuring 1155 millimetres in length. The type species of this genus (C. miller?, Esch.) was the only one known until 1883, when a second species was described by Fischer, and now (1885) five new species have been described by Hoyle and Verrill. The balance of the evidence seems to be in favour of all the species being deep-sea forms, though at present there are great difficulties in the way of settling the question. A new genus, Amphitretus, is established for a form in which the mantle is fused with the siphon in the median line, so that there are two openings into the branchial sac. This is a quite unique feature among Cephalopods. The species 4. pelagicus was taken near the Kermadic Islands. It seems strange that but one specimen of Argonauta argo was found, for this and other species are not very rare. Of the genus Octopus, 20 species are enumerated, of which 11 are described as new. The one specimen of Sfzvuwla peroniz, found living off Banda, is referred to, but Prof. Huxley is preparing a report on its anatomy. To the already large genus, Sepia, large additions were made, and it is interesting to note that all of the 10 new species were found between Port Jackson (Australia) and Japan. The shell, or sepio- staire, was found to present differential characters in the species, and a series of new terms has been adopted to- describe its various parts. The suckers also seem to offer characters of specific importance, and so possibly will the hectocotylised arms when sufficiently known. Two species of Steenstrup’s genus Taonius are recorded, one, T. hyperboreus, the common North Atlantic form, and the second the 7; (Procalistes) suhmt of Lankester. Willemoes- Suhm had taken it for a Clionid Pteropod. Lankester described it as a new genus ; but the author regards it as but a species of Taonius, and with this Prof. Steenstrup agrees, though he thinks that the specimens found may appertain to two species. As in the case of the Argonaut so in that of the Paper Nautilus but a single specimen was found, and that off Mataku, Fiji Islands. A most D important means of obtaining specimens seems to have been by the examination of the stomachs of birds, fish, and Cetacea. These creatures seem to be much more satisfactory collectors than the tow-net, in which, though it was so constantly in use, few Cephalopods were taken. Possibly the immense activity of the cuttlefish will account for this. An atlas of thirty-three plates accompanies this Report. (2) On the Stomatopoda, by W. K. Brooks, Johns Hopkins University. These Crustacea are in their adult forms inhabitants of shallow water. The collection brought home was but small, and contained no startling novelties, so that at first the author was somewhat disappointed ; but this feeling turned to delight when he discovered that the material furnished some excellent opportunities for tracing out, and that with great com- pleteness, the phylogeny and ontogeny of this little order. This order includes about 60 adult species and a vast number of tropical larva. The Challenger collection of adult forms consisted of only 15 species, 8 of these new, while 2 others had been, to this, very inadequately described ; but the collection of pelagic larval Stomato- pods was peculiarly rich, and in Mr. Brooks’s hands it has yielded the material for tracing the history of several of the larval types, and also, more remarkable still, for establishing in every genus except one the connection between the adults and their larval types. The larval history of these Stomatopods has been one of the most puzzling problems in morphology, and the very admir- able researches of Claus had been the only guide. Though often in error, Mr. Brooks confesses that without Claus’s memoir to guide him his own Jabours must have failed. Unlike most Malacostraca, the Stomatopods, instead of carrying their developing eggs about with them, deposit them in their deep and out-of-the-way burrows under the water. They are thus most difficult to procure, and so difficult to rear that probably not a single instance of a young Stomatopod being reared from the egg is known, The growth of the larvz is slow, and the larval life long, and, as they are as independent and as much exposed to changes in their environment and to the struggle for existence as the adults, it has come to pass that they as larve have undergone countless modifications which have no reference to the life of the adult, and are therefore un- represented in the adult organism, in which the larve 50 NATURE differ zz¢er se more than the adults do, thus reversing the | generalrule. The history of each larval type has thus to be traced by the selection and comparison of those larvze which belong to the series, and in doing this the author was partly guided by general resemblances and partly by a series of comparative measurements. The differences between the genera are slight, and all can be grouped into a single family, Squillide. In the description of Lyszo- sguilla excavatrix we have a very interesting account of its habits. The Report concludes with an elaborate account of the various larval forms and their adult con- nections. Sixteen plates accompany the Report. (3) On the Reef Corals, by John J. Quelch, B.Sc. Lond. The author apologises for this Report of just 200 pages being so short, as he was limited both as to time and space. A careful perusal of the memoir inclines us to the opinion that no such apology is needed. Without being a monograph, the Report forms a most important | distributional areas of the reef corals is known. _has been fairly worked out. | Astraeids, and absent in some Rugosa. [Vov. 18, 1886 contribution to our knowledge, and this not only of the distribution of the reef corals, but also, in many instances, of their structure. The term reef coral is undoubtedly vague, but the forms described in this report belong almost entirely to the Reef Madrepores, descriptions of some few species of Millepores being added. The col- lection made contained representatives of 293 species referable to 69 genera, and many of the species were represented by series of specimens often presenting a considerable degree of variation. As a proof of how little known are the corals of the Pacific and Indo-Pacific Islands, it may be mentioned that 71 of the new species were found in these regions, while but 2 were from the Atlantic. No attempt has been made to describe the soft parts of the specimens. Special attention is directed to the fact that the descriptions of species apply to speci- mens in which the calycles are perfect ; in most museum specimens these are generally to be found greatly iniured, and then it is often impossible to distinguish between closely-related forms. In the treatment of the distribution of these corals, lists are given of the species obtained at each locality, together with lists of the new species, and of old species recorded from the stations for the first time. While the classification adopted is on the main based on that of Milne-Edwards and Haime, a rather startling novelty in arrangement is the merging of the Madreporia Rugosa with the section of Madreporia Aporosa. The detailed reasons for this are given on pp. 40-43 ; and as a result the author considers that there is not a single characteristic of the old group Rugosa which will essentially separate forms usually included under it from the more typical Astreids. Thus in many Astraids the septa present are not multiples of six, while in some typical Cyathophyllide the septa are simply radially arranged, without any indication whatever of a tetrameral type. Again, the presence of a fossula is scarcely even of generic value ; and as to the presence in the adult rugose coral of but two sizes of septa, this phe- nomenon is not always present in the species, and is to be met with in some typical Astrzids ; while as to the tabula, which are no doubt very characteristic of the Rugosa as a group, still even these are present in some Ina striking new Madrepore, JJoseleya latistellata, the characters are toa marked degree intermediate. There is yet a great deal of work to be done ere the Probably the coral fauna of no district, unless that of the Red Sea, It was in the nature of things that the cruise of the Chad/enger could not, from the shortness of its sojourn at any one coral district, do much in this direction. Still some few facts of great interest have been brought to light, one of the most remarkable being the occurrence of an undoubted reef-building species, A/anicina areolata, in Simon’s Bay, between lat. 34° and 35° S., at a depth of from 10 to 20 fathoms, and at a temperature of 65° F., and this is all the more peculiar, as this coral is a well-known West Indian reef- building form. Another coral, Cladocera arbuscula, was also found at Simon’s Bay, though a West Indian species. Notes and descriptions of eight species of Millepora are given in an appendix. One new species is called after Mr. Murray, being the one on which he saw the | Nov. 18, 1886] NATURE 51 living zooids of this remarkable group of Hydroids. It was J. nodosa, occurring at Tahiti, that afforded Prof. Moseley the material for his brilliant confirmation of the observations of L. Agassiz. Twelve plates, the figures on which are beautifully executed by Mr. H. Gawan, accompany this Report. The concluding Report in this volume is by Prof. Sir William Turner, being on the Human Crania, &c., collected during the cruise. This forms Part 2, being on the bones of the skeleton, and is an Essay on the Com- parative Osteology of those Races of Men whose bones are described in the Report, for it incorporates the study not only of the material collected during the cruise of the Challenger, but that brought together by the authors’ eminent predecessors in the Chair of Anatomy in the University of Edinburgh. Just a century ago Camper pointed out some of the differences existing between the pelvis of a Negro anda European, and since then a vast amount of information on the subject has been accumulated, and so far as the races described in this Report are concerned, it has been exhaustively treated by Sir W. Turner. He classifies the pelvis into three groups: dolichopellic, with a brim index above 95 ; mesatipellic, with a brim index from 90 to 95; and platypellic, with index below 90. As to the race and age characters of the pelvis, the details, however inter- esting, are too technical to be abstracted. In reference to the question of how far the mode of life may act as modifying the transverse diameter of the pelvic brim, we may add that the expression “to sit on one’s hunkers,” would be readily understood in the North of Ireland, where it is an attitude strictly forbidden to young people. In the section treating of the spinal column, the subjects of peculiarities of individual vertebrae and the lumbar curve are investigated; and in another section the scapula, inferior and superior extremities, are exa- mined. In a concluding section we have a general sum- mary, and an appendix to the first part of the memoir on the “ Human Crania,” in which some additional details are given of some crania from Australia, the Sandwich Islands, New Guinea, and Fuegia. An index to both parts also accompanies this Report, which is illustrated by three plates of the pelves of different races. The greater portion of the manuscript of these two large volumes was handed to the editor between July 1885 and July 1886, and the editor is to be congratulated on the successful manner in which this immense amount of scientific matter has been seen through the press. ELEMENTARY DYNAMICS Lessoms in Elementary Dynamics. Arranged by H. G. Madan, M.A., Assistant Master in Eton College, Pp. 180. (Edinburgh; W. and R. Chambers, 1886.) | ay this little book the author has provided teachers of elementary mechanics with a rich storehouse of ma- terials for experimental demonstrations, although the work is not quite satisfactory in some other respects, His endeavour has been to explain some of the pro- perties of matter, Newton’s laws of motion, and the modern conceptions of energy and work, in sucha manner as involves only the most elementary knowledge of mathematics. are dispensed with, and nothing assumed beyond a knowledge of arithmetic and a little easy geometry. There is a successful attempt made to arouse a real interest in the subject by continual reference to pheno- mena of every-day life, and especially by illustrations drawn from the ‘sports and games of the pupils. In some cases detailed instructions are given for per- forming the experiments. These are valuable, and similar aid might with advantage be provided in many other instances, The author is of opinion that mechanics ought to have the first place in a boy’s scientific education. This posi- tion would be strengthened, if some series of simple ex- periments, to be performed by the pupils themselves, were provided, and regarded as essential. Some expressions, such as “above,” “ below,” “on the same level,” which are usually left undefined, have their exact scientific meaning pointed out. On the other hand, there is occasionally looseness and _ con- fusion in the use of technical terms. For example, in Section 103 we read: “ Momentum is the term used to express the foyvce with which anything is moving.” In Section 159 we have the accurate statement that, by find- ing the momentum of a body, we learn what z7zfz/se has been applied to it: here the accepted expression for the time-integral of a force is used, but we do not notice any definition of the word “impulse”; and the exposition of the second law of motion appears vague in consequence. Similarly, the forvce exerted in throwing a cricket-ball is spoken of in Section 156, where the time-integral of the force is in question. Section 302 is devoted to the “exact valuation of the energy in a moving body,” and the usual expression— energy = (mass X velocity*)—is obtained, but by a pro- cess which is at least startling. Witness these state- ments :—“If the work could be done 27 an zustant, the energy would be exactly expressed by the product of the mass X velocity? ;” and again, “The whole amount of work which a moving body can do in the time during which its motion is being stopped will correspond to the average or mean amount of energy between that which it has at the beginning of the time and that which it has at the end of the time.” Unde, guo vent ? After the preceding, it is a small matter to refer to Section 311, where this statement occurs: “ The motion of the pendulum is an accelerated motion, and, as in al other uniformly accelerated motions, the spaces de- scribed are as the squares of the times.” Here, of course the reasoning is fallacious; and, although the proof intended is sound, it involves the doctrine of limits, and wants development. It is surely better at this stage of the pupil’s progress to rely on the experiments in Section 312. There is an appendix on the metric system, and, in conclusion, a dozen pages of questions and exercises on the several chapters of the book. A. R. W. OUR BOOK SHELF Food-Grains of India. By A. H. Church, M.A. don: Chapman and Hall, 1886.) A WELL-WRITTEN, well-illustrated, and well-turned-out volume. Its thinness only enhances its elegance. Its (Lon- Thus symbolical reasoning and formule | illustrations, by Mr. G. W. Ruffles, are charming, clear, 52 without hardness, and life-like. The text is interesting, and the number of food-grains described in excess of what most of us were aware existed. Prof. Church com- mences his work by what must have been to him a fami- liar task—describing the chief constituents of food, splitting up the sugars into their groups, and pointing out the differences between true nutrients and food-adjuncts. Part 2 is devoted to dietaries and rations. With Part 3 commences the peculiar merit and va/son @’étre of the work. After some remarks upon cereals generally, the reader is introduced sevzatim to no fewer than twenty-three cereals, the only m2mber of the group conspicuous by its absence being rye—a grain which occupies a very im- portant place in Europe. The presumption is that it does not occur in India, but such a presumption surely presumes too much. Wheat is described as an annual grass of unknown origin, but we scarcely see why this nescience as to the origin of wheat should be especially set forth. Are we to infer that barley, oats, maize, rice, the millets, &c., are annual grasses of known origin? If so, would that the Professor had devoted a few lines in each case to this particular point! The origin of our food- grains is a deeply interesting subject, veiled, we are afraid, for the most part in mist, and only conjecturally outlined. The author disclaims any special originality, and duly credits the works of Dr. Forbes Watson, and Messrs. Duthie and Fuller, as well as other authors, as sources from which he has industriously gathered information. Messrs. Duthie and Fuller’s work, however, dealt but little with the chemistry or physiology of the plants they described, and they treated more exclusively of the culti- vation of the various crops. The interest of Prof. Church’s book lies in the illustrations, which are super-excellent ; in the analyses, many of which were made in the author's own labora- tory ; in fixing the nutrient-ratio and nutrient-value of so many foods ; and, lastly, in the comprehensive view given of Indian cereal and other crops. The Indian local names and Sanskrit equivalents are also interesting. These are taken by our author on trust, but all or many of them also occur in Mr. Duthie’s book, which would be a guarantee of their correctness. JOHN WRIGHTSON Tobacco a Farmer's Crop. By Philip Meadows Taylor. (London : Edward Stanford, 1886.) THIS is a small book of seventy pages. The first half is occupied by pleasant matter relating to the history of tobacco in Europe not strictly or seriously relevant to the title. The latter half redeems the whole from the stigma of being unpractical. An in- teresting account is given of the despotic regulations of the “Régie des Tabacs,” a Government Department which grants licenses for growing, manufacturing, and selling tobacco throughout France, and whose powers extend to the nomination of the cultivators, the variety of tobacco to be grown, the number of plants per hectare, and even the number of leaves permitted per plant, so that the unfortunate cultivator may and must give a per- fectly accurate account of his yield down to a single leaf. The methods of cultivation followed in France are described plainly and apparently practically. The im- portant question as to whether tobacco can be grown profitably in England is answered unhesitatingly in the affirmative, and a sensible scheme is propounded. for bringing its culture into harmony with the Excise. The coldness exhibited by our Royal Agricultural Society towards the tobacco movement last April is strongly anim- adverted upon. As to our climate, Mr. Taylor writes as follows :—“ It is stated to be too cold, too damp, too uncertain in England to allow of the introduction of the proposed culture. I cannot conceive or allow that there can exist any sensible difference between the climate of the southern counties of England and that of Picardy NATURE [Vov. 18, 1886 and Flanders. I do not take notice of Prussia and even Russia, where tobacco is grown. I believe that the general climate in Southern England is more genial than in the countries across the Channel, and I feel confident that in the said southern counties of England and in Ire- land tobacco could be advantageously grown. I recall my former statement that the plant is only on the ground from June to September: cold winters, early frosts, and November fogs have naught to do with the question.” The author does not appear to take into account the comparative coolness of the summer months in England, which has always prevented the successful growth of maize, vines, and probably tobacco also. This very readable little book, with its unstudied side-lights upon French rural life, and its pleasant style, may be recom- mended without any hesitation to the reading public. JoHN WRIGHTSON Marion's Practical Guide to Photography. (London : Marion and Co., 1886.) HERE we have a very good book, which contains all necessary information and useful hints for those who are practising the art of photography. The whole process is gone through in a very clear and easy way. Extra chap- ters are given on different parts of the subject, such as photographic optics, re-touching, portraiture, &c. On p. 95 atable of exposures is added, preceded by explana- tions, taking into consideration all the variations of scenes and subjects which the amateur is likely to come across. The manufacturers deserve great credit for publishing a book in which the best way of using their apparatus is described ; a book published under such conditions ought to be truly practical, and one would think that the manufacturer of bad apparatus would not be too anxious to teach his customers how to find it out. Lecture Notes and Problems on Sound, Light, and Heat. By Charles Bird, B.A., F.G.S. (London: Relfe Bros., 1886.) For students who are attending lectures on these sub- jects this book will be very useful, as it contains the chief fundamental formule, set out ina very clear manner, and it is very compact, capable of being put into one’s pocket without inconvenience. Licycles and Tricycles for the Year 1886. By H. H. Griffin, London Athletic Club. (London: L. Upcott Gill, 1886.) Now that cycling has become so general, and conse- quently the cycle industry increased so largely, a book on the subject will doubtless be most welcome. We have here one which gives a good description, and in many cases a woodcut, of every known make, with the exception, perhaps, of one or two very new patterns which have been introduced very recently. We need not enter into the details from the scientific point of view, as they have been previously described (NATURE, vol. Xxxill. p. 132). A description of different varieties of bells, lamps, &c., is also given. Great pains seem to have been taken by the author to bring the book up to | date, and to give an accurate account ; each machine, as he tells us, having been examined by himself. LETTERS TO LHE EDIDOR: [Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- scripts, No notice is taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space 1s so great that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts.) Extension of the Corona In reference to the failure of observers at the late eclipse to | note any such extension of the corona as was seen in 1878, I LVov. 18, 1886] desire to add my testimony to Mr. Common’s opinion (NATURE, vol. xxxiv. p. 470), that the conditions of the sky must have been wholly different ; ’and where the visibility of the corona is in question, the atmospheric diffusion is all-important. We have a most trustworthy criterion of the amount of diffused sky light in the visibility of the moon’s limb outside the sun on the coronal background. This appears not to have been observed at all last August, and it may be useful to recall what it looked like under certain almost ideal conditions, which are not likely to recur. On July 29, 1878, I observed it in the remarkably clear air of Colorado, and at an altitude of over 14,000 feet, on Pike’s Peak, and have a vivid recollection of its appearance then. After totality, and while writing my notes, I heard a call from some bystander of ‘* Look at the moon!” and glancing up from the paper (with an eye which could not have been in a sensitive condition), saw the moon’s limb outside the sun, most con- spicuously defined by a band of pearly light, which faded out- ward, but whose visible width can be estimated from the fact that though I went on intermittently with my notes, and took no other precaution to shield the eye than keeping it in the shadow cast by my telescope stand, the limb continued in my view under these unfavourable circumstances for four minutes and twelve seconds after totality was over. A similar duration was recorded by Gen. Myer, the Chief Signal Officer of the United States, who observed near me; and others at a lower altitude certified to having observed it over three minutes. Something is due to the increased sensitiveness of the eye after the darkness, but there is no doubt that, with even the slight rest of the retina which totality afforded, the phenomenon was such a salient one as to force itself on the attention of those not regarding it. This is for a very exceptionally pure sky, of course ; but if, as is stated, observers specially seeking it could not even see the limb a little outside the sun (where the corona is brightest) last August, it seems clear that no conclusions as to its non-visibility under any ordinary means are to be drawn from negative evidence of such a kind. S. P. LANGLEY Allegheny Observatory, Allegheny, Pennyslvania The Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice Age IN your issue of November 4 (p. 7), my friend Mr. W. H. S. Monck asks one or two questions relative to the paper on ‘‘ The Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice Age” which you did me the honour to reprint. I take as a convenient unit the mean daily sun heat on one hemisphere. The amount of this unit is indicated by the fact that it continuously maintains the earth’s temperature some 300° more or less above what it would be were the sun’s heat with- drawn. The calculations I gave showed that in the glacial winter the mean daily receipt of heat sunk to 68 of a unit, while in the brief glacial summer the mean daily receipt was 1°38 unit. Considering the magnitude of the unit, it is obvious that fluctuations like this must correspond to vast climatic changes of the kind postulated in the Ice age. Here it seems to me lies the great originating cause of the Ice age, and to dwell on the minor phenomena merely obscures the real point. If it be said that no great climatic change takes place because the total sun heat in the year remains the same, then I remark, as I did at the Royal Institution, that on this principle it would be the same thing to give a horse 15 Ibs. of oats a day for six months and 5 Ibs. a day for the other six montlis as to give him To Ibs. of oats a day all the year round. RopertT S. BALL The Observatory, co. Dublin, November 11 P.S.—I take this opportunity of correcting a misprint in my paper as given in NATURE (vol. xxxiv. p. 608). The maxi- mum number of days’ difference between summer and winter is 465 x eccentricity. ‘ Abnormality in Cats’ Paws AMONG the many interesting features suggested by the genea- logical table in last week’s NATURE (p. 40), showing the persist- ence of abnormality in the number of toes ona cat’s paw, there is one the significance of which seems not to have occurred to, or to have been passed over by, Mr. Edward Poulton. The pecu- liarity I refer to is the larger percentage of abnormality among the female offspring than among the male. Taking ‘‘ Tabby NATURE 5 Bi o V.” as a starting-point, and leaving out one avnormal kitten of which the sex was unnoted, as well as the families of which no particulars are given, the coral number of descendants in the table is 36, of which 12 are males and 24 females. Of the 12 males, 5 are normal and 7 abnormal, or 413 and 581 per cent. respectively ; and among the 24 females 7 are normal and 17 abnormal, or 29% and 70% per cent. respectively. Or, to put it in another way, among the 12 normal kittens 5 are males, 7 are females, or 413 and 58} per cent. respectively, instead of 334 and 663 per cent. as it should be; and among the abnormals 7 are males and 17 females, or 29} and 702 per cent. instead of 334 and 663. This would seem to indicate either (1) that there is a greater tendency among the male offspring than among the female to revert to the normal condition, or (2) that there is a tendency among the offspring to inherit rather the peculiarities of the parent of their own sex—the male parent in all cases in the table being assumed to be normal. If rather, probably the former, though the latter could easily be tested by a similar set of observations with cats, the male parent of which was abnor- mal, the mothers being in each case normal. J. Herbert Hopp Hatton Garden, London, E.C., November 15 Abnormalities in the Vertebral Column of the Common Frog IN preparing skeletons of the frog, my students came across the following abnormalities in the vertebral column, a record of which may be not without interest :— (1) In a large Rana temporaria, the centrum of the eighth vertebra, instead of being biconcave (amphiccelous), is concavo- convex (proccelous), like that of the preceding vertebra. This abnormality I have observed before. (2) Ina medium-sized Rana temporaria, the eighth and ninth vertebrae are both abnormal. The ninth vertebra has well- developed only one transverse process (the right) for articulation with the ilium. The other (the left) is quite small and ill- shapen ; there is is no anterior zygapophysis on this side. The centrum is anteriorly convex on the right side and concave on the left side. Posteriorly, there is on the right side a convex articular surface for the urostyle ; but on the left side the arti- cular surface is ill-developed and irregular. In the eighth ver- tebra, the left transverse process is abnormally large and strong, has a marked backward direction, and has taken on itself the sacral function on this side, articulating with the ilium. The right transverse process is nearly, but not quite normal. There is a right, but no left, posterior zygapophysis. The anterior end of the centrum is normally concave ; but the posterior end is convex on the left side and concave on the right side. The urostyle and the ilia are slightly modified in accordance with the abnormalities of the vertebre. C. Lroyp MorGAN University College, Bristol Influence of Wind on Barometric Readings ALLow me a few words of supplement to Prof. Abbe’s useful letter in NATURE of November II, p. 29. Sir H. James’s paper is perhaps better known on this side of the Atlantic than Prof. Abbe thinks; but there undoubtedly is too great a tendency to rush into print without previously reading up what has been done. The great bibliographical work which the Signal Office has in hand will do more to check this evil than anything which could be suggested, and hence its enormous importance. As regards the application of suction to anemometers, no reference is made to that of Bourdon,! of which my friend Dr. Fines was recently kind enough to show me a very fine specimen at work at his observatory at Perpignan. The Cowl Committee of the Sanitary Institute, far from being (as has been imagined) asleep or dead, has been very hard at work, and will in a few months report the result. I sincerely hope that Lord Rayleigh will accede to Prof. Abbe’s suggestion, but in the interim I append the report of Lord Rayleigh’s Southampton paper which appeared in the Meteorological Mazazine for October 1882, p. 130 :-— “**On the Effect of Wind on the Draught of Chimneys,’ by Prof. Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. ¥ See also Laughton, “‘ Historical Sketch of Anemometry,” Quart. Fourn- Roy. Met. Soc. vol. viii. (1882), p. 177. 54 ‘©The author said that the draught diminished as the direction of the wind was more and more downwards, but did not go backwards until the inclination amounted to about 30°. The maximum up-draught would occur, not, as was often sup- posed, with a direction of wind vertically upwards, but with one ‘making an angle of about 30° with the vertical. A chimney with a T-piece at the top never produced an unfavourable effect on the up draught, and only in one case failed to produce a favourable one. With a T-piece to which was affixed vertical ends, every wind met with would have a favourable effect, and no wind known would have an unfavourable effect. “¢ Prof. De Chaumont thought that vertical ends increase the resistance of the up-draught, and described a chimney with a lamp-shade-like top and conical cap, with which it was im- possible to get a down-draught.” G. J. SyMons, 62, Camden Square, N.W. Registrar Sanitary Institute Barnard’s Comet I WONDER that more has not been written about Barnard’s comet (/ 1886). On the gth, at 17h. 5om., in spite of the strong twilight, it was plain with the naked eye asa star. I did not notice its exact brightness, but it was perhaps equal to p Virginis. With the telescope its head was about 8’ diameter, and it had two faint tails at about position-angles 250° and 300”. The former, which was the brighter at its origin, was 4° long, and was straight ; the latter I believe was curved, and was 14° long. T. W. BACKHOUSE Sunderland, November I1 Aurora Last evening (November 2), between the hours of seven and eight o’clock, a bright anrora was visible in this vicinity. At intervals later in the evening, patches of cirrus clouds in the northern sky became luminous. The disturbance of the sus- pended magnet was at its height early in the evening, when the aurora was brightest. It is interesting to note the fact that this aurora was twenty-six days removed from that of October 7 and 8, corresponding to the time of the revolution of the sun on his axis. It is noteworthy, also, that very near to the time of the appearance of each aurora there was a slight renewal of earth- quake activity in South Carolina and other localities. Lyons, New York, Nove.nber 3 M. A. VEEDER “Lung Sick” Dr. Emit Houus, in writing to me a few months ago from Panda-ma-Tenka, Albert Country, Zambesi, mentions having treated his cattle in a similar manner to that referred to in NatTore of the rith inst. (p. 29). He says :— ‘© Shortly after I started northward from the Vaal, a con- tagious disease broke out among my cattle; there was any amount of sickness among the numerous trains (forty teams a day) going to the Diamond Fields, but I could get no clue to tre lameness of the front legs of my bullocks for a long time. Having shot one, the disea-e proved to be a con- tagious pleuro-pneumonia, similar to the ‘lung sick’ so prevalent in this neighbourhood, affecting hips and shoulder- blades, causing lameness. The lungs were partly destroyed, ‘but the animal had but little cough. I disinfected the whole herd, and vaccinated the healthy as well as the sick. The end of the tail was pierced with a narrow-bladed dagger, and a piece of lung full of virus inserted and then bandaged. The second vaccination effectually prevented the spreading of the disease for the whole journey, even in native locations similar to the Bechuanas, in which we were surrounded with ‘lung-sick’ cattle dying near our encampment.”’ PHILIP J. BUTLER 55, De Beauvoir Road, London, N., November 13 PAUL BERT AUL BERT, who has died at his post as Governor of Tonquin, was born at Auxerre in 1833, graduated Doctor of Medicine in 1863, and Doctor of Science in 1866. Obtaining a professorship in the Faculty of Science at Bordeaux, M. Bert devoted himself especially to physiology, and in 1869 he obtained the Chair of General Physiology in the Faculty of Science at Paris. NATURE [Mov. 18, 1886 He continued here his experiments on the influence of changes of barometric pressure on life, and presented a series of papers on the subject to the Academy of Sciences, which awarded him, in 1875, its great biennial prize of 20,000 francs. He entered political life in 1870, and has all along been known as an advanced Radical. He, however, never lost his interest in science; he did much to promote education in France, and took an active part in the legislative movement which obtained for M. Pasteur an annual pension of 12,000 francs as a national recompense. M. Bert was elected President of the Biological Society in 1878, in succession to Claude Bernard, whose most brilliant pupil he was, and more recently was admitted to the Academy of Sciences. In Gambetta’s Cabinet of 1881 he was Minister of Public Instruction, and a few months ago accepted the post of Governor of Tonquin, where one of his most notable acts was the founding of a Tonquinese Academy. M. Bert’s papers on “ Barometric Pressure” were published as a separate volume in 1877, and his lectures at the Museum of Natural History were in 1869 published under the title of ““Lecons sur la Physiologie Comparée de la Respiration.” He also issued, in 1869-70, “ Notes d’Ana- tomie et de Physiologie Comparées.” For many years he had charge of the scientific department of the Aépublique Francaise. At the sitting of the Academy of Sciences on Monday, the President, M. Jurien de la Graviere, expressed regret that politics had diverted M. Paul Bert from physiology ; and M. Vulpian remarked that his death, though glorious for the country, was a calamity for science, his numerous memoirs having placed him among the first physio- logists of the age. The Academy adjourned in sign of mourning. THE RECENT WEATHER ae the close of a short period of somewhat unusual + weather conditions, it may be worth while to call attention to the more prominent features of those conditions. : Cyclonic systems, some of wide, some of small dimen- sions, have been primarily developed over Western Europe in unusually large numbers. Opportunities for studying those atmospheric conditions from which baro- metric depressions originate within the area of our Euro- pean stations are by no means very rare, but they are nevertheless sufficiently scarce to merit careful scrutiny at the hands of every student of weather knowledge. So much is this the case that a meteorologist of eminence made, some years since, the statement that no one had ever been present at the birth of a storm. Considering the disastrous nature of the floods, the sloppiness of earth and sky, and the general misery in the aspect of things, which characterise the event, few of us can wish to be very frequently spectators of it. But when it occurs, the conditions accompanying it should be care- fully attended to. These may perhaps be briefly sum- marised thus :— (1) Barometric depressions are primarily developed over a region where atmospheric gradients are slight, the exceptions to this rule being those systems (secondary or subsidiary, as they are termed) which first appear as loops or bulges in the isobars of a large pre-existing cyclone. (2) They originate either in the rear of a depression which has already passed away or in the inter-space between two large anticyclones, and more especially when the anticyclones are so large that this inter-space constitutes what is called a “trough” of relatively low pressure. (3) They are preceded and accompanied by an enor- mous condensation of vapour into cloud. (4) They do not, at the moment of their. birth, appear Nov. 18; 1886] to affect the upper currents of the atmosphere, but, if growing large, soon afterwards do so, in such a manner that the hypothetical isobars at the level of the cirrus appear to be bent into a V-shaped hollow from the great polar depression to a point nearly above the centre of the circular depression at the earth’s surface. Of the depressions lately developed near the British Isles and over the south-west of France, the greater number originated in “troughs” of relatively low pres- sure, such as have been above alluded to: and their movements may be said to have been unusually erratic. Yet they obeyed the ordinary rule of progression, in so travelling, as to have the highest general pressures on the right of their course. Thus, those depressions which originated near the east side of a “trough” lying north- north-west to south-south-east, tended to move to north- north-west, while those which originated on the other side of the “trough ” travelled in the contrary direction. On the toth inst., Great Britain lay between two depres- sions travelling in parallel but opposite directions, these directions being transverse to the mean direction of movement prevalent at this season of the year. The same phenomenon was repeated on the 12th inst. It is now more than twenty years since I began constructing daily charts of the directions taken by European depressions, and during the whole of that period there has been no instance entirely comparable with these. We must wait for reports from a very extensive portion of the earth’s surface before a comprehensive study of these phenomena can be undertaken. Two questions, so correlated that they may require but a single answer, are of prime importance:—What causes the abnormal, but temporarily persistent, determination of aqueous vapour to certain portions of the globe ? What causes the abnormal, but temporarily persistent, occupation of certain portions of the globe by anticyclonic systems ? W. CLEMENT LEY THE WORK OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION * BRIEF memorandum of what the U.S. Fish Com- mission hopes to accomplish in time, in connection with its mission, is as follows :— (1) In the department of investigation and research there is yet to be carried out an exhaustive inquiry into the character, abundance, geographical distribution, and eco- nomical qualities of the inhabitants of the waters, both fresh and salt. The subject is practically unlimited in extent, and, so far as the ocean is concerned, has scarcely been touched, With the powerful apparatus, however, at the command of the Commission it is expected that much progress will be made year by year, and that the publica- tion of the results and the distribution of duplicate speci- mens to colleges and academies in the United States will be carried out on a large scale, so as to meet a large and increasing demand from teachers and students. _ (2) A second object, in connection with the sea fisheries, is the improvement of the old methods and apparatus of fishing and the introduction of new ones. The work of the Commission in bringing to the notice of American fishermen the importance of gill-nets with glass-ball floats for the capture of codfish has already revo- lutionised the winter cod-fishery industry in New England. Looked upon almost with ridicule by the Gloucester fisher- men, when first brought to their notice by the Commis- sion, these nets have come rapidly into use, until at the present time they represent the most important element in the winter fisheries, the number of fish taken being not only much greater than heretofore but the fish themselves of finer quality. "From the ‘ Report of the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fi-heries” (Washington, 2885). figs NATURE 35 The ability to maintain a successful fishery without the use of bait is of the utmost importance, in view of the fact that when the cod are most abundant bait is almost unprocurable. Other forms of apparatus of less import- ance have also been introduced, and a constant look-out is maintained, by correspondence and otherwise, in connec- tion with the improvement of fishing machinery. (3) Another important point for consideration is that of improvement in the pattern of fishing vessels. There is annually a terrible mortality in the fishing crews of New England, especially those belonging to the port of Glou- cester, to say nothing of the total loss and wreck of the fishing vessels and their contents. There has gradually deyelopedin connection with the mackerel and cod fisheries of New Englanda pattern of vessel which, while admirable for speed and beauty of lines and of rig, is less safe under certain emergencies than the more substantial and deeper vessel used abroad, especially in England and Scotland. The subject of the best form of fishing vessel has been intrusted to Captain Collins, of the Commission, himself a most experienced fisherman, and, after a careful study of the boats of all nations, he has prepared a model which is believed to combine the excellences of both English and American vessels. An appropriation will be asked from Congress for means to construct an experimental vessel and test its qualities; but until a successful experiment has been made it will be difficult to induce the fishermen to change their present form of construction, (4) The fourth object of the Commission is to deter- mine the extent and general character of the old fishing localities and to discover new ones. There is no doubt whatever that there still remain many important areas, even in the best-known seas, where the codfish and the halibut will be found in their former abundance. There has never been any formal investigation on this subject, and the banks that are known have been brought to light purely by accident. It is believed that by a systematic research and a careful survey the area of known grounds can be greatly extended. There is very great reason to hope for successful results. from this inquiry in the waters off the South Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. These regions, the latter espe- cially, may be considered as practically unknown, the few established localities for good fishing being in very small proportion to what must exist. It is here that the service of the fishing schooner referred to above, if means can be obtained to build it, will be brought into play, and it is not too much to hope that an industry will be developed that will represent to the Southern and South-Western States the same source of income and occupation that the mackerel, cod, and halibut furnish to the fishermen of New England. (5) There is also much to be learned in the way of curing and packing fish for general and special markets. The American methods have grown up as a matter of routine, and are adapted to only one class of demand. There are, however, many modes of preparation which can be made use of to meet the wants of new markets ; and thus we can enter more efficiently into competition with European nations for European trade, as well as for that of the West Indies and South America. A great advance has already been made towards this desired improvement since the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, where many methods of curing and putting up fish were shown in the foreign sections that were almost entirely unknown inAmerica. Notableamong these were the preparations of sardines and other species of herring in oil, as well as in spiced juices. Quite recently this industry has been well established in Maine, amounting to a value of millions of dollars, and there are many other parts of the country where the same work can be done with other kinds of fish. The whole subject is receiving the careful consideration of the Commission, and numer- 56 ous facts bearing upon it have been announced in its reports and bulletins. (6) The work of increasing the supply of valuable fishes and other aquatic forms in the waters of the United States, whether by artificial propagation or by transplantation, although very successful, may be considered as yet in its infancy. It must be remembered that the agencies which have tended to diminish the abundance of the fish have been at work for many years and are increasing in an enormous ratio. This, taken in connection with the rapid multipli- cation of the population of the United States, makes the work an extremely difficult one. If the general conditions remained the same as they were fifty years ago, it would be a very simple thing to restore the former equilibrium. At that time, it must be remembered, the methods of preservation and of wholesale transfer, by means of ice, were not known, while the means of quick transportation were very limited. Hence a small number of fish sup- plied fully the demand, with the exception, of course, of species that were salted down, like the cod, the mackerel, and the herring (including the shad). Now, however, the conditions are entirely changed. The whole country par- ticipates in the benefits of a large capture of fish, and there is no danger of glutting the market, since any sur- plus can be immediately frozen and shipped to a distance, or held until the occurrence of a renewed demand. Another impediment to the rapid accomplishment of the desired result is the absence of concurrent protective legislation of a sufficiently stringent character to prevent unnecessary waste of the fish during the critical period of spawning, and the erection or maintenance of impediments to their movements in reaching the spawning-grounds. This is especially the case with the shad and the salmon, where the simple construction of an impassable dam, or the erection of a factory discharging its poisonous waste into the water, may in a few years entirely exterminate a successful and valuable fishery. It is to be hoped that public opinion will be gradually led up to the necessity of action of the kind referred to, and that vear by year a continued increase in the fisheries will be manifested. Even if this does not occur as rapidly as some may hope, the experiments so far furnish the strongest arguments in favour of continuing the work for a reasonable time. A diminution that has been going on for fifty or more years is not to be overcome in ten, in view of the increasing obstacles already referred to. Among the species an increase of which in their appro- priate places and seasons is to be hoped for, in addition to those now occupying the attention of fish-culturists, are the cod, the halibut, the common mackerel, the Spanish mackerel, the striped bass, or rockfish, &c. One of the most important, and at the same time among the most promising, fish is the California trout, with which it is hoped to stock large areas of the country. Its special commendations are mentioned elsewhere in this Report. Another fishery earnestly calling for assistance, and capable of receiving it, is that of the lobster, the decrease of which has been very marked. The experiments of the Fish Commission suggest methods by which the number can be greatly increased. Something, too, may be done with the common crab of the Atlantic coast and its transfer to the Pacific. Some kinds might also be ad- vantageously brought to the eastern portion of the United States from the Pacific coast and from the European seas. A subject of as much importance as any other that now occupies the attention of the Fish Commission is an in- crease in the supply of oysters. In no department of the American fisheries has there been so rapid and alarming a decrease, and the boasted abundance of this mollusk on the Atlantic coast, especially in Chesapeake Bay, is rapidly NATURE [Mov. 18, 1886 practical extermination, as is almost the case in England A fishing industry producing millions of dollars is menaced with extinction, and needs the most stringent measures for its protection. The U.S. Fish Commission has been very fortunate, through its agents and assistants, in making important discoveries in connection with the propagation of the oyster, which are referred to hereafter in this Report ; and it is proposed to establish several experimental stations for applying the discoveries thus made, so as to constitute a school of instruction and information to persons practi- cally engaged in the business. There are other shell-fish besides the oyster that will well repay the trouble of transplantation and multiplica- tion. Among these are several species of clams belong- ing to the Pacific coast of the United States, which are much superior in size, in tenderness, and in excellence of flavour to those on the eastern coast. Most of these are natives of Puget Sound, and the completion of the Nor- thern Pacific Railway is looked forward to as a convenient means of transferring them to Eastern waters. The common clams of the Atlantic coast are also fair subjects of experiment. VOLCANIC DUST FROM NEW ZEALAND AN SHORT time since, Sir Julius von Haast sent me a small packet of volcanic dust from New Zealand, and requested me to examine it. The dust fell on June 10 of the present year (the day of the Tarawera eruption) at Matakava, Hicks Bay, 115 miles from the scene of the eruption. This dust is very fine, and, when regarded in the mass, is a dull, darkish gray colour. When examined under the microscope, it may be divided into— (a) Bits of a more or less scoriaceous aspect—tiny lapilli, commonly almost opaque, being only translucent on thin edges—consisting of a somewhat brownish glass containing much disseminated ferrite. With reflected light they are a light to a darkish gray in colour, some- times slightly reddish or brownish, with moderately rough surfaces. In size they usually vary from about ‘oo5 to ‘oo8 inch in the longest diameter; the former being the more common measurement ; the latter is but rarely ex- ceeded, the largest fragment in the portion which I have examined being ‘ot2 inch in diameter ; lapilli also occur of less than ‘005 inch. (6) Chips, more or less transparent, generally not ex- ceeding ‘oo5 inch in diameter, and of all dimensions downwards to the finest dust. The majority of these chips are glass, commonly quite colourless ; some of them contain bubbles, spherical, spheroidal, or more or less cylindrical. Sometimes these are quite ‘oor inch in longest diameter. Many chips show a ridgy surface, and are evidently formed by the destruction of a very frothy pumice like that of Krakatao. Some of the glass is of a light brown colour ; occasionally it contains microliths of feldspar or trichites. The mineral chips are much less numerous than those of glass; the great majority of them are feldspar. Many of these are flat flakes apparently detached from a basal plane, but a few exhibit twinning. Some may be sanidine, but a plagioclastic feldspar is certainly present. The chips, however, are ill-suited for optical measurements, and the results which I have obtained are rather discordant. So far as I can come to a conclusion, I should say that the extinction-angles seem to indicate the not unfrequent presence of a feldspar which belongs rather to the oligoclase-albite group than to the labradorite-anorthite. I find very few indications of the presence of a pyroxenic constituent. One or two frag- ments are a greenish hornblende; three or four in general appearance resemble small flakes of magnesia-iron mica— lying on their basal faces, but some of these show dichroism, and only extinguish in certain positions between crossed being changed to a condition of scarcity which threatens | Nicols, so that they cannot be this mineral. As to — Nov. 18, 1886] NATURE 57 their true nature I have not yet been able to decide; however, I think it probable some of the brown flakes are mica. The result of my examination leads me to conclude that the dust is formed of material which was a glass wherein a porphyritic structure, on a large or a minute scale, was inconspicuous. This Matakava dust appears to agree generally with, though it differs varietally from, that described by Prof. Joly in NATURE (vol. xxxiv. p.- 595), the main difference being that the biotite, which seems rather common in his samples, is rare in, if not absent from, the present one. I have not noticed sulphur, pyrite, or magnetite in a recognisable form. It may be interesting to compare this dust with some samples projected from Cotopaxi, and described by my- self (Proc. Roy. Soc. No. 231). These specimens came from various distances, ranging from twenty to sixty-five miles from the volcano. That which fell on the summit of Chimborazo (the most distant locality) consists of lapilli and chips; the majority of the grains range from about ‘OOr to ‘003 inch; a very few only attain to a diameter of “ol inch, and this is barely exceeded. In this dust, however, the lapilli are comparatively rare, the chips of glass and mineral dominating, with a fair proportion of the latter. A reference to the above paper will show the difference between this ash, that from Krakatao, and the above- described from New Zealand. This may be explained by the fact that a porphyritic structure is common in the lavas of Cotopaxi (as in the other summits of the district). T. G. BONNEY NOTES WE have to record the death of General John Theophilus Beaulieu, F.R.S., at the age of eighty-one years. He entered the Indian Army in 1820 as a lieutenant in the Bengal Engineers, and was for some time Superintending Engineer in the Public Works Department forthe N. W. Provinces. Among other services to science and to India, General Beaulieu inaugurated the system of magnetic observations in India, and was the author of a book of logarithms of wide reputation. General Beaulieu was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society fifty years ago, and has served on its Council. THE death is announced, at Berlin, of Dr. A. Fischer, so long resident at Zanzibar, and who has done so much for the exploration of the Kilimanjaro region. M. CHANCOURTOIS, General Inspector of Mines in France, author of several works on geology, and Professor in the School of Mines, has died suddenly at Paris at the age of sixty-seven. Tue following are the probable arrangements for the meetings of the Society of Arts before Christmas :—‘‘ November 24, William Anderson, M.Inst.C.E., ‘‘ Purification of Water by Agitation with Iron and by Sand Filtration.” December 1, ad- journed discussion on the paper by Dr. C. Meymott Tidy, on **Sewage Disposal” (read April 14, 1886). December 8, Major-General C. E. Webber, R.E., C.B., ‘‘Glow-Lamps, their Use and Manufacture.” December 15, J. B. Marsh, “* Cameo-cutting as an Occupation.’”’ There will be five courses of Cantor Lectures during the session :—(1) ‘‘ Principles and Practice of Ornamental Design,” by Lewis Foreman Day. (2) ‘* Diseases of Plants, with special reference to Agriculture and Forestry,” by T. L. W. Thudichum, M.D. (3) ‘‘ Building Materials,” by W. Y. Dent, F.C.S., F.I.C. (4) ‘* Machines for Testing Materials, especially Iron and Steel,” by Prof. W. C. Unwin. (5) ‘‘The Structure of Textile Fibres,” by Dr. Frederick H, Bowman, F.L.S., F.G.S. Two Juvenile Lec- tures on ‘‘Soap Bubbles,” by-A. W. Reinold, F.R.S., will be given on Wednesday evenings, January 5 and 12, 1887. The meetings of the Colonial Section and of the Indian Section will not commence till after Christmas, THE General Committee of the Society for the Prevention of Hydrophobia and Reform of the Dog Laws held its fourth meeting on Friday last at the offices, 50, Leicester Square, London, W.C., to consider a programme which had been drafted by a sub-committee and circulated among members and supporters. Mr. Victor Horsley, B.S., F.R.S., Secretary to the Commission on Hydrophobia, attended this meeting by invitation, and was unanimously elected a Member of Com- mittee. Many letters were read expressing approval of the programme and regretting that the writers were unable to attend. Among the gentlemen who thus wrote were Dr. Drysdale, Prof. Fleming, Dr. Norman Kerr, Prof. E. Ray Lankester, Mr. Arthur Nicols, and Prof. Pritchard. The Honorary Secretary having made a financial statement of a satis- factory nature, the Chairman, Colonel R. H. Rosser, briefly explained the care and time given by the sub-committee to the programme, which was then discussed in detail, and ordered to be printed with some additions and alterations. Iv is intended, in Section III. of the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition, to exhibit the historical and modern methods adopted in the several branches of electro-metallurgy, such as gold, silver, platinum, nickel and copper plating, the purifica- tion of metals by electrolysis, and generally to illustrate the connection between electricity and chemistry. INFORMATION has been received by the Board of Trade respecting the oyster fisheries of the Isle of Wight. The oyster grounds and breeding ponds of the Isle of Wight are as follows : —(1) Medina River ; (2) Brading Harbour ; (3) Newtown ; (4) Fishhouse or Fishbourne. In 1867 the Isle of Wight Oyster Fishery Company was started, having the Medina River and Newtown Creek for its grounds. This oyster fishery is said to have done well until 1871, when it was troubled by refuse and sewage discharged by mills at Newport, and a large quantity of the broods were destroyed. The Medina fishery is now for sale. About the year 1873 Major Boyle started a system for breeding oysters at Brading, but in 1876 the harbour works were com- menced, and Major Boyle had to relinquish his ponds. The Harbour Board, however, still carry on the oyster breeding at Brading. They have six or seven ponds near St. Helens, which are estimated to contain five or six millions of oysters at the present time. As Brading is not suitable for fattening, the young oysters are sold to various growers to be laid down for one or two years to render them fit for food. Newtown Creek is the best fattening ground in the Isle of Wight, but the fishery company is now in liquidation through want of funds, and the business is in abeyance. At Fishhouse there has been a good fall of spat this last summer, but the ground is much disturbed by barges, which prevents the fishery from being fully developed. The oyster fishery is consequently not very prosperous. The creek, it may be mentioned, was recently cleared, and some sixty or seventy thousand oysters were transferred to Newtown to fatten in a pond placed at their disposal by the Newtown Company. Besides the oyster fishery companies above referred to, there are several fishermen who dredge for oysters at sea in the Solent, and particularly in Osborne Bay. The oysters dredged up are seldom fit for the market, and have usually been sold to one of the companies to be laid down and fattened. In Dr. B. W. Richardson’s recent Cantor Lectures on “« Animal Mechanics,” speaking of the mechanism of the heart, he described the number of the pulsations of the heart in different animals—in fish, frog, bird, rabbit, cat, dog, sheep, horse—and made a few comments on the remarkable slowness of the heart —4o strokes per minute—in the horse. Then the number of 58 pulsations in man at various periods of life, and at different levels, from the level of the sea up to 4000 feet above sea-level, was brought under review, and was followed by a computation of the average work performed by the heart in a healthy adult man. The work was traced out by the minute, the hour, and the day, and was shown to equal the feat of raising 5 tons 4 cwt. one foot per hour, or 125 tons in twenty-four hours. The excess of this work under alcohol in varying quantities formed a corol- lary to the history of the work of the heart, Parkes’s calculation showing an excess of 24 foot-tons from the imbibition of eight fluid ounces of alcohol. The facts relating to the work of the heart by the weight of work accomplished was supplemented by a new calculation, in which the course of calculation was explained by mileage. Presuming that the blood was thrown out of the heart at each pulsation in the proportion of 69 strokes per minute, and at the assumed force of 9 feet, the mileage of the blood through the body might be taken at 207 yards per minute, 7 miles per hour, 168 miles per day, 61,320 miles per year, or 5,150,880 miles in a lifetime of eighty-four years. The number of dea¢s of the heart in the same long life would reach the grand total of 2,869,776,000. A METEOR of unusual splendour was seen from the Oxford Road, Banbury, on Tuesday, November 2, at about 8.5 p.m. The fall became visible at about mid-distance between zenith and horizon in a direction west by north. At first the meteor burned with a faint, apparently reddish, light, but when a third of its path had been passed, it burst into an intense blue flame, and, increasing in brilliancy during the next third of its course, it finally died away before reaching the horizon, leaving behind it a long red trail distinguishable for several seconds afterwards. The fall was at an angle of 60°, and during the middle third of the flight the flame was of such intensity as to light up the surrounding country. ' REFERRING to a paper at the Paris Geographical Society by Dr. Hamy on ‘‘ The Interpretation of one of the Monuments at Copan, Honduras,” in which an inference is drawn as to early Chinese intercourse with America, Dr. W, H. Dall, writing to Science, states his belief that the very wide hypothesis thus broached, and which in one form or another has had a certain currency for more than a century, rests upon a totally insufficient foundation, That wrecked Japanese, and possibly Chinese, from time to time were cast on the shores of America, is beyond question. But there is every reason to beliéve that the wrecked people were (1) nearly always males, and incapable of colon- ising ; (2) were either killed or enslaved by the Americans in accordance with a general usage ; and (3) that neither in arts nor language have they left any appreciable trace on American anthropology. ‘‘ The statement of Brooks, that the Japanese and Aleuts could communicate without an interpreter, is true to this extent. I was present when the aforesaid Japanese, three males, were brought to the port of Unala-shka, and took pains to inquire into the assertion which was made to me at the time. I found that the communications were wholly by signs, and not by spoken language, as the Aleuts could not understand a word of Japanese without its accompanying signs. Secondly, Brooks, who was long Consul in Japan, informed me that he had particu- larly searched into the matter of the voyage to Fu-sang, and that he had conclusive evidence that the voyage which actually took place was to the well-known and still existing province of Fu- sang in Korea (see Griffis’ work), and had no connection what- ever with America. Lastly, the mere presence of two simple curved lines on a circular stone, taken by itself, proves nothing as to their meaning, and still less that they had any connection with the Chinese symbol.” Dr. Dall concludes by stating that such unbridled hypotheses are the ‘‘curse of anthropology.” | We have received a fresh instalment of the very valuable work emanating from the firm of Eduard Trewendt, Breslau» : NATURE - [Vov. 18, 1886 the now well-known ‘‘ Encyclopedia of Natural Sciences,”’ namely, Nos. 48 and 49 of the first part, and 37 and 38 of the second part. These four numbers deal with three different branches of science. No. 48 of the first part is botanical, a con- tinuation of Drude’s masterly work, ‘‘ Systematic and Geo- graphical Arrangement of the Phanerogams,” copiously illus- trated with woodcuts, as was the earlier portion of the same publication. No. 49 of the ‘‘ Alphabetical Manual of Zoology, Anthropology, and Ethnology,” takes the reader from ‘* Land- schaf” to “ Lithodina.” Of the abundant material embraced in this compass may be particularly mentioned ‘‘ Landschnecken,”’ by E. von Martens; ‘‘ Larven,” by Dr. Griesbach ; two espe- cially interesting contributions, ‘‘ Larynx,” by von Mojsi ovics, and ‘‘ La Tene-Zeit,” by Mehlis ; treatises by Jaeger on ‘‘ Life, and its Conditions, Phenomena, and Stimulations, &c.,” as also ‘*Linsen,” and ‘‘Lippen,” by Dewitz. Nos. 18 and 19 of the second part belong tothe ‘‘ Alphabetical Manual of Chemistry, ” containing the papers—Furfurangruppe (conclusion), Gahrung, Galle, Gallium, Gehirn, Gerberei, Gerbsauren or Gerbstoffe, Germanium, Glas, Glycerin, Glycidsiuren, Glycocoll, Glyco- side. As of most general interest in this list of articles may be specially cited ‘‘ Glycoside,” by Prof. Oskar Jacobsen, of which the firm is preparing a separate impression ; as also “‘ Gahrung,” by Tollens; and ‘‘ Glas,” by Engler. The newly-discovered ‘Germanium ” is treated by the editor, Herr Ladenburg him- self. In Prof, Liebrich’s contribution, ‘‘Gehirn,” we haye a valuable paper on this subject by a recognised authority. Two remarkable specimens of deformed fish were taken from a rearing-pond at Delaford this week, and brought to the South Kensington Aquarium. One is a trout about three years old, whose tail is bent to such an extreme that it stands at right angles with the body of the fish. Its mode of progress is laboured, and its appearance is very peculiar. The other specimen is an ordinary stickleback, measuring 4 inches in length, whose body is swollen through dropsy to the extent of 1 inch in diameter. At first sight its appearance is similar to a young mouse, and it requires close inspection to grasp the fact that itisa fish. It moves very slowly, with great expenditure of force, the weight of the contorted body being considerable. THERE has been a great demand for the German carp lately imported into this country by the Marquess of Exeter and others for the purpose of acclimatisation in this country, and a numer- ously expressed desire to stock waters that are useless for the purpose of maintaining other fish than carp has been made for the German species. THE operations in connection with the new Observatory and Marine Fish-Culture Station at Lochbuie, Isle of Mull, to be established under the auspices of the National Fish-Culture Association, are to be commenced forthwith. At a meeting of the Council, held last week, it was arranged to form ponds for the propagation of lobsters, and to make certain observations upon marine fauna. The details of the scheme were placed in the hands of a special scientific committee. Ve have received from Messrs. Horne, Thorathwaite, and Wood, opticians, a map of the moon, 12 inches in diameter, mounted on good stout cardboard, represented as she appears when viewed through a telescope with an astronomical eye- piece. This will ]e a very useful companion and guide for those amateurs who are studying the lunar surface; it can be conveniently held in the hand while observations are being made. About 300 craters and walled plains are marked very clearly, and the names of the different seas are given in larger letters. At the back is added a short description of some of the ‘chief features. Nov. 18, 1886] NATURE 59 A sock of earthquake was felt in the district of Beira Alta on the 11th inst. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Patas Monkey (Cercopithecus patas), from West Africa, presented by Mr. Thomas Baily; a Yellow Baboon (Cynocephalus babouin), from West Africa, presented by Capt. J. Henderson Smith, R.A.; twotGoshawks (Astur palumbarius), European, presented by the Baron d’Epremesnil ; a Hobby (/ulco sub5uteo), caught in the Indian Ocean, presented by Dr. Rivis Mead ; two Java Sparrows (Paddéa oryzivora) from Java, four St. Helena Seed-Eaters (Crithagra butyracea), from South Africa, presented by Mrs. Conrad Pile ; two Sing-sing Antelopes (Co3us sing-sing 6 2), from West Africa, received in exchange ; a Woodcock (Scolopax rusticula), European, pur- chased ; an Ocelot (Felis fardalis) from America, a Bactrian Camel (Camelus bactrianus °) from Central Asia, two White- backed Piping Crows (Gymnorhina leuconota) from South Aus- tralia ; a Banded Parrakeet (Palcornis fasciatus § ), from India, deposited ; a Vinaceous Turtle Dove (Zurtus vinaceus), bred in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THe INFLUENCE OF ASTIGMATISM IN THE EYE ON ASrRO- NOMICAL OBSEKVATIONS.—Prof. Seeliger has published, in the Abhandlungen der k. bayer Akademie der Wiss., it. Cl., xv. Bd., 3 Abth., an interesting paper on this subject. The paper is divided into four sections. The first part treats of certain details connected with the refraction of light which are used in the subsequent investigations. The second part gives the theory of the formation of images in an astigmatic eye, and its appli- cation to measuces made with an altitude instrument. In the third and fourth parts the author treats of the application of his theory to the heliometer and wire-micrometer respectively. It appears, from Prof. Seeliger’s researches, that this malformation in the eye, which is far from uncommon, exerts a larger influence on astronomical measurements than is commonly supposed. Thus, he shows that a systematic error in a series of observed declinations amounting to 0’°26 may very well be due to it. And it appears that the discordances in observed position-angles of double stars, depending on the inclination of the line joining the components to the vertical, with which the measures of some observers are affected, may in part be referred to the same cause. Prof. Seeliger’s paper is one which may be profitably studied by those who aspire to the attainment of greater accuracy in astronomical observations. THE KALocsA OBSERVATORY.—Dr. C. Braun has recently published a report of this Observatory, founded by Cardinal Haynald, Archbishop of Kalocsa. The equipment of the Observatory consists of a refractor, by Merz, of 7 inches aper- ture ; another of 4 inches; a transit by Cooke, aperture 23 inches ; an altazimuth by Breithaupt, of Cassel; a chrono- graph, three clocks, and a chronometer ; several spectroscopes, of which a large solar spectroscope with automatic adjustment to minimum deviation is the principal; a star photometer by Zollner, and a spectro photometer by Vogel and Glan. The two most important works effected at the Observatory have been the determination of the geographical position of the Observa- tory, and the observation of sunspots. A special value attaches to the former, as hitherto the position of no place in Hungary had been fixed by direct astronomical methods. The latitude of the standard pillar of the Observatory was determined by geodetic observations to be 46° 31’ 4192; the astronomical methods made it 0"'07 greater. The longitude was found to be th. 15m. 54°343s. east of Greenwich. The observations of sun- spots extend from May 14, 1880, to January 31, 1884, and forma useful record of an interesting period. The method of projec- tion was employed in observing ; the observations were reduced first by means of a projection of the sun, and secondly by calcu- lation. In the latter method Dr. Braun employed an instrument of his own device, which he terms a trigonometer, for the direct solution of spherical triangles. From his observations Dr. Braun deduces the following expression for the velocity of rota- tion :—865°"33 — 209°'86 sin? A. He also shows the downward tendency in latitude of the mean spotted area, and points out the curious partial effort at recovery which shows itself at tolerably regular intervals. The observations of each rotation are grouped together and given in short tables, and diagrams similar to Carrington’s, showing the spots of each rotation in shape and position, are also added. The volume concludes with full descriptions of a number of ingenious instrumental devices, some actually employed at Kalocsa, others still only projected. Amongst these is an ingenious transit micrometer for elimin- ating personal equation in the observation of transits. ¢ Casstopet@.—The Sidereal Messenger reports, on the authority of Prof. Colbert of Chicago, that this star appeared to increase its brilliancy by quite half a magnitude on the night of August 20. The most remarkable point of the observation was the shortness of duration of the phenomenon: for, about half an hour after it was first noticed, the star began to return to its normal*magnitude. It will be interesting to learn if the change was observed elsewhere. New Minor PLANETS.—Prof, Peters discovered a new minor planet, No. 261, on October 31, and Herr Palisa two--Nos, 262 and 263—on November 3. Comet Fintay.—The following ephemeris for Berlin mid- night is in continuation of that given in NATURE for November 4 (p- 17) :— RA Decl. log log A 1836 ey mys. 5 ; Nov. 16 19 59 51 23 22°7S. .0'0697 070899 18-20 8 42 § 22:°53:7 20. 20 17 38 « 22'22:4 0°0589 = 00874 22 20 26 37 -21 48°8 24 20 35 39. 21 1370S. 00693. 0'0856 ComMeT BARNARD.—The following ephemeris for Berlin mid- night is given by Dr. E. Lamp (Astr. Wachr., No. 2753) :— R.A. Decl. log x log A Bright- 1886 rim. Ss 5 j ness Nov. 18 13 1659 13 12°4:N. 9°9433 0°0637.. :10¢8 20: -¥3) 30 5r) 4e 559 9°9306 0°0485 =12°3) 22 1347 57 14 58°3 9°9180 00340. 13'9; 24 14 § 20 15 47°7 9°9955 90207. 15"7: 26 14 24 2 16 32°5 9°8934 o'0089 17°) 28 «14 43.57 17 103 98817 9°9990 = -19°3) The brightness at the time of discovery is taken as unity. GouLp’s ‘‘ ASTRONOMICAL JOURNAL.”—The first number of the new issue of this journal appeared on November 2. It con- tains the following papers :—On the light-variations of Sawyer’s variable in Vulpecula, by S. C. Chandler, Jun., in which the elements of the star are given as Max. = 1885 Nov. 2d. 20h. 35m. G.M.T + (4d. 10h, 29°om.) E. The minimum is 1‘o6od. earlier, The rapidity of the rise is a striking characteristic of this star.— A new short-period variable, by E. F. Sawyer. ‘The star, 57 Sagittarii, has a period of not more than 6 days ; the variation is from 5°6 mag. to6°6. Place for 1875'0, R.A. 18h. 14m. 2s. ; Decl. 18° 54'°8.—Elements and ephemerides and observations of Comets Finlay and Barnard, by Profs. Winlock, Boss, and Frisby.—Observations of U Ophiuchi, by E. F. Sawyer; and the first part of a paper on the lunar theory, by Prof. Stockwell. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1886 NOVEMBER 21-27 @708 the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed. ) At Greenwich on November 21 Sun rises, 7h. 31m. ; souths, 11h. 45m. 3°Is.; sets, 16h. Im. ; decl. on meridian, 19° 58’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 2oh. 3m. . Moon (New on November 25) rises, rh. 37m. ; souths, 8h. 4m. ; sets, 14h. r8m, ; decl. on meridian, 1° 57’ N. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h. m. h. m. - m. ee Mercury 9 30 IZu0E 16 52 Aloo tSy, MenUS 00 e017 h2 Il 35 15 58 18 46S. Mars . 10 33 14 18 183 24 32S. Jupiter... esti taro eV. er kl ileal 8 45S. Saturn... 4) ces LON SMe GO Go ooog co Sut The Recent Weather. By Rev. W. Clement Ley . 54 The Work of the United States Fish Commission. 55 Volcanic Dust from New Zealand. By Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S.... ECM TOROr co. Nel Notes: 3) sos lsce che ees teaten aptomc ie itetiaite tele MmmPy I Our Astronomical Column :— The Influence of Astigmatism in the Eye on Astro- nomical Observations ...... . 23 59 The Kalocsa Observatory Q 0 59 @iGassiopeteea 3 = she ss ie 6) ol foluel uence INGA MUG IER 6% o So 0 oe a 59 (Cometehinlayaes! ©) \wmceree nes Clee Olen eown iS) WometMBarmardy-) ie wae) CMe ol) ile) elke ie aise mn Ee Gould’s Astronomical Fournal . . . «+ 2. + + «+ + 59 Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 November 2127) 27 e e i) eel ohne) ie) ennui dt SE GeographicaliNotes: |. - . ce.) « +) iisic) oul se CO Lighthouse Illuminants, II. By A. Vernon Har- court, F.R.S. ; and T. and D. Stevenson. .... 60 Official Report on the Use of Oil at Sea for modify- ing the Effect of Breaking Waves ....... 63 On the Intensity of Reflection from Glass and other Surfaces. By Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. ..... 64 On\the Natureiof/Solution’ 29 4.255 clams) ee Ten Years’ Progress in Astronomy. By Prof. C. A. Young’ 3). Royo 5; ee eae ne et nO] University and Educational Intelligence ..... 69 Societies and Academies’ 37 0 5 3% 6 sce oe 0 Books and Pamphlets Received. ....... 72 NATURE 73 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1886 EXPLORATION OF THE NORTH SEA Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchungsfahrten S.M.Knét. “Drache” (Kommandant Korvetten- Kapitan Hols- hauer) in der Nordsee in den Sommern 1881, 1882, und 1884. Verdffentlicht von dem Hydrographischen Amt der Admiralitat. (Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, 1886.) (WES knowledge of the physical conditions of the North Sea has just been enriched by the publica- tion of the results of the expeditions of the Prussian ship Drache during the summer months of the years 1881, 1882, and 1884. The expeditions and the publication have been carried out under the direction and with the authority of the Hydrographic Office of the German Admiralty. Prof. Mébius, who has examined the organisms col- lected by the Drache, reports that he has found nothing worthy of special mention among the biological collec- tions. It is otherwise with the physical and chemicai observations, for the whole of the volume before us is devoted to these observations, their analysis and dis- cussion. The publication is accompanied by synoptic tables showing the positions of the observing stations and the scientific results, as well as by fourteen charts setting forth graphically the currents, the depths, the salinity, specific gravity, and the quantity of oxygen in the surface, intermediate, and bottom water, and sections illustrating the distribution of temperature. The temperature and salinity are first examined. The observations confirm the view that the salt heavy water of the Atlantic enters the North Sea by the north of Scotland, and, on being cooled, sinks to the bottom, and fills all the deeper parts of the basin, including the Norwegian Gut. The observations of the Norwegians and those on board the 77zton showed that, in like man- ner, the deep water of the Norwegian Sea was largely made up of the salt Atlantic water, which sank to the bottom on reaching a colder latitude—probably mixing much with deep colder Polar and fresher water. The Drache traced this salt Atlantic water to the centre of the North Sea. It would be a matter of very great interest to have the temperature of the water taken at stated intervals throughout the year in the Norwegian Gut, in a similar manner to the observations now being carried on in the deep lochs of the west of Scotland. The observations on the currents of fresher water running to the north along the coasts of Britain and Jutland—the latter eventu- ally meeting and mixing with that of the Baltic—are very interesting. Indeed, the extensive current and tidal ob- servations are valuable additions to knowledge ; but, as the author remarks, both they and the temperature ob- servations are incomplete, being confined to the summer months, and he indicates the regions where observations are much required. Still, combined with the winter observations which we possess at certain points, the Drache’s observations greatly augment our knowledge of the physical conditions of the North Sea, and of the modifying influences produced by the seasons. The chemical work has been intrusted to Dr. Neu- VoL. xxxv.—No. 891 meister, under the direction of Prof. Jacobsen, and the geological part is by Dr. Gumbel. The chemical work includes the determination of the oxygen and nitrogen in water from different depths. Dr. Neumeister found in surface-water (mean of twenty-five analyses) the oxygen to be 33°95 per cent., the volume of the sum of the oxygen and nitrogen equalling 100. In deep water (200 metres) the oxygen descended to 25°20 per cent. of the volume of the two gases. For carbonic acid combined as neutral salts, he found for surface-waters 52°66 milligrammes per litre (mean of sixty-seven determinations); the partially combined acid was found to be 4378 milligrammes (mean of thirty-nine determinations). As appendix to these researches, the results are given of the determinations of the carbonic acid in the waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, collected by the Gazel/e in 1874-76. The carbonic acid combined as neutral salts in the surface-waters reaches to 52°5 milli- grammes per litre (mean of thirty-one observations). At 183 metres of depth, the mean is 53°2. For greater depths, down to 5000 metres, fourteen determinations gave 50°6 to 568 milligrammes. Four determinations gave 59 to 70 milligrammes, and one gave 8277 milli- grammes. No attempt is made to compare these with the Challenger results. The author explains the presence of the large quantity of carbonic acid in deep water by the fact that the water dissolves the carbonate of lime, which is found in great quantity on the bottom in all moderate depths. The carbonic acid which effects this dissolution is pro- bably furnished by the oxidation of organic substances. The author refers to the fact that carbonic acid is not necessary in order that carbonate of lime may be dis- solved by sea-water, and has, in this respect, confirmed Dittmar’s observations. Different waters, however, com- port themselves very differently in this respect. The water of great rivers, adds the writer, at their embou- chure contains less acid combined as neutral salts than ocean water, and the mixture of salt and river water, along coasts, less carbonic acid than the water in the great oceans ; but the difference is not in proportion to the quantity of salts present. It is shown by analyses of Baltic water that while this water contains only about one-half of the salts present in pure ocean water, it contains nearly nine-tenths of the carbonic acid present in the neutral salts of pure ocean water. Giimbel’s work consists in an examination of the de- posits collected from depths ranging from 18 to 317 metres. The forty samples, of which an excellent descrip- tion is given, all belong to littoral, sub-littoral, or terri- genous deposits. None of them present the essential characters of truly deep-sea or pelagic sediments. The author divides them into quartz sands and sandy clays, the latter being of a much darker colour than the former. Giimbel has followed in his descriptions the methods indi- cated in the preliminary notices of the Challenger deposits. Giimbel attributes the absence of Globigerina ooze from the samples to the relatively shallow depths from which they were procured, and he adds that the depth determines the nature of the deposit. This is quite a mistake: it is, rather, distance from land that deter- mines the kind of deposit. Deposits not unlike those E 74 NATURE [Wov. 25, 188 described by Giimbel occur in depths of over 2000 fathoms when near to land, while a Globigerina ooze or Pteropod ooze may occur in very shallow depths, in the tropics, far from land. These deposits of the Drache, being near the coast, it is found that quartz predominates. The frag- ments of plagioclase, orthose, hornblende, augite, bronzite, mica, garnet, tourmaline, dicroite (is it not glaucophane ?), magnetite, zircon, chlorite, all come from the disintegra- tion of the ancient rocks which form the coast of Norway and Scotland. Giimbel also finds fragments of granitic rocks, dioritic rocks, &c. Fragments of modern volcanic rocks, such as lavas and pumice, are very rare when com- pared with the particles derived from ancient rocks. Glauconite was found in some of the specimens, and the author believes that these have been transported, which is quite unlikely, as large deposits of glauconite are now in process of formation along the coasts of the north of Scotland. The organisms—mollusks, echinoderms, foraminifera, and diatoms—are all the same as those usually found in partially inclosed seas like the North Sea, and do not present any peculiarities worthy of note. The author supposes that there is a continuation under the North Sea of the ancient rock-masses of Scandinavia. This may be true, but the supposition can in no way have been suggested by the chemical, microscopic, and mineralogical examinations of the deposits of the North Sea. In conclusion, Gumbel states that the sediments of the North Sea prove that sandy deposits can be formed alongside of clayey and marly deposits, during the same time in the same sea, This conclusion has already been perfectly established, and this confirmation supports an interpretation generally received, which was one of the first results of the examination of the Challenger deposits. The Hydrographic Office of the German Admiralty have done excellent service in taking up the scientific examination of the North Sea. It is a work that we would like to see continued and advanced by our own Hydrographic Office. J. M. OUR BOOK SHELF Chemical Arithmetic. By Sydney Lupton, M.A., F.C.S., F.1.C. Second Edition. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1886.) WE are pleased to note a new edition of this excellent work, in which several improvements have been made. The hundred pages of introductory matter in the first edition have been reduced by about one-half, much unnecessary pure arithmetic having been cut out. The 1200 examples with answers are, on the whole, well selected, though many of them can scarcely be called chemical. A greater number of typical examples might advantageously have been worked out at full length. The book is especially to be commended for its clear and concise definitions, which are in many books very loosely expressed. ‘The differences between density and specific gravity, atomic and molecular weights, for instance, are explained in a manner that any student of ordinary ability will readily understand. We feel sure that the book will be appreciated alike by students and teachers, but it will be especially valuable to teachers. Experimental Chemistry. By C. W. Heaton, F.I.C., F.C.S. New Edition, Revised. (London: George Bell and Sons, 1886.) ANOTHER edition of this work on experimental chem- istry, adapted from the German of Dr. Stéckhardt, has just been issued. To those students of limited means who desire to work at chemistry as well as to read it— and it is for those that the book is intended—it will be found useful. The introduction, however, is much too extensive and theoretical for beginners, and we fear that many would be disheartened before reaching the really experimental work. In our opinion, the book is not sufficiently practical, many experiments lacking detail. We would suggest that in future editions a few pages be devoted to instructions in the manipulation of apparatus and the working of glass. Part I1V., which is devoted to organic chemistry, is very clearly set out. The book is not sufficiently modernised for these days of competitive examinations, but the teacher who is desirous of encouraging his students to perform simple experiments in spare moments would get many valuable ideas from it. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- scripts. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it ts impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts.) The Sense of Smell IN your issue of Septhmber 30 (vol. xxxiv. p. 521) your corre- spondent Dr. Arthur Mitchell is desirous of obtaining some data in regard to the sense of smell. In a paper presented at the Philadelphia meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1884) we have described a series of experiments designed to test the delicacy of this sense. These experiments, being of a preliminary character, have hitherto been withheld from publication, but the following brief state- ment of the results obtained may be of interest to Mr. Mitchell and to other readers of NaTURE, We made use of the following substances :—(1) oil of cloves, (2) nitrite of amyl, (3) extract of garlic, (4) bromine, (5) cyanide of potassium. A series of solu- tions of each of these was prepared, such that each member was of half the strength of the preceding one. These series were extended by successive dilutions till it was impossible to detect the substances by smell. The order of the bottles containing these solutions was completely disarranged, and the test con- sisted in the attempt to properly classify them by the unaided sense of smell. The thirty-four observers who assisted in these experiments were of both sexes ; the results are indicated in the following table (I.) :— Amount detected | a _..| Nitrite of | Extract of 3 Cyanide of Oil of cloves) amyl | garlic Bromine Saleen Average)| 1 part in : ~ 3 of 17 88,218 of | 1 in 783,870 | Tin 57,927 | 1 in 49,254 | x in 109,140 males water | Average) I part in é ; A of 17 50,667 of | rin 311,330 I in 43,900 | 1 in 16,244 | x in 9,002 females § water The same method of investigation has since been followed by one of us! in some experiments, the results of which are given in Table II. Amount detected | Prussic acid | Oil of lemon Oil of wintergreen Average of 27)| 1 part in 112,000 males J of water rin 280,000 | I in 600,000 Average of 21) females Jf I part in 18,000 of water I in 116,000 I in 311,000 * “Some Special Tests in Regard to the Delicacy of the Sense of Smell,” by E. H.S. Bailey and L, M. Powell (Proc. Kansas Acad. 0 Science, vol. ix.). Nov. 25, 1886] NATURE 75 Many striking individual peculiarities were noticed in the course of the experiments, which these general averages fail to show. Three of the male observers were able to detect one part of prussic acid in about 2,000,000 parts of water. Two of these were persons engaged in occupations favouring the cultivation of this sense. Careful chemical tests failed to show the presence of prussic acid in several of the more dilute solutions, in which it could be detected by the sense of smell. We found some of both sexes who absolutely could not detect prussic acid even in solutions of almost overpowering strength. There were several instances of the same peculiarity as regards bromine. Again, our averages show that the sense of smell is in general much more delicate in the case of male than of female observers. Epwarp L. NIcHOLs E, H. S. BAILEY University of Kansas, November 4 Tidal Friction and the Evolution of a Satellite ADVERTING to the correspondence in NATURE (vol. xxxiv. p. 286), I think that Mr. Darwin. has not, so far, fully realised the results that would follow from the circumstance that the | Martian satellite’s period would be affected many hundred times more than that of the planet’s rotation, as explained in the correspondence referred to. He argues that, the moon’s mass being great, she should recede to an enormous distance before there will be a reversal of the direction of her tides on the earth ; while the satellite of Mars, being very small, need only to recede a short distance before a similar tidal reversal ensues. No mention being made of any other supposed difference in the systems at the starting-point, it must be inferred that other things are supposed about equal. But, as a matter of fact, the present position of the Martian satellite is incompatible with an initial rotation of its planet anything like so great as that ascribed to the earth at a like stage. If Mars be supposed to rotate ten times while the satellite, at its present distance, makes nine revolutions, the satellite’s period would still be affected or lengthened much more than would that of the planet’s rotation. The difference between the periods of revolution of the planet and satellite would increase quickly at first, but more slowly as the satellite receded a certain distance, till at a certain time there would be no increase, after which there would be a decrease, and finally a reversal. When the satellite would have receded to a short distance, where she would revolve in the same period as Mars now rotates in, the planet would have lost but little of its original rapid rotation. Now, supposing the satel- lite tide to go round in the same time as the solar one, the period of the satellite would be affected about thirty times as much as that of the planet’s rotation. Allowance being made for the comparative slowness of the satellite’s tides, the satellite’s period would still be changed more than ten times as much as that of the planet. It would be only when the little body got further out, and the planet’s rotation slower than it now is, that there could be a reversal of the direction of the satellite’s tides. Wherever started, the satellite must either go directly into the planet, or go out ashort distance and back into the planet, before the rotation-period can have been much changed by solar tides ; or else the satellite must go far out—as when it gets a fair start —and could not possibly turn back until the rotation of Mars be slower than now. Hence it seems that under no conditions could the rotation of Mars, at the birth of her moon, have been twice as rapid as now, and the evidence is very strong that the rota- tion-period could not have been changed more than a very few hours, ifso much. Then, if the rotation of Mars was so slow in the beginning, and so little changed during the whole existence of the satellite, the circumstance does not support the view that the earth’s rotation was very rapid in the beginning and so much changed during her past history, but rather inclines the other way. Respecting the statement that two heavenly bodies cannot revolye about their centre of inertia as parts of a rigid body with their surfaces nearly in contact, unless one be smaller and denser than the other bya certain amount, I can only say, at the present time, that such was the conclusion at which I arrived when investigating the results of the tidal effects of two bodies on one another at close quarters. Without going far into the question, it can be seen that if the rule holds when the two bodies are of the same size and density, it will hold throughout. There will be no difficulty in seeing that the rule holds so far that when the difference in size between the bodies is as great as between any of the satellites and its primary, the small body must be invariably the denser. Now the argument that was supposed to apply in general would at least apply in the case of the solar system. That argument, as explained in my pamphlet, was that, if a rapidly-rotating body were to separate into two, the small body given off must be denser than the other to with- stand the tidal disturbance, and that it would be impossible for the small body to be denser than the primary, since the secondary body must be formed from the surface and therefore lightest part of the other body. JAMEs NOLAN Dergholm, Victoria, October 5 Seismometry in Japan I HAVE read, with no small surprise, a paragraph in NATURE of November 11 (p. 36), giving a summary of a letter from Prof. John Milne, with reference to an article by me on the seismo- graphs now manufactured by the Cambridge Scientific Instru- ment Company. Prof. Milne is represented as saying that, “with the exception of one or two which have been modified, a set of instruments like those recommended by Prof. Ewing are, so far as Japan is concerned, quite obsolete.” His letter is not published, and it is possible that the paragraph inadvert- ently does him an injustice in making him assert what has absolutely no foundation in fact. In any case the statement cannot be allowed to pass without contradiction.» My seismographs have been in regular use at the University of Tokio since they were invented ; they are now used for systematic observations by the Japanese Meteorological Bureau ; they were sent last year by the Japanese Government to the Inventions Exhibition in London, where they were awarded the highest diploma among Government exhibits : one of them, the comparatively cheap and simple duplex pendulum seismograph, is employed by many private observers in Japan. In a letter received only a few weeks ago, my friend and former assistant, Mr. Sekiya, now Professor of Seismology in the University, says :— ““We are going to start a journal called the Yournal of the Science College of the Imperial University, Fapan. In the first number I will give a paper on ‘Comparison of Earthquake Diagrams simultaneously obtained at the same station by two instruments involving the same principle, and thereby proving the trustworthiness of these instruments.’ Of course I treat those diagrams recently obtained by two of your seismographs.”” Other letters from Prof. Sekiya are full of accounts of the excellent work he is doing with these instruments, and of their continued and extended usefulness in his very able hands, A paper lately received from him describes a rough but effective form of the duplex pendulum, cheaply made in order to bring it within the reach of private observers, and with reference to this the ¥epan Mail of February 2, 1886, says :— ** The duplex pendulum seismograph designed by Prof. J. A. Ewing, has been employed for earthquake observations in the Tokio Daigaku by Mr. S. K. Sekiya, who has improved many of its details during his long use of the instrument. On account of the simplicity and scientific nature of its construc- tion, and its easy management, it has found its way into the hands of many observers.” The J/azl goes on to mention the name of a native firm by whom the instrument is made and sold. In March last Mr. Sekiya writes:—‘‘The duplex pendulum sells well; some fifteen or twenty of them have been sold.” So much for the duplex pendulum seismograph, which is one of those described in my article, and now made with the utmost refinement of construction by the Cambridge Company. The other is a three-component instrument, of which the principal part is the horizontal pendulum seismograph—consisting of a pair of horizontal pendulums for recording separately two rect- angular components of the horizontal motion of the ground on a moving surface driven by clockwork. This method of recording earthquakes was introduced by me in 1880 (Z7ans. Seis. Soc. Fap., 1880; Pree. Roy. Soc., No. 210), and has been in regular use ever since. The instruments made to my designs by native workmen are still doing good service in Prof. Sekiya’s hands. Those now made by the Cambridge Company have the advantage of better workmanship and an improved arrangement of parts. As Prof. Sekiya has recently written to me with regard to the purchase of a set of them by the Japanese Géyernment, it is probable that Mr. Milne will before long have 76 Wed TORE [Mov. 25, 1886 an opportunity of seeing the latest forms of the instruments in Japan. No one knows better than Prof. Milne that the horizontal pendulum seismograph is not obsolete. He adopted it himself soon after I introduced it, and he has used it freely in his own investigations. His letter will be understood to mean that since I left Japan in 1883 there has been a new departure in seismometric methods which has made my apparatus fall out of date. There has been nothing of the kind. Can Mr. Milne point to any methods involving novel features of importance, and say what their novel features are? It would be odd for instruments to become obsolete when they answer their purpose very well, and when there is nothing better to take their place. J. A. Ewinec University College, Dundee, November 13 Ozone Papers in Towns I TAKE the opportunity of mentioning that I have experi- mented with Moffatt’s ozone papers in London for the past month, and find that on exposing the papers already previously coloured they all become bleached to their original white. They were previously exposed to the air at Brighton and Hastings, on the sea-coast, and were then coloured, and afterwards preserved closely shut up for trial in the mephitic air of towns. Some more stained papers were also received from Cheltenham, which also became blanched on open-air exposure in London, though as highly stained as 8 degrees. They were not washed by rain, but kept dry in the usual cage in the open air and out of the sun ; and they were of various shades of colour, from 2 to 8, as already marked on them. I should like to know or ask for opinion as to the chemical changes that had taken place, and if these had been due to an antozone causing a recomposition of the ingredients (starch and iodide potassium) to their original constitution. It may be likely, therefore, that in Moffatt’s papers, coloured previously, we may have the means of testing the impure condition of the air of any locality by exposing them in it for a few hours. Other papers had already been prepared for testing the sulphurous impregnation of the town air, as by compounds of lead, tin, &c. ; but, though they became stained in the laboratory, yet they failed on trial in the open air. As.to the influence of the wind, the quickest effect seemed to be pro- duced by easterly winds, while those from the south-westerly direction were slower in action on the papers ; but this, I think, may be merely due to the air from the east in London blowing first over a greater expanse of city, carrying with it adulterating emanations. W. J. Black London, November The Similarities in the Physical Geography of the Great Oceans IN the abstract of my paper read at the Royal Geographical Society on the 8th inst., which was published in NaTuRE of Noy. 11, there is astatement (p. 34) that the weight of the column of water between 20 fathoms and 70 fathoms from the surface under the westerly equatorial current is only 88 per cent. of the weight of the same column under the easterly counter equatorial current. I-regret that a serious arithmetical error occurs in the calculations on which this statement was founded. There is no such considerable difference of weight in the two columns of water. a J. Y. BUCHANAN Edinburgh, November 22 Lung Sick Dr. E. J. DuNGATE, with compliments to the Editor of Natures, begs to inclose him a letter which he has just received from Prof. Smets, of Hasselt. It refers to the letter on “lung sick,”’ which appeared in NaTuURE for November 11 (p. 29), and contains most important evidence on the subject. Dr. Dungate is sure, from the genial tone of the letter, that the Editor of NATURE is at liberty to publish it, if he desires. 6, Marchmont Road, Edinburgh, November 17 Hasselt (Belgique), le 14 Novembre, 1886 MonsIEUR DuNGaTE,—J’ai lu votre demande dans la NATURE du 11 Novembre. L'inoculation préventive de la pleuropneumonié exsudative a commencé a Hasselt, et la méthode, suivie déja chez les Zoulous, a été préconisée, en premier lieu, par un médecin de Hasselt, M. le Dr. Willems. Je vous communiquerai, avec plaisir, ses travaux si vous les désirez. On a essayé, 4 diverses reprises, 4 Hasselt, les inoculations au fanon, a la poitrine, etc. ; elles ont eu des conséquences mortelles. Je crois que cette pratique permettait au microbe d’envahir rapidement les poumons, et d’étouffer le boeuf. Mais quand on pratique Vinoculation a la queue, le microbe a passé par les divers stades de son existence, et est déja a son déclin avant darriver au poumon. II est possible aussi que le microbe, que je crois fortement aérobie, a été atténué dans sa virulence par suite de son passage dans des organes ot l’oxygene est plus rare Plusieurs fois, néanmoins, l’inoculation est encore mortelle, en moyenne I cas sur 100 inoculations 4 Hasselt. La perte de la queue est due, 4 mon avis, 4 ce que l’on fait usage d’un virus impur, obtenu empiriquement, sans culture. La gangrene, qui emporte une partie de la queue, peut étre causce par un autre organisme inoculé simultanément avec le microbe de la maladie. Car, parfois, plusieurs bétes inoculées en méme temps, avec le méme virus, ne perdent pas la partie inférieure de la queue, tandis que d’autres fois cet accident est fréquent. On prévient partiellement cet accident en faisant des incisions longitudinales dans l’engorgement qui se produit. Agréez, Monsieur Dungate, l’expression de ma considération distinguée et de mon entier dévouement. Dr. GERARD SMETS, Professeur 4 Hasselt (Belgique) Meteor PASSING along Kensington Gore yesterday at 7.20 p.m., I saw the finest meteor I have ever seen in my life. It descended from near the zenith perpendicularly through the constellation of the Great Bear. It was much larger thanany planet. About half-way on its downward course it gave out a second meteor of a red colour, being itself of a pale yellow. The atmosphere was rather foggy at the time, but I could see the stars through the mist. It was, no doubt, the same meteor as is mentioned in to-day’s 7%mes as having been seen at Reading. P. L. SCLATER 3, Hanover Square, London, W., November 18 The Origin of Species Mr. CATCHPOOL, writing in NATURE (vol. xxxiv. p. 617) on this subject, says :—‘‘If B is separated from A _ by being nearly infertile, and C from B in the same way, C is likely to be still more infertile with A.” This is quite a mistake. Suppose B to be the cat species, and A and C two varieties of dogs; A and C are quite fertile with each other, and infertile with B. It is certain that mutual infertility is not caused by mere visible unlikeness. The horse and the ass, which do not pro- duce fertile offspring, are much less visibly unlike than many of the varieties of dogs or of pigeons, which are mutually quite fertile. May not mutual infertility be a result of long-continued separation, quite independently of any unlikeness arising? I do not know whether this conjecture is supported by any obser- vations on the mutual relations of kindred species or varieties in lands separated by oceans. JOsEPH JoHN MurpPHY Belfast, November 8 Mr. Murpuy has mistaken my meaning, which I will try to make clear by an example. Suppose one brood of an ancient species of Gallinze to have exhibited, as a sport, a partial infer- tility with the rest of the species, while the birds composing the brood remained abundantly fertile among themselves. Suppose the main body of that species to have become, by natural selec- tion, our pheasants, while the isolated brood became the ancestors of our grouse. Suppose one brood of these grouse to have become partially infertile with the main body of grouse, and to have been the ancestors of our red grouse, while the main body of the grouse became, by natural selection, our black grouse. If, as I believe, variation does not produce or increase infertility, the black grouse will still be only partially infertile with the pheasant, and the red only partially infertile with the black grouse; but it seems probable, Arima facie, that the second spontaneous infertility would remove the red grouse Nov. 25, 1886] NATURE Gh further from the pheasant, so that these would be quite infertile. But this is merely argument from analogy ; there is no evidence of the result of such superposed ‘‘ sports,” and retrogression to greater fertiliry seems possible. This instance is not a good one, because the observed partial infertility (z.e. only occasional fertility) between pheasant and black grouse may be due to dislike, not partial impotence. But I doubt whether distaste for pairing and impotence when paired are often quite dissociated. Mr. Murphy asks, as I asked in these pages in 1884, and others have asked since, for one simple fact which would be decisive. Is it, or is it not, the fact that allied species which are confined each to a particular island, prove, when brought together, far less frequently infertile than species, equally dissimilar, which had lived in the same district, might be expected to prove. On the answer to this question depends, as far as I can see, the fate of the theory of physiological selection. Can no one answer it ? EDMUND CaTCHPOOL THE CORAL REEFS OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS 1 @us of a collection of nearly seventy corals which I made in these islands, nearly a quarter are new or undescribed ; and from this fact,as I am informed by Mr. S. Ridley, it may be inferred that there is yet much to be learned of the corals of this region. After describ- ing in my paper the characters of a typical reef, I pro- ceeded to refer to the complex relations that exist between the multitudes of creatures that frequent coral reefs. The protective colouring of the small crabs that live among the branching corals often attracted my attention. I re- call, in particular, the instance of a small crab that finds its home among the branches of a Pocillofora. The light purple colour of its carapace corresponds with the hue of the coral at the base of the branches, where it lives ; whilst the light red colour of the big claws, as they are held up in their usual attitude, similarly imitates the colour of the branches. To make the guise more com- plete, both carapace and claws possess rude hexagonal markings, which correspond exactly in size and appear- ance with the polyp-cells of the coral. Another species of crab, that climbs about the blue-tipped branches of a Madrepora, has the points of its pincer-claws similarly coloured. It is interesting to note that these two crabs are adapted to live each on its own species of coral. Had I caused them to exchange their homes, their borrowed hues and markings would have at once made them con- spicuous objects for their enemies. I paid especial attention to the inter-tidal exposure of living corals, and was much surprised at the number of species which are bared by the ebbing tide. Of all the corals in these islands, those belonging to the genus Celoria seem to be the hardiest in this respect. In the paper I have described my observations with some detail. Coral Reefs and Shoals.—The earliest condition of the coral reefs in this group is to be found in that of the numerous detached submerged reefs or shoals which lie below the limit of the constructive power of the breakers, having been arrested in their upward growth at depths varying between 5 and 1o fathoms according to the exposed or protected character of their situation. This remarkable fact of the arrest of the upward growth of the coral at these depths was utilised by Lieut.-Commander Oldham whilst surveying these submerged reefs in H.M.S. Lark. Ifa shoal was not marked at the surface by a reef-flat or by an islet, we could sail over it with | perfect safety. The broken water of the tide-rip that indicated these shoals was no source of danger for a | ; | towards the surface, each line growing upward along the vessel of light draught. In my paper I have given evi- dence to prove that a shoal which was found by Bougain- ville in 1768 to be covered by 5 fathoms, remains in the * Abstract of a Paper by H. B. Guppy, M.B., late Surgeon H.M.S. Lar. Communicated by Dr. John Murray to the Royal Society of Edinburgh on July 5, 1886. same condition at the present day. The number of coral shoals possessing these characters led me to the con- clusion that isolated submerged reefs are unable without the assistance of a movement of elevation to raise them- selves to within the constructive power of the breakers. When they have reached their upward limit, they extend laterally, forming ultimately flat-topped shoals. It may appear bold to suggest that atolls and barrier-reefs owe their appearance at the surface to a movement of eleva- tion; but we know that in the regions occupied by the atolls of the Low Archipelago, of the Fiji Islands, and of the Pelew Group, the last movement experienced has been one of elevation; whilst the observations of Mr. Beete Jukes on the Australian Barrier-Reef go to show that, if there has been a recent change of level in that region, it was one of the same nature. In the atoll of Oima in the Solomon Group I found evidence of an anterior elevation. In my paper I proceeded to describe at some length the reefs that have reached the surface. In this abstract, however, I can only refer to the fact that all the three classes of reefs are to be found in this group ; the atolls, I should add, being comparatively few in number and of small size. The Formation of Atolls—My observations go to show that atolls of small size (a mile or two across) do not assume their characteristic form until they have reached the surface. After upheaval has brought a sub- merged coral shoal within the constructive power of the breakers, it soon appears at the surface as an isolated patch of reef. Extensions or wings grow out on either side, and, guided by the prevailing.currents (in the manner described by Semper), they ultimately form the common horse-shoe reef, which presents its convexity against the currents. Large atolls evidently begin to assume their characteristic shape below the surface as described by Murray and A. Agassiz. The Formation of Barrier-Reefs.--The facts on which my conclusions have been based were obtained by the examination of the weather slopes of reefs. For the first 70 or 80 yards from the weather edge of a reef there is a gradual slope, largely bare of living coral, toa depth of 4 or 5 fathoms. There is then a rapid descent to a depth varying between 12 and 18 fathoms. It is this declivity that constitutes the growing edge of the reef, and the sand and gravel produced by the constant action of the breakers collect at its foot. When the submarine slope is more than 10° or 12°, as is usually the case, the sand and gravel extend far beyond the depths in which reef-corals thrive ; but when the slope is gradual, z.e. less than 5°, the lower margin of this band of detritus les within the reef-coral zone, and in consequence a line of barrier-reef is ultimately formed beyond this band with a deep-water channel inside (vzde diagram). Should the Sza-level Reef-flat f BI Barrier-reef of Choiseul Bay (drawn on a true scale to the 1oo-fathom line. a = incipient barrier-reef (size purposely exaggerated); = belt of sand and gravel. area be undergoing elevation, a succession of concentric lines of barrier-reefs will originate, line after line being advanced as fresh portions of the sea bottom are brought lower margin of the band of detritus derived from the line of reef inside it. Insuch a manner have the Shortland Islands been produced. When I arrived at the above con- clusion I was not aware that substantially the same explanation had been advanced thirty years before by 78 Prof. Joseph Le Conte in the instance of the Florida reefs. He then pointed out that since corals will not grow on muddy shores or in water upon the bottom of which sediment is collected, the favourable conditions can only be obtained at some distance from the shore, where a barrier-reef would ultimately be formed /:7zted on one side by the muddiness and on the other by the depth of the water. The foregoing conditions may be described as the determining causes of a barrier-reef. After the reef has been formed, the lagoon-channel will be kept open by such agencies as solution, diminished food-supply, tidal scour, organic degradation, and other influences The circumstance that barrier-reefs are frequently situated at or near the borders of submarine plateaus receives a ready explanation in the view first advanced by Prof. Le Conte, since in such situations the necessary conditions of depth and clearness would be found. Anomalous Depths of some Atolls and Barrier-Reefs.— One of the principal arguments in favour of the theory of subsidence lies in the assertion that lagoons and lagoon- channels are sometimes deeper than the reef-coral zone. I will, however, endeavour to show that this assertion is founded on a misconception of the conditions that limit the depth of this zone. The extent to which the depth may vary is demonstrated in the great divergence be- tween the estimates of different observers in every region of coral reefs. Those of Quoy and Gaimard, Ehrenberg, Darwin, Dana, Murray, A. Agassiz, and others, range from 5 to 4o fathoms. Sut this variation may also be found in the same region of coral reefs. Thus, in the Solomon Islands, I found that the depths at which reef-corals flourished ranged in different localities from 12 to 40 fathoms and beyond, the variation being due to differences of local conditions, such as the degree of in- clination of the submarine slope, the presence and posi- tion of submarine declivities, the amount of sediment held in suspension, the force of the breakers, and other influences. The main determining condition, as Prof. A. Agassiz points out, is to be found in the injurious effect of sand and sediment rather than in the general influence of depth ; and the distribution of these materials is de- pendent on the local conditions above referred to. Local conditions will usually restrict the reef-coral zone to depths less than 30 fathoms; but, where there is a gradual sub- marine slope, reef-corals are to be found in depths beyond the sand and gravel. Inasmuch as most observers have regarded these materials as necessarily limiting the zone, they did not push their inquiries beyond. Under favour- able conditions, however, reef-corals may thrive in depths of 50 or 69 fathoms ; and thus we can readily explain the apparently abnormal depths inside some atolls and barrier-reefs. An apparent objection here presents itself. If reefs begin to build their foundations in depths greater than those which are generally assigned to them, the thickness of the elevated reef-formations discovered by me in the Solomon Group should have been much’ greater than 150 feet, the actual limit of their thickness. It will, how- ever, have been gathered from the previous remarks that local conditions will usually confine reef-corals to depths less than 25 or 30 fathoms, and that it will be only under occasional circumstances that reefs will commence to be formed in deeper water. Fringing-reefs themselves are at first restricted to shallow waters around the coast, and their seaward extension in localities where the submarine slope is at all steep, as is generally the case, must be ex- tremely slow. Again, in an area of elevation, such as that in which the Solomon Islands are included, barrier- reefs, which may have begun to grow in depths not less than 50 fathoms, might owe their approach towards the surface as much to the elevating movement as to the very slow upward growth of the corals. It should also be borne in mind that the rapid subaérial denudation, to ! NATURE [Vov. 25, 1886 which these regions of heavy rainfall are subjected, would be an important agency in the thinning away of the raised coral formations, In the latter part of my paper I refer, amongst other subjects, to the extensive character of the degradation of coral reefs by multitudes of organisms. I also give proofs of the outward growth of reefs on their own talus (as described by Murray)—(1) in the circumstance that mas- sive corals may be commonly observed to increase in size as one approaches the lagoon from the outer margin of the reef-flat ; (2) in the presence of old lines of erosion evidently produced at the existing sea-level, but which have been cut off from the action of the waves by the advancing edge of the reef-flat ; (3) in the characters and position of the wooded islets situated on reefs, which in course of time would cover the whole reef-flat, were it not for one counteracting circumstance, the seaward growth of the reef. Lastly, I refer to the deposits at present forming on the outer slopes of reefs in depths down to 100 fathoms. Reef-debris, foraminiferous tests, especially of Ovdztolites, joints of the calcareous alga Halémeda opuntia, portions of Nullipore, and the small detached corals of the genus Heteropsammia, enter largely into the composition of these deposits. I should add that a rock of this composition is one of the commonest types of the so-called coral lime-_ stones in the Solomon Group. In this short abstract of a long paper I have not been able to do much more than indicate the general bearing of my conclusions. The facts and data are given at length in the original paper. THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AND LOCAL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES ‘T° HE second annual Conference of Delegates held under the new rules of the British Association met at Birmingham on September 2 and 7, in the library of the Medical Institute. Forty-nine local Societies carry- ing on work in various parts of the United Kingdom have been enrolled this year as “ Corresponding Societies ” of the Association, and of these thirty-two were represented by Delegates at the Birmingham meeting. The following report of the proceedings of the Conference, signed by Mr. Francis Galton and Prof. R. Meldola, the Chairman and Secretary of the Committee, has just been circulated among the Corresponding Societies, and it will be seen that this new branch of the work of the Association pro- mises to be of mutual advantage both to the Societies and - the Association :— At the first Conference the chair was taken by Dr. A. W. Williamson, F.R.S., General Treasurer of the British Association, the Corresponding Societies Com- mittee being represented by Captain Douglas Galton, F.R.S., General Secretary of the Association, Dr. Garson, Mr. John Hopkinson, F.L.S.,and Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., Secretary. The Secretary read the Report of the Corresponding Societies Committee which had been presented to the Council of the Association. The Chairman made some remarks explanatory of the objects of the Conference of Delegates, and suggested that among other subjects of investigation in which it might be useful to secure the co-operation of the local Societies was that of injurious insects, already so much studied by Miss E. A. Ormerod. The Secretary also made some observations in explana- tion of the constitution of the Corresponding Societies Committee and the relations existing between the Con- ference of Delegates and the British Association. Some remarks were made by Mr. J. W. Davis and others with reference to the advisability of securing the co-operation of the local Societies for the purpose of in- Nov. 25, 1886] vestigating British Barrows and other prehistoric remains. This suggestion had been put forward at the Aberdeen Conference last year by Prof. Meldola, and a Committee was about to be formed by Section H for carrying out this object. Mr. H. Heywood considered that the relationship now existing between the British Association and the Corre- sponding Societies had already been of great assistance to the Societies themselves. In the case of his own Society (Cardiff) they had been able to assist one of the Com- mittees (Erratic Blocks) brought under the notice of the Aberdeen Conference last year. Prof. Lebour stated that many of the local Societies, such as the North of England Institute, which he repre- sented, were composed of engineers connected with large works, who might make useful investigations which would be facilitated if backed up by the authority of the British Association. For this reason he hoped that other subjects besides natural history, geology, or anthropology would be recognised at the Conferences. Captain Galton explained that the object of the Con- ference of Delegates was to bring the Corresponding Societies into direct communication with a@// the Com- mittees of the British Association, to which the local Societies or individual members of these might render assistance. This could of course be only effected by degrees, but he suggested that as a preliminary step it might be found useful to place the Delegates on the Committees of those Sections in which they or their Societies had the most interest. Dr. Williamson supported this proposition, and the Secretary took down the names of the Delegates to be attached to the various Sectional Committees. Prof. Hillhouse and Dr. Garson expressed their will- ingness, as Secretaries of Sections D and H respectively, to propose Delegates as members of the Sectional Com- mittees. Mr. Hopkinson suggested that among other methods of promoting work among local Societies it might be found advantageous for the Delegates themselves to make sug- gestions at the Conference which might lead, through the proper channels, to the formation of new Committees by the British Association. He stated that his own Society (Hertfordshire) had already rendered material assistance to the Erratic Blocks Committee of the Association, and they hoped to render similar service to the Underground Waters Committee. The following resolution, framed with the object of keeping the Corresponding Societies informed of the work being done by the British Association Committees, was moved by Dr. Garson, seconded by Captain Galton, and passed unanimously :— “That the Secretary of the British Association be requested to send a list of the several Committees ap- pointed by the Association to each of the Delegates of the Corresponding Societies, or to the Secretaries of these Societies, as soon as possible after the meeting of the Association, together with a copy of the proceedings of the meetings of the Conference of Delegates.” At the second Conference the chair was taken in the absence of Dr. Williamson by Prof. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., the Corresponding Societies Committee being represented by Dr. Garson, Mr. John Hopkinson, F.L.S., and the Secretary, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S. The Secretary read the minutes of the proceedings of the first Conference, and it was stated that in accordance with the decision then arrived at the Delegates had been placed on the respective Sectional Committees as “ Delegate Members.” The Chairman directed attention to the kind of work which might be done at the Conferences, stating that as a member of the Council of the British Association he knew that the Association was anxious to consolidate the NATURE 79 work of the local Societies. He suggested that the best mode of procedure would be to take the different Sections seriatii, and hear the recommendations forwarded by the Committees of these Sections, together with suggestions by the Delegates respecting the lines of investigation in which the local Societies could take part. SECTIONS A AND B.—No recommendations from the Committees of these Sections having been forwarded to the Secretary of the Conference, the Chairman invited suggestions from the Delegates. Luminous Meteors—Mr. F. T. Mott suggested that much useful work might be done if the local Societies would undertake to record systematically the appearance, position, direction, &c., of luminous meteors. The Secretary stated that a Committee of the British Association was for many years in existence for the pur- pose of carrying out these observations, but, for some reason unknown to him, the Committee appeared now to have ceased its labours. Magnetic and Tidal Observations.—Mr. J. Martin White suggested that some of the local Societies which were favourably situated for the purpose might under- take systematic observations of local tidal and magnetic phenomena. Meteorological and Phenological Observations. — Mr. Heywood stated that many valuable meteorological obser- vations were buried in the log-books of steamships, and suggested that some of the local Societies might render good service to meteorology by examining these books and keeping records of any important entries. Mr. Hop- kinson pointed out two ways in which the local Societies might advance meteorological science. In the first place he thought that many observers in different parts of the country might be in the habit of recording the rainfall or other meteorological phenomena without communicating the results to Mr. Symons. Good service would be ren- dered if the Corresponding Societies would find out such observers and put them into communication with Mr, Symons.! In the next place he suggested that observa- tions of the time of flowering of plants, first appearances of birds and insects, &c., might be systematically recorded and forwarded to the Royal Meteorological Society by those observers who had not hitherto been in the habit of communicating their results to that Society. SECTION C.—Mr. C. E. De Rance, F.G.S., attended the Conference on behalf of the Committee of this Section. The three following recommendations were forwarded by the Secretary of the Section :— Sea Coasts Evrosion.—* That Messrs. R. B. Grantham, C. E. De Rance, J. B. Redman, W. Topley, W. Whitaker, and J. W. Woodall, Major-General Sir A. Clarke, Admiral Sir E. Ommanney, Sir J. N. Douglass, Captain J. Parsons, Captain W. J. L. Wharton, Prof. J. Prestwich, and Messrs. E. Easton, J. S. Valentine, and L. F. Vernon Harcourt be reappointed a Committee for the purpose of inquiring into the Rate of Erosion of the Sea Coasts of England and Wales, and the influence of the Artificial Abstraction of Shingle or other Material in that Action ; that Messrs. De Rance and Topley be the Secretaries.” Underground Waters.—* That Prof. E. Hull, Dr. H.W Crosskey, Captain Douglas Galton, Prof. J. Prestwich, and Messrs. James Glaisher, E. B. Marten, G. H. Morton, James Parker, W. Pengelly, James Plant, 1. Roberts, Fox- Strangways, T. S. Stooke, G. J. Symons, W. Topley, Tylden-Wright, E. Wethered, W. Whitaker, and ¢. E. De Rance be reappointed a Committee for the purpose of investigating the Circulation of the Underground Waters in the Permeable Formations of England, and the Quality and Quantity of the Waters supplied to various towns and districts from these formations ; and that Mr. De Rance be the Secretary.” Erratic Blocks.—* That Profs. J. Prestwich, W. Boyd Dawkins, T. McK. Hughes, and T. G. Bonney, Dr. H. W. G, J. Symons, F.R.S., 62, Camden Square, London, N.W. 80 NATURE [Vov. 25, 1886 Crosskey, and Messrs. C. E. De Rance, H. G. Fordham, J. E. Lee, D. Mackintosh, W. Pengelly, J. Plant, and R. H. Tiddeman be reappointed a Committee for the purpose of recording the position, height above the sea, lithological characters, size, and origin of the Erratic Blocks of England, Wales, and Ireland, reporting other matters of interest connected with the same, and taking measures for their preservation; and that Dr. Crosskey be the Secretary.” Mr. De Rance described the above three inquiries undertaken by Section C, in which it was thought the Corresponding Societies could render valuable assistance. Forms of inquiry had been circulated largely by these Committees, and it was suggested that any work done by the Corresponding Societies should be on these forms printed by the British Association. Mr. De Rance stated that forms would always be supplied to the Secretaries of Corresponding Societies applying for them. Dr. Crosskey made some remarks explanatory of the work of the Erratic Blocks Committee. He stated that the assistance of the local Societies would be particularly valuable in this inquiry, and that he would be happy to supply the necessary forms to the Corresponding Societies in the hope that they would be filled up. He urged upon the Delegates the necessity for preserving these boulders, which were everywhere being broken up, and were rapidly disappearing from off the face of the country.! Larth-Tremors.—Prof. Lebour stated that for some time past the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers had had a Committee actively en- gaged on the subject of earth-tremors and their possible connection with mine-explosions. This subject was natu- rally related to those of Sections A, C, and G of the British Association, and its investigation might be power- fully promoted by them. Some of the Corresponding Societies might aid greatly in making and recording observations on earth-tremors in various parts of the country. The more extensive the area over which such observations were made (if by competent observers and with suitable instruments) the more valuable they be- come; but it was very important that there should be some general understanding between the observers in different parts of the country, in order that some degree of that uniformity which is so desirable in matters of this kind should be attained. The cost of the expensive in- struments necessary would be much lessened if large numbers of them were used. The question of earth- tremor observations was only one of many in which the engineering Societies and the British Association could be mutually useful, the former carrying out the work and the latter lending the influence of its official recognition and support. The Rev. J. M. Mello stated that colliery proprietors were generally unwilling to spend money in investigations unless some very specific form of inquiry was circulated. Mr. Hopkinson remarked that the Corresponding Societies, if supplied with the necessary forms, would no doubt be willing to circulate them among their members. Mr. Heywood ihought the suggestion for observing and recording earth-tremors a most valuable one, and he re- marked that the Cardiff Society would be happy to assist in the investigation if the formation of a Committee was sanctioned by the Association. SECTION D.—The Committee of this Section was re- presented by Prof. W. Hillhouse, M.A., F.L.S. Preservation of Native Plants.—In reply to a question by the Secretary, Prof. Hillhouse stated that in response to the inquiries which he had circulated among the Dele- * The addresses of the Secretaries of these three Committees are :— Underground Waters.—C. E. De Rance, F.G.S., A.I.C.E., 28, Jermyn Street, London, S.W. Erratic Blocks.—Rev. H. W. Crosskey, LL.D. Edgbaston, Birmingham Sea Coasts Erosion.—Wm, Topley, F.G London, S.W. , F.G.S., 1r7, Gough Road, .S., A.L.C.E., 28, Jermyn Street, gates and others likely to furnish information, he had received details from twelve or fourteen localities record- ing between two and three hundred disappearances of plants. Mr. Stirrup stated that for years past a great destruction of plants had been going on in the Manchester district, and the local Societies had found it necessary to strongly inculcate among their members the necessity of preventing this extermination. Mr. Hopkinson remarked that a similar rule had been always observed by the Hertfordshire Society with respect both to animals and plants, and he thought that all the local Societies should adopt it. Mr. Mott pointed out that one practical result illustrating the benefit of Prof. Hillhouse’s resolution had been the omission of the localities of all the rare ferns and orchids from the flora of Leicestershire, which his Society was just about to publish. Local Museums Committee—Mr. Mott stated that a joint Committee, composed of representatives of Sections C and D, had been recommended for appointment for the purpose of reporting upon the provincial museums of the United Kingdom. The work of this Committee would be much facilitated by the co-operation of the local Societies, and he hoped that the Delegates would bring the matter under the notice of their respective Societies. The Committee consists of Mr. V. Ball, Mr. H. G. Ford- ham, Profs. Haddon and Hillhouse, Dr. Macfarlane, Prof. Milnes Marshall, Mr. Mott (Secretary), Dr. Traquair, and Dr. Henry Woodward. In reply to a question as to whether the work of this Committee was to be confined to public or to extend to private museums, Mr. Mott stated that it might be found desirable to extend the report to some few private museums. The Chairman remarked that the Local Museums Com- mittee was one of the most important that had yet been formed. The local museums of this country were gene- rally in a most deplorable state, and one of the first things to be done was to exclude from such collections all extra- neous specimens that were not truly local. According to his experience, he had found that it was impossible for a local Society to flourish and at the same time to carry on a large museum successfully. The two organisations should be independent, but at the same time it was most desirable that the objects collected by local Societies should be handed over to the nearest local museum. With reference to this question of local museums, he considered that we in this country were much behind Germany, America, and France. A short discussion took place with reference to the naming of specimens in local museums, in which Mr, Eve, Mr. Hopkinson, and the Chairman took part. SECTION H.—The Committee of this Section was re- presented by Dr. Garson, who stated that one Committee which was about to be formed on the recommendation of their Section had arisen from the suggestion made by Mr. J. W. Davis at the last Conference. Prehistoric Remains.—The following is the resolution sent up to and adopted by the Committee of Recommen- dations :—“ That Sir John Lubbock, Dr. R. Munro, Mr. .Pengelly, Prof. Boyd Dawkins, Dr. Muirhead, and Mr. J. W. Davis be appointed a Committee to ascertain and record the localities in the British Islands in which evidence of the existence of prehistoric inhabitants of the country is found.” Prof. Meldola stated that three years ago he had brought this subject under the notice of the Delegates in a paper which he had read at the Southport meeting of the Association, and which had been published in abstract in the volume of Reports for 1883, and z7 extenso in the Transactions of the Essex Field Club.1. He remarked that the work which the Committee proposed to under- take was of the greatest national importance in view of t See Nature, vol. xxix. p. 19. Nov. 25, 1886] NATURE Sr the great destruction of ancient remains that had been going on for many years. The Chairman remarked that the subject was un- doubtedly one of great importance, and some of the local Societies had already commenced to record the position of these remains on the Ordnance maps. He stated that according to his experience the 1-inch map could be used, but the 6-inch map would be found much better. One desideratum in the work was a good system of symbols ; such a system had been employed in a map of ancient remains recently published in France, and he stated that he should be happy to place this system at the disposal of the Committee. He added that he was glad to be able to announce that he had succeeded in getting an Act passed for the preservation of the ancient monuments of the Isle £ Man. Preservation of Stonehenge.—Dr. Garson stated that the Committee of Section H had forwarded a resolution to the Committee of Recommendations with reference to the preservation of Stonehenge, and, pending its con- sideration by this Committee, it had been suggested that it should also be brought under the notice of the Corre- sponding Societies through their Delegates, with the object of these using their influence, as far as possible, for the preservation of this and other monuments through- out the country. The following is the resolution referred to :'\—“ That the attention of the proprietor of Stonehenge be called to the danger in which several of the stones are at the present time from the burrowing of rabbits, and also to the desirability of removing the wooden props which support the horizontal stones of one of the trili- thons, and, in view of the great value of Stonehenge as an ancient monument, to express the hope of the Association that some steps will be taken to remedy these sources of danger to the stones.” This resolution had originated last April during a joint meeting of the Geologists’ Association and the Hampshire Field Club on Salisbury Plain, when copies were ordered to be forwarded to the proprietor, to the Inspector of Ancient Monuments, and to the Secretary of the Corre- sponding Societies Committee of the British Association. The proprietor of these valuable remains had hitherto refused to take advantage of the Ancient Monuments Act, though repeatedly requested to do so, neither had he paid due attention to their proper preservation, so that it had been thought desirable to move the foregoing resolution which had been sent to the proper quarter for confirmation by the General Committee of the Association. Election of Corresponding Societies.—At the termination of the Conference, Mr. Davis raised the question whether a Corresponding Society when once admitted by the Association should not always be retained on the list. The Secretary explained that the election of Corre- sponding Societies took place axmually, and that each of these Societies would be expected to make an annual application for re-election on the printed forms sent out before June. There was no reason why a Society when once elected should not be re-elected every year as long as it kept up its scientific activity. He was of opinion that a failure on the part of a Corresponding Society to | send a Delegate to any meeting of the Association should not disqualify that Society for re-election, although it was expected that when a Delegate did attend the meeting of the Association he should be present at the Conferences. Prof. Meldola further stated that some few of the Societies which had been elected last year did not appear in this year’s list, the reason being that the Secretaries had not filled in and returned the printed forms sent out at the beginning of the year, nor had any notice been taken of a secona application asking whether it was the wish of their Society to be re-elected; so that, as Secretary of the ¥ This resolution was adopted by the Committee of Recommendations and confirmed by the General Committee. Corresponding Societies Committee, he had concluded that these Societies desired to withdraw, and they had accordingly been removed from the list. THE COLONIAL AND INDIAN EXHIBITION (RUAN S our notes on some of the principal exhibits (NATURE, vol. xxxiv. p. 548), the Court running parallel with and between those of Mauritius and Seychelles on the one side and Cyprus and Malta on the other was that which contained the collection from the WEST INDIES. Vegetable products, as might be expected, formed the bulk of the exhibits in this attractive Court, which had an air of comfort and finish not excelled in any other part of the building. Entering the Court from the northern end, the first bay on the left hand was devoted to Trinidad, an island celebrated both for the quantity and quality of the cocoa grown upon it, which indeed is the staple article of produce. The value of cocoa ex- ported from Trinidad in 1885 is stated in the Official Hand-book to have amounted to 421,974/., and in some “Notes on Trinidad Industries,” by Mr. John McCarthy, F.C.S., the Assistant Commissioner for Trinidad, recently published, it is stated that the quantity of cocoa imported into England in 1885 amounted to 10,560 tons, against 10,120 tons in 1884, and 9986 in 1881. Numerous speci- mens of cocoa seeds are exhibited, as well as prepared cocoa and chocolate. Mr. McCarthy describes the cultivation of the cocoa- nut (Cocos nucifera) as a very profitable industry, though the tree does not bear much before it is eight years old. Experiments, he tells us, “ are now being tried in Trinidad to make it act as a shade tree to the cocoa ( Theobroma) ” instead of planting the quick-growing “ Bois immortelle.” The idea of this planting is to realise from the same land a double crop, namely, that from the Zheobroma and that from the Cocos. It is estimated that seventy trees planted upon an acre of land would, when in full bearing, yield 5600 nuts per annum, which would net, on an average, from 3/. to 4/7. per thousand in Trinidad. The annual import of nuts into London is said to be about 12,000,000, besides which, New York imports enormous quantities, and they are also used to a very large extent for the ex- pression of oil in Trinidad itself. Coffee has also a prominent place in the products of Trinidad, and the plant is stated to thrive well, although it has not yet pro- duced even sufficient coffee for home consumption. More attention has, however, been directed of late to coffee culture in the island, so that it is largely increasing. The cultivation of tobacco is also an industry that promises to become of some importance, and the tobacco is de- scribed as being second only to the finest Havana. There is a good exhibit of cigars, which are said to have met with general favour, so that a demand has arisen for them. Bahamas.—In the Official Hand-book, Sir Augustus Adderley gives a very readable sketch of the history of these islands, and briefly refers to the natural products, foremost amongst which are corals and sponges. He describes the “ sponging and wrecking vessels” as fine models and fast sailers, built by the islanders of native hard wood known as “horseflesh,’ and planked with yellow pine obtained from North Carolina. Conch shells are exported in large quantities to the value of about 1200/. per annum, and the pale pink pearls which are found in them to the extent of 3000/. per annum. The sponge exports were estimated at 60,000/. for 1885. Mention is made of the abundance of plants valued as medicines, many of which might be further developed by systematic trial of their effects in this country. Perhaps the two best known medicinal plants are the Canella Bark (Canella alba, Murr.) and the Sweet Bark or Cascarilla 82 WATORE (Croton Eleuteria, J.J. Benn.). The first has a bitter, acrid, and pungent taste, anda cinnamon-like smell. With usit is used as an aromatic stimulant, and as a condiment in the West Indies. The sweet bark is a bitter aromatic tonic, formerly used as a substitute for Peruvian bark, but now chiefly as an ingredient in pastilles and for mixing with tobacco for the sake of its pleasant musky odour. The cultivation of perfume-yielding plants is recommended as a probable commercial success, the demand for perfumes at the present time being so great that it has even been proposed to cultivate in Australia on a large scale such plants as are now grown at Grasse, Nice, and Cannes. Jamaica.—The contents of this Court were both numerous and varied. Rum and sugar were fully illustrated by a large number of samples. Coffee was also well represented ; of this article the Official Catalogue states that two distinct classes are produced in the island, the total annual export being about 84,000 cwt. per annum, of which about 10,000 cwt. is Blue Mountain coffee, a fine quality, consigned almost entirely to the Liverpool market. Pimento or allspice is a product exclusively of Jamaica, where it is grown in plantations or gardens known as “ pimento walks.” The commercial article consists of the dried berries, which were exported from Jamaica to the value of 53,8677. in 1885. It is very largely used as a spice as well as in medicine, on account of its aromatic and stimu- lant properties. The fruits contain a quantity of oil, which is obtained by distillation, and is used in per- fumery and for similar purposes to which clove-oil is put. Pimento-sticks are amongst the strongest and best for walking-sticks and umbrella-handles, on account of their strength, rigidity, and non-liability to crack. The pimento-tree is of low growth, and is known to botanists as Pimenta officinalis. In this Court were shown some remarkably fine samples of Annatto seeds (Aixa Orel/ana), noted for their plump- ness, as well as for their bright colour, the waxy coating of the seeds being highly valued as a red colouring- matter. A large and interesting collection of fruits pre- served in a salt-solution were here shown ; amongst others the following will attract attention: Star-apple (Chryso- plyllum Cainito), Cocoa-plum (Chrysobalanus TIcaco), Blimbing (Averrhoa Bilimbi), Akee (Cupania edulis, better known, perhaps, as Bléghta sapida). Many of these are the produce of introduced plants, and the fruits are for the most part fine examples. Amongst a number of specimens of essential oils from well-known plants, most of which are apparently of excellent quality, are some that are but very little known, such, for instance, as those from the Bermuda Cedar (Juniperus bermudiana), the Mountain Cigar Bush (Hedyosmum nutans), Moun- tain Thyme (J/¢cromerta obovata), Cigar Bush (Cr¢tonea dalea), and the Sand Box-tree (Hura crepitans). Barbados.—The exhibits from thisisland consisted largely of similar produce to the islands already referred to. As illustrating the extent of land occupied by sugar cultiva- tion, it is stated in the introductory notice of Barbados in the Official Hand-book, by the Hon. C. C. Knollys, that “out of a total acreage of 106,470 acres, an area of 100,000 acres is devoted to canes.” Tobacco is recommended for extended cultivation, and root-crops suchas arrowroot and cassava give heavy returns. British Honduras.—We take this dependency in this order, as it occupied a position in the Exhibition next that of Barbados. The importance of timber in the produce of British Honduras is seen by a simple glance at the exhibits, and to the future development of these timber resources lies in a very great measure the future prosperity of the colony. In the introductory notes to these exhibits the following paragraph occurs :—* To its timber and dye-woods the colony of British Honduras owes its existence, and whatever measure of progress and advancement it may have attained. To the discovery, first of logwood, and subsequently of mahogany, its [Mov. 25, 1886 original settlement must be ascribed.” Notwithstanding the importance of the forest produce, very few of the timbers are yet known either to commerce or to science, but many of them are of exceptional hardness and beauty. Mahogany is, of course, the most important wood in the colony, and, next to it, the cedar (Cedrela adorata), which is not only exported to a very large extent, but is also used in the colony for light indoor work—cigar- boxes, trunks, packing-cases, and for dug-out canoes, several of which were exhibited. Amongst a collection of lianes, or climbing-plants, is a specimen of the chew-stick (Gouanta domingenesis), with the singular information, besides that of its use as a tooth-brush and tooth-powder, that “it is used in place of yeast to start fermentation in making ginger- and spruce-beer, &c.” Probably the most striking object in this Court is a large and beautifully figured slab of mahogany ; the dark wavy cross-markings are extremely beautiful and very remarkable in this wood ; the plank is, moreover, without a flaw. Dominica.—Vhe space occupied by this island, as well as by the remaining colonies, was small; the exhibits on the whole, however, were interesting, and some were worth noting, such, for instance, as the husks or shells of the Liberian coffee, which are said to be worth from I to 2 cents. per pound in the United States, the fruits of Acacia Farnestana, stated to be used in tanning, and bark of Guava, the Ps¢déwm Guayava, which is rich in tannin, and is used as an astringent. Raw lime-juice is exported from Dominica in increasing quantities, but the greater part of the juice is boiled down until ten or twelve gallons are reduced to one, and is shipped in this concentrated form to England and the United States for the manufacture of citric acid. Montserrat.—Sugar and lime-juice are the principal staples of this island, and these were the most prominent exhibits. St Kitts and the Virgin Islands.—¥ rom these islands the exhibits were but small, and without special interest. Antigua.—The chief product of this colony is sugar, the average crop of which for the last twenty years is stated to have been about 12,000 hogsheads. Yams, potatoes, and Guinea corn are also grown in large quanti- ties for native consumption. The exhibits were for the most part such as were shown in other West Indian Courts. Grenada.—Cocoa is the most important article grown here, and some very fine fruits of good colour were shown, as well as nutmegs (JZyristica fragrans) custard apples, or bullock’s heart (Azona reticulata), papaws (Carica Papaya), Kola nuts (Cola acuminata). These latter were remarkably fine specimens. A good dea] of attention, we are glad to see, has recently been paid to its cultivation. The tree exists in all parts of the island, and was intro- duced in years past by the African slaves, who used to regard it as a specific against intoxication. Tobago.—The productive resources of this small island are varied, and were well exemplified in the collection of fruits, seeds, fibres, &c. The collection of preserved native fruits in syrup, and jellies prepared from them, was a special feature in this Court, a sample of preserved or candied papaw (Carica Papaya) being especially good. St. Lucta-—Sugar, rum, and molasses are the chief products ; cocoa and logwood are also produced in quan- tities, though the latter is stated to be at the present time a drug in the market. Tobacco, it is stated, has been tried in one district with most satisfactory results, so that it is purposed to extend its cultivation. Neither the individual exhibits in this Court, nor in the remaining one of St. Vincent, call for any special remark. We can- not conclude our notice of the West Indian exhibits with- out a reference to the series of over 100 water-colour drawings, by Mrs. Blake, illustrative of the flora of the West Indian Islands. JOHN R, JACKSON Museum, Royal Gardens, Kew ' Nov. 25, 1886] | NOTES THE President and Council of the Royal Society have this year awarded the Copley Medal to Franz Ernst Neumann, of Konigsberg (For. Mem. R.S.), for his-researches in theoretical optics and electro-dynamics, and the Davy Medal to Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac, of Geneva (For. Mem. R.S.), for his researches on atomic weights. Prof. S. P. Langley was awarded the Rumford Medal for his researches on the spectrum by means of the bolometer. The Royal Medals have, with the approval of Her Majesty, been awarded to Mr, F. Galton and Prof. Guthrie Tait, the former eminent for his statistical inquiries into biological phenomena, and the latter for his various mathe- matical and physical researches. The medals will be presented at the anniversary meeting on November 30. Mr. CHARLES WILLIAM PEACH, the eminent scientific ob- server, died in February last, and, not long afterwards, a memorial was addressed to the First Lord of the Treasury, praying that his daughter, Jemima Mary, might, on account of her very slender provision, be placed on the Civil List. The memorial, subscribed by about 140 eminent persons, resulted in a Treasury grant of 200/. being sent to Miss Peach, after the expiry of five months. The grant so made being totally inade- quate by way of provision, while it fails to denote the high sense entertained of Mr. Peach’s scientific services, it has been deter- mined to secure, by private subscription, the means of providing Miss Peach with a permanent annuity. Of the sum necessary to effect this, the Treasury grant of 200/. will of course form the nucleus. The Committee believe it is unnecessary to do more than allude to Mr. Peach’s more conspicuous services. For half a century he gratuitously supplied to contemporary inquirers the fruits of his research. When Mr. Hugh Miller was engaged in preparing his work on the ‘‘ Old Red Sandstone,” Mr. Peach conveyed to him those specimens from Caithness which mate- rially availed him in illustrating his subject. By his discovery of Silurian fossils in the rocks of Cornwall, he enabled Sir Henry de la Beche, then at the head of the Geological Sur- vey, to obtain a scientific basis for mapping the rocks of Devon and Cornwall. In connection with this important work, also, by his discovery of Lower Silurian fossils in the north-west of Scotland—thereby affording the key by means of which the structure and age of the rocks of the Scottish Highlands must be determined—it was the opinion of Sir Roderick Murchison that Mr. Peach had rendered service such as merited a special recompense from his country. From the Devonian rocks of Cornwall and the Old Red Sandstone of the north of Scotland he procured the fish fauna which supplied a share of the material used by Sir Philip Egerton, Prof. Huxley, and Prof. E. Ray Lankester in preparing their several descriptions. In their monographs, Mr. Darwin and Dr. Carpenter have acknowledged his valuable contributions to a knowledge of the Balanide and the Polyzoa, while many other naturalists were also indebted to him for most important zoological observations made along our coasts. Mr. Peach made a valuable collection of the fossils of Brora, Sutherlandshire (Jurassic), now in the British Museum. His discoveries have largely availed in elucidating the fossil flora of the Old Red Sandstone and the Carboniferous rocks of Scot- land. In the department of recent marine animals and plants, he has added hundreds of new species to the British lists. In acknowledgment of his scientific acquirements, he received honours from t’1e leading scientific Societies; and in 1875 he was awarded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh one of their gold medals. After twenty-one years of arduous labour in connection with the Coastguard, Mr. Peach was in 1845 trans- ferred by Sir Robert Peel to the Department of Customs, as suggested by the Council of the British Association ; but this change, while adding to his leisure, did not materially enhance NATURE 83 his emoluments. In the public service his highest income was 150/., his retiring allowance being 1307. Such remuneration as he received for his scientific services he applied exclusively to the cause of research. He attained his eizhty-fifth year, and in his old age it was a source of deep anxiety to him as to how he should be able to provide for the devoted daughter to whose help and affectionate care he was so much indebted. Five hundred pounds are wanted, and this amount there ought not to be much diffi- culty in procuring. An account is opened in the Bank of Scot- land, for the receipt of contributions, under the care of Mr. Robert Gray, Bank of Scotland, Edinburgh, as Treasurer of the fund. Among the members of the Committee are Sir William Turner, F.R.S.; Sir Joseph D. Hooker; Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., Director-General of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and Ireland; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. ; Prof. Tait ; John Murray, V.P.R.S.E., Director of the Chal- lenger Expedition Commission, Edinburgh ; William Pengelly, Torquay ; and others. Our readers must have noticed the recent telegrams con- cerning the beleaguered position of Dr. Emin Bey at Wadelai, on the Upper Nile, some 50 miles north of Lake Albert Nyanza. Emin Bey was Governor of the old Equatorial Province of Egypt, and his administration of the province was of a model character. Moreover, he did much before the Mahdi insurrection broke out for the promotion of a knowledge of the natural history and geography of the Upper Nile region, as will be seen from his many communications to Petermann’s Mittetl- His last communication is in the current number of the Mitteilungen, and is dated January last. In it, notwithstand- ing his critical position, he speaks of his collections. When the news of Emin Bey’s position first reached this country, the Government regarded it as their duty to do what they could to rescue or succour him, and the Intelligence Branch of the War Office made all inquiries as to routes, among other things taking counsel with Mr, Joseph Thomson. There are many difficulties in the way, especially since the death of Mtesa, King of Uganda ; but the Government, we believe, have by no means given up the idea of communicating with Emin Bey. Mr. Stanley has expressed his willingness to lead an expedition, and Mr. Thomson shows, in yesterday’s Zzmes, how the thing can be done. He believes rightly that the route across Masai Land followed by himself is the directest and shortest, and it is really not necessary to pass through Uganda at all; a sweep could be made round by Lake Baringo and the Suk country, and so west- wards 300 miles to Wadelai. Moreover, it seems to us that the route by the west side of the Victoria Nyanza on to the Albert Nyanza is worthy of consideration. Certainly, if Mr. Thomson undertakes to lead a relief expedition, he could accomplish it speedily and peacefully. The English Government is bound to do everything in its power to prevent any disaster falling upon so valuable a life ; and if they mean to do anything it ought to be quickly, or else it may be too late. M. PAsTEUR, according to the Zimes Paris Correspondent, exhausted by the incessant labours of the last few years, was to leave on Tuesday, by the advice of his family and friends, for Bordighera, where M. Bischoffsheim has placed his villa at his disposal. The 7%es Correspondent, before his departure, ascer- tained from M. Pasteur the precise state of the Pasteur Institute subscription and of his experiments. The subscription has now nearly reached 1,820,000f., but contributions still flow in, though rather more slowly, and M. Pasteur has reason to hope that we shall eventually reach the sum required. The Paris Municipality has given a gratuitous lease for 99 years ef 2500 metres of ground, the site of the old Collége Rollin. This area being in- sufficient for the laboratories, not merely for rabies, but for other contagious maladies, he has asked for a lease for 99 years UNZEN. of 2500 metres adjoining, and he expected that this proposal 84 would be acceded to at Monday’s sitting. A subscription is being raised among the brewers in England. M. Pasteur then goes on in his communication to describe the results of his operations much in the same terms as in his paper to the Paris Academy epitomised in a recent number of NATURE. THE following are among the lectures to be given at the London Institution, during 1886-87 :—Sir R. S. Ball, F.R.S.,; Astronomer Royal of Ireland, two lectures on ‘‘ The Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice Age,” one given last Monday, the other for November 29 ; Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., six lectures on ‘‘ The Elements of Biology,” Thursdays, November 25, December 2, 9, 16, 23, 30; Prof. T. W. Rhys Davids, Ph.D., ‘‘ Buddhism,” Monday, December 13 ; Henry Seebohm, “‘Birds’ Nests and Eggs,” Monday, December 20; Eric S, Bruce, ‘‘ War and Ballooning,” Monday, December 27; Dr. C. Meymott Tidy, F.C.S., three lectures (juvenile) on ‘‘ Chemical Action,” Thursdays, January 6, 13, 20; Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., Director of the Natural History Department, British Museum, ‘‘ Fins, Wings, and Hands,” Monday, January 17 ; Prof. Silvanus Thompson, Ph.D., two lectures on ‘Electric Bells,’’ Thursdays, February 10, 17 ; Harold B. Dixon, F.R.S., ‘*The Lighthouse Experiments at the South Foreland,” Thurs- day, February 24. The Thursday lectures will be given at 6 o'clock, excepting on January 27, February 3, March 3, and March 10, when they will be given at 7 o’clock. The Monday lectures are at 5 p.m. GENERAL J. F. TENNANT sends us the following additional information on the late Major-General John Theophilus Boileau, whose death we announced last week :—‘‘ Gene- ral Boileau was selected to superintend one of the mag- netic observatories established by the Honourable East India Company in 1843 in connection with the general scheme of magnetic observatories, and had charge of the Simla Observatory. Long after it was closed for observing purposes he was employed in reducing and publishing the results. He also published a collection of astronomical, magnetical, and meteorological tables, and a set of traverse tables ; and possibly some special tables, which, being published in India, have never come into much use, and have practically been superseded by others more recent. General Boileau has long been annually appointed one of the Scrutators at the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society on St. Andrew’s Day, and we shall miss there on Tuesday a familiar face and name. His energies and time have long been absorbed in institutions for helping those in want, especially the daughters of officers of the army and soldiers. And now his, in turn, want aid, which an influen- tial Committees endeavouring to raise for them. Will you lend the aid of your circulation to make known the want among those who can spare?” WITH reference to the above note we heartily commend to our readers the proposal to raise by public subscription a testimonial in recognition of the devotion displayed by General Boileau over a long period of years in philanthropic works, especially those so ably and successfully carried out by him on behalf of the Royal School for Daughters of Officers of the Army at Bath, and the Soldiers’ Daughters’ Home at Hampstead. An influential Committee has been formed for giving effect to the proposal, with Field-Marshal the Lord Napier of Magdala, G.C.B., G.C.S.1., R.E., as Chairman, and Major-General Philip Ravenhill, C.B., as Honorary Secretary. It is contemplated that the amount collected will best be expended in purchasing annuities for certain members of General Boileau’s family, who are at his death left in very straitened circumstances. The Committee appeal not only to those who are, or have been, connected with either of the two institutions above named, but also to General Boileau’s NATURE [Wov. 25, 1886 object they have in view. Subscriptions will ,be received by Messrs. Cox and Co., Craig’s Court, London, $.W., by the Honorary Secretary, 50, Holland Road, Kensington, W., or they may be paid toany member of the Committee. THE JLethodist Times announces the formation of a ‘‘ Wesley Scientific Society’? for the purpose of promoting intercourse among Wesleyan students of science. It will aim at the encouragement of practical scientific work among amateurs, the guidance of beginners in the study of natural history, the inter- change of opinions upon scientific questions, and the collection and circulation of useful facts and observations bearing upon the sciences in general. If sufficient support is promised, the first number of a monthly journal will be issued by next March. The President is the Rev. W. H. Dallinger, F.R.S., and the Secre- tary is the Rev. W. Spiers, M.A., F.G.S. The Vice-Presidents are Rev. G. Bowden, Rev. N. Curnock, A. C. Graham, M.A., C. W. Kimmins, D.Sc., J. Potts, F.G.S., and Rev. G. S. Rowe. The Rey. Dr. Dallinger, Rev. W. Spiers, and Rev. Hilderic Friend, F.L S., will edit the Society’s journal. THE great refracting telescope of the Bischoffsheim Observa- tory is in full operation at Nice. It is second only to the Pulkowa instrument. Observations with it have been conducted most successfully. ADMIRAL MoucuHeEz, Director of the Paris Observatory, has issued circulars in the name of the Committee for erecting to Frangois Arago a statue on the southern part of the meridian line which passes through that establishment. Subscriptions are received at the Observatory by M. Mouchez. A sum of about 400/., which had been collected for a similar purpose when Arago died thirty-two years ago, is in the hands of the Paris Academy of Sciences, and will be placed at the disposal of the Committee. Ir is stated that a subscription will be started at Auxerre, the native place of M. Paul Bert, for erecting a memorial on his behalf. Last week a boat containing fourteen persons was successfully worked on the Seine with artificial wings acting on the air, and propelled by a rotating wheel. Dr. FoREL informs us that earthquakes occurred in Switzer- land on the following dates :—At Cernetz, Grisons, November 6, 17h. 44m., and at 19h. 59m. ; November 7, at th. 28m. ; over Switzerland, with centre in the Lake of Lucerne, on November 16, 2h. 15m. (all Greenwich times). WE have received from Mr. J. White, photographer, of Littlehampton, a copy of the last portrait (cabinet) taken of the late Prof. Guthrie. It is a very good one. Dr. R. MULLINEUX WALMSLEY, D.Sc., Senior Demonstrator at the Finsbury Technical College, in the department of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering, has been appointed Principal of the Technical College about to be established at Kurrachee. THE decline of the Indian silk industry is a subject which has lately attracted some attention. Various causes have been assigned, such as rack-renting by the Zemindars, while the existence of any specific disease among the silkworms has been strenuously denied. The question seems at last to have been settled by the investigations of a skilled entomologist, Mr. Wood Mason, Curator of the Indian Museum, who, on examining a large number of living cocoons, received from various parts of the country, found over 60 per cent. so diseased that no moths emerged, while such moths as emerged were nearly all sickly and crippled, and only 6 per cent. lived to couple and lay eggs. A further examination showed that the cells of the silk glands, and all other tissues, including even the blood, were in the last numerous friends and acquaintances, to aid them in attaining the | stage of disease, and literally crammed with minute corpuscles, —— Nov. 25, 1886 | identical with those which have been demonstrated to be the cause of the fibrine disease which, in an epidemic form, from 1849 to 1865 ravaged the silkworm nurseries of France, and reduced them to a state of ruin, but which, thanks to M. Pasteur, is now practically eradicated from Europe. Pror, GIOVANNI Luvini has just issued, in pamphlet form, a summary of the results of his important experiments on the electric conductibility of vapours and gases. As the readers of Nature are already aware, these experiments have finally exploded the old theory that the moist atmosphere and other vapours are good conductors. The pamphlet, which is pub- lished in Florence, includes an historical survey of the subject, and a full account of the processes adopted by the author. Electricians are reminded that this essay, together with his previous treatise on atmospheric electricity, are merely prepara- tory to a comprehensive work on the phenomena connected with the aurora borealis, which is now nearly completed. LIGHTNING-FLASHES have sometimes been observed which, starting from one point, have ended in several. Some remark- able forms of flash have been lately described by Herr Leyst, of Pawlowsk Observatory. In one case a flash went a certain distance in a north-easterly direction, then divided, the two branches forming an angle of about 75°. When these had reached about 35° from each other, they turned and united again to one line. The path of the lightning thus formed a quadri- lateral figure. It was further observed that the lightning flashed back in the same path, as if there were an oscillating discharge. In another interesting flash, the path was not a crooked line but a wavy band, which was lit up four times in succession with equal brilliancy. The time between the second and third and the third and fourth flashes seemed longer than that between the first and second. The thunder which followed lasted about 80 seconds. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Patas Monkey (Cercopithecus patas 9 ) from West Africa, presented by Capt. T. W. Robinson; a Puma (Felis concolor 8 ) from El Gran Chaco, presented by Mr. Alfred Grenfell, F.Z.S.; a Malayan Bear (Ursus malayanus) from Malacca, presented by Miss A. Stewart Saville; a Souslik (Spermophilus ) from California, presented by Mr. B. F. Russell ; a Gazelle (Gazella dorcas g) from Barbary, pre- sented by Edward J. Hough ; four Chukar Partridges (Caccabis chukar) from Persia, presented by Dr. J. Huntley; a Toad (Bufo ) from Africa, presented by Mr. E. N. Wroughton; six Roseate Cockatoos (Cacatua roseicapilla), seventeen Cockateels (Calopsitta nove-hollandiz), six Swain- son’s Lorikeets (77vichoglossus nove-hollandie), two Red-winged Parrakeets (Aprosmictus erythropterus), eight Chestnut-eared Finches (Amadina castanotis), two Peaceful Doves (Geofelia tranquilia) from Australia, a Nutmeg Bird (AZunia punctularia), two Eastern Turtle Doves (Zustur meena) from India, three Magpie Tanagers (Czssofis leveriana), two Red-crested Car- dinals (Paroaria cucullatz), a Red Ground-Dove (Geotrygon montana), a Yarrell’s Curassow (Crax carunculata), a Crested Curassow (Cvax a/ector) from South-East Brazil, two Hawfinches (Coccothraustes vulgaris), British, deposited. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THE Mass oF Mercury.—In the Bulletin Astronomique for October Herr Backlund has published a new determination of the mass of Mercury deduced from the perturbations produced in the motion of Encke’s comet arising from its close proximity to the planet in 1878. From the apparitions of the comet in 1871, 1875, 1878, 1881, and 1885, Herr Backlund finds the reciprocal NATURE 85 of the mass of Mercury to be 2,668,700,—thus making the mass of the planet considerably larger than has been found by recent investigators. And Herr Backlund states that, even supposing the acceleration of the comet’s mean motion to have been constant during the entire period 1871-85, it is not possible to represent satisfactorily the five apparitions of the comet during that period on the assumption that the reciprocal of the mass of Mercury is greater than 5,000,000. Tue NataL OpservATORY.—Mr. Neison has issued his Report, as Superintendent of the Natal Observatory, for the year 1885. The staff of the Observatory consists of the Government Astronomer, an Astronomieal Assistant, and a Meteorological Assistant. Four ladies have also been employed during the year as astronomical computers. The equatorial appears to have been but little used in 1885, all the astronomical observations recorded having been made with the 3-inch transit. The total number of observations made with this instrument was 706, including transits of stars, of the sun, of the moon’s limb, of the lunar crater Murchison A, and observations of zenith stars for latitude. With regard to the latter class of observa- tions, it is proposed to determine the latitude of the Observatory with the greatest care, as one of the primary points of the geo- detic triangulation of South Africa. Forty pairs of stars have been selected for this purpose, mostly differing in zenith distance by not more than 3’ or 4’. Also, with the view of better con- necting the fundamental declinations of the star catalogues of northern and southern observatories, arrangements have been made for comparing, by Talcott’s method, the zenith distances of a number of southern circumpolar stars with suitably placed northern stars of corresponding zenith distance. _ A list of thirty- two stars has been prepared for this purpose. Mr. Neison also reports on the state of his own work on the lunar theory, which he appears to consider of an official character. Comet Fintay (1886 ¢).—The following ephemeris of this object is by Dr. A. Krueger (Astr. Nachr., No. 2755) :— For Berlin Midnight 1886 R.A. Decl. log x log A Bright- hes mS: 5 ‘ ness Nov. 28 21 050 19 10°7S. 9°9941 9°9142 3°0 30 21 1058 18 204 Det: 2) 20 21 12) 1727-2 9°9971 99060 Zor 4 21 31 30 16 31°0 6 21 41 53 15 31°9 070016 + 9°8992 31 8 21 52 20 14 30'0 IO 22 249 13 25S. 070074 9°8941 Sak The brightness at date of discovery is taken as unity. CoMET BARNARD (1886 /).—The following ephemeris of this object for Berlin midnight is by Dr. Oppenheim (Dun Echt Circular, No. 130) :— 1886 R.A. Decl. log x log A Bright- Iie oer ES 3 , ness Nov. 27 14 34 10 16 50°4N. 070029 98864 17°8 29 «14 54 42 «17 23°5 Dec, 1 15 16 12 17) 46:0 9°9879 9°8640 21'2 3 15 38 23 17 56:0 B 201 Gh iy) Guts 9°9839 98448 236 7 16 23 24 17 33°0 9 1645 27 17 OTN. 9:9920 98303 243 The brightness at date of discovery is taken as unity. Gore’s Nova Ortonis.—It seems to be clearly established that this interesting star is indeed—as was from the first sus- pected from the character of its spectrum—a simple variable, and not one of the class to which the title ‘‘ temporary” can be fitly applied. M. Dunér, who had observed the star at intervals from last December to the end of April, found (Astr. Machr., No. 2755), on renewing his observations at the end of October and the beginning of the present month, that it had unmistakably increased in brightness in the interval, and was continuing to do so. Herr Fr. Schwab and Mr. Espin confirm this conclusion, the former having observed this star early in last July, and found it then fainter than the 12th magnitude. Its period would appear to be not far from one year; Herr Schwab gives it as one or two weeks longer than a year, and as ranging in bright- ness from 6m. to 124m., whilst M. Dunér assigns a period of 359'5d. to it. It is clearly of importance that it should be care- fully watched during the coming winter. 86 NATURE [Vov. 25, 1886 ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1886 NOVEMBER 28—DECEMBER 4 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.) At Greenwich on November 28 Sun rises, 7h. 42m, ; souths, rrh. 48m. r1o'qs. ; sets, 15h. 55m. ; decl. on meridian, 21° 21' S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 20h. 25m. Moon (three days after New) rises, gh. 52m. ; souths, 14h. 15m. ; sets, 18h. 39m. ; decl. on meridian, 19° 7’ S. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h. m hoy mae Fs nee Mercury S140 Vas) 235) cx LO) 30) oom: Venus... TSS con tl AQ cos LS SS 20 51S. Mars 2 LONZ7. jue. LANI4: oo. SST) Gee Rer GES Jupiter... SEG fon | Cy aN BSR Rie yo) 9 14S. SAMA en AOS ae Bia) Il 9 21 25 N. * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening. Occultation of Star by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding . angles from ver- Dec. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. fextontebt for inverted image Ps h. m. h. m. 5 ° 3... 7 Aquarii co BR0... 17 V8) s.. 1830... MIORZ8O Dec. h. 3... 5... Wenus in superior conjunction with the Sun. Sh aco gis Mercury in inferior conjunction with the Sun. ZAC 4... Mercury at least distance from the Sun. Variable Stars Star R.A. Decl. [oy fae ome h. m, UW Gephei ... 0 522... 81 16 N. ... Nov. 28, 2 27 m Dec. 3) 2nner 772 Algol 3) OS... 40) 30 N. 4, keomaonT? » 4 227m ¢ Geminorum 6 574... 20 44.N. ... Nov. 29, 0 0 m Dec: “4, ‘Ofo7 U Monocerotis ... 7 25°4... 9 32S. ... Nov. 28, m S Cancri me 19) Oya wes TOM27PINe en 55, 828) Seon: Urs Majors... 1293052)... (60 17 NY 2. 45 920; M 3) WIVES Joos. con 1G} PAN cog iD SSS on fy OS mM Ppluyreer.: Ver veo TS45iO!... 3BL4UN. ae yy 928, 20900 Decie2) 5 nO R Lyre . 18 51°9.... 43 48 N. ... Nov. 28, MM y Aquilz - 1946572... 01 43)INe Dec, a). 2.30) 17 3 Cephei - 22 2479 ... 57 50.N.... Nova 30, 2) So) M signifies maximum ; 7 minimum. Meteor Showers The chief shower of the week is that of the Zaurids; RA. 60°, Decl. 49° N. Other radiants active at this time are as follows :—Near 7 Persei, R.A. 44°, Decl. 56° N., slow, faint meteors ; near a Canum Venaticorum, R.A. 194°, Decl. 43°N., very swift, streak-leaving meteors; from Leo Minor, R.A 155, Decl. 36° N.; from near 7 Urs Majoris, R.A. 208°, Decl. 43° N. Fireball dates, November 29 and December 2. TEN YEARS’ PROGRESS IN ASTRONOMY? Uf TaE Solar Spectrum.—In 1877 Dr. Henry Draper, of New York, by aseries of most laborious, time-consuming, and ex- pensive researches, discovered the presence of oxygen in the sun, evidenced in his photographs, not by fine dark lines, as in the case of elements previously recognised, but by bright, hazy bands. It is difficult to assign any reason why this gas should behave so peculiarly and so differently from others, and for this reason many high authorities are indisposed to accept the dis- covery. But the evidence of the photographs seems fairly to outweigh any such purely negative theoretical objections. Other advances have been made in the study of the spectrum, due mainly to the great improvements in spectroscopic appa- ratus. Until recently it has not been easy to decide with certainty as to some lines in the spectrum whether they were of * “Ten Years’ Progress in Astronomy, 1876-86,” by Prof. C. A. Young. Read May 17, 1886, before the New York Academy of Sciences. Continued from p. 6y. | solar or telluric origin ; the great bands known as A and B, for instance. It was only in 1883 that the Russian, Egoroff, suc- ceeded in proving that these are produced by the oxygen in the earth’s atmosphere. In his experiments, on a scale previously unknown, the light was transmitted through tubes more than 60 feet in length, closed at the end with transparent plates, and filled with condensed gas. It was quite early pointed out that the sun’s rotation ought to produce a shift in the position of lines in the spectrum according as the light is derived from the advancing or receding edge of the solar disk, and Zollner thought he could perceive it. The earliest measures, however, were, 1 believe, those obtained independently by Vogel and the writer in 1876. In the great bisulphide of carbon spectroscope of Thollon the displacement becomes easy of observation ; and very recently Cornu, by taking advantage of it, and by an extremely ingenious arrangement for making a small image of the sun to oscillate across the spectro- scope slit two or three times a second, has been able to discrimi- nate at a glance between the telluric and solar lines ; the former stand firm and fast, while the latter seem to wave back and forth. In this connection also should be mentioned the great map of the solar spectrum, for which Thollon received the Lalande Prize of the French Academy of Sciences last January, and the still more accurate and important map photographed by Prof. Rowland, by means of his wonderful diffraction-gratings, and now in course of publication. Nor would it be just either to omit the earlier and less accurate maps of Fievez and Vogel, which, when published, were as far in advance of anything before them as they are behind the new ones ; nor the maps just made by Prof. Smyth, of Edinburgh. It was in connection with the construction of such a map by Mr. Lockyer, that he was led to his theory of the compound nature of the so-called chemical elements, partly as a result of his comparisons of the spectra of different substances with the solar spectrum, and partly in consequence of considerations drawn from certain phenomena observed in the solar and stellar spectra themselves. His first paper on the subject was read late in 1878. This ‘‘ working hypothesis,” as its author calls it, has met with much discussion, favourable and unfavourable. It unquestionably removes many difficulties and explains many puzzling phenomena ; at the same time there are very serious objections to it, and some of the arguments upon which Mr. Lockyer originally laid much stress have turned out unsound. For instance, he made a great point of the fact that, after all precautions are taken to remove impurities, several elementary substances show in their spectra common lines—‘‘ basic lines” he called them—indicating, as he thought, a common com- ponent. He found in the solar spectrum about seventy of these “basic lines.” Now, under the high dispersion of our newer spectroscopes, these lines, which were single to his instruments, almost without exception dissolve into pairs and triplets, and withdraw their support from his theory. ‘ I suppose that at present the weight of scientific opinion is against him ; but, for one, I do not believe his battle is lost. In view of the law of Dulong and Petit, which establishes a rela- tion between the atomic weight and specific heat of bodies, it seems to be pretty certain that Aydrogex cannot be the element- ary ‘‘wrstof” out of which all other elements are made by building up, as he at first seemed disposed to maintain ; this element stands apparently on no different footing from the rest. But I see no reason why the elements, as we know them, may not constitute one c/ass of bodies by themselves, all built up out of some as yet more elemental substance or substances. The ‘* periodic law” of Mendelejeff suggests such a relation. And our received theories so stumble, hesitate, and falter in their account of many of the simplest phenomena of the solar and stellar atmospheres, that a strong presumption still remains in favour of the new hypothesis. Iam not prepared to accept it yet ; but certainly not to reject it. : The Chromosphere.—The study of the chromosphere and prominences has been kept up, very systematically and statistic- ally, by Tacchini in Italy, and with less continuity, but still assi- duously, by several other observers. Ido not know, however, that any new results of much importance have been arrived at. The list of bright lines visible in their spectra has been a good deal enlarged ; and Trouvelot thinks he has observed dar& pro- minences—objective forms that show, black but active, upon the background of bright scarlet hydrogen in the surrounding chromospheric clouds. It may be that he is right ; but, so far —— Nov. 25, 1886] NATURE 87 ee as I can learn, no other observer of the solar atmosphere has seen anything similar. I certainly have not myself. And I think some of his published observations of velocities of two or three thousand miles a second in the motions of the promi- nences, as evidenced by the displacement of lines in the spec- trum, are still more questionable. In two or three cases, prominences have been observed since 1876 considerably higher than any known previously. In Octo- ber 1878 I myself observed one which attained an elevation of nearly 400,000 miles (134’). Eclipses and the Corona.—The sun’s corona has been, per- haps, more earnestly studied than anything else about the central luminary, especially during the four eclipses which have occurred since 1876. At the eclipse of 1878, in the midst of an epoch of sunspot quiescence, the corona was found less brilliant than ordinary, and especially deficient in the unknown gas that pro- duces the so-called 1474 line—the line which characterises the spectrum of the corona, and first demonstrated conclusively its solar origin in 1869. But while the corona at this time was less brilliant than it had been formerly, it was far more extensive. At least it seemed so ; for, at Pike’s Peak and Creston, Langiey and Newcomb were able to follow its streamers to a distance of 6° from the sun. It is possible, however, that this extension was only due to the superior transparency of the mountain air, The Egyptian eclipse of 1882 gave us some interesting results respecting the spectrum of the prominences and the corona. It appears that the light of the corona is especially rich in the ultra-violet, and in the photographs of the spectrum a number of bands are found which have been interpreted, with question- able correctness I think, as indicating the presence of carbon. The eclipse of 1883 was observed in the Pacific Ocean by French and American parties, but, I think, added very little real infor- mation. Prof. Hastings made an observation which he believed to establish a peculiar theory proposed by himself, viz. that the corona is merely a diffraction effect produced by the moon’s limb, and depending on the non-continuity of phase in long stretches of light-vibrations. With a peculiar apparatus pre- pared expressly for the purpose, he found that at any moment the 1474 line was visible to a much greater distance from the sun on the side least deeply covered by the moon than on the other: as unquestionably would happen if his theory were cor- rect. But the same thing would result from the mere diffusion of light by the air ; and, notwithstanding his protests, the French observers who were at the same place, and nearly all others who have discussed the observations, think that this was the true explanation of what he saw. So far as I know, the discussion of the subject which has resulted from his publication has only strengthened the older view—that the corona is a true solar appendage ; an intensely luminous but excessively attenuated cloud of mingled gas and fog and dust surrounding the sun, formed and shaped by solar forces. The diffraction theory has one advantage—that it relieves us from stretching our conceptions as to the possible attenuation of matter to the extent necessary in order to account for the fact that a comet, itself mostly a mere airy nothing, experiences no perceptible retardation in passing through the coronal regions. There can be no question that this has happened several times : the last instance having been the great comet of 1882. But on careful consideration it will be found, I think, that our concep- tions will bear the stretching without involving the least absurdity ; a single molecule to the cubic foot would answer every necessary condition of the luminous phenomenon observed. And all the rifts and streamers, and all the radiating structure and curved details of form, cry out against the diffraction hypothesis, The observations of the eclipse of 1885 (observed only by a few amateurs in New Zealand) have not proved important. At present the most interesting debate upon the subject centres around the attempt of Mr. Huggins (first in 1883) to obtain photographs of the corona in full sunlight. He suc:zeeded in getting a number of plates showing around the sun certain faint and elusive ha!o forms which certainly look very coronal. Plans were made and have been carried out, for using a similar apparatus on the Riffelberg, in Switzerland, and at the Cape of Good Hope. But so far nothing has been obtained much in advance of Mr. Huggins’s own first results. Since September 1883, until very recently, the air has been full, as every one knows, of a fine haze, probably dust and vapour from Krakatao, which has greatly interfered with all such operations. It is now fast clearing away, and I for one an somewhat sanguine that a much greater success will be reached next winter at the Cape, and perhaps even in England during the coming summer. Just about the same time that Huggins was photographing in England, Prof. Wright was experimenting in New Haven in a different way: isolating the blue and ultra-violet rays by the use of coloured media, stopping out the sun’s disk, and receiving the image of ihe coronal regions on a fluorescent screen. He also had obtained what he believed, and still believes, to be a real image of the corona, when the aérial haze intervened to put an end to all such operations ; for of course it is evident that whether one operates by this method or by photography, success is possible only under conditions of unusual atmospheric trans- parency and purity. I suppose at present the predominant feeling among astro- nomers is that the case is hopeless, and that Huggins and Wright are mistaken. It may beso. But my own impression is that they are probably correct ; although, of course, the matter is still in doubt. Inferior Planets.— Leaving now the sun, and passing to the planetary system, we come first to the subject of intra-Mercurial planets. The general opinion among astronomers (in which I fully concur) is that the question has been now fairly decided in the negative, z.e. it is practically certain that within the orbit of Mercury there is no planet of a diameter as large as five hundred miles, probably not one hundred. If such a one existed, it could not have failed to be discovered by the wide-angled photo- graphs taken at the eclipses of 1882 and 1883, to say nothing of the visual observations. Of course, it is well kno'vn that at the eclipse of 1878 Prof. Watson supposed he had discovered two such bodies, and his extensive experience and his high authority led, for a time, to a pretty general acceptance of his conclusion. I notice that Dr. Ball, even very lately, in his ‘* Story of the Heavens,” is still disposed to credit the discovery, But Dr. Peters, by a masterly discussion of the circumstances of the observations themselves, and a comparison with the star maps, has shown that it is almost certain that Watson really saw only the two stars @ and ¢ Cancri. In the same paper also, Peters examined all the observations of small, dark spots crossing the sun’s disk which, up to that date (1879), had been made by Leverrier and others the ground for their belief in “Vulcan” ; and he shows that they really afford no sufficient ground for the conclusion. As to Mr. Swift’s supposed observa- tion of two objects with large disks ‘‘ both pointing to the sun,” they certainly were not the two seen by Watson, while they were in the region covered by Watson and several other ob- servers. What the precise nature of the mistake or illusion may have been it is perhaps not now possible to discover, but I think no one, unless perhaps Mr. Swift himself, now considers the obser- yation important. While, however, the question of a ‘‘ Vulcan” is now pretty definitely settled, it is not at all impossible, or even improbable, that there may be intra-Mercurial asteroids, and that some of them may be picked up as little stars of the sixth magnitude or smaller, by the photographers at the eclipse of next August, or in 1887. The sensitiveness of our present photographic plate is now many times greater than it was even in 1882. As to the planet Mercury, there is very little to report. It “¢transited” the sun in May 1878, and again in November 1881, and during the transits numerous measures were made of its diameter, giving results substantially in accord with the older values. I have already alluded, in connection with the earth’s rotation, to Newcomb’s investigation of former transits of this planet as establishing the sensible uniformity of the earth’s rotation. The planet Venus, by her transit in 1882, has_ attracted much attention, and much interest is felt as to the final outcome of the whole enormous mass of data, photographic and visual. Just how long we shall have to wait for the publication seems Still uncertain. I have already said, however, that probably these transits will never again be considered as important as hitherto. The most important physical observations upon the planet during the decade seem to be those of Langley, who, during the transit of 1882, observed a peculiar, and so far unexplained, illumination of one point on the edge of the planet’s disk, and those of Trouvelot and Denning, who have observed and figured 88 certain surface-markings of the planet. I think I may fairly mention also our Princeton observation of the spectrum of the planet’s atmosphere during the transit, and our confirmation of Gruithuisen’s old observation of a white cap (likely enough an ice-cap), at the edge of the planet’s disk—probably marking the planet’s pole, and showing that the planet’s equator has no such anomalous inclination of 50° or 60°, as stated in some of the current text-books. This cap has also been observed by Trouvelot and Denning. But this lovely planet is most refractory and unsatisfactory as a telescopic object, apparently enveloped in dense clouds which mostly hide the real surface of the globe, and mock us with a meaningless glare. We mention in passing, but without indorsement, the specula- tions of Houzeau, who has attempted to account for some of the older observations of a satellite to Venus, by supposing another smaller sister planet, ‘‘ Neith,” circling around the sun in an orbit a little larger than that of Venus, and from time to time coming into conjunction with it. But the theory is certainly untenable ; a planet large enough to show phases, as the hypothetical satellite is said to have done, in the feeble tele- scopes with which many of the observations were made 100 years ago or more, would be easily visible to the zaked eye even. There can be little doubt that all the Venus satellites so far observed are simply ghosts due to reflections between the lenses of the telescope, or between the cornea of the eye and the eye lens. Mars.—But while Venus has gained no moons during the past ten years, Mars has acquired two, and they are both native Americans. There is no need to recount the faithful work of Prof. Hall with the then new great telescope at Washington, and its brilliant result ; brilliant in ascientific sense, that is, for, regarded as luminaries, it must be admitted that the Martial satellites, in spite of their formidable names of Phobos and Deimos, do not amount to much. Under the best of circum- stances, they are too faint to be seen by any but keen eyes at the end of great telescopes. Small as they are, however, the little creatures punctually pursue the orbits which Hall has com- puted for them, and, when the planet came to its opposition a few weeks ago, they were found just in their predicted places. They are interesting, too, from the light they throw upon the genesis and evolution of the planetary system, almost com- pelling the belief that they have come gradually into their present relation tothe planet. The inner one, Phobos, revolves around the primary in 7h. 39m., which is less than one-third of the planet’s day. The theory of ‘‘ tidal evolution,” proposed by Prof. G. H. Darwin in 1878-80, as the result of his investi- gations upon the necessary mechanical consequence of the tidal reactions between the earth, sun, and moon, will account for Phobos, and I know nothing else that will ; though, of course, it would be rash to assert that no other account can ever be given. Much attention has also been paid to the study of the planet’s surface. In 1876 we were already in possession of three elaborate maps, by Proctor, Kaiser, and Terby, agreeing in the main as to all the characteristic formations. In 1877, Schiaparelli, of Milan, detected, or thought he did, on the planet’s surface, a numerous system of “ canals’’—long, straight channels, some of them more than rooo miles in length, with a pretty uniform width of fifty or sixty miles; and from his observations he constructed a new map, differing from the older ones somewhat seriously, though still accordant in the most essential features. Hisnomenclature of the seas and continents, derived from ancient geography, is certainly a great improvement on that of his predecessors, who had affixed to them the names of their friends and acquaintances among living astronomers. There has been some scepticism as to the reality of these “canals”; but in 1879 and 1881 they were all recovered by Schiaparelli, and several other observers, notably Burton, also made them out. Moreover, Terby finds, from drawings in his possession, that they had before been seen, though not under- stood or clearly recognised, by Dawes, Secchi, and other ob- servers, At present the balance of evidence is certainly in their favour, especially as the observers at Nice report seeing them last spring. Ido not think the same can be said in respect to another observation of Schiaparelli’s on the same object, made in 1881. He then found nearly all of these canals—more than twenty of them—to be dowd/e, i.e. in place of a single canal there were two—parallel, and 200 or 300 miles apart. No one else so far has confirmed this ‘‘ gemination” of the canals ; but the planet does not come to a really favourable opposition again NATURE [Mov. 25, 1886 until 1890 and 1892, when probably the question can be settled. The time of rotation has during the past year been determined with great accuracy by Bakhuyzen, who has corrected some errors of Kaiser and Proctor, and finds it 24h. 37m. 22°66s. In 1876 there still remained some question as to the amount by which the planet is flattened at the poles. The majority of observers had found a difference between equatorial and polar diameters amounting to between 1/100 and 1/30, while, on the other hand, a few of the best observers had found it insensible. The writer, in 1879, made a very careful determination, and found it 1/219, a quantity closely agreeing with the theoretical value deduced by Adams as probable from the motion of the newly-discovered satellites. The Asteroids.—On May 1, 1876, the number of known asteroids was 163. To-day it stands at 258, 95 of these little bodies having been discovered within the decade, 45 of them by one man, Palisa, of Vienna, while our own Peters is responsible for 20. None of the new ones are especially remarkable, z.e. some of the older ones are always more so ; the most inclined and most eccentric orbits, the longest and the shortest periods, none of them belong to any of the late discoveries. One point is note- worthy, that the more recently discovered bodies are much smaller than the earlier ones. The first 25, discovered between May 1876 and October 1878, have an average opposition magnitude of 11'2, while the last 25, discovered since April 1883, average only 12°2; 7c. the first 25 average about 24 times as bright as the last. Out of the whole 95, two are of the oth magnitude (one of them, No. 234, was discovered as recently as August 1883), 14 are of the 10th, 33 of the 11th, 33 of the 12th, and 13 ofthe 13th. Of these last 13, 10 have been found within the past two years; and of the 12 others found in the same time, 6 are ofthe 11th magnitude, and 6 of the 12th. It is clear that there can remain very few to be discovered as large as the roth magnitude, but there may be aa indefinite number of the smaller sizes. The Major Planets.—As regards the planet Jupiter, the one interesting feature for the past ten years has been “ the great red spot.” This is an oval spot, some 30,000 miles in length, by 6000 or 7000 in width, which first attracted attention in 1878. At first, and for three years, it was very conspicuous, but in 1882 it became rather faint, though still remaining other- wise pretty much unchanged. In 1885 it was partly covered with a central whitish cloud, which threatened to obscure it entirely ; but this season the veiling cloud has diminished, and the marking is again as plain as it was in 1882 or 1883. How long it will continue, no one can say; nor is there any general and authoritative agreement among astronomers as to its nature and cause. In connection with observations upon this object, several new determinations have been made of the planet’s rotation-period, and they all show that, as in the case of the sun, the equatorial markings complete the circuit more rapidly than in higher latitudes ; a white spot near the equator gives gh. 50m. 6s., as against 9h. 55m. 36s. for the red spot, which is approximately in latitude 30°. We must not omit to mention Prof. Pickering’s new photo- metric method of observing the eclipses of this planet’s satel- lites. Instead of contenting himself with observing merely the moments of their disappearance and reappearance—an observa- tion not susceptible of much accuracy—he makes a series of rapid comparisons between the brightness of the waning or waxing point of light during the two or three minutes of its change, using, as the standard, one of the neighbouring un- eclipsed satellites. From these comparisons he determines the moment when the satellite under eclipse has just half its normal brightness, and this with a probable error hardly exceeding a single second, while the old-fashioned method gave results doubtful by not less than a quarter of a minute. Cornu and Obrecht have independently introduced the same method at Paris. When we have a complete twelve years’ series of such observations, they will give an exceedingly precise determination of the time required by light to traverse the earth’s orbit, and so, indirectly, of the solar parallax. As regards Saturn, there is nothing to report so startling as Jupiter’s red spot. A white spot, which appeared in 1877, enabled Hall to make a new determination of the rotation- period, which came out 1oh. 14m. 14s. This is in substantial Nov. 25, 1886] accord with an earlier determination of W. Herschel’s (toh. 16m. 7s.), but involves a serious correction of the value Ioh, 29m. 17s. given in most of the text-books. The error probably came from a servile copying of a slip of the pen made by some book-compiler, fifty years ago or more, in accidentally writing Herschel’s value of the rotation of the inner ring, instead of that of the planet. Much time has been spent in observations of the rings, and Trouvelot has reported a number of remarkable phenomena, most of which, however, he alone has seen as yet. The most recent micrometric measures have failed to confirm Struve’s suspicion that the rings are contracting on the planet. Extensive series of observations have been made upon the satellites by H. Struve, Meyer, and others in Europe, and by Hall in this country. Hfall’s observations are especially valuable, and the series is now so nearly completed that we may soon hope to have most accurate tables. In the case of Hyperion, there is found a singular instance of a zetrograde motion of the line of apsides of the orbit, produced by the action of an outside body, the effect being due to the near commensurability of the periods of Hyperion and Titan. This most peculiar and paradoxical disturbance first showed itself as an observed fact in Hall’s observations ; and, soon after, Newcomb gave the mathematical explanation and development. He finds the mass of Titan to be about 1/12,500 that of Saturn. It may be noted, too, that Hall’s observations of the motions of Mimas and Enceladus indicate for the rings a mass less than 1/10 that deduced by Bessel : instead of being 1/100 as large as the planet, they cannot be more than 1/1000, and are probably less than 1/10,000, The satellites of Uranus have also been assiduously observed at Washington, so that at present the Uranian system is probably as accurately determined as the Jovian, perhaps more so. The form of the planet has been shown to be decidedly elliptical (about 1/14) by observations of Schiaparelli and at Princeton ; and the same observers have detected faint belts upon the disk, which have also been seen at Nice, and by the Henrys in Paris. Many of the observations appear to indicate a very paradoxical fact—that the belts, and consequently the planet’s equator, are inclined to the orbits of the satellites at a considerable angle. The mathematical investigations of Tisse- rand appear to demonstrate that, in the case of a planet per- ceptibly flattened at the poles, satellites near enough to be free from much solar disturbance must revolve nearly in the plane of the equator ; while those more remote, and disturbed more by the sun than by the protuberant equator of the planet, must revolve nearly in the plane of the planet’s orbit. Thus the two satellites of Mars, the four satellites of Jupiter, and the seven inner satellites of Saturn, all move nearly in the equatorial plane, while our moon and Japetus move in ecliptical orbits. It is very difficult to believe that the satellites of Uranus, which are cer- tainly not ecliptical and are very near the planet, do not move equatorially. And yet it is unquestionable that most of the observations with sufficiently powerful telescopes (my own amung them).do seem to indicate pretty decidedly that the planet’s equator is inclined as much as 15° or 20° tothe orbit plane of the satellites. As to Neptune, there is nothing new. One or two old observations of the planet have turned up in the revision of old star catalogues, and Hall, of Washington, has made a careful and accurate determination of the orbit of its one satellite, and of the planet’s mass; while Maxwell Hall, of Jamaica, has deduced a very doubtful value of the planet’s rotation from certain photometric observations of its brightness. There has been some hope that a planet beyond Neptune might be found. Guided by certain slight indications of sys- tematic disturbances in the motion of Neptune, Todd made an extended search for it in 1877-78, using the Washington tele- scope, and hoping to detect it by its disk, but without results. If such a planet exists, it is likely to appear as a star between the 11th and 13th magnitude, and may be picked up any time by the asteroid-hunters. But its slow motion, and the fact that our present charts give but few stars below the 114 magnitude, will render the recognition difficult. The indications I have spoken of, and certain others first noted in 1880 by Prof. G. Forbes, and depending upon the behaviour of certain periodic comets, furnish pretty strong reasons for believing in its existence, though as yet they fall far short of making it certain. (To be continued.) NATURE 89 A LECTURE EXPERIMENT ON THE EXPANSION OF SOLIDS BY HEAT VENTURE to call attention to a simple and effective way of demonstrating the linear expansion of solids when heated, first suggested, I believe, by M. Kapoustine (Yournal de Physique, December 1883, p. 576). It answers at least as well as the system of levers known as ‘‘Ferguson’s pyrometer,” which is usually employed for the purpose, while the cost of the apparatus is almost nothing, and any one can make it in ten minutes. The principle is, to magnify the slight extension of a bar by causing the end of it to roll upon a needle, and thus turn the latter round and move a pointer attached to it through a sensible arc. The figure given below will show the nature of the apparatus. A small flat rod of the material to be examined, such as brass, iron. or glass, about 30 cm. long, 1 cm. broad, and 2 or 3 mm. thick, is laid upon two wooden blocks, placed about 25 cm. apart. A weight is put upon one end of the rod to keep it from moving ; under the other end, at right angles to the length of the rod, is laid a fine sewmg-needle, to the eye-end of which a light pointer of straw, about 16 or 20 cm. long, is attached by sealing-wax. Behind the pointer (which is painted black) a screen of white cardboard is fixed on the wooden block by drawing-pins. When the rod is heated by alamp-flame, the free end of it, as it expands, moves forward upon the needle and rolls it round, its movement being shown by the motion of the pointer. Even the slight expansion of a slip of glass is thus easily rendered evident to a class. I have constructed for my own use a double apparatus on the same principle, in which the surfaces between which the needle rolls are of brass, ground true and flat. Two bars of different materials lie side by side, each having its own bit of needle and aluminium pointer, ranging over the same scale. They are heated equally by a broad flame (spirits of wine in a wide trough) and the difference of expansibility as well as the fact of expansion by heat is thus shown. It is advisable to counterpoise the pointer by putting a shot or two into the lower end of the straw which projects below the needle, and cementing them in by sealing-wax. Also, before the experiment is shown to an audience, it is well to make sure that the needle rolls fairly and freely between the bar and the block. Such precautions, however, are not in the slightest degree necessary for school-work ; for there is always one thing which gives the typical boy greater pleasure than to see an experiment succeed, and that is—to see it fail. Eton College H. G. MADAN COMPARATIVE STUDIES UPON THE GLA- CIATION OF NORTH AMERICA, GREAT BRITAIN, AND [IRELAND * BSERVATIONS extending over several years upon glacial phenomena on both sides of the Atlantic had convinced the author of the essential identity of these phenomena ; and the object of this paper was to show that the glacial deposits of Great Britain and Ireland, like those of America, may be inter- preted most satisfactorily by considering them with reference to a series of great ¢erminal moraines, which both define confluent T Abstract of a Paper read at the Birmingham meeting of the British Association, September 1886, by Prof. H. Carvill Lewis, M.A., F.G.S. fete) NATURE [Vov. 25, 1886 lobes of ice andalso often mark the line separating the glaciated from the non-glaciated areas. The paper began with a sketch of recent investigations upon the glaciation of North America, with special reference to the significance of the terminal moraines discovered within the last few years. The principal characters of these moraines were given, and a map was exhibited showing the extent of the gla- ciated areas of North America, the course of the interlobate and terminal moraines, and the direction of striation and glacial movement. It was shown that, apart from the great ice sheet of North-Eastern America, an immense lobe of ice descended from Alaska to Vancouver's Island on the western side of the Rocky Mountains, and that from various separate centres in the Cascade, Sierra Nevada, and Rocky Mountains there radiated smaller local glaciers. The mountains encircling the depression of Hudson Bay seemed to be the principal source of the glaciers which became confluent to form the great ice-sheet. In its advance, this ice- sheet probably met and amalgamated with a number of already existing local glacial systems, and it was suggested that there was no necessity for assuming either an extraordinary thickness of ice at the Pole, or great and unequal elevations and depres- sions of land. Detailed studies made by the author in Ireland in 1885 had shown remarkably similar glacial phenomena. The large ice-sheet which covered the greater part of Treland was composed of confluent glaciers, while distinct and local glacial systems occurred in the non-glaciated area. The prin- cipal ice-sheet resembled that of America in having for its centre a great inland depression surrounded by a rim of mountains. ‘These appear to have given rise to the first glaciers, which, after uniting, poured ovtwards in all directions. Great lobes of this ice-sheet flowed westward out of the Shannon and out of Galway, Clew, Sligo, and Donegal Bays, northward out of Loughs Swilly and Foyle, and south-eastward out of Dundalk and Dublin Bays; while to the south the ice-sheet abutted against the Mullaghareirk, Galty, and Wicklow Mountains, or died out in the plains. Whether it stopped among the mountains or in the lowlands, its edge was approximately outlined by unusual accumulations of drift and boulders, representing the terminal moraines. As in America, this outer moraine was least distinct in the lowlands, and was often bordered by an outer “fringe” of drift several miles in width. South of an east and west line extending from Tralee to Dun- garvan is a non-glaciated zone free from drift. Several local systems of glaciers occur in the South of Ireland, of which by far the most important is that radiating from the Killarney Mountains, covering an area of 2000 square miles, and entitled to be called a local ice-sheet. Great glaciers from this Killarney ice-sheet flowed out of the fjord-like parallel bays which indent the south-western coast of Ireland. At the same time the Dingle Mountains, the Knockmealdown and Comeragh Mountains, and those of Wexford and Wicklow furnished small separate glaciers, each sharply defined by its own moraine. No evidence of any great marine submergence was discovered, although the author had explored the greater part of Ireland, and the eskers were held to be phenomena due to the melting of the ice and the circulation of sub-glacial waters. The Irish ice- sheet seemed to have been joined at its north-eastern corner by ice coming from Scotland across the North Channel. All the evidence collected indicates that a mass of Scotch ice, reinforced by that of Ireland and England, filled the Irish Sea, over-riding the Isle of Man and Anglesey, and exténding at least as far south as Bray Head, south of Dublin. A map of the glaciation of Ireland was exhibited in which the ob ervations of the Irish geologists and of the author were combined, and in which was shown the central sheet, the five local glacial systems, all the known strize, and the probable lines of movement as indicated by moraines, strice, and the transport of erratics. The glaciation of Wales was then considered. Wales was shown to have supported three distinct and disconnected local systems of glaciers, while at the same time its extreme northern border was touched by the great ice-lobe filling the Irish Sea. The most extensive local glaciers were those radiat- ing from the Snowdon and Arenig region, while another set of glaciers radiated from the Plinlimmon district and the mountains of Cardiganshire, and a third system originated among the Brecknockshire Beacons. The glaciers from each of these centres transported purely local boulders and formed well-defined | mouth of the Tees. terminal moraines. The northern {ice-lobe, bearing granite boulders from Scotland and shells and flints from the bed of the Irish Sea, invaded the northern coast, but did not mingle with the Welsh glaciers. It smothered Anglesey and part of Car- narvonshire on the one side and part of Flintshire on the other, and heaped up a terminal moraine on the outer flanks of the North Welsh mountains. This great moraine, filled with far- travelled northern erratics, is heaped up in hummocks and irregular ridges, and is in many places as characteristically deve- loped as anywhere in America. It has none of the characters of a sea-beach, although often containing broken shells brought from the IrishSea. It may be followed from the extreme end of the Lleyn Peninsula (where it is full of Scotch granite erratics), in a north-easterly direction through Carnarvonshire past Moel Tryfan and along the foot of the mountains east of Menai Strait to Bangor, where it goes out to sea, re-appearing further east at Conway and Colwyn. It turns south-eastward in Denbighshire, going past St. Asaph and Halkin Mountain. In Flintshire it turns southward, and is magnificently developed on the ea tern side of the mountains, at an elevation of over 1ooo feet, between Minera and Llangollen, south-west of which place it enters England. There is evidence that, where the ice-sheet abutted against Wales, it was about 1350 feet in thickness. This is analogous to the thickness of the ice-sheet in Pennsylvania, where the author had previously shown that it was about roo0 feet thick at its extreme edge, and 2000 feet thick at points some 8 miles back from its edge. The transport of erratics coincides with the direction of striz in Wales as elsewhere, and is at right angles to the terminal moraine. The complicated phenomena of the glaciation of England, the subject of a voluminous literature and discordant views, had been of high interest to the author, and had led him to redouble his efforts for its solution. He had found that it was possible to accurately map the glaciated areas, to separate the deposits made by land ice from those due to icebergs or to torrential rivers, and to trace out a series of terminal moraines both at the edge of the ice-sheet and at the edge of its confluent lobes. Perhaps the finest exhibition of a terminal moraine in England is in the vicinity of Ellesmere, in Shropshire. A great mass of drift several miles in width, and full of erratics from Scotland and from Wales, is here heaped up into conical hills which inclose ‘“‘kettle holes ” and lakes, and have all the characters of the “kettle-moraine””’ of Wisconsin. Like the latter, the Elles- mere moraine here divides two great lobes of ice, one coming from Scotland, the other from Wales. This moraine may be traced continuously from Ellesmere eastward through Madeley, Macclesficld, to and along the western flank of the Pennine Chain, marking throughout the southern edge of the ice-sheet of northern England. From Macclesfield the same moraine was traced northward past Stockport and Staleybridge to Burnley, and thence to Skiptonin Yorkshire. North-east of Burnley it is banked against the Boulsworth Hills up to a height of 1300 feet in the form of mounds and hummocks. South and east of this long moraine no signs of glaciation were discovered, while north and west of it there is every evidence of a continuous ice-sheet covering land and sea alike. The striz and the transport of boulders agree in proving a southerly and south-easterly direc- tion of ice-movement in Lancashire and Cheshire, From Skipton northward the phenomena are more complicated. A tongue of ice surmounted the watershed near Skipton, and pro- truded down the valley of the Aire as far as Bingley, where its terminal moraine is thrown across the valley like a great dam, reminding one of similar moraine dams in several Pennsylvania valleys. A continuous moraine was traced around this Aire glacier. Another great glacier, much larger than this, de- scended Wensleydale and reached the plain of York. The most complex glacial movements in England occurred in the mountain region about the Nine Standards, where local glaciers met and were overpowered by the greater ice-sheet coming down from Cumberland. ‘The ice-sheet itself was here divided, one portion going southward, the other in company with local glaciers and laden with the well-known boulders of ‘‘ Shap granite”? being forced eastward across Stainmoor Forest into Durham and Yorkshire, finally reaching the North Sea at the The terminal moraine runs eastward through Kirkby Ravensworth, toward Whitby, keeping north of the Cleveland Hills, and all Eastern England south of Holderness appears to be non-glaciated. Onthe other hand, all England north of Stainmoor Forest and the River Tees, except the very highest points, was smothered in a sea of solid ice. Nov. 25, 1886 | There is abundant evidence to prove that the ice-lobe filling the Irish Sea was thicker towards its axis than at its edges, and at the north than at its southern terminus, and that it was re- inforced by smaller tributary ice-streams from both England and Ireland. It may be compared with the glacier of the Hudson River Valley in New York, each having a maximum thickness of something more than 3000 feet. The erosive power of the ice-sheet was found to be extremely slight at its edge, but more powerful farther north, where its action was continued for a longer period. Towards its edge its function was to fill up in- equalities rather than to level them down. It was held that most glacial lakes are due to an irregular dumping of drift, rather than to any scooping action, observations in England and in Switzerland coinciding with those in America to confirm this conclusion. Numerous facts on both sides of the Atlantic indicate that the upper portion of the ice-sheet may move in a different direction from its lower portion. It was also shown that a glacier in its advance had the power of raising stones from the bottom to the top of the ice, a fact due to retardation by friction of its lower layers. The author had observed the gradual upward passage of sand and stones in the Grindelwald glacier, and applied the same explanation to the broken shells and flints raised from the bed of the Irish Sea to the top of Moel Tryfan, to Macclesfield, and to the Dublin mountains. The occurrence of stratified deposits connected with un- doubted moraines, was shown to be a common phenomenon, and instances of stratified moraines in Switzerland, Italy, Ame- rica, and Wales, were given. The stratification is due to waters derived from the melting ice, and is not proof of submergence. It was held that, notwithstanding a general opinion to the contrary, there is no evidence in Great Britain of any marine submergence greater than about 450 feet. It was to be ex- pected that an ice-sheet advancing across a sea-bottom should deposit shell-fragments in its terminal moraine. The broad principle was enunciated that wherever in Great Britain marine shells occur in glacial deposits at high levels, it can be proved both by striae and the transport of erratics that the ice advanced on to the land from out of the sea. The shells on Three Rock Mountain near Dublin, and in North Wales and Macclesfield, all from the Irish Sea; the shells in Cumberland transported from Solway Firth; those on the coast of North- umberland brought out of the North Sea; those at Airdrie in Scotland, carried eastward from the bottom of the Clyde; and those in Caithness from Moray Firth, were among examples adduced in proof of this principle. The improbability of a great submergence not leaving corresponding deposits in other parts of England was dwelt upon. Tt was also held that there was insufficient evidence of more than one advance in the ice-sheet, although halts occurred in its retreat. The idea of successive elevations and submergences with advances and retreats of the ice was disputed, and the author held that much of the supposed inter-glacial drift was due to sub-glacial waters from the melting ice. The last portion of the paper discussed the distribution of boulders, gravels, and clays south of the glacial area. Much the greater part of England was believed to have been uncovered by land ice. The drift deposits in this area were shown to be the result in part of great fresh-water streams issuing from the melting ice-sheet and in part of marine currents bearing icebergs during a submergence of some 450 feet. The supposed glacial drift about Birmingham and the concentration of boulders at Wolver- hampton were regarded as due to the former agent, while the deposits at Cromer and the distribution of Lincolnshire chalk across Southern England were due to the latter. The supposed esker at Hunstanton was held to be simply a sea-beach, and the London drift deposits to be of aqueous origin. Thus the rival theories of floating icebergs and of land glaciers were both true, the one for Middle and Southern England, the other for Scot- land, Wales, and the North of England; and the line of de- markation was fixed by great terminal moraines. The paper closed with an acknowledgment of indebtedness to the many geologists in England and Ireland who had uniformly rendered generous assistance during the above investigation. THE CLIMATE OF NORTHERN EUROPE AND THE GULF STREAM [N view of the reference made by Sir William Dawson, in his | inaugural address at the meeting of the British Association, to the effect of the Gulf Stream on the climate of Northern NATURE gl Europe, particularly that of Norway, and the consequences of a diversion of the stream from its present course, the following contribution to the subject by the well-known Norwegian savant, Dr. Karl Hesselberg, which appeared in a recent number of the scientific journal WVateren, may be of interest and tend to its further elucidation. According to the situation of Norway on the globe, the northern part of the country should have a distinct Polar climate, with eternal ice and snow, a home only for the Eskimo and Polar bears. Several circumstances contribute, however, to make it otherwise. The country forms a western promontory of the great Asiatic-European continent, and receives its full share of the advantages of such a situation. Mild south-west winds blow throughout the year, while warm sea-currents wash its extensive shores summer as well as winter. The winter cold is so reduced that only a small portion of the heat of the summer sun is consumed in melting the snow. The length of the summer days, too, which north of the Polar Circle last twenty-four hours, contribute to raise the mean temperature, and accelerate the growth of the flora. Certain other circumstances, as, for in- stance, the formation of the country and the physico-geographical conditions of the North Atlantic Ocean, contribute equally to make the Norwegian climate one of the most favourable ia the world. A brief 7ésemé of the circumstances will be of interest. A chart of the distribution of the atmospheric depression in the North Atlantic Ocean—the Norwegian Sea—shows that all the year round a strong barometric minimum prevails in the middle of the sea between Norway, Iceland, Jan Mayen, and Spitzbergen, the consequence of which is that south-west winds always blow in the eastern part of this area, viz. along the coast of Norway. Warm water is thereby forced up towards Norway and Spitzbergen, even into the East Arctic Ocean. The bottom formation of the sea, too, contributes to preserve the high temperature. If a chart be examined of the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean, such a one, for instance, as is the result of Prof. Mohn’s labours after the measurements of the Norwegian North Atlantic Expedition, it will be found that the sea-bottom between Norway, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Jan Mayen, forms a basin with a depth of a little over 2000 English fathoms. It will also be seen that the Norwegian coast does not fall abruptly into this abyss, but that the bottom along the whole coast slopes gradually down from the shore seawards to a certain point where it terminates perpendicularly. In other words, Norway is surrounded with a continuous ‘* bank,” which m a great measure contributes to preserve the high temperature along the coast. In the great basin, however, the water is icy cold at the bottom, but against this the bank forms a natural barrier, whilst above the bank the warm water is without any bottom layer of cold. It is the warm water which fills the fjords and there preserves a temperature so high that it is some- times higher than the mean temperature of the air, and under which the fjords do not freeze, a circumstance of great importance. If the temperature of the sea-water in the winter contributes to raise the temperature of the air, it will in the summer have the opposite effect, and cause the climate to be very much tempered along the coast. It is only in the fjords and adjacent valleys that the temperature in the summer rises to a height unusual for the latitude. In order to show the relatively favourable climate which Norway enjoys, Dr. Hesselberg supplies two diagrams. The first of these shows the mean temperature of the air over Europe and the North Atlantic Ocean in January, when it is lowest. Isotherms are shown for every fifth degree. If now, for instance, the isotherm o°—the temperature of the air —hbe followed, it will at once be seen how far it shoots up northwards between Iceland and Norway, in fact, right above lat. 70° N. In tead of running east and west, it goes nearly straight north and south, particularly along the west coast of Norway, which it follows throughout its entire length, from the latitude of Tromsé to that of Christiansand. Hence it deviates towards Denmark, then runs into the Baltic, returns to Ham- burg, and thence runs in a south-easterly direction across Europe, nearly down to the Adriatic Sea. Here it first trends eastwards, across Turkey and the Black Sea. Off the Nor- wegian coast, therefore, in lat. 70° N., the same mean tempera- ture prevails in January as in Southern Europe in Jat. 45°, and even there the mean temperature is probably 3° higher than might be expected according to the latitude. The other isotherms have a similar course, as well as the temperature at the surface of the sea. A great wave of warm water rolls up 92 along the coast of Norway, and may be traced even to Spitzbergen. : , Another equally interesting illustration of the mildness of the winter in Norway is shown by two diagrams of the “thermal anomaly” in January. By way of comparison the month of July is included. It may be added that by thermal anomaly is meant the difference which exists between the ¢we mean temperature of a place and the mean temperature actually registered in that latitude. In January the thermal anomaly is very remarkable. Thus, along the coast of Norway, between the northernmost and westernmost promontories, the North Cape and Stat, it reaches + 20°C., and inthe sea outside most probably + 25° C. These figures are certainly very remarkable. Eastwards, it decreases inland, but even here—where the cold is very great in the winter—it never falls below + 7°. In the Baltic, on the other hand, it again rises, as might be expected. In the summer, however, the conditions are far from being so favourable. There is, indeed, then a narrow strip of land, on the very verge of the coast, where the thermal anomaly is slightly zegative. The line for the o° C. anomaly then follows the west coast, decreasing gradually seawards, whilst eastwards, across Southern Norway, it rises to + 4° C., and in Finmarken to + 70°C. For the further elucidation of this, the following comparison of the January mean temperature in various places on the globe in about the same latitude may serve :— About 60° N. lat. Helliso Lighthouse... 2 Bergen od5 fo) Christiania ... - 5 Stockholm - 3 St. Petersburg —10 Jakutsk ee én —42 North Kamchatka ... —20 South Alaska —20 Great Slave Lake .., a —25 North Coast of Labrador ... 25 Cape Farewell 60 =e ie fe ae if Shetland Islands 4 About 71° N. lat. bs North Cape... 060 =24 South Novaya Zemlya 20 Mouth of the Yenisei — 34. Mouth of the Lena . ae — 40 Point Barrow nae 596 500 Se ao = Boothia a0 be S06 Sn sen oo = 2 Upernivik — 20 Jan Mayen ... -10 The coldest place on the globe where the mean temperature has been exactly ascertained, viz. Werchojansk, in the interior of Siberia, with — 48° C. in January, lies in the same latitude as Bodo, where it is — 2° C., and Rost, with o7'5 C. _ In order to obtain correct normal values of the temperature in a place, long and continuous series of observations are neces- sary ; and when we consider that the longest we possess for any place only extends over 100 years, and that meteorology is but a science of yesterday, the Norwegian meteorological records can make a fair show. With regard, however, to the changes which take place in the climate in a certain spot during ages— which occurrence is beyond dispute—we have no reliable data. I will only mention here Prof. Blytt’s theory,! which has attracted many supporters, viz. that the periodical changes in the climate are due to the precession of the equinoxes (with a mean period of about 21,000 years), and to changes in the eccentricity of the earth’s orbit. _ It is, however, possible to accept a shorter periodical change in the climate than this, and theories on this point have not been wanting ; but the only one which has found any support is the eleven-year period, corresponding to that of the sunspots, which again coincides with that of the terrestrial magnetic phenomena. It has even been attempted to bring the fall of rain and snow within a certain law, and, as some maintain, with success ; but in my opinion the proofs advanced in support of such a theory are far from being conclusive. 1 Cf. Prof. Darwin's Address to the British Association, Section A; also NATURE, vol. xxxiv. pp. 220 and 239. NATURE [Wov. 25, 1886 TO PROVE THAT ONLY ONE PARALLEL CAN BE DRAWN FROM A GIVEN POINT TO A GIVEN STRAIGHT LINE (1) LET OP and 0Q be two lines at right angles, and let PQ move along them from 0, so that OP always = 0Q. Then PQ always > 0Q or OP. Hence if 0 Q increase without limit, P Q must also do so. Let ON bisect the angle POQ. ‘Then N bisects PQ. Then if 0Q increase without limit, QN does so (QN 3 QP). a If 0 Q' be taken along ON = 0Q, QQ’ >QNn. Hence if 0 Q increase without limit, QQ’ does so. Similarly by bisecting Q’'0Q by OM, we can show that QM increases without limit with 0Q, and so on by continual bisection, Hence— If two straight lines meet at any angle, the perpendicular from a point of one on the other becomes infinite when that point is at infinity. Fic. 1. ' Q R ] — 0) iP Fic. 2. : Q (S: Q / i / a tt O IP KR Pp Fic. 3. Fic. 4. (2) Let 0Q be some given Jength taken at right angles to a line OP; Let PR move along oP at right angles to OP, so that PR always = 0Q. Join QR, QP. Let 0 P increase without limit. Then the angle Pp QR tends to become zero. For the lines QR, PQ never become infinitely separated. Thus there is evidently some definite position for the line QP when OP becomes #. (3)Let a line PQ move at right angles to oP, so that PQ = OP. Then if op limit. Hence, there is some finite angle, QO P, such that the perpen- dicular Q P from Q at © on OP falls at an infinite distance from 0. The same thing is evidently true for all angles less than Qo P. Then either it is true of all angles less than a right angle, in which case it can be easily shown that only one parallel can be drawn from a given point to a given line ; Or, there is some limiting angle, Qo P, for which Q P falls at eo , and for any greater angle (< right angle) Q P falls at some finite distance from o. increase without limit, OQ increases without Nov. 25, 1886] NATURE 93 a Let Qo P be this limiting angle. RS to Qat along 0g. Then if Sis at o, the perpendicular sP falls at an infinite distance from R. .*. Angle PRS not greater than POQ, and it cannot be less (Eucl., I., 16 and 27). Hence it must be equal. Hence Rs making the angle SR P = QOP meets 0Q at o at both ends. And any other straight line through rR becoming infinitely distant from RS must cut 0Q in some finite point. Thus from R only one parallel, Rs, can be drawn to a given line, 0Q. By moving 0 P along 0 Q always at the same angle, QO P, we can show that i From a given point only one parallel can be drawn to a given ine. This theorem, therefore, must be true. Take R on OP, and draw E. BUDDEN SCIENTIFIC SERIALS American Fournal of Science, October.—A dissected vol- canic mountain; some of its revelations, by James D. Dana. Here the author returns to the subject of Tahiti, largest of the Society Islands, already described by him in 1850 from mate- rials supplied by the Wilkes Exploring Expedition of 1839. The old cone, some 7000 feet high, is now a dissected moun- tain, with valleys cut profoundly into its sides, and laying bare the centre to a depth of from 2000 to nearly 4000 feet below the existing summit. As shown on the accompanying map, the valleys, due to erosion, are so crowded on one another, that the dissection is complete, thus disclosing the inner structure of a great volcanic mountain. The interior is shown to be com- posed, not of lava-beds, there being no horizontal lines, but of imperfect columnar formations, rising vertically in the unstrati- fied mass quite to the summit. The uniform massiveness through so great a height at the volcano’s centre is attributed to the cooling of continuously liquid lava in the region of the great central conduit of the cone. A comparative study of Mauna Loa (Hawaii), shows that such a massive central structure is a common feature of the g7ea¢ey volcanic mountains, the extremely slow cooling process under great pressure causing the lava to solidify into a compact crystalline rock, and often into a coarsely crystalline rock.—Origin of the ferruginous schists and iron ores of the Lake Superior region, by R. D. Irving. Rejecting the igneous theory, now held by few, the writer, after a careful survey of the whole field, concludes that these rocks were once carbonates analogous to those of the coal-measures, which by a process of silicification were transformed into the various kinds of ferruginous formations now occurring in this region.— Further notes on the artificial lead silicate from Bonne Terre, Montana, by H. A. Wheeler. An analysis of this interesting substance, which was found under the hearth of an old reverbera- tory roasting-furnace, yielded 73°66 PbO, 17°11 SiO,, NiO 3:06 (coarse crystals), 72°93 PbO, 18°51 SiO,, and smaller quantities of nickel, cobalt, and other ingredients.—Limonite pseudo- morphs after pyrite, by John G. Meem. The paper gives a short account of the pseudomorphs occurring in Rockbridge County, Virginia, where they are associated with Lower Silurian limestones. These crystals, varying in colour from a very light to a very dark brown, and sometimes almost black, are hydrous, and yield a yellow powder, showing them to be limonite, most commonly of octahedral form.—Note on the hydro-electric effect of temper in case of steel, by C. Barus and V. Strouhal. The object of this inquiry is to determine directly the carbon relations of steel as a function of the temperature (0° to 400°, 400° to 1000°) and of the time of annealing, with full reference to the physical occurrences observed in the first and second phases of the phenomenon.—On the crystalline structure of iron meteorites, by Oliver Whipple Huntington. It is shown that the usual classification of these meteorites into octahedral and cubic crystals cannot be natural or fundamental. A careful ex- amination of the large collection belonging to Harvard College, containing types of all the characteristic meteorites of this class, leads to the conclusion that masses of meteoric iron are cleavage crystals, broken off probably by impact with the air, and show- ing cleavages parallel to the planes of all three fundamental forms of the regular system (octahedron, cube, and dodecahedron) ; further, that the Widmanstattian figures and Neumann lines themselves are sections of planes parallel to these same forms, exhibited in every gradation from the broadest bands to the finest markings, with no natural break, the features of von Widmanstatten’s figures being, moreover, due to the elimina- tions of impurities during the process of crystallisation. —A new meteoric iron from Texas, by W. Earl Hidden. The specimen here described and illustrated was discovered by Mr. C. C. Cusick on June 10, 1882, near Fort Duncan, Maverick County, Texas. It weighs over 97 pounds, is quite soft, being easily cut with a knife, and consists of iron 94°90 ; nickel and cobalt, 4°87 ; phosphorus, 0°25, with traces of sulphur and carbon; specific gravity, 7°522.—On pseudomorphs of garnet from Lake Superior and Salida, Colorado, by S. L. Penfield and F. L. Sperry. The Lake Superior specimen is essentially an iron alumina garnet, with formula Fe,Al,Si,;0,.. That of Colorado is higher in protoxides and water, the increase being perhaps due to the pre- sence of ripidolite.—-Further notes on the meteoric iron from Glorieta Mount, New Mexico, by George F. Kunz.—On the Brookite from Magnet Cove, Arkansas, by Edward S. Dana. These crystals, first described in 1846 by Shepard under the name of arkansite, are especially remarkable for the great variety of their forms, which is most unusual for crystals occurring in the same locality. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES LONDON Zoological Society, November 16.—Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—An extract was read from a letter addressed to the President by Dr. Emin Bey, dated Wadilai, Eastern Equatorial Africa, January 1, 1886, and con- taining some notes on the distribution of the Anthropoid Apes in Eastern Africa. —A letter was read, addressed to the Secre- tary by Dr. Chr. Liitken, of Copenhagen, F.M.Z.S., containing some information as to the locality of Chzropodomys penicillatus. —A letter was read from Dr. A. B. Meyer, C.M.Z.S., com- municating some remarks by Mr. K, G. Henke on a specimen of a hybrid Grouse in the Dresden Museum.—Prof. Flower, F.R.S., exhibited and made remarks on a specimen of a rare Armadillo (Zatusia pilosa) belonging to the Scarborough Mu- seum.—Prof. Bell exhibited, and made remarks on, an object (apparently of the nature of an amulet) made from a portion of the skin of some mammal, and received from Moreton Bay, Australia. —Mr. H. Seebohm, F.Z.S., exhibited a skin of what he considered to be a young individual of the Lesser White-fronted Goose (Axser albifrons minutus), shot in September last on Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland, and observed that it was the first recorded example of the small form of the White- fronted Goose which had been obtained on the coasts of our islands. —Mr. Blanford, F.R.S., exhibited, and made remarks on, a mounted specimen of a scarce Paradoxure (Paradoxurus jerdoni) from the Neilgherry Hills in Southern India.—A com- munication was read from Colonel Charles Swinhoe, F.Z.S., containing an account of the species of Lepidopterous insects which he had obtained at Mhow, in Central India.—A commu- nication was read from Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, C.M.Z.S., contain- ing an account of the anatomy of Geococcyx californianus.— Mr. Lydekker described three crania and other remains of Scelidotherium, two of the former being from the Argentine Republic, and the third from Tarapaca, in Chili. _One of the crania from the first locality he referred to the typical S. /epto- cephalum-of Owen, while the second, which had been described by Sir R. Owen under the same name, he regarded as distinct, and proposed to call S. dravardi. The Tarapaca form, which was characterised by the extremely short nasals, was also re- garded as indicating a new species, for which the name of S. chilense was proposed. The author concluded that there were not sufficient grounds for separating Lund’s proposed genus Platyonyx from Scelidotherium.—Mr. G. A. Boulenger pointed out that two distinct forms of the Batrachian genus Bomdinator occur in Central Europe, and read notes on their distinctive characters and geographical distribution.—A communication was read from Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, containing a correction, with additional notes, upon the anatomy of the 7Zyochilz, Caprimulgi, and Cypselide.—A communication was read from Dr. R. A. Philippi, C.M.Z.S., containing a preliminary notice of some of the Tortoises and Fishes of the coast of Chili.—Mr. Sclater exhibited the head of, and made remarks upon, an apparently undescribed species of Gazelle from Somali Land. 94 NATURE Geological Society, November 3.—Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Henry Howe Arnold-Bemrose, Richard Assheton, Francis Arthur Bather, Rev. Joseph Camp- bell, M.A., John Wesley Carr, Thomas J. G. Fleming, Thomas Forster, Edmund Johnstone Garwood, George Samuel Griffiths, Dr. Frederick Henry Hatch, Ph.D., Robert Tuthill Litton, Frederick William Martin, Richard D. Oldham, Forbes Rickard, Albert Charles Seward, Herbert William Vintner, and Charles D. Walcott were proposed as Fellows of the Society.—The following communications were read :—On the skull and denti- tion of a Triassic Saurian, Galesaurus planiceps, Ow., by Sir Richard Owen, K.C.B., F.R.S. The author referred to a fossil skull from the Triassic sandstone of South Africa, which com- bined dental characters resembling those of a carnivorous mam- mal with the cranial structure of a Saurian. The structure was described and figured in Owen’s ‘‘ Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia of South Africa,” under the generic title of Galesaurus, as belonging to a distinct sub-order of Reptilia termed Therio- dontia. The characters of the skull and teeth of the original specimen of Galesaurus have been brought to light by further development. In both the type-specimen and that lately re- ceived, the reptilian nature of the fossil is indicated by the single occipital condyle and other features. The chief difference from a mature male of a placental or marsupial carnivore is the evi- dence of a primordial ‘‘ gullet-tract.”’ Further details as to the structure of the skull were given, more especially with reference to the orbits and nasals. The palatal region repeats the same general characters as in previously described Theriodonts. The angle of the jaw is not produced, as in the crocodile, beyond the articular element. In general shape and bony strength the mandible of Ga/esaurus resembles that of a mammal. The dentition is so much better preserved in the new specimen than in the type Galesaur as to call for description and illustration. In four of the upper molars the entire crown is preserved ; it shows less length and greater breadth than appears in ‘the pre- vious restoration, is moderately curved externally, and triangu- lar ; the base is flanked by a short cusp before and behind, and the corresponding margins are finely crenulate, as in the molars of Cynodracon. The incisors are eight in number in both upper and lower jaws, four in each premaxillary, opposed or partially interlocking with the same number in each mandibular ramus ; they have longish, slender, simple-pointed crowns. The canines, one on each side of both upper and lower jaws, have the same laniariform shape and size of crown as in the original fossil. In the right maxillary bone the long deeply-planted root is ex- posed ; the corresponding part of the lower canine is similarly exposed in the left mandibular ramus. No trace of successional teeth, as in ordinary Saurians, has been found. Both crocodiles and alligators have two or more teeth of canine proportions ; but the author shows how they differ from those of mammalian carnivores and Ga/esaurvus. A similar character and disposition of destructive canines is shown by the fossil jaws of the oolitic great extinct carnivorous Saurians, e.g. Afegalosaurus. In the Triassic Labyrinthodonts the destructive and prehensile laniaries would, by position, rank as incisors rather than canines. In existing lizards the dental series has more uniformity, and the cement-clad roots contract bony union with the jaw-bone. In Galesaurus the teeth, besides being distinguished, as in mam- mals, by their differential characters, are implanted freely in sockets, the cold-blooded character being chiefly manifested in the greater number of teeth following the canines, and in their want of distinction. Lastly, the author remarked on the earlier reptilian character shown by the oolitic mammal Amphitherium, and also by the existing Australian AZjymecobius. He speculates on the degree of resemblance manifested by the teeth of the old Triassic reptile of South Africa with the exceptional characters of some of the low Australian forms of mammals.—The Cetacea of the Suffolk Crag, by R. Lydekker, B.A., F.G.S. This paper commenced with notices of previous contributions to the subject by Sir R. Owen, Prof. Ray Lankester, Prof. Huxley, and Prof. Flower. In the preparation of a catalogue of the specimens in the British Museum, the author had had occasion to examine the collection of Cetacea from the Crag, not only in that Museum, but also in the Museum of Practical Geology, that of the Royal College of Surgeons, and in the Ipswich Museum, besides visit- ing the collections at Brussels. In consequence, several addi- tions to the fauna, and also numerous emendations of specific names, were noticed in the paper now laid before the Society. Prof. Ray Lankester’s views as to the Diestian affinities of the English-Crag Cetacea were confirmed by this comparison. De. [Wov. 25, 1886 tailed notes on the specimens examined and the species identi- fied were given.—On a jaw of Hyotherium from the Pliocene of India, by R. Lydekker, B.A., F.G.S. Colonel Watson, the Political Resident in Kattiawar, had recently sent to the author a fragment of a left maxilla with the three true molars, from Perim Island, in the Gulf of Cambay. The specimen belonged to Hyotherium, and apparently to an undescribed species, the differences between which and the several forms previously known from various European and Asiatic beds were pointed out. The author also called attention to the peculiar association of types found in the beds of Perim Island, and to the affinities of the genus Hyotherium with the recent Sus and Dicotyles on the one hand, and with the Upper Eocene Chavopo/amus on the other. Physical Society, November 13.—Prof. Balfour Stewart, President, in the chair.—In opening the proceedings, the Presi- dent referred to the great loss which the Society had recently sustained by the death of Prof. Guthrie, F.R.S., the founder of the Society, and his predecessor in the chair. In the capacity of Demonstrator, Prof. Guthrie contributed materially to the success of the Society’s meetings, and his decease is deeply re- gretted. The President also announced that the Council were considering what steps should be taken to commemorate the late Dr. Guthrie, and that a circular containing their views would be placed before the members in the course of a few days. —The following papers were then read :—On the peculiar sun- rise shadows of Adam’s Peak, in Ceylon, by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, F.R.Met.Soc. The author prefaced his descrip- tion by an extract from a paper on the same subject by the Rev. R. Abbay, read before the Physical Society, May 27, 1876, in which the explanation proposed is that the effects are caused by total internal reflection, as in ordinary mirage, the difference of air-density being, in this case, due to the lower temperature at high altitudes. The author pointed out that Mr. Abbay neglects the difference of density due to eleyation, and that his own thermometric observations disprove conclusively any idea of. mirage. The chief phenomena observed were : (1) the appear- ance of a circular rainbow with spectral figures near the top of the shadow of the peak ; and (2) a peculiar rising of the bow and shadow, which seem to stand up in front of the observers. Both these effects are traced to the existence of mist-clouds in the vicinity of the shadow. Two dark rays or brushes were seen to shoot outwards and upwards from the circumference of the bow in directions nearly coinciding with the prolongations of the edges of the shadow, when seen projected on the lower mist-clouds, but the author does not attempt to explain this phenomenon. On one occasion a second and outer bow was seen. The times during which the phenomena were visible were too short to permit sextant observations being taken, but the diameter of the inner bow was estimated at $° to 12°. A totally distinct kind of shadow is sometimes seen from Adam’s Peak just before, and at the moment of sunrise, which seems to stand up against the distant sky. The author found a similar effect at Pike’s Peak, Colorado, which is visible only at sunset. Mr. G. Griffiths remarked that he had often seen similar appearances in Switzerland. In answer to questions by the President and Prof. S. P. Thompson, the author said the reason why the shadows were seen from Adam’s Peak at sunrise, and from Pike’s Peak at sunset, was that the configuration of the land on the west side of the former was similar to that on the east side of the latter, both being low, whereas the opposite sides were high, and therefore unsuitable for showing the phenomena. In all cases he believed the appearances were due to the shadows being projected on clouds of suspended matter in the air at various altitudes. Fle had not noticed whether the colours were reversed in the second bow seen from Adam’s Peak, but ob- served that this bow nearly, but not quite, touched the inner one.—Note on the internal capacity of thermometers, by A. W. Clayden, M.A. (Read by Prof. Reinold, Secretary.) The author proposes to determine the volume, V, of the mercury by measuring the capacity, c, of a detached piece of the same tube of known length, and thence inferring the volume of ¢ degrees of the thermometer tube, the length of which is equal to that of the piece of tube taken. By assuming the value of a (the coefficient of a@ffarent expansion of mercury in the particular kind of glass) to be known, the volume of the mercury in the thermometer can be calculated, since ¢=¢a/V. Prof. Riicker remarked that there were often considerable differences in the sectional area of different parts of the same tube, and hence the Nov. 25, 1886] NATURE 95 -method would probably not be very reliable-—On the motion of the President, a vote of condolence to Mrs. Guthrie in her sad bereavement was passed unanimously. Royal Meteorological Society, November 17.—Mr. W. Ellis, F.R.A.S., President, in the chair.—The following were elected Fellows :—Mr. B. A. Dobson, Mr. T. Gordon, Mr. H. Mantle, Rev. J. Watson, and Mr. F. Wright.—The papers read were :—The gale of Octover F5-16, 1886, over the British Islands, by Mr. C. Harding, F.R.Met.Soc. The storm was of very exceptional strength in the west, south-west, and south of the British Islands, but the principal violence of the wind was limited to these parts, although the force of a gale was experi- enced generally over the whole kingdom. By the aid of ships’ observations, the storm has been tracked a long distance out in the Atlantic. It appears to have been formed about 250 miles to the south-east of Newfoundland on the 12th, and was experi- enced by many ocean steamers on the 13th. When the first indication of approaching bad weather was shown by the baro- meter and wind at our western outposts, the storm was about 500 miles to the west-south-west of the Irish coast, and was advancing at the rate of nearly 50 miles an hour. The centre of the disturbance struck the coast of Ireland at about I a.m. on ‘the 15th, and by 8 a.m. was central over Ireland. The storm traversed the Irish Sea, and turned to the south-east over the western Midlands and the southern counties of England, and its centre remained over the British Isles about 34 hours, having traversed about 500 miles. The storm afterwards crossed the English Channel into France, and subsequently again took a course to the north-eastwards, and finally broke up over Holland. In the centre of the storm the barometer fell to 28°5 inches ; but, as far as the action of the barometer was concerned, the principal feature of importance was the length of time that the readings remained low. At Geldeston, not far from Lowestoft, the mercury was below 29 inches for 50 hours, and at Greenwich it was similarly low for 40 hours. The highest recorded hourly velocity of the wind was 78 miles, from north-west, at Scilly on the morning of the 16th; but, on due allowance being made for the squally character of the gale, it is estimated that in the squalls the velocity reached for a minute or so the hourly rate of about 120 miles, which is equivalent toa pressure of about 70 lbs. on the square foot. On the mainland the wind attained a yelocity of about 60 miles an hour for a considerable time ; but, without question, this velocity would be greatly exceeded in the squalls. In the eastern parts of England the velocity scarcely amounted to 30 miles in the hour. The force of the gale was very prolonged. At Scilly the velocity was above 30 miles an hour for 61 hours, and it was above 60 miles an hour for 19 hours, whilst at Falmouth it was above 30 miles an hour for 52 hours. The erratic course of the storm and its slow rate of travel whilst over the British Islands were attributed to the presence of a barrier of high barometer readings over Northern Europe, and also to the attraction in a westerly direction, owing to the great condensation and heavy rain in the rear of the storm. The rainfall in Ireland, Wales, and the south-west of England was exceptionally heavy. In the neighbourhood of Aberystwith the fall on the 15th was 3°83 inches, and at several stations the amount exceeded 2 inches. Sérious floods occurred in many parts of the country. A most terrific sea was also ex- perienced on the western coasts and in the English Channel, and the number of vessels to which casualties occurred on the British coasts during the gale tell their own tale of its violence. The total number of casualties to sailing-vessels and steam-ships was 158, and among these were five sailing- and one steam-ship abandoned, five sailing- and one steam-ship foundered, and forty- two sailing- and two steam-ships stranded. During the gale the life-boats of the Royal National Life-boat Institution were launched fourteen times, and were instrumental in saving thirty- six lives.—The climate of Carlisle, by Mr. T. G. Benn, F.R.Met.Soc. This is a discussion of the observations made at the Carlisle Cemetery. The mean temperature for the twenty- three years (1863-85) was 47°°5 ; the absolute highest was 95° on July 22, 1873, and the lowest —5°°5 on January 16, 1881. The mean annual rainfall was 29°80 inches ; the greatest monthly fall was 7°84 inches in July 1884, and the least 0°30 inches in January 1881. The average number of rainy days was 174.— Results of hourly readings derived from a Redier barograph at Geldeston, Norfolk, during the four years ending February 1886, by Mr. E. T. Dowson, F.R.Met.Soc.—Results of obser- vations taken at Delanasau, Bua, Fiji, during the five years ending December 31, 1885, with a summary of results for ten years previous, by Mr. R. L. Holmes, F.R.Met. Soc. Anthropological Institute, November 9.—Mr. Francis Galton, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The election of the following new Members was announced :—G. W. Hambleton, D. F. H. Hervey, W. R- Reid, M.D., R. J. Ryle, M.A., M.B., and W. F. Stanley, F.G.S.—Prof. Flower exhibited some of Dr. Otto Finsch’s casts of natives of the Pacific Islands, and made some general remarks on the collection.—A paper by Dr. E. T. Hamy, entitled ‘‘ An Interpretation of one of the Copan Monuments,” was read. In this paper the author traced a re- semblance between the symbol found upon a large and regular convex stone at Copan and the Chinese ‘‘ Tai-Ki,” and argued that the presence of such a symbol in the ruins of Copan, where there exist so many manifestations of a strange and curious art so closely allied to the Eastern arts of the Old World, furnishes a fresh proof in support of the theory of an Asiatic influence over American civilisation.—An exhaustive paper by Mr. H. Ling Roth, on the aborigines of Hispaniola, was read. SYDNEY Linnean Society of New South Wales, September 29.— Prof. W. J. Stephens, M.A., F.G.S., President, in the chair.— The following papers were read :—A revision of the Staphyli- nidz of Australia, part ii., by A. Sidney Olliff, F.E.S., Assistant Zoologist, Australian Museum. This part, containing the menibers of the sub-family, Yachkyforine, is another con- tribution to a general revision of the family. No marked Australian forms have been found, and the new forms are of the ordinary type. The genera Zachyporus, Tachinus, and Boli- tobius, are added to the Australian fauna. With this instalment is issued the plate (vii.), which would have accompanied the first part, but for an unfortunate accident to the artist.—Notes on the bacteriological examination of water from the Sydney supply, No. I., by Dr. Oscar Katz.—On a remarkable Bac- terium (Streptococcus) from wheat-ensilage, by Dr. Oscar Katz. This paper contains a brief description of a Micrococcus (Streptococcus), obtained from a sample of mouldy wheat- ensilage which, some time ago, it will be remembered, came under public notice in connection with an epidemic which attacked some horses at Coonong, N.S.W. This micro- organism shows characteristic features in its pure cultivations on or in different nutrient soils. Inoculations of this and other microbes found in the samples are intended to be made shortly upon living animals.—Notes on Lindsea trichomanoides and Eriostemon Crowet, by the Rev. W. W. Woolls, M.A., Ph.D. Dr. Woolls makes some remarks on the first of these, a fern common in New Zealand, but not recognised until of late in New South Wales. He also exhibited a specimen of Crowea exalata (EZ. Crowei, y. M.) from the Currajong, and showing marked differences from the C. sadigna of the flora. Mr. Bettche, however, of the Botanic Gardens, had collected a specimen which was distinctly intermediate, and which probably may unite the two species, 2. salignus and £. exalatus again, according to the Baron’s first determination.—Note on a Laby- rinthodont fossil from Cockatoo Island, by Prof. Stephens, M.A. The Pre-ident reada notice of a fossil Labyrinthodont, probably Mastodonsaurus sp., recently found at Cockatoo Island, and pointed out the conclusions to which this fossil, the Ceratodus of Queensland, and the Hatteria of New Zealand, lead in regard to the ancient geographical conditions of the southern hemisphere.—Notes on Australian earthworms, part ii., by J. J- Fletcher, M.A. In this paper descriptions are given of nine new species of earthworms, of which five are indigenous to New South Wales, one is supposed to have been introduced from the Mauritius, two are from Queensland, and one is from Darnley Island, Torres Straits. They include a new species of Perrier’s genus Digaster, a new species of Cryftodrilus, and seven species of Pericheta. The last-named are separable into two well-marked groups: the one characterised by the possession of complete circles of sete, and by the presence of two cecal appendages of the large intestine in segment xxvi. ; the other characterised by having incomplete circles of seta, and no intes- tinal ceca, To the first group belong the species from North Queensland and Darnley Island; and the introduced species. Remarks are also made upon a few worms from Percy Island, which were collected during the Chevert Expedition, and whick are now in the Macleay Museum, but are immature or not sufficiently numerous to admit of satisfactory description. —Notes 96 NATURE [Mov. 25, 1886 on some New South Wales fishes, by Dr. Ramsay, F.R.S.E., and J. Douglas-Ogilby. The common Jew Fish of Port Jackson is here described under the name of Sciina neglecta, the authors pointing out the marked differences between itand S. antarctica, Castelnau, and S. agui/a, Lacep., the species to which it has been hitherto referred. Evidence is also given that Ca//iony- mus reevesii, Rich., is not, as has been stated, the female of C. curvicornis, C. and V. PARIS Academy of Sciences, November 15.—M. Jurien de la Graviere, President, in the chair.—Letters having been read from M. de Freycinet announcing the death of M. Paul Bert, Resident-General in Annam and Tonquin, and Member of the Academy, the President and M. Vulpian followed with some remarks on the great services rendered to science by this distin- guished physiologist. Reference was made more especially to his researches on the action of light on living organisms ; on the physiology of respiration ; and on the influence exercised on man, animals, plants, and ferments, by increased or diminished pressure of atmospheric air, of carbonic acid, and of oxygen.— Observations of the small planets made with the large meridian instrument of the Paris Observatory during the second quarter of the year 1886, communicated by M. Mouchez. Numerous observations made by M. P. Puiseux on Pallas, Juno, Olympia, Electra, Urania, Europa, and several other minor planets, are here brought into relation with the ephemerides either, of the Nautical Almanac, the Bulletin Astronomique, or the Berlin Fahrbuch.—Researches on the phosphates, by M. Berthelot. Fresh researches are here reported on the double decompositions which reveal in the insoluble tribasic phosphates the existence of two distinct states: one colloidal, amorphous, unstable, answer- ing to the manifold constitution of the soluble phosphates ; the other crystallised and stable, in which the three basic equivalents seem on the contrary to play the same part. The phosphates of soda, magnesia, baryta, lime, manganese, and the tribasic phos- phates of strontian are specially considered.—Observations of Winnecke’s comet, by M. L. Cruls. As observed during last September at the Observatory of Rio de Janeiro, this comet presented the appearance of a nebulosity about 2’ in diameter, without clearly-defined nucleus, of somewhat circular form and slight luminous intensity.—Note on Abel’s theorem, by M. G. Humbert.—On the flow of a gas penetrating into a receptacle of limited capacity, by M. Hugoniot. The question here dealt with is to determine the time required to fill a receptacle containing air at an initial pressure 4), and placed in communi- cation with a reservoir maintained by compressing-engines at a constant pressure 7, > /). The reading of the paper was fol- lowed by some remarks by M. Haton dela Goupilliére on this fresh confirmation of his own theories on the flow of gases.— On the variation of the magnetic field produced by an electro- magnet, by M. Leduc. Reference is made to M. Marcel Deprez’s communication of October 26, which partly confirmed the conclusions already arrived at by the author, and announced to the Société de Physique on February 19, 1886. But the re- sults obtained present considerable numerical differences, which may be due to the different conditions under which the experi- ments were made.—On the specific inductive power and con- ductivity of dielectrics : relation between conductivity and ab- sorbing power, by M. J. Curie.—On the velocity of dissociation, by M. H. Lescceur. It is shown that the results drawn from the velocity of dissociation may supply valuable data regarding the presence of the hydrates and analogous compounds ; but they can give no absolute or relative indications respecting the tensions of dissociation.—On some laws of chemical combina- tion, by MM. de Landero and Raoul Prieto. In these studies, of which a few preliminary essays are here communicated, chemical combination is regarded as resulting from the shock of a collision between the particles of the elements forming any given compound. The velocity of the particles in motion being considered as a characteristic constant of each body, the loss of energy or of vital force due to the shock between non-elastic particles is regarded as the equivalent of the quantity of heat liberated by the fusion.—On some histological peculiarities of the acephalous mollusks, by M. Louis Roule.—On the typical hervous system of the ctenobranch mollusks, by M. E. L. Bouvier.—On platyrhinism in a group of African apes, by M. A. T. de Rochebrune. It is shown that the family of the Colobi forms a marked exception to the general rule that the apes of the Old World are all catarhinous. As already anticipated by Dahl- bom and Gray, they prove to be distinctly platyrhinous, like all the American Simize.— Experimental researches on the syn- thesis of the lichens in a medium destitute of germs, by M. Gaston Bonnier. The researches carried out by the author since 1882 have resulted in the complete reproduction by syn- thesis of a certain number of species of lichens under conditions fully confirming the views generally held regarding the complex nature of these vegetable organisms. The results clearly show that a lichen is formed by the association of an Alga and a fungus.—The avifauna of the Mentone caves, by M. Emile Riviere. Of the forty-two species found in these caves, all still survive except Pyrrhocorax primigenius, but their present distri- bution mostly differs from that of Quaternary times, many having disappeared from the Mentone district, owing to climatic changes, the destruction of forests, and the chase.—On the Jurassic Echinide of Lorraine, by M. G. Cotteau. The re- searches made by the author in this branch of paleontology show that in Lorraine the Echinidz followed the same line of develop- ment as in other Jurassic regions.—A physiological study of the respiratory function in singers, by M. Anatole Piltan. Obser- vations made in various institutes show that the quality of the voice is inherent to the expiratory type adopted by the subject, whether unconsciously or acquired by special training.— Bacteriological studies on the Arthropods, by M. Balbiani. CONTENTS Exploration of the North’sea... . ys) 6) <1) eS Our Book Shelf :— Lupton’s ‘Chemical Arithmetic? “. © <= © sng Heaton’s ‘‘ Experimental Chemistry” ......+. 74 Letters to the Editor :— The Sense of Smell.—Edward L. Nichols and E. H. SBailey ss tae istaceee oo mek hel neater Tidal Friction and the Evolution of a Satellite.—James Nolan ar cae cee, fe. yailhay eIecnee tcc ea 75 Seismometry in Japan.—Prof. J. A. Ewing . eS Ozone Papers in Towns.—Dr. W. J. Black... . 76 The Similarities im the Physical Geography of the Great Oceans.—J. Y. Buchanan... oe ae Lung Sick.—Dr. Gérard Smets . ....... 46 Meteor —P> iEesSclater, BORtS os. en enone a6 The Origin of Species.—Joseph John Murphy ; EdmundiCatchpoole: 2). 7) «siento anon The Coral Reefs of the Solomon Islands. By Dr. H. B: (Guppy: ((U/austrated) 3. 20. i) fe eo TA The British Association and Local Scientific Societies o3. 62 See ce ee oe The Colonial and Indian Exhibition. By John R. Jackson ge): SECO Ee Se ea on ar Notes stig ge! dence: lsoe, te ceu iret ee hich okt None Our Astronomical Column :— The Mass of Mercury ...... oy ei tel oe A COS hesNavallObsenvatoryae) eiseate) elec ie ean ey Comet Finlay (1886:e)i-) <6 ete) eee Gomet Barnard (1886073) i2) = 00 1-1e) ) | tte TO Gore’s Nova Orionis © 6). 1s) te: fo.0 je! de el tet (oe Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 November 28—December4 .........2-.6-s. 86 Ten Years’ Progress in Astronomy, II. By Prof. C. INy MOEN AG ONG Go 5 0 6 86 A Lecture Experiment on the Expansion of Solids by Heat. By H. G. Madan. (//lustrated) .... 89 Comparative Studies upon the Glaciation of North Stream! 5. |- Sag 5 or To Prove that only One Parallel can be drawn from a Given Point to a Given Straight Line. By Dr. E. Budden: « (Zlustvated) > 3 5. S. 5) ee i Scientific|Serials)*250 219 3 6) Aa st eS Societies and Academies . eer NATORE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1886 INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION IN AMERICA Industrial and High Art Education in the United States. Part I. “ Drawing in Public Schools.” By J. Edwards Clarke, A.M. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1885.) ee required in school training, in the substance as well as in the method of it, are now felt to be a vital question to the political economist and the law- maker, as well as to the moralist. While the old appren- ticeship system was in its vigour, the youth was taught at school the three R’s and whatever other branches of a liberal education his parents could aiford, and for seven years after that technical instruction was given to him in all the branches of the trade he had chosen by his master, the best teacher that could be found in those days. But under the influence of machinery that system has com- pletely collapsed, and the feeling is rising everywhere that something must be done at school to replace instruction given of old by the master. Theorists insist that nothing short of a technical school, where each trade is taught from beginning to end, will sufficiently replace the care and the interest of the latter, and they hold up the Russian Strogonoff school as an example of their being taught in this complete way and triumphantly compare its work with that of the best manufacturing countries. They urge that in a system of public education like that of the United States it is a serious fault that, while a classical or professional education is provided free for the youth who desires it, technical instruction is denied to a far larger body of mechanics who have as perfect a claim to the education they require. In Stockholm the experiment of every elementary school having a carpenter’s and joiner’s shop attached is being tried, but the impracticability of carrying on in every town schools where instruction in each art can be efficiently given to the labouring classes has left the teaching of theorists little else but theory, and a technical school giving instruction in the one or two principal trades of a district is all that can be looked for. One item of education, however, has made its way in most European countries, as being a help to all technica] work, encouraging observation and correctness, and enabling such observation to be registered and expressed. It is here asserted to be a qualification for nine-tenths of the occupations into which all labour is divided, and is welcomed by the most advanced supporters of technical schools as the first step. Reading, writing, arithmetic, and drawing are now to be the four fundamental studies. A knowledge of it is essential in many of the studies in the schools of science, and especially useful to all engaged in the profession of teaching. More doubtful assertions are that like other technical teaching it does not neces- sarily interfere with or hinder other work, and that it positively assists in learning to write; this latter having the authority of the London School Board, as well as that of an American writer quoted in this volume. The rise in value also in the labour-market of each mechanic who has the power to draw or even understand a draw ng of a mechanical arrangement is often insisted upon ; but when VOL. XXXv.—NOoO. 892 97 such an accomplishment has become common to all, and therefore gives its possessor no superiority, this is rather doubtful, though the raising of a whole class to the capa- cities of artists and engineers will very likely add to republican equality. While England has for years encouraged the teaching of drawing, and, the year before last, made it a part of the education of all boys inelementary schools, in the United States a sense of its importance has been only slowly making its way. Recently, however, the Senate requested all information on the subject of industrial and high art education in the United States to be laid before it by the Education Bureau. This work was committed to Mr. J. Edwards Clarke, already the author of a Circular on the subject published in 1874, which excited so much interest and drew so much further information that it is repro- duced at p. 487 of this volume, having now, the author claims, some little historical interest, the meagre list which it contains of art institutions in the country at that date contrasting with the changes already brought about. The Bureau had already decided to prepare a much more comprehensive work, which should combine a history of the earliest efforts of writers of all views in all parts of the United States and in England; an account of their failures and successes, and especially of the Massa- chusetts success ; with information as to planning schools of high art and public art-museums ; lists of art-publications and materials; extracts from foreign official reports as well as from other foreign material. This, even before the Senate’s Commission enlarged its scope, was sufficient to make a tolerably voluminous work. But a source of disorder and much repetition has been a series of delays in its publication. It was complete for publication in 1877, and while in one article of that date criticising the few artistic buildings which New York could show in 1875, it rejoices in a later one at the im- provement there in 1883, and the artistic taste displayed by its architects ; it was ready again in 1880; corrected again for 1882, and statistical tables down to 1881-82 printed, which again it is promised shall be supplemented by tables reaching down to June 30, 1885, at the end of the fourth volume to which this work is to reach. It was printed in 1885, and inserts publications of that year, yet quotes from an “unpublished” report of the National Educational Association held in 1884 ; and it is still only promised to the public at this year’s end. Since this one volume extends to 1100 pages of, for the most part, small- printed matter, the whole work may be looked upon as an encyclopedia of information bearing upon the drawing question, of value chiefly to two classes of men, viz. school teachers, who will find nothing wanting, and earnest advancers of art education. For unless the general public in America be far different from our own they will not be Zed into the study of the subject by such a publication as this, and in its present form it must quite fail of the general effect upon them aspired to on p. xxx. The fourteen papers by the compiler with which the work opens would be appropriate for rousing attention if dis- persed over the country in the most handy form ; in their present position their inflated and impetuous style is inconsistent with the idea of exactness to be expected in this class of publication. As late as 1876 the introduction of drawing into the F 98 NATURE public schools was looked upon as a novel project in the United States ; for while Mr. Clarke considers that Eng- land has spent “an enormous aggregate of money in the work” the Americans, so profuse in other educational expenditure, have been strangely apathetic in the matter. One explanation given is that during the Middle Ages the Church and the aristocracy were the great patrons of high art, and this bred an instinctive dislike to its pursuit in the minds of New England emigrants. But besides the delineation of Nature and of all her forms of beauty, the minister of cultivated wealth and luxury, there is another branch of drawing of the highest importance to nearly every mechanic in these days, viz. geometrical drawing, the foundation of all industrial art, leading up to the elaborate perspective of a complicated machine. Both branches are of course required in many manu- factures. Which shall be pursued with most energy in any town must depend upon its staple trades; in some few businesses, as in watches and woven fabrics, the mechanical and the ornamental have about equal claims. The same idea, that drawing meant ornamental art alone, and that its chief results would be the sort of things that accomplished young ladies bring home after a few terms of learning drawing, established itself in the minds of the ratepayers. To meet this the general tone of quotations through this report is that “industrial drawing is of the most practical nature, and has nothing to do with pictures of old ruins, landscapes, &c.” Yet elsewhere Mr. Clarke is most contemptuous towards any who wish to confine the drawing taught in any school to “that part of it directly related to industrial interests” ; and the teaching of the self-willed Haydon, of whom he gives a long ac- count as the victim of cruel and ignorant persecution of “aristocratic connoisseurs” but as an apostle of art to the common people, is just as confidently quoted with no qualification. Haydon’s teaching is that the study of the nude human figure is the best qualification of an artist for any manufacturing business, and every one holding a different opinion is dismissed by Mr. Clarke with con- tempt. This necessity for high art teaching is a hard doctrine, and certainly discouraging to those who hope to qualify a majority of the working classes for artistic producers or intelligent machinists. Perhaps it only resolves itself into the explanation given on p. 482 by Mr. Sparkes, and supported also by the quotation from Mr. William Morris, that the greater includes the less, and that if an artist is well able to delineate the “subtle lines” of the human figure in a complex attitude, he is not likely to fail in working up a lily or a rose; and this is only in accordance with Mr. Stetson’s teaching quoted on p. 649. Still a superiority of French over German art designs is attributed to the former making the human figure their first study and then proceeding to flowers and ornament, while the latter take what seems to us the more natural course of the reverse order. In 1870 the State of Massachusetts after inviting various experts to express their opinions (here reported) decided that drawing should be taught in all its schools. The larger part of this bulky volume is directly or indirectly the history of the call of Mr. Walter Smith, head master of the School of Art at Leeds, who was recommended by Sir Henry Cole to be intrusted with the management of the whole matter. There are 120 closely-printed pages [Dec. 2, 1886 devoted to his work in Massachusetts as Art Director from 1871. Every part of the subject was under his guidance, and to impress upon the reader the amount of work entailed upon him an additional chapter is added to describe the unsatisfactory state of things in Boston before his arrival. The whole of his first report for 1872 is given, and long extracts from each yearly report on normal schools and every other department afterwards. Plans of instruction for evening classes which he super- intended, as well as of teaching in school hours, are quoted in full. To advance his subject he took to the principal towns in the State a travelling museum of models and examples for study, many supplied from South Kensington. In one appendix are given copious extracts from an address delivered by him to the Penn- sylvania Legislature in 1877 on behalf of the Museum and School of Industrial Art of that State; in another practical papers on drawing, chiefly by him, of value of course to managers who have just succeeded in intro- ducing the teaching of drawing; three lectures delivered respectively to the teachers of the three grades of elementary, grammar, and high schools; followed by extracts from similar addresses delivered, after his con- nection with Massachusetts had ceased, at Montreal and Quebec. The chief difficulty of course in setting such a work going was the scarcity of teachers, and this remained a difficulty up to the last. A paper accordingly by General Francis A. Walker, describing drawing as the foundation of all technical education, urges that the normal school should in truth precede, not follow, the elementary school. Another difficulty which an Association of Teachers found, and which showed the state of things at that time, was that there was so great a scarcity of art-books in the country that the Association set itself to encourage the reprinting, translation, and publication of such books. On the whole, the energy inspired and the method intro- duced were so successful in Massachusetts that we are told that its history will form a lasting monument alike to the genius of Walter Smith and to the far-reaching foresight of the school authorities and State Legislature in 1872-73. Appendix D is an account of the differences which rose between the Committee of Education in Massachusetts and Prof. W. Smith. The latter has now returned to England and taken the head mastership of the Art De- partment of the Technical College at Bradford, Great regrets are expressed at the, to them, untimely event of his resignation, and it is lamented that he should return from leading the industrial education of a continent to an English provincial college! The work now (1883) is reported as in too few hands, though still progressing from the impetus it had received. No other States have gone into art education with the energy which Massachusetts displayed in 1872. Two others only, New York and Maine, have required that it shall be taught in all schools. In the latter it is urged as the more important, because every natural feature of the country points it out as the seat of manufactures and not of agriculture. But neither Maine nor New York has provided a normal school for the training of teachers. In various other States, however, individual cities have adopted drawing and made it a regular part of the course. — es ea Dec. 2, 1886] NATURE 99 Syracuse, in the State of New York, can boast a priority in this good work even over Boston. Though speaking everywhere most bitterly of England, —an Americanism so out of date now that happily it is more comical than irritating, especially when he goes so far as to call the great works on political economy which have made their way over the whole civilised world “emissaries of English policy which she has succeeded in introducing,”—the writer everywhere holds up England as an example in art education. The whole of the work is credited to Sir Henry Cole and South Kensington, al- though there were twenty Government-supported Schools of Design in England in 1847. Still the writer cannot resist the sneer that there would have been no art-teaching in England if a Royal Prince had not urged it! But many times over he relates how visitors were struck with the clumsy inartistic style of all English art-work at the Exhibition of 1851 compared with that of many foreign nations, and the good result of an energetic and most successful effort by the nation to remedy it is constantly urged as appearing at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. There the Americans found themselves as far behind England as England had been behind other European countries in 1851, through the inartistic ignor- ance of their manufacturing classes. Many practical lessons and suggestions were there supplied to them, and much of this volume is a record of their influence. Appendix E gives a lengthy paper by Mr. Stetson review- ing the work exhibited there by all the various foreign nations and by each of the American towns, and it records the influence of this Exhibition upon industrial art. We should like to have heard something, however, of the result of the New Orleans Exhibition, no report of which has reached us, although so much was promised. While anxious by making drawing general to “ utilise all the pleasure which a slate and pencil give a child,” Mr. Clarke’s unqualified love of liberty makes him object to infringing on even a child’s freedom, and actually trusts to the extra interest that many gutter children would take in gaining technical skill to render compulsion unneces- sary. He urges with good reason that nowhere would artistic skill be so well rewarded as in the United States during its present rapid rise in wealth as well as in popu- lation, and that skilled art labour is far more valuable than the labour bestowed upon plainer, rougher work. He does not however, in his promises held forth to all alike who learn to draw, appear to realise the division of labour between the designer and the numerous mechanics who carry out the artist’s ideas on the machine, but seems to look upon all artistic work as carried out single-handed from the design to the article ready for sale. No doubt it is here, as General Walker (already quoted) remarks, that there are boys that have genius in their eyes and fingers instead of a memory and quickness at book- training, who would profit by artistic training. Many such specially gifted artists have already made their mark in America both in architecture and in engraving ; the standard of magazine illustrations having been raised even in England by competition with American produc- tions. A larger class whose labour art-education makes valuable are women who are anxious to secure to them- selves an independence. They are the principal teachers of drawing in all its branches, and find an excellent outlet for talent. Many artistic trades are also now carried on successfully by them; an account is especially given in Appendix E of the wood-carving taught at a women’s school in Cincinnati introduced there by an English workman of the name of Fry. Ladies there, among others, make it a pursuit with great success. Besides other papers incidentally referred to in our above remarks, various writings o£ considerable length and of dates from 1845 to 1384 are given in Appendixes A, C, and E, all urging the importance of art education, and instructing those engaged in teaching it. Appendix F consists of 70 closely-printed pages giving an account of South Kensington, its officials, history, Art Training School, Museum, Art Library, art examples, books, and casts ; with the reports for 1882 and 1834, and copious extracts from the Art Directory to show in detail the conditions and regulations under which “aid” is granted in England. Some of the quotations in this appendix are taken from the Directory of 1835. Mr. Clarke assures his countrymen that “in its appointments, and influence on art industrial education, South Kensington Museum stands without a rival. It is a wonderful centre of educational energy.” ‘Other countries, even France, are giving it their official indorsement by modifying their art industrial instruction as rapidly as may be, and bring- ing it more into harmony with that of the English.” The final Appendix, H, claims to be a fitting end to this volume, and a foreshadowing of the contents of the future volumes. It is Lord Reay’s address to the Inter- national Educational Conference at the Health Exhibition in 1884. The printing of this volume is far from so correct as might be expected in a Government publication on Education. W. ODELL OUR BOOK SHELF American Fournal of Mathematics. Vol. 1X. No. 1. (Baltimore, October 1886.) WE are glad to note that the successive parts now appear with praiseworthy regularity, and the arrival of our number can be predicted to a very close order of approximation. The volume opens with a continuation of Prof. Sylvester’s lectures at Oxford on “ The Theory of Reciprocants.” The story is resumed with the eleventh and proceeds to the close of the sixteenth lecture. For the cumbrous terminology “ projective reciprocants ” or “ differential in- variants” the lecturer now suggests “ principiants.’”’ From Lecture xiv. the abstract is devoted to the theory of pure and projective reciprocants, or rather principiants, and here we are introduced to the existence and properties of the protomorphs of invariants and reciprocants with which Mr. L. J. Rogers, one of the lecturer’s audience, has made us elsewhere familiar. For an account of Dr. Story’s new method in analytic geometry, we refer our readers to the author’s own description. Dr. F. N Cole gives a full review in Klein’s Ikosaeder of what that eminent mathematician bas done in his “ Vorlesungen uber das Ikosaeder und die Auflésung der Gleichungen vom fiinften Grade” (1884), and in his “ VergleichendeBetracht- ungen iiber neuere geometrische Forschungen ” (1872). In Prof. Greenhill’s paper on wave-motion in hydro- dynamics the writer states that “one of the most im- portant applications of the theory of hydrodynamics is to the question of the motion of waves under gravity and other causes,” and his object is ‘‘to collect together the chief results hitherto obtained, and to give also a general connected account of the mathematical theory, at the same time attempting to develop it in some directions.” 100 NATURE [Dec. 2, 1886 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [Zhe Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- scripts, No notice is taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts. | Longitudes in Brazil LE numéro du 18 novembre de NATuRE publie un article du professeur Young sur les progrés de l’astronomie depuis dix ans, dans lequel il est dit que les observations de longitude télé- graphiques des officiers américains ont corrigé une erreur de 8°54s. sur Lisbonne, et une bien plus étonnante encore de 35s. sur Rio. Il y ala une grosse erreur inexplicable de la part du professeur Young, contre laquelle je dois protester comme auteur des cartes hydrographiques du Brésil encore employés aujourd’hui, et auteur de toutes les déterminations géographiques relatives et absolues faites douze ou quinze ans avant la mission américaine de MM. Green et Davis pour les longitudes télégraphiques entre le Brésil et Europe. Sur les mille lieues de cdte du Brésil la mission américaine a déterminé six longitudes entre le Para et Buenos Ayres. Voici la comparaison des résultats obtenus par MM. Davis et Green, a aide du télégraphe, et par moi, a l’aide de chronométres et W observations astronomiques directes. Les observations améri- caines sont publiées dans le numéro 59 (1880, je crois) ‘f Hydro- graphic Notice,” et les miennes dans les ‘‘ Annales hydro- graphiques, 1866.” Para Pernambouco Bahia h. m. Ss. {h m. s. epi AY Long. télégraphique. 3 23 20°94 2 2% 48°6 2 43 29°6 Long. Mouchez 3.23 1867 2 28 47°5 2 43 26°9 Erreur — 2'27s. =TIs. —2°7s. Rio Montevideo Buenos Ayres inh Say GE h. m. Ss nh teh Long. télégraphique. 3 2 2°3 354 9°9 4 2 49°9 Long. Mouchez Bee Our 354 94 4 2 49°9 JOR ics — ese —O'5s. 0'Os. Il résulte de ce tableau que la plus grande erreur que j’ai commise est —2°7s. sur Bahia. A Rio erreur est de —2°2s., et non de 35s. comme le prétend M. Young. Dans le Rio de la Plata Verreur a été trouvée nulle. Je ne crois pas qu’aucune étendue de céte de mille lieues eut Jamais présenté moins d’erreur absolue ou relative que la céte du Brésil apres la publication de mes cartes et de mes observa- tions. Quant a Verreur sur Lisbonne je l’avais signalée depuis plus de trente ans, elle était connue. Je vous serais tres obligé de vouloir bien publier au moins le tableau comparatif des longitudes que j’ai ’honneur de yous envoyer aujourd’hui, pour protester contre l’erreur qui m’est indirectement imputée. Veuillez agréer l’assurance de ma parfaite considération. E. MOUCHEZ Cooke’s ‘‘Chemical Physics” I AM told that I have been the object of severe strictures in your journal for republishing my old ‘‘ Chemical Physics’’ as if it were a new book. It is a sufficient answer to say that the book was stereotyped when first issued in 1860, and that there has never been any pretence on my part that it has been revised since. I find, on inquiry, that the American publishers have made, since the first edition, three reprints from the plates, and have called these reprints second, third, and fourth editions, changing, with each issue, the date on the title-page ; a usage which I regard myself as reprehensible, but which must be sanctioned by the trade since it is so universally followed. All this time, however, the date accompanying my signature after the preface, and the date of the copyright, have remained unaltered, I had supposed the book entirely out of print ; and the last reprint of a very few copies to meet a small demand still existing, chiefly in England, was made entirely without my knowledge or consent. On its very face the whole aspect of the 4 book is antiquated ; but in it there was brought together certain positive knowledge in connection with the weighing and measur- ing of aériform matter, derived chiefly from the classical researches of Regnault, which is still of great importance and not readily found elsewhere ; and this is, unquestionably, the reason of the continued demand for a compilation made more than twenty- five years ago. I have, until within a few years, had the expec- tation of revising the book and presenting the old facts in their new dress, but the failure of my sight has obliged me to give up the plan, and younger men must do the work. JOSIAH PARSONS COOKE Cambridge, U.S.A., November 16 Note on Mr. Budden’s Proof that only One Parallel can be drawn from a Given Point to a Given Straight Line Mr. BUDDEN’s paper in the last number of NATURE (p. 92) is full of inaccuracies of a more or less serious character. With- out pointing out these, I wish to show that the essential idea which underlies his reasoning is altogether wrong, as it is based on the ‘‘ infinite,” which he introduces in the most innocent manner by letting his figure grow without limit, and about which he then calmly reasons as if he still dealt with a finite figure. If we let a quantity ‘‘increase without limit,” we get a quantity which has increased beyond our comprehension. and no one in his senses will wittingly and seriously draw conclusions from what he does not comprehend. Here we might stop, were it not that the constant use in modern mathematics of the infinite (both the small and the great) has made us so familiar with it that an attempt to base an elementary proof on it might seem to many a very natural thing. In algebra, the infinite number is shown to have one property which we can comprehend, viz. that its reciprocal is zero; and with this property alone we work safely. In modern geometry, on the other hand, the infinite is used as a kind of shorthand, which enables us to make long state- ments short, and, at the same time, general. Taking the axiom about parallels for granted, it is shown that all points at an in- finite distance in a line may be taken to be one point as far as constructions at a finite distance are concerned, For all lines joining a fixed point, P, to any point at infinity in a line may be taken as parallel to this line, and therefore as coincident. To express this more shortly, it is said that the whole indefinite and infinite part of a line which is out of the reach of our compre- hension plays for us only the part of a single point, and accord- ingly it is called a ‘‘ point,” viz. the point at infinity of the line. Similarly it is shown that all points in a plane which are at an infinite distance may be considered as lying in one line, which is then spoken of as the dine at infinity in the plane, and which is freely and safely used in deducing theorems and solving problems, If, then, a line in a plane be moved to infinity, making always a given angle with a fixed line, it will ultimately become coincident with—which here means indistinguishable from—the line at infinity. The latter then makes with the fixed line a given angle. But this angle may be anything. Hence the ‘‘line at infinity” makes any angle we like with any given finite line ; in other words, it makes no definite angle at all with it. It follows, if we take a property of a figure which depends upon the magnitude of an angle, that this property will not neces- sarily any longer hold if one of the limits of the angle be moved to an infinite distance ; for then this angle has not any longer a definite magnitude. To base any reasoning on that property after the figure has been indefinitely increased must therefore necessarily be fallacious. But this is exactly what Mr. Budden does. His proof is based on the implied assumption that if a figure in a plane be increased indefinitely, we can still reason upon it as if it were finite. He may take this as an axiom, but then he has rvef/aced Euclid’s axiom by another, and has not proved it ; and the question would arise, Which form of the axiom is preferable? I prefer Euclid’s. O, HENRICI Lunar Glaciation I TRUST you will allow me a small space to explain regarding this theory of lunar glaciation, referred to by Mr. Darwin in NATURE (vol. xxxiv. p. 264). First, I must thank him for the remarks made, and say that I certainly was not aware that Capt. Ericsson had been at work in the same direction some ten years or more before me. Dec. 2, 1886] J laid the theory before the late Prebendary Webb a few years ago, and some selections from it were published in the Journal of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, and, being necessarily in- complete, the extracts were not very intelligible. I have never attempted the settlement of the lunar surface temperature, which is quite beyond me, leaving the same in the hands of Prof. Langley, and have confined myself to the solution of the peculiar and unearthly surfacing we see. This I find best explained by glaciation, under conditions of intense cold, say — 60° or 80° C., and absence of all gaseous atmosphere. I quite indorse Capt. Ericsson’s conclusions as to the extreme unlikelihood of such a small globe being finally surfaced by igneous agencies, after it had seas of water, atmosphere, and probably folar caps. Neison, in his ‘‘Moon,” page 41, line 7, distinctly implies that this took place, ze. ‘‘ that this high temperature could only arise after the practical disappearance of bodies of water from the lunar surface,” the rise in lunar temperature being due to solar heat. I cannot follow Neison in this, and, on the contrary, believe that the temperature has steadily, if slowly, declined, from a period when there was erosion, with air and water. Polar caps then formed, as on our earth and Mars, and extended as the temperature fell, until at last the entire globe was cased in ice, the last portions to glaciate being what we call the equatorial seas. Like Capt. Ericsson, I look on the craters and walled plains as having been lagoons of water, left here and there as glacia- tion extended, at places of greater depth, or more likely as submarine volcanic vents, for we see their sites as craterlets and cones after final glaciation. The aqueous vapour given off from these lagoons would form a local dome-shaped atmosphere that would retard explosive ebullition, and on its reaching the outer limit of critical tem- perature, would condense and fall as snow; what fell beyond the lagoon margin would pile to form the ring, and the lagoon surface or flow be gradually lowered by its removal. But I cannot follow Capt. Ericsson in supposing that the water had a centrifugal motion, and acted as a gigantic carving- tool, that sculptured the enormous terraces in Tycho, Theo- philus, &c. On the contrary, I look on it as a quiet process, and that all the circular forms, from small craterlets to even such forms as Mare Crisium or Imbrium, with its huge maritime ranges, are due to one cause. The series is complete. I quite agree with Mr. Darwin that a layer of water vapour would exist (and be visible) over the ice on the moon if only the temperature be high enough ; but, at very low temperatures, ice practically does; not vaporise even zz vacuo (see Ganot’s ““Physics”’). Aqueous vapour not being seen, I conclude the temperature is below (say) — 80° C. But the most potent argu- ment in favcur of my theory is that it reasonably and consistently explains a// the peculiar features of lunar surfacing, z.e. :— The absence of distinct Polar caps ; The absence of water and aqueous vapour (now) ; The absence of distinct colour in details ; The brightness of all raised, rugged surfaces, mountains, cliffs, peaks ; The relative darkness of levels whereon meteoric dust can lie ; The extraordinary circularity of forms, large and small, in- complete, or overlapped ; The cones, whether central or isolated ; The clefts or rills, also strings of craterlets ; The maritime zones, ridges, and banks ; The haze or cloud, and nimbus or rayed brightness ; The dark points seen by Dr. Klein ; Lastly, if not least, the long bright rays. Ido not think I overstate the case when I say that seleno- graphers will find these features consistently solved by the one hypothesis, and no enigmas left. I cannot ask for space to go into details here, but will forward a short synopsis of the leading features, in case they may be required, arranging them as nearly as may be as in the pre- ceding list. S. E. PEAL Sibsagar, Assam, October 13 The Astronomical Theory of the Great Ice Age THE lecture and the letter of Sir Robert Ball, however lucid, do not appear to carry this question further than where Dr, Croll left it. It is easy to understand that when the shape of the NATURE IOI earth’s orbit was different, winter days might be colder and summer days hotter than now. What the theory at present wants is an exposition of the successive series of effects by which this state of climates would transform the Emerald Isle into a mere Greenland. Itisscarcely an explanation to say that ‘‘ vast fluctuations like these must correspond to vast climatic changes of the kind postulated.” We desire to be shown that they will correspond, and that the correspondence will be of the kind required. Taking Sir Robert Ball’s own illustration, I am quite ready to admit that his horse alternately starved and crammed will not run a dead heat with one uniformly fed ; but in default of experience I should not feel certain that his animal would die of accumulated fat. We know that there have been past periods of heat-supply more uniform than at present, and periods of wider fluctuation, We see also in geological records ages of vast snow accumula- tion and ages of rich vegetation near the Pole. We need a demonstration that such wider fluctuations do tend to the one and not to the other; towards snow-accumulation and not towards snow-dissipation. Attempts in this direction have been made, but much seems needed yet. E. HILL St. John’s College, Cambridge, November 23 Meteor THE large meteor described in NATURE by Mr. P. L. Sclater, was observed here as follows :— Nov. 17, 7h. 18m.—Fireball many times brighter than Venus. Path from 323°+45° to 158°+55°. Motion very slow, duration 7 seconds. Train, but no enduring streak. The fireball, as it gradually descended to the northern horizon, varied greatly in brilliancy, and gave a series of flashes lighting up the sky with great effect. I have occasionally seen larger fireballs, but never observed one more satisfactorily. This meteor was observed at Handsworth, Birmingham ; at Crawshaw Booth, Lancashire ; and at many other parts of the country. Its unusual brightness seems to have attracted wide notice. Fireballs from Taurus are often seen at about this epoch ; but that of November 17 appears to have belonged to a radiant- point in Aries. W. F. DENNING Bristol Freshwater Diatoms in the Bagshot Beds WILL you kindly favour me with space to ask any of your numerous readers, who may be specially interested, if they can furnish me with any references to published records of fresh- water Diatoms being observed in the carbonaceous earthy sands of the Middle and Lower Bagshot Beds of the London Basin? In conjunction with one of my pupils, I have lately subjected many of these green and dark-grey sands and earths to micro- scopic examination ; and our labours have been rewarded by the discovery of a rather extensive unicellular flora, particulars of which will be shortly laid before the Geological Society. _Mean- while, I shall be happy to have the co-operation of other workers in the same field. A. IRVING Wellington College, Berks, November 28 THE MATHEMATICAL TRIPOS? I. (a is with the greatest pleasure that I avail myself this evening of the already well-established custom which permits one of our members, once in two years, to address to his colleagues a few general remarks connected with the science that forms our common bond of union, It is not often that a mathematician has an opportunity of laying before his fellow. workers, by word of mouth, any views of his except such as relate to the actual mathe- matical investigations upon which he is engaged, which, from their very nature, can appeal directly only to the few who have laboured in the same field ; and I feel it to be a high privilege to be permitted, in this room, and sur- rounded by familiar faces, to give expression to my thoughts and hopes upon subjects that are of common interest to us all as mathematicians. 1 Address delivered before the London Mathematical Society by the President, Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher, M.A., F.R.S., on vacating the chair November 11, 1886. 102 I have not ventured to attempt any remarks upon the wide region of pure mathematics, or even upon the pro- gress of such portions of it as have attracted the greatest share of interest among ourselves. I have felt that, as one who has resided and lectured in Cambridge for the past fifteen years, the most appropriate subjects for my address would be those upon which my residence in the University during an eventful period, or my experience as a lecturer, might to some extent qualify me to speak. Still, even when so restricted, I have found it no easy matter to decide upon the subjects to which I was most desirous of drawing your attention to-night. I should like to have spoken at length upon the theory of elliptic functions. For fourteen years I have lectured regularly, each year, upon this subject, and no lectures of mine have been of so much interest to me. I be- lieve that the time is rapidly approaching when the elementary portions of the theory will be regarded as necessarily forming part of the common course of reading of all students of mathematics, so that a familiarity with sn’s, cn’s, dn’s, and their properties will become as essen- tial as the differential calculus to the mathematical equip- ment of every person who has made mathematics one of his subjects of study. Quite apart from its far-reaching influence in all branches of pure mathematics and its widespread applications in mathematical physics, there are special reasons which make the theory of elliptic functions a subject of peculiar interest in a course of mathematical studies, and one to which it is important that the student should be intro- duced as early as possible in his career, whether he be read- ing mathematics for its own sake, or for the sake of its applications, or for its advantages as a mental training. It is the first mathematical “theory” that he meets with in his reading—meaning by a “ theory” a body of theorems and prcperties of functions so related to each other that the student cannot fail to see from the equations them- selves that they forma consistent and remarkable system of facts, worthy of study on their own account, irrespective of any applications of which they may be susceptible. It is true that trigonometry, if regarded as the theory of singly periodic functions, isa theory in this sense, but it is reached by the student at too early a stage for him to be enabled to appreciate the nature and importance of facts that are expressed in the mathematical language of for- mulz, and even if it were not so, the manner in which the subject is treated in text-books (the functions being derived from the circle and applied to the solution of triangles, &c., before they are considered analytically) makes it difficult to separate the mathematical theory from its various applications. In analytical geometry, which the student next meets with in his reading, a method of representing curves by equations is explained, and applied to the investigation and proof of properties of conics, In his next subject, differential calculus, he is introduced to new conceptions and processes of the very highest import- ance and the most fundamental character, and is taught to apply them to the investigation of maxima and minima, tangents and asymptotes to curves, envelopes, &c. Then come the elements of the integral calculus and of differ- ential equations: the former consisting of a few chapters giving methods of integrating various classes of functions, followed by applications to curves and surfaces; and the latter of rules and methods for treating such equations as admit of finite solution. Not one of these subjects, in the form in which they are necessarily presented to students, is an end in itself or exists for itself: they consist of ideas, methods, processes, and rules,which the student is taught to apply and to under- stand ; they contain the conceptions with which he has to make himself as familiar as with the commonest facts of life, the tools which he is to have ever ready to his hand for use. And in the course of acquiring this knowledge WALTORE [Dec. 2, 1886 propositions—such as the properties of conics—besides various important results of more purely analytical in- terest. But all of these developments are presented to him in a form which throws no light upon the manner in which they were originally discovered, and, though the propositions are made to follow one another in clear logi- cal order, the student cannot but be sensible that he is travelling, not along a natural highway, but upon a well- worn road, artificially constructed for his convenience. It is not till he reaches the subject of elliptic functions that he has the opportunity of seeing how, by means of the principles and processes that he has learned, a theory can be developed in which one result leads on of itself to another, in which every system of formule suggests ideas and inquiries about which the mind is eager to satisfy itself, and opens to the view fresh formule connected by unsuspected relations with others already obtained, so that he cannot resist the feeling that the subject is taking its own course, and that he is merely a bewildered spectator, delighted with the results which unfold themselves before him. He feels that the formule are, as it were, developing the subject of themselves, and that his part is passive: it is for him to follow where the formule point the way, and be amazed by the new wonders to which they lead him. It may be that in using this language I am expressing the feelings of a mathematician, rather than those of a student on reading the elements of the subject for the first time ; still I am convinced that the attributes I have just referred to are those which distinguish a genuine mathematical theory from a mere collection of useful principles and facts, and that no one can have studied elliptic functions without realising that mathematics is not only a weapon of research but a real living language—a language that can reveal wonderful and mysterious worlds of truths, of which, without its help, the mind could have gained not the least conception. It seems to me, there- fore, of the highest importance that the student should be introduced to a real mathematical theory at the earliest stage at which his knowledge will permit of his deriving from it the peculiar advantages which I have mentioned. Thus only can he obtain expanded views or a true under- standing of the science he is studying. Higher algebra and theory of numbers afford other conspicuous examples of the perfection that a pure mathematical theory can exhibit, but they do not lie so directly in the line of a general mathematical course of studies. Regarded from this latter point of view, elliptic functions has the addi- tional merit of being a subject whose importance is recognised, on account of its physical applications, even by those to whom the gift of duly appreciating the wonders of pure mathematics seems to have been partially denied. I should have liked also to have spoken at some length upon another subject that is constantly in my thoughts ° I mean the pressing need of text-books upon the higher branches of mathematics. Of text-books for use in schools we have an abundance, and each month produces a fresh supply ; but it is only occasionally that we have to welcome a work intended for the use of the higher University student or the mathematician. Every one of us must sometimes have felt the want of an introductory treatise that would give the reader the fundamental pro- positions in some branch of mathematics which exists only in memoirs and papers scattered throughout the wilderness of Jowrnads and Transactions of Societies. We can scarcely expect to have provided for us, in many high subjects, text-books so admirable and thorough as Dr. Salmons; still I cannot refrain from expressing the hope that in the future the number of advanced mathematical treatises may not be so infinitesimal compared with the number of memoirs as at present. I could mention several subjects that are almost at a standstill, because advance he is made acquainted with numerous connected series of | is impracticable for want of avenues by which new workers. a Dec. 2, 1886 | can approach them. Of necessity the literature of mathe- matics must always be in the main a journal literature, for the audience addressed is small ; but I cannot help feeling that the disproportion between the amount of exploration effected and the attempts made to render accessible the territories explored and conquered might be greater than itis. No one can realise more vividly than I do how vastly more difficult it is to write a book than a collection of memoirs, and how beset with anxieties, for any one who is at all fastidious, is the task of arranging the funda- mental properties of any comparatively new subject in clear and logical form. ‘The sustained struggle to attain clearness, exactitude, and thoroughness in the orderly development of a complicated and mutually-connected system of propositions wears out the worker more than thrice the same amount of labour devoted to new investi- gations with all the fascinating excitement of successes and failures, rewards and disappointments. In writing a memoir, the mathematician begins where he pleases, and confines himself to what has interested him and what he knows he has done well. In composing a book, the author has not only to marshal into order an array of theorems of various kinds, assigning to each its due place and im- portance, but he has—hardest task of all, perhaps—to confine his treatise within bounds, to keep it from growing to gigantic proportions as his increased study of the subject opens up to him fresh vistas. On the other hand, how- ever, is to be considered the great service he can thus render to his favourite study: an introductory treatise on a subject not otherwise approachable by any direct route, even if it be not of the highest class, may have done far more for its advance than could have been effected by the most brilliant memoir. Time, care, and thought are essential for the preparation of any valuable treatise, and full references to the original memoirs should be always given ; if these conditions have been fulfilled, the writer has deserved well of mathematical science. I have not been able to forbear from making the few preceding remarks upon two subjects on which I have long felt strongly ; but I pass now without further delay to the main subject of my address—the Mathematical Tripos. I have thought that, in view of the importance of this examination to our science, and the frequent changes that have taken place recently, this might be a subject of no ordinary interest to our members as well as to my- self. Since 1872 change has succeeded change with great rapidity, and there are probably not many outside the mathematical portion of the resident body at Cambridge who are fully aware of the present mode of conducting the examination or of the further changes already sanc- tioned by the Senate and which take effect next June. It is, indeed, generally known that the list of wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes is published in June, at about the same time as many other Tripos lists, instead of by itself in January, and that the senior wrangler is displaced from his throne, and no longer owes his position to the results of the whole examination, so that he is not necessarily—even from an examination standpoint—the first mathematician of his year. So much only is generally known ; and it has seemed to me that it might be of interest, considering the influence for good that it is hoped the examination in its new form will have upon the progress of mathematics, to give some account of the successive developments that have taken place in this time-honoured examination, and the causes and efforts that have led to them. The difficulties connected with the placing of all the mathematical candidates of the year in one order of merit, the extension or limitation of the sub- jects of examination, and various other questions connected with the Tripos, are matters that have been continually discussed and re-discussed in the light of fresh experience by those concerned with the mathematical course of studies at Cambridge, but I may, nevertheless, perhaps be per- mitted to-night very briefly to refer to some of the familiar iN AWiGite F: 103 arguments in the presence of a more extended audience of mathematicians. It is convenient to preface the principal remarks I have to make by an outline of the history of the Tripos. In doing so, I must pass very lightly over its origin and early development, as anything approaching to a complete history of its origin and rise in the last century would amount almost to a history of the studies of the University. At the beginning of the last century, besides certain merely formal disputations, the only exercises required from candidates for degrees were the keeping of acts and oppon- encies. Each candidate for honours in the course of his third year had to maintain publicly a thesis, the subject of which was chosen by himself, against three opponents, in the presence of one of the Moderators, who acted as umpire. The subjects selected were philosophical or mathematical ; the discussion took place in Latin and in logical form. After hearing the discussions, the Proctors and Moderators prepared a final list of candidates qualified to receive degrees. This can scarcely be considered to have been an order of merit, for each of the Proctors and Moderators, and also the Vice-Chancellor, had the right to introduce the name of one candidate into the list whenever he pleased; still, except in the case of the recipients of these honorary degrees, it is probable that the list in the main fairly represented the merits of the candidates. It was divided into three classes, consisting of (1) the wranglers and senior optimes ; (2) the senior optimes who had done fairly well but had not distinguished themselves ; and (3) of wo\Aoi, or the poll-men. The first class received their degrees on Ash Wednesday, taking seniority according to their order on the list, and the two other classes received their degrees later. With regard to the origin of the Tripos, Mr. W. W. Rouse Ball, in his interesting sketch of its history, writes :— “The impressions gathered from these disputations in the schools were necessarily rather vague, and when they became the sole University exercise for a degree they hardly afforded a sufficient basis for an accurate arrange- ment of the men in order of merit. It was, I believe, to correct this fault that the Senate House examination was introduced, and I am inclined to think that it had its origin about the year 1730. At first it probably consisted only of a few vévd voce questions addressed by the Proctors and Moderators in the week after the schools to those candidates about whose abilities and position some doubt was felt ; but its advantages were so patent that within ten or twelve years it had become systematised into a regular examination to which all questionists were liable, although technically it was still regarded as only supple- mentary totheexercises in the schools. From the beginning it was conducted in English, and accurate lists were made of the order of merit of the candidates ; two advantages to which, I think, its final and definite establishment must be largely attributed.” ; Mr. Ball divides the time during which the exercises in the schools and the Tripos were concurrent into five periods : (1) from 1730 to about 1750, during which time it was probably unauthorised and regarded as an experi- ment ; (2) from 1750 to 1763, during which it was gradu- ally establishing itself,—in the last year of this period it was officially decided that when a candidate’s position in the class-list was doubtful the Senate House examination and not the disputation was to be taken as the final test ; (3) from 1763 to 1779, during which definite rules were framed and laid down for conducting it; (4) from 1779 to 1827, during which it practically superseded the disputations ; (5) from 1827 to 1841, the year in which the disputations were abolished. The lists published in the Cambridge University Calendars begin with the year 1747, because in that year « «’ The Origin and History of the Mathematical Tripos,” Cambridge, 1380. (Reprinted from the Cambridge Review.) 104 the final lists were first printed and distributed, the names of those who had received honorary degrees being specially marked, so that by simply erasing them the true order of merit of the other candidates could be obtained. The division of the first class into wranglers and senior optimes was first made in 1753. It was in the third of the above periods, that is, between 1763 and 1779, that the Senate House examination was gradually gaining ground upon the schools in determining a candidate’s final place on the list. By means of their acts and opponencies the candidates were divided by the Moderators into eight classes, each class being arranged in alphabetical order ; their subsequent position in the class was then determined by the Senate House examination. The first two classes comprised those who were expected to be wranglers, the next four included the other candidates for honours, and the last two consisted of poll-men only. The classes were examined separately and v7vd@ voce. During this period it became the custom to require written answers to the questions. The examiner gave out the questions to the class one by one, giving out a fresh question as soon as he saw that any one had finished the last. The problem papers, which were confined to the first two classes, were given to the candidates in writing, so that they had the whole paper before them at once. It may be of interest to give a more detailed account of the exercises in the schools during this period, when both the exercises and the examination were in full operation and vigour. The Moderators, having received from the tutors of the Colleges a list of the students who were candidates for honours at the next examination, fixed a day in the Lent term on which each was to keep his act, and assigned to him three opponents. The Respondent, or “ Act” as he was then called, selected three subjects which he proposed to maintain, and submitted them to the Moderator, who communicated them to his three opponents, designating them opfonentinin primus, secun dus, or tertius. On the day fixed for the Act the respondent read his thesis in the schools in the presence of the Moderator. The first opponent then mounted the box opposite to that of the respondent and below that of the Moderator, and joined issue with him, opposing the thesis by eight arguments of syllogistic form. The respondent replied to each in turn, and when an argument had been disposed of, the Moderator called for the next in the words Probes aliter. NNhen the disputation had continued long enouch, the Moderator dismissed the opponent with such words as “‘ Bene disputasti,’ or “ Optime disputasti,” or “ Oplime quidem disputasti,” as the case might be. The second and third opponents (who had to oppose the thesis by five and three arguments respectively) entered the box successively, and after disputing were dismissed in the same manner, the whole performance lasting between one hour and two hours. The respondent himself was dis- missed with some such phrase as “ Sates e¢ oplime quidem tuo officio functus es.” Such compliments gave rise to the classification into senior and junior optimes. In general, “ Optime quidem” was the highest praise expected even by future wranglers. The distinguished men of the year appeared eight times in the schools, twice as Respondents and twice in each grade of opponency.* I Wordsworth, Schole Academice (1877), p. 37. A specimen of an argu- n. at, expressed in scholastic form, on the question, ‘* Recte statuit Paleius de Virtute,” is given by Wordsworth on p. 39, and the full system of eight arguments (in a disputation of 1784) on the question, ‘‘Solis parallaxis ope Veneris intra solem conspicienda a methodo Halleii recte determinari potest,” is reproduced in detail by Mr. Ball in the appendix to the sketch already referred to. In the latter’ part of the last century it seems to have been usual for two of the questions to relate to mathematics and the third to moral philosophy. Wordsworth mentions that in 1710-11 it needed all the influence of anenthusiastic Proctor and Moderator to induce astudent to keep his act in mathematical questi ns, but that by the middle of the century the examination was so far crystallising into the Mathematical Tr.pos that a questionist was enabled by academical authority in 1750 to resist the demands ofja Moderator to produce one metaphysical question, he having already distinguished himself in mathematical argument. In the early Cam- bridge University Calendars the three questions given as specimens are : (r) © Recte statuit Newt nus inseptima sua sectione Libri primi” ; (2) ** Iridis primaria et secundaria Phenomena solvi possunt ex Principiis Opticis”; (3) * Recte statuit Lockius de Qualitatibus Corporum.” NATURE | cleared. [ Dec. 2, 1886 The final establishment of the Mathematical Tripos dates, as remarked by Mr. Ball, from 1779. By the regulations agreed to by the Senate in that year, the Moderators of the previous year were added to the reg- ular staff of examiners, and the system of brackets was in- troduced. The examination lasted three days (the last of which was devoted to moral philosophy), and on the fourth day a class-list, called “the Brackets,” was issued, in which those candidates who were nearly equal were bracketed together. One day was devoted to the “ exam- ination of the brackets,” by the result of which the names in each bracket were placed in order of merit. There was also a power of challenging, by which a candidate who was dissatisfied with his bracket might challenge any other candidate he pleased to a fresh examination ;? but it seldom happened that any one rose above or fell below his bracket. From 1779 onwards the examination slowly and surely grew in importance, and the exercises became of less account each year, till they were finally discontinued by the Moderators in 1839. Two years later they- were formally abolished by the Senate. The following account of the Senate House examination in 1802 is abridged from the Cambridge University Calen- dar of that year:—“ On the Monday morning, a little before eight o’clock, the students, generally about a hundred, enter the Senate House, preceded by a Master of Arts, who on this occasion is styled the father of the College to which he belongs. On two pillars at the en- trance of the Senate House are hung the Classes [?.e. the eight classes into which the candidates have been divided by the exercises in the schools ; and a paper denoting the hours of examination of those who are thought most competent to contend for Honours. “Immediately after the University clock has struck eight, the names are called over, and the absentees being marked, are subject to certain fines. The classes to be examined are called out, and proceed to their appointed tables, where they find pens, ink, and paper provided in great abundance. In this manner, with the utmost order and regularity, two-thirds of the young men are set to work within less than five minutes after the clock has struck eight. There are three chief tables, at which six examiners preside. At the first, the senior Moderator of the present year and the junior Moderator of the preceding year. At the second, the junior Moderator of the present and the senior Moderator of the preceding year. At the third, two Moderators of the year previous to the two last, or two examiners appointed by the Senate. The two first tables are chiefly allotted to the six first classes ; the third or largest to the of woAdoi.” After describing the manner of reading out the questions, the account proceeds :—‘‘ The examiners are not seated, but keep moving round the tables, both to judge how matters proceed and to deliver their questions at proper intervals. The examination, which embraces arithmetic, algebra, fluxions, the doctrine of infinitesimals and increments, geometry, trigonometry, mechanics, hydrostatics, optics, and astronomy, in all their various gradations, is varied according to circumstances : no one can anticipate a question, for in the course of five minutes he may be dragged from Euclid to Newton, from the humble arithmetic of Bonnycastle to the abstruse analytics of Waring. While this examination is proceed- ing at the three tables between the hours of eight and nine, printed problems are delivered to each person of the first and second classes; these he takes with him to any window he pleases, where there are pens, ink, and paper prepared for his operations.” At nine o'clock the papers had to be given up, and half an hour was allowed for breakfast. At 9.30 allreturned and were examined in the same way till eleven, when the Senate House was again An interval of two hours then took place. At © In such cases the Moderators called to their assistance the Proctors or other Masters of Arts. About 1770 any Master of Arts was at liberty to examine any of the candidates. Mr, Ball is of opinion that this right was not insisted on after 1785. = Dec. 2, 1886] one o’clock all returned again and were examined. At three o’clock the Senate House was again cleared for half an hour, and on the return of the candidates the examina- tion was continued till five o’clock. This ended the Senate House examination for the day, but at seven in the evening the first four classes went to the senior Moderator’s rooms to solve problems. They were finally dismissed for the day at nine, after eight hours of examination.!. The work on the next day (Tuesday) was similar to that of the Monday ; Wednesday was devoted to logic, moral philo- sophy, &c. “ On Thursday the examinations are resumed, and continued nearly as usual, as on the Monday and Tuesday. At eight o’clock the new classifications, or brackets, which are arranged according to the order of merit, each containing the names of the candidates placed alphabetically, are hung upon the pillars.” Fresh editions and revisions of the brackets were published at 9 and 11 a.m. and at 3 and 5 p.m., according to the course of the examination, liberty being given to any man to challenge the bracket immediately above his own. At five the whole examination ended. The Proctors, Modera- tors, and examiners then retired to a room under the public library to prepare the list of Honours, which was some- times settled without much difficulty in a few hours, but sometimes not before two or three the next morning. The name of the senior wrangler was generally published at midnight. In 1802 there were eighty-six candidates for honours, and they were divided into fifteen brackets, the first and second brackets containing each one name only, and the third bracket four names. The examination seems to have been a time of great excitement, and the list was most anxiously awaited. This was the case also before 1779, as appears from the account of the contest between Paley and Frere for the senior wranglership in 1763 and Jebb’s account of the examination in 1772.2 Various changes took place in the examination in 1808, 1828, 1833, and 1839. In 1808 another day was added: three days were devoted to mathematics, exclusive of the day of examination of the brackets. Each candidate was employed eighteen hours in the course of the three days, of which eleven were devoted to book-work and the remaining seven to problems. By regulations which were confirmed by the Senate on November 13, 1827, and came into operation in January 1828, another day was added, so that the examination extended over four days, exclusive of the day of examining the brackets; the number of hours of examination was twenty-three, the time assigned to problems being the same as in 1808. On the first two days all the candidates had the same questions proposed to them, inclusive of the evening problems, and the ex- amination on those days excluded the higher and more difficult parts of mathematics, in order, in the words of the report, “that the candidates for Honours may not be induced to pursue the more abstruse and profound mathe- matics to the neglect of more elementary knowledge.” Accordingly, only such questions as could be solved with- out the aid of the differential calculus were set on the first day, and those set on the second day involved only its elementary applications. The classes were reduced to four, determined as before by the exercises in the schools. The regulations of 1827 are specially import- ant, because they first prescribed that all the papers should be printed.* They are also noticeable as being the * In 18r8 the hours for the evening problem paper were 6-10, so that the candidates had ten hours’ examination inthe day. Originally, as men- tioned above, the problems were only set to the first two classes ; in 1802 they were open to four classes, and in 1818 to all six classes, ze. to all the candi- dates for Honours. 2? Wordsworth (pp. 47 e¢ seg.). second wrangler in 1771 (p. 322). 3 The words of the .eport are :—‘‘It is further recommended that the questions from books, which have hitherto been proposed to the classes wivd voce, should, for the future, be printed. And it is hoped that, as by this means the questions proposed in each year will be more generally known, the students may thus be better directed in their reading than they now are, and the mathematical studies of the University become more fixed and definite. See also the letters of Gooch, who was NATURE 105 last which gave the examiners power to ask vivd voce questions : after recommending that there be not con- tained in any paper more questions than well-prepared students have been generally found able to answer within the time allowed for the paper, the Report proceeds : But if any candidate shall, before the end of the time, have answered all the questions in the paper, the ex- aminers may at their discretion propo e additional questions viva voce.” New regulations were confirmed by the Senate on April 6, 1832, and took effect in 1833. The commence- ment of the examination was placed a day earlier, the duration was five days, and the hours of examination on each day were five and a half. Thus four and a half hours were added to the whole time of examination, four of which were assigned to book-work and the remaining half- hour to problems. The examination on the first day was confined to subjects that did not require the differential calculus, and on the second and third days only the simple applications of the calculus were included. During the first four days of the examination the papers were set to all the candidates alike, but on the fifth day the exam- ination was conducted according to classes. No reference is made to wivdé voce questions, and the examination of the brackets only survives in the permissive form : “That the result of the examination be published in the Senate House on the morning of the Friday succeed- ing the first Monday in Lent term, at nine o’clock ; but if it should happen that the relative merits of any of the candidates are not then determined to the satisfaction of the Moderators and Examiners, that such candidates be re-examined on that day.” Only six years later these regulations were superseded by a new system, which passed the Senate on June 2, 1838, and came into operation in January 1839. By these new regulations another day was added to the examina- tion, which thus lasted six days. The total number of hours of examination was thirty-three, of which eight and a half were given to problems. Throughout the whole examination the same papers were set to all the candi- dates. The regulations contain no mention of classes, and accordingly the exercises in the schools were discontinued by the Moderators. The permissive rule relating to the re-examination of the candidates (the survival from the brackets) was retained in these regulations in the same form as in those of 1832. It is very interesting to notice, in the successive regu- lations, how the vvd voce examination gradually merged into an examination by printed papers, and how, as the examination became more elaborate and exacting, it rendered unnecessary, not only the preliminary exercises in the schools, but also the final examination of the brackets. } Besides the development of the Senate House examina- tion itself, other changes had taken place in the University system during this period of renewed activity. In 1824 the first Classical Tripos examination took place ; only those who had already passed the mathematical ex- amination being admissible as candidates. The name “ Mathematical Tripos”! dates from after this year. An opportunity will also be afforded of ascertaining by an inspection of these papers that the examination embraces a due proportion of each of the ordinary subjects of mathematical study. _ : 7 . “As, however, in proposing this alteration, the intention of the Syndicate is toavoid making any change in the substance of the examination, it is recommended that the examiners be strictly enjuined to insert in these papers such questions only as are at present proposed wivd voce; namely, propo-itions contained in the mathematical w. rks commonly in use in the University, or simple examples and explanations of such propositions. I ‘There are few matters in the history of the University more curious and interesting than the manner in which the word 7»zfos caine to be applied to the Senate House examination, and consequently also to the other final Honour examinations. Itis natural to suppose that it is connected with the three classes into which the Honour list was divided, but there is no connection whatever. ‘lhe history of the name may be given briefly as follows :—In the ceremonies which were performed on Ash Wednesday in the middle of the sixteenth century, at the admission of questionists to be Bachelors of Arts, an important function was executed by a certain ** ould bachilour, "who was appointed as champicn on the side of the University. He had to “‘sit upon 106 NATURE [Dec. 2, 1886 Previously it had been known as the Senate House Examination, and this name continued long afterwards and for more than thirty years was still printed as a head- ing to the papers set. It was only asa means of distin- guishing it from the Classical and other newer Triposes that the name Mathematical Tripos gradually came into use. By the regulations which took effect in 1828 a totally distinct series of papers were set to the poll-men, who then formed the fifth and sixth classes. The fiction of regarding the poll-list as a continuation of the list of mathematical honours still lingered till 1858, the names being arranged in order of merit in four classes called the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh ; the fourth class being in theory supposed to be the next class to that of the junior optimes. (To be continued.) THE COLOURS OF METALS AND ALLOYS? ets lecture is published by request, but the author fears that, dealing as it does with the colours of metals, such interest as it may have possessed when delivered will be greatly diminished in the absence of the experiments and diagrams by which it was illustrated. I begin with no ordinary pleasure the work which has been intrusted to me by the Council of the British Associa- tion. It is nearly twenty years since this series of lec- tures was established. The first, on “‘ Matter and Force,” was delivered at Dundee by a brilliant experimenter and one of the most eloquent living exponents of science ; it was followed, at Norwich, by a lecture by Prof. Huxley, to whom the nation owes a deep debt of gratitude for his intense sympathy with all who are seeking to widen the bounds of scientific knowledge— to be whose colleague in one of the most important scientific schools of the country is my great good fortune. These lecturers were succeeded by other eminent men, among whom may be mentioned Spottiswoode, Bramwell, and Lubbock. The object of the lectures is to diffuse a knowledge of the operations of Nature, and to add to the number of those who rejoice in her works. Many, therefore, who have spoken to audiences similar to this, have appealed to natural phenomena ; and instead of talking to you about the colour of metals, I also should have liked to dwell on the colour of the sea and sky, but Ruskin’s works are, I know, often in your hands, and he has told you once for all of the colour of clouds that “there is not a moment of any day of our lives when Nature is not producing scene after scene, picture after picture, glory after glory, and working still upon such exquisite and constant principles of the most perfect beauty that it is quite certain it is all astoole before Mr. Proctours’’ and to dispute with the ‘eldest son’’ (the foremost of the questionists), and afterwards with “the father ’’ (a graduate of the College to which the ‘eldest son’’ belonged, representing the pa- ternal character of the College). At this time the only “t Tripos’’ was the three-legged stool on which the Bachelor sat. A century later this Bachelor seems to have become a sort of licensed buffoon, and to have been called ““Mr. Tripos,’’ just asa president is sometimes referred to as ‘‘ the Chair,” or a judge as “‘the Bench.’’ During the 120 years in which the name Tripos or Tripus indicated a personage there are frequent allusions to the humorous orations delivered in the schools by those who filled this office. These were known as Tripos speeches. It is probable that Mr. I'r.pos ceased to take part in the arguments in the schools between 1730 and 1750, just about the time when the Senate House examination was originaung. The Tripos speeches were then replaced by copies of Latin verses, which were circulated on the admission days. These were called Tripos verses. About 1747 the Moderators began the custom of printing Honour lists on the back of the Tripos verses. ‘Thus the list of Honours in the Senate House examination came to be called the Tripos list, so that a man’s name was said to stand in such a place in the Tripos of his year, ze. up n the back of the Tripos verses. And, lastly, the name was transferred from the list to the examination, the results of which were published in the list. This account is abridged from Wordsworth’s Schole Academice, chap. ii. Wordsworth concludes : “Thus, step by step, we have traced the word 777/os, passing in signification, Proteus-like, from a thing of wood (odin truncus) to a man, from a man to a speech, from a speech t. two sets of verses, from verses toa sheet of coarse foolscap paper, from a paper toa list of names, and from a list of names to a system of examination.” TA Lecture delivered on September 3 by Prof. W. Chandler Roberts- Austen, F.R.S., to the Operative Classes in the Town Hall of Birmingham, in connection with the meeting of the British Association. done for us, and intended for our perpetual pleasure.” * The metallurgist, however, cannot speak with authority on themes such as these ; and I have therefore selected a subject which will, I believe, enable me to bring before you important truths affecting a wide range of industrial operations, and at the same time to sustain the true function of art by pointing to the direction in which we may have increased pleasure in things that constitute our most ordinary possessions, and which we use in daily life. First permit me to explain that I intend to include under the title of the lecture any facts which are, in my opinion, connected with the colours of metals and alloys, whether natural to them or produced by artifice, as well as a brief examination of the influence which the colours of metals appear to have exerted on the history of science. I propose to begin at what will appear to be a some- what remote starting-point. We say that copper is red, gold yellow, and silver white, but it is by no means cer- tain that the early races of the world had any very clear perception of the difference between these several metallic colours. With regard to early Hebrew and Greek civilisa- tion, Mr. Gladstone has expressed his belief that the colour-sense—that is the power of recognising colour and distinguishing it from mere brightness or darkness—was imperfectly developed, and he considers that “ the start- ing-point is absolute blindness to colour in the primitive man,” and he urges that the sense of colour has been gradually developed “until it has now become a familiar and unquestioned part of our inheritance.” He adds: “Perhaps one of the most significant relics of the older state of things is to be found in the preference (known to the manufacturing world) of the uncivilised nations for strong and, what is called in the spontaneous poetry of trading phrases, loud colour.” * Dr. Magnus holds the view that the colour-sense in man has undergone a great improvement within the last 2000 years, and Prof. Haeckel supports this speculation, but it is opposed by Romanes, who has favoured me with some observations on the subject, in view of this lecture ; and it seems to me strange, if savage nations are really deficient in the sense of colour, that the use of such colours as they can get in metals and fabrics, blended, for instance, in a war-club or a pipe-stem, should be so thoroughly “understood” and so discriminatingly em- ployed as we sometimes find them to be. It may further be observed that primitive man may even have derived from his more remote ancestry some power of being influ- enced by colour, and we are told that the attraction which gorgeous colouring in flowers has for birds and insects, and which colour generally possesses for our nearer ancestors, has been of great importance in the origin of species, and in the maintenance of organic life. No doubt, in ancient times, there was much confusion between mere brightness and colour, such as is evident in the beautiful sentence in which St. Augustine? says : “ For this gueen of colours, the light, bathing all which we behold, wherever I am through the day, gliding by me in varied forms, soothes me when engaged on other things and not observing her.” If, however, it were proved that the power of distinguishing the colour of metals was not widely diffused among the Egyptians, He- brews, and Greeks, it is at least certain that there were individuals of these nations to whom, in very early times, the colour of metals was all-im- portant ; and although they may have confused different precious stones under generic names, they certainly appreciated their various colours, and knew, moreover, that by fusing sand with the addition of a small quantity of certain minerals, they could produce artificial gems of varied tints. 1 ‘* Modern Painters,” vol. i. part 2, p. 201, 1851. J neleenth Century, p. 367, 1877. € 3 “Confessions of St. Augustine.” Edition edited by E. B Pusey, D.D, (p. 271). =e Dec, 2, 1886] My object in leading you so far back—in discussing what appears to be a very matter-of-fact subject—is to point to the close connection between the early recogni- tion and appreciation of colour in metals or minerals, and the foundation of the science of chemistry. In early scientific history the seven metals known to the ancients were supposed to be specially connected with the seven principal planets whose names they originally bore, and whose colours were reflected in the metals ; thus gold resembled the sun, silver the moon, while copper borrowed its red tint from the ruddy planet Mars. The belief in the intimate relation between colours and metals, the occult nature of which they shared, was very persistent, and we find a seventeenth-century writer, Sir John Pettus, saying! that ‘‘ painters” derive “their best and most proper colours from metals whereof seven are accounted the chief, produced from the seven chief metals, which are influenced by the seven planets.” A survival of this feeling is suggested by a modern writer, Leslie, who supposed that “when Newton attempted to reckon up the rays of light decomposed by the prism, and ventured to assign to them the famous number seven, he was apparently influenced by some lurking disposition towards mysticism.” 2 It would be impossible for me to overrate the import- ance of the colour of metals in relation to scientific history, for the attempt to produce a metal with the colour and properties of gold involved the most intense devotion to arduous research sustained by feverish, hope, attended by self-deception and elaborate fraud, such as hardly any other object of human desire has developed. It led to despair, to madness, and to death ; but finally, through all, alchemy prepared the way for the birth of chemistry, and for the true advancement of science. In early times, as now, gold was an extremely desirable form of portable property, and its colour was, perhaps, held to be the most distinctive and remarkable fact about it. I may incidentally observe that the dominant idea of colour in connection with the metallic currency survives in the familiar phrase, “I should like to see the co/owr of his money,” which curiously expresses a desire, tempered by doubt as to its fulfilment. On looking back, we find that, at least from the third to the seventeenth century, the colour of gold haunted the early experimenters, and induced them to make the strangest sacrifices, even of life itself, in the attempt to imitate, and even actually to produce, the precious metal. Let us see what kind of facts were known within the period I have indicated. In barbaric times, hammered pieces of gold, or gold beaten into thin sheets and plates, were used with coloured stones and coral for personal adornment. The next step was to make gold go further by gilding base metals with it, and, in order to do this, the colour was for the moment sacri- ficed by combining the gold with quicksilver. This was done at least in the time of Vitruvius, B.C. 80, heat being used.to drive away, as vapour, the quicksilver which had been united to the gold, leaving a thin film of precious metal on the surface to be gilded. But this was possibly not the first method of gilding, for we now know, from a papyrus of about the third century ? of our era, that lead was used for this purpose. Gold, when fused with lead, entirely loses its golden colour, and yet, by the application of heat in air, the lead may be made to flow away as a fusible oxide, leaving the precious metal on the metallic object to be gilt, the base metal being as it were transmuted, superficially at least, into gold. The point I want to in- sist upon is that the metallic colour of the gold vanished during the process as carried on by the craftsman, only to 7 © Fleta Minor,” 1626, Appendix, ‘‘ Essay on Metallic Words,—Colour.” ? “Treatises on Various Subjects of Natural and Chemical Philosophy.” 3 ‘Les Origines de l’Alchimie,” par M. Berthelot, 1885, pp. 82, 89. It is interesting to compare the account of this method of gilding by lead with the expression used by Homer, who says: ‘‘ As when gold is fused around the silver by an experienced man.”—‘“‘ Odyssey,” vi. 232-35, quoted by Schliemann, ‘‘Ilios,” p. 258, in relation to a gilded knife of copper which he permitted me to analyse in 1878. NATURE 107 re-appear at the end of the operation ; and I am satisfied that it was from such simple technical work as this that the early chemists were led to think that the actual pro- duction of gold—the transformation of base metals into gold—was possible. The more observant of them, from Geber, the great Arabian chemist of the seventh century, to our own countryman, Roger Bacon, in the thirteenth, saw how minute a quantity of certain sub- stances would destroy the red colour of copper, or the yellow colour of gold. A trace of arsenic will cause the red colour of copper to disappear; therefore, the alche- mists very generally argued, some small quantity of the right agent, if only they could find it, will turn a base metal to the colour of gold. Look, they said, how small a quantity of quicksilver will change the appearance of metallic tin. Here is a bar of tin 2 feet long and 1 inch thick, which it would be most difficult to break, though it will readily bend double. If only I rub a little quick- silver on its surface a remarkable effect will be produced, the fluid metal will penetrate the solid one,! and in a few seconds the bar will, as you see, break readily, the fractured surface being white, like silver. It was by such facts as this that men were led to believe that the white metal, silver, could be made. Successive workers at different periods held divergent views as to the efficacy of the transmuting agent. Roger Bacon, in the thirteenth century, held that one part of the precious substance would suffice to turn a million parts of base metal into gold. Basil Valentine, in the fourteenth century, would have been content with the transmutation of seventy parts of base metal by one part of theagent. While, coming to the end of the eighteenth century, Dr. J. Price, F.R.S., of Guildford, only claimed that the substance he possessed would transmute from thirty to sixty parts of base metal.” It is a curious fact that no one seems to have actually prepared the transmuting agent for himself, but to have received it in a mysterious way from “a stranger”; but I must not dwell on this. I will merely point out how per- sistent was the view as to the singular efficacy of the transmuting agent, and I will content myself with a reference to Robert Boyle, our great countryman, an accurate chemist of the seventeenth century, who did more than any one else to refute the errors of alchemy. He nevertheless characteristically records % the following experiment, in which, instead of ennobling a base metal, he apparently degraded gold to a base one. He first purified a small quantity of gold, about “two drachms,” with great care, and, he states, “I put to it a small quantity of powder communicated to me by a stranger,” —it is singular that even he should have received the transmuting agent in the usual way,-—“and,” he adds, “continuing the metal a quarter of an hour on the fire, that the powder might diffuse itself through it, the metal when cold appeared to be a lump of arty colour ; 5 ‘twas brittle, and, being worked with a hammer, it flew into several pieces. From hence,” he adds, “it appears that an operation almost as strange as that called ‘ projection’” (er transmutation) “may safely be admitted, since this experiment shows that gold, . the least mutable of metals, may in a short time be exceedingly changed. . .by so small a portion of matter that the powder transmuted a thousand times its weight of gold.” He elsewhere observes of a similar experiment, ‘“‘transmutation is nevertheless real for not being gainful, and it is no small matter to remove the bounds which Nature seems very industriously to have set to the alterations of bodies.”+ The change in the 1 Homberg, Wém. de l’ Acad. Royale des Sciences, 1713 (vol. published om , P- 306. fe J i 739) An “Account of some Experiments on Mercury, Silver, and Gold made at Guildford, in the Laboratory of James Price, M.D., F.R.S.,” Oxford, 1782. 7 “The Philosophical Works of the Hon. Robert Boyle” (Shaw’s second edition), 1738, vol. i. p. 78. 4 Ibid. p. 262. 108 NATURE [Dec. 2, 1886 colour of the gold was remarkable, but Boyle had only produced one of the series of alloys most dreaded by every jeweller—* brittle gold”—for the way in which an alloy of gold and copper is affected by a small quantity of impurity presents one of the most serious difficulties in working gold. It has been known since the seventh century, that minute quantities of certain metals render gold brittle, and it may be well to demonstrate the fact. Here are two hundred sovereigns : I will melt them and will add in the form of a tiny shot a minute portion of lead amounting to only the 20ooth part of the mass, first, however, pouring a little of the gold into a small ingot, which we can bend and flatten, thus proving to you that it is perfectly soft, ductile, and workable. The rest of the mass we will pour into a bar, and now that it is suff- ciently cold to handle, you see that I am able to break it with my fingers, or at least with a light tap of a hammer. The colour of the gold is quite altered, and has become orange-brown, and experiments have shown that the tenacity of the metal, that is, the resistance of the gold to being pulled asunder, has been reduced from 18 tons per square inch to only 5 tons. These essential changes in the property of the metal have been produced by the addition of a minute quantity of lead. I have cited these facts mainly to show that the changes produced in the colour and properties of metals by small variations of composition were such as to lead the alchemists on in their belief that it was possible to change lead or tin into gold, and the hope in which they worked enabled them to gather facts out of which chemical science was gradu- ally constructed. We shall see presently that changes in the colour of metals and alloys produced by the addition of small quantities of foreign matter, are of great import- ance in the application of metals to artistic purposes, but we must first try to examine more closely some of the prominent facts connected with the colour of metals, that is, the effect metals have on light so as to produce the effect of colour in our eyes. We are apt to think of gold as being essentially and distinctively golden-yellow ; it may, however, possess a wide range of colours without in any way losing the condition of absolute metallic purity, its relations to light depending entirely on the nature of its surface, and especially on whether the metal is in mass or in a more or less fine state of division. Interest- ing as gold is to us in mass (and I may incidentally mention that during my official connection with the Mint I have been responsible for the quality of 462 tons of it) it is perhaps still more interesting to us when beaten so fine that a single grain, of the value of 2¢., would cover a space of 48 square inches, or when it is so finely divided that the dimensions of a single particle may closely approximate to those of the ultimate atom. This aspect of the question was investigated by Faraday, and the experimental part of the subject remains practically unadded to since his time. It is well known that a leaf of gold when seen by transmitted light is either green or blue, according to its thickness. Here is such a leaf of green gold, as seen when light is actually sent through it (Fig. 1), so as to project a green disk on the screen. A portion of the light will be ve/lected from its surface, and this reflected ray may be caught in a mirror and thrown on the screen so that you have, shown side by side, the green disk of transmitted light and the golden one of reflected light from the same leaf of gold. Gold may readily be converted into a soluble chloride which produces a beautiful golden solution. If such a solution contains very little gold, not more than 2 grains in a gallon, and if certain chemical methods be adopted to precipitate the gold, that is, to throw it out of solution in a solid, though in a very fine state of division, the metal may exhibit a wide range of tint, from ruby to black. [A few drops of phosphorus dissolved in bisulphide of carbon had been added to about a gallon of a very dilute solution of chloride of gold contained in a tall glass cylinder, as shown in the sketch (Fig. 2). The beam from an electric light, thrown through the vessel, revealed in the lower part the presence of finely-divided metal of the natural golden colour, while the more finely-divided gold in suspension imparted a brilliant ruby colour to the liquid, and a glowing ruby disk was projected on a white screen. When gold is in the “ruby” state, it is so finely divided that each particle probably approximates to the dimensions of the gold atom. [The solar spectrum was then thrown upon the screen, and the audience was invited to compare it with a dia- gram which, while closely resembling the solar spectrum, TRANSMITTED LIGHT really represented} the way in which pure metallic gold, prepared by various methods, is capable of behaving in relation to light so as to produce the sensation of a wide range of colours. ] It would be easy to show that light is similarly affected by other metals ; but I have selected gold for the purpose of illustration because it is easy to maintain it in a state of purity, however finely divided it may be. We must there- fore modify any views we may have formed as to a metal having exclusively a special colour of its own, because it LIGHT Fic. 2. will be evident that a particular colour is only due toa definite state of arrangement of its particles. The inti- mate relation between the state of the surface of a metal and its colour is well shown by the beautiful buttons devised by Sir John Barton. He proved that if very fine lines be drawn close together, so that about 2000 would be ruled in the space of an inch, a beautiful iridescent effect is produced, the tints being quite independent of the metal itself due to an optical effect of the lines. [The image of such a button was then thrown upon the screen. | eee a] Dec. 2, 1886] NATURE 109 Let us now examine some effects of uniting metals by fusing them together into what are called alloys; and, | second, the direct influence of a minute quantity of one | metal in changing the mass of another in which it is ! hidden, and causing it to behave in a different way in | relation to light, and consequently to possess a colour } different from that which is natural to it; or the added metal may so change the chemical nature of the metallic mass that varied effects of colour may be produced by the chemical combinations which result from the action of certain “pickling” solutions. This portion of the subject is so large that I can only hope to set before you certain prominent facts. First, with reference to the colour produced by the union of metals. Here is a mass of red copper, and here one of gray antimony: the union of the two by fusion produces a beautiful violet alloy when the proportions are so arranged that there is 51 per cent. of copper and 49 per cent. of antimony in the mixture. This alloy was well known to the early chemists, but unfortunately it is brittle and difficult to work, so that its beautiful colour can hardly be utilised in art. The addition of a small quantity of tin to copper hardens it, and converts it, from a physical and mechanical point of view, into a different metal. The addition of zinc and a certain amount of lead to tin and copper confers upon the mettal copper the property of receiving, when exposed to the atmosphere, varying shades of deep velvety brown, characteristic of the bronze which has from remote antiquity been used for artistic purposes. But by far the most interesting copper alloys, from the point of view of colour, are those produced by its union with zinc, namely brass. Their preparation demands much care in the selection of the materials, and I might have borrowed from the manufac- ture of brass instance after instance of the influence of traces of impurity in affecting the properties of the alloy, but it is unnecessary to dwell upon this alloy in Birmingham, for in all that relates to the mechanical manipulation of the alloys of copper with tin and with zinc, you are masters. I have many inducements in this place to speak about this beautiful alloy. I am proud to be a namesake of the craftsman, William Austen, who, in 1460, made that magnificent monument in brass which covers the remains and commemorates the greatness of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and I am glad to remember that Queen Elizabeth granted the first patent for the manufacture of brass in England to William Humfrey, Assay Master of the Mint, a predecessor in the office it is my privilege to hold. I want, however, to direct your attention to-night to some alloys of copper with which you are probably less familiar than with brass. In this direction Japanese art affords a richer source of information than any other. Of the very varied series of alloys the Japanese employ for art metal- work, the following may be considered to be the most important and typical. The first is called *‘ shaku-do”; it works. Colossal statues are made of it; one cast at Nara in the seventh century being specially remarkable. The quantity of gold is, however, very variable ; speci- mens | have analysed contained only 1°5 per cent of the precious metal. The next alloy to which I would direct your attention is called “ shibu-ichi.” There are numerous Shibu-ichi. III. IV. Copper 67°31 Copper ... 51°10 Silver 32°07 Silver 48°93 Gold traces Gold Ble Tron Peay ech 52 99°90 100°15 contains, as you will observe from Analyses I. and II.,? in Shaku-do. I. { Il. | Copper ... 94°50 Copper ... 95°77 Silver 1°55 Silver 0°08 Gold B73 Gold 4°16 Lead cone fons ‘Ir —_—-— Iron and Arsenic... traces 10001 99°89 addition to about 95 per cent. of copper, as much as 4 per cent. of gold. It has been used for very large A list of books and papers dealing with the colours of metals and alloys, varieties of it, but in both these alloys, shaku-d6 and shibu- ichi, the point of interest is that the precious metals are, as it were, sacrificed in order to produce definite results ; gold and silver, when used pure, being employed very sparingly to heighten the general effect. In the case of the shaku-do, we shall see presently the gold appears to enable the metal to receive a beautiful rich purple coat or patina, as it is called, when treated with certain pickling solutions ; while shibu-ichi possesses a peculiar silver- gray tint of its own, which, under ordinary atmospheric influences, becomes very beautiful, and to which the Japanese artists are very partial. These are the principal alloys, but there are several varieties of them, as well as combinations of shaku-do and shibu-ichi in various propor- tions, as, for instance, in the case of kiu-shibu-ichi, the composition of which would correspond to one part o shaku do rich in gold, and two parts of shibu-ichi rich in silver. Interesting effects are produced by pouring two alloys of different tints together just at the solidifying point of the less fusible of the two, so that the alloys unite but do not blend, and a mottled surface is the result. These alloys are introduced into almost every good piece of metal-work. Now as to the action of pickling solutions. Many of you will be familiar with the mysteries of the treatment of brass by “dipping” and “ dead dipping,” so as to pro- duce certain definite surfaces, but the Japanese art metal- workers are far ahead of their European brothers in the use of such solutions. The South Kensington Museum contains a very valu- able series of fifty-seven oblong plates, some plain and others richly ornamented, which were specially prepared as samples of the various metals and alloys used by the Japanese. The Geological Museum in Jermyn Street has a smaller, but very instructive, series, of twenty-four plates presented by an eminent metallurgist, the late M. Hochstatter-Godfrey.. From descriptions accompanying the Jatter, and from information I have gathered from certain Japanese artificers now in London, it would appear that there are three solutions generally in use. They are made up respectively in the following proportions, and are used boiling. I. II. Ill. Verdigris 438 grains 87 grains 220 grains Sulphate of copper 292 ,, 437 ,, 540/055 Nitre Boo» Rees — Seen — Common salt —_— 146). 5; _ Sulphur — Zaoui = Water ... I gallon = I gallon Vinegar = 1 gallon 5 fluid drachms and with the production of coloured patina, is given by Prof. Ledebur in his work “Die Metallverarbeitung,” p. 285, 1882, pubiished in Bolley’s “Technologie.” 2 Analyses Nos. I. and III. are by Mr. Gowland, of the Imperial | Japanese Mint at Osaka; Nos. II. and IV. by Prof. Kalischer, Ding. Polyt. Fourn., CCxv. 93. That most widely employed is No. I. When boiled in No. III. solution, pure copper will turn a brownish red ; and shaku-do, which, you will remember, contains a little gold, becomes purple ; and now you will be able to appreciate the effect of small quantities of metallic impurity as affecting the colour resulting from the action of the pickle. Copper containing a small quantity of antimony | gives a shade very different from that resulting from the pickling of pure copper. But the copper produced in Japan is the result of smelting complex ores, and the 110 NATURE [Dec. 2, 1886 methods of purification are not so perfectly understood asin the West. The result is that the so-called “‘anti- mony” of the Japanese art metal-workers, which is pre- sent in the variety of copper called “ kuromi,” is really a complex mixture containing tin, cobalt, and many other metals, so that a metal-worker has an infinite series of materials at command with which to secure any particular shade; and these are used with much judgment, although the scientific reasons for the adoption of any particular sample.may be hidden from him. It is strictly accurate to say that each particular shade of colour is the result of minute quantities of metallic impurity, and these speci- mens and diagrams will, I trust, make this clear, and will prove that the Japanese arrange true pictures in coloured metals and alloys. [This portion of the subject was illustrated with much care by coloured diagrams representing specimens of Japanese art metal-work, by photographs projected on the screen, as well as by the reflected images of small ornaments made of the alloys which had been specially referred to. There was also a trophy of leaves of copper of varying degrees of purity coloured brilliantly by one or other of the “ pickles ” above described. ] There is one other art material to the production of which I hope art workmen in Birmingham will soon direct their attention, as its applications are endless. It is called in Japanese “ mokume,” which signifies “ wood- grain.” Itis now very rare even in Japan, but formerly the best specimens appear to have been made in Nagoya by retainers of the Daimio of Owari. I have only seen six examples, and only possess a single specimen of native work, and have therefore had to prepare a few illustra- tions for you in soldered layers of gold, silver, shibu-ichi, shaku-do, and kuromi. Fic. 3. This diagram (Fig. 3) shows the method of manufacture. Take thin sheets of almost any of the alloys I have mentioned, and solder! them together layer upon layer, care being taken that the metals which will present diversity of colour come together. Then drill conical holes of varying depth, A, in the mass, or devices in trench-like cuts of V section, B, and hammer the mass until the holes disappear; the holes will thus be replaced by banded circles and the trenches by banded lines. A Japanese artificer taught me to produce similar effects by taking the soldered layers of the alloy, and by the aid of blunted tools making depressions on the back of the mass so as to produce prominences on the front, c. These prominences are filed down until the sheet is again flat ; the banded alloys will then appear on the surface in complicated sections, and a very remarkable effect is produced, especially when the colours of the alloys are developed by suitable “ pickles.” In this way any device may be produced. In principle the method is the same as that which produces the damascening of a sword-blade or gun-barrel, and depends on the fact that under certain * The following solder was found to answer well :— Silver eee ase ove 55°5 Zinc... on on eee 26°0 Copper... TD era 18°5 1000 conditions metals behave like viscous solids, and as truly “flow” as pitch or honey does, only in the case of mokume the art workman has a wide range of tinted metals at command. Throughout Japanese art metal-work, in which I hope you will take increasing interest, there is the one prin- ciple of extreme simplicity and absolute fidelity to nature. The brilliant metals, gold and silver, are used most sparingly, only for enrichment, and to heighten the general effect; these precious metals are never allowed to assert themselves unduly, and are only employed where their presence will serve some definite end in relation to the design as a whole. A Japanese proverb asserts that “‘ He who works in gold puts his brains into the melting-pot,’ meaning, I suppose, that this metal, so precious from an artistic point of view, demands for its successful application the utmost effort of the workman, and suggesting that gold should not be employed in massive forms such as would result from melting and casting, but should be daintily handled, beaten on to the work, or embedded with the hammer. Bear in mind that in Birmingham, when a really fine work is produced in silver, the surface is often made gray by chemical means, “ oxidised,” as it is termed, and this subordination ofthe brilliancy of silver to artistic effect, is well understood by the celebrated American firm, Messrs. Tiffany, of New York, who are doing so much to catch the spirit of Japanese art metal-work. All I ask you to do is to carry this still further—to cover base metals with these glowing coloured oxides, and thus to add to the permanence of art work, by producing surfaces which will resist the unfavourable atmospheric influences of our cities. Hitherto we have considered the union of metals by fusion, but fire is not the only agent which can be em- ployed for this purpose. Two or more metals may be deposited side by side by the aid of the electric battery. Birmingham was, as you well know, the early home of electro-metallurgy, an industry to the development of which the great firm of Elkington has so materially con- tributed. I have no statistics as to the amount of pre- cious metals annually employed for electro-deposition in Birmingham, but it is known that a single works in Paris, belonging to M. Christofle, deposits annually six tons of silver, and it has been estimated that the layer of silver of the thickness actually deposited on various articles would, if spread out continuously, cover an area of 140 acres.!_ I will not, however, dwell upon the deposition of gold and silver in their normal colours. I would remind you that copper and zinc may be deposited by electrolysis so as to form brass, and that all the beautiful bronzes and alloys of the Japanese can be obtained by galvanic agency ; and further, by suitable admixtures of gold, silver, and copper, red-gold, rose-coloured gold, or green gold may be deposited, so that the electro-metallurgist has at his command the varied palette of the decorative artist. [The images of beautiful deposits of coloured gold, specially prepared by Messrs. Elkington, were then pro- jected on the screen. ] I ought to allude to what has been called the moral aspect of colour, and although I cannot follow Goethe? in his attributes of colour, which seem to me to be fantastic and over-strained, I quite recognise the poetic sympathy of Shakespeare in making Bassanio select the casket of lead, which contained the warrant for his earthly happi- ness, because “its paleness moved him more than elo- quence.” I ask you to remember Ruskin’s words, that “all men completely organised and justly tempered enjoy colour; it is meant for the perpetual comfort and delight of the human heart ; it is richly bestowed on the highest works of creation, and the eminent sign and seal of perfection in them being associated with life in the © H. Bouilhet, Ann. de Chim. et de Phys. t. xxiv. Pp. 549, 1881. * Farbenlehre. } eee ——— Dec. 2, 1886] NATURE Dre human body, with light in the sky, with purity and hard- ness in the earth ; death, night, and pollution of all kinds being colourless.” I must briefly turn to the concluding part of our subject. It has long been known that thin films of certain metals and certain metallic oxides act on light in the same way as thin films of other translucent substances. I have here such thin films of oxide of lead, which, many years ago, Nobili, Becquerel, and Gassiot taught us to deposit, and such films have since been used in decorative metal-work. [Beautiful examples of such films were projected on the screen.] I wish I had time to point to the great interest and im- portance of films of coloured oxide of iron in the temper- ing of steel, for it is well known that, apart from the scientific interest of the subject, the shades from straw- colour to blue which pass over the surface of hardened steel when it is heated in air, afford precious indications as to the degree of temper the metal has attained, and in no industry is this better shown than in the manu- facture of steel pens. I must pass this over, and turn to one other instance of the formation of coloured films on metals. Here is an ordinary plumber’s ladle filled with lead, which will soon be molten when it is placed over this flame. The air will play freely on the surface of the melted lead, and, as a certain temperature is reached, very beautiful films will pass over the surface of the metal. If the lead contains very minute quantities of cadmium or of antimony, the effect will be greatly height- ened. If the light from the electric lamp be allowed to fall on the surface of the bath of lead, it will be easy to throw the image of the metallic surface on the screen, and you will see how beautiful the films are and how rapidly they succeed each other, when the metal is skimmed. What, then, is the special significance of the experiment from our point of view? It represents in a singularly refined way the one experiment which stands out prominently in the whole history of chemistry ; for the formation of a coloured scum on lead when heated in air has been appealed to, more thany any other fact, in sup- port of particular sets of views from the time of Geber in the seventh century to that of Lavoisier in the eight- eenth. It was the increase in weight of the lead when heated in air that so profoundly astonished the early chemists ; and, finally, the formation of a coloured oxide by heating lead in air was the important step which led on your great townsman, Priestley,’ to the discovery of oxygen ; and, as the fact of his residence among you will never be forgotten, Birmingham may claim to have been connected, through him, with one of the most splendid contribution ever offered to Chemical Science. NOTES Pror. Ricker, F.R.S., has been appointed by the Lord President of the Council to the Professorship of Physics in the Normal School of Science and Royal School of Mines, rendered vacant by the death of Prof. Guthrie, F.R.S. AT the Royal Society on Thursday last (November 25) a paper was read by Sir Richard Owen, containing some further evidence on the structure of the very remarkable extinct marsupial, Thylacoleo carnifex. The author re-affirmed his previous state- ments that it was a carnivorous beast of the size of a lion, the probable prey of which had been the larger herbivorous marsu- pials, also now extinct. Prof. Flower, after reviewing the additional evidence that had been adduced, repeated his convic- tion expressed eighteen years ago in a paper read before the Geological Society, that the dentition of Zy/aco/eo found no parallel in any existing predaceous carnivore, but was formed on * He pointed out that the experiment with minium confirmed his view that he mercury calcined in air derived oxygen_/rom the air. a totally different type, and that there was therefore no justifica- tion for assigning to it habits for which it did not seem particu- larly well adapted. The essential conditions in a dentition which would enable an animal to seize and overcome large and struggling prey, as seen in both lions, tigers, wolves, and the existing carnivorous marsupials, are large canines set well apart, with incisors so small as not to interfere with their piercing action ; whereas in Z/y/acoleo the canines are rudimentary, and the central incisors greatly developed. The alternative, some- times suggested, that the animal was herbivorous, was equally improbable. In fact, it would not be safe to do more than speculate on the habits or food of an animal the dentition of which was so highly specialised, and without any analogy in the existing state of things. Prof. Huxley said that he agreed with the conclusions of the last speaker. A course of six lectures, adapted to a juvenile auditory, on “The Chemistry of Light and Photography” (with experi- mental illustrations), will be given at the Royal Institution by Prof. Dewar, M.A., F.R.S., on the following days, at three o’clock :—Tuesday, December 28, 1886 ; Thursday, December 30 ; Saturday, January 1, 1887; Tuesday, January 4 ; Thursday, January 6 ; Saturday, January 8. THE Royal Society have just received from Egypt a consign- ment of specimens of the different strata of soil in the Delta. The borings have been carried out to a depth of nearly 200 feet, and the solid bottom has not yet been reached. The Royal Engineers in Egypt have been intrusted with the work. The specimens, which are chiefly of sand and clay strata, are deemed of great importance, and the Society has granted money for the continuance of the work, which will be carried out by the detachment of Engineers as hitherto. THE Secretary of State for War has given permission for Sir Frederick Abel, C.B., the Chemist of the War Department, to accept the post of organising secretary to the Imperial Institute, provided that the duties do not interfere with those of his appointment under the War Office; and Sir Frederick Abel has been desired by the Prince of Wales, President of the Imperial Institute, to enter upon his work as soon as possible. The new secretary has ‘just completed his work in connection with the electric lighting of the Indian and Colonial Exhibition, and is also retiring from his duties in connection with the Society of Arts. On November 17, at 7h. 18m. p.m., a fine fireball was seen at Stonyhurst College, Blackburn. It appeared to be several times as bright as Venus. In colour it was violet, and of a distinct pear shape. The part of its path observed, as far as could be judged from the stars seen through detached clouds, was from near « Ceti to the small stars above Fomalhaut, about 88 Aquarii. Its path was slightly curved. So brightly did it shine that attention was first called to it by the illumination of the sky, although seen from a room in which the gas was lighted. THE Morning Star of Jaffna, in Ceylon, reports the death of the taxidermist of the Victoria Museum in that town from the bite of a cobra, under very curious circumstances. While feeding a cobra, which he had supposed was harmless from previous extraction of the poison-bag, it suddenly bit his hand. For a few minutes he took no notice, thinking the bite harm- less, but pain and nausea soon began. Carbolic acid was applied, ligatures were bound round the arm, an incision was made at the bite, and the blood of the arm was wholly re- moved. Various antidotes were used, but the unfortunate man lost the power of speech, and soon after every muscle seemed to have become paralysed, and breathing entirely ceased. Wt} Artificial respiration was therefore resorted to, and this opera- tion was unceasingly continued for nine hours, when at last the patient made an attempt to breathe, and soon regained con- sciousness enough to make his wants known. He steadily im- proved until the Friday, the accident having taken place ona Wednesday, and then astonished those around him by stating that during the severe operation of Wednesday night he was con- scious of all that was taking place, but was unable to make his feelings known, not having power over a single muscle. It would seem that the poison paralysed the nerves of motion, but not those of feeling, for he could see, and hear, and feel, although the physicians, even by touching the eyeball, could get no response either of feeling or consciousness. His partial recovery was, however, followed by a high fever and inflam- mation of the lungs, and he died, perfectly conscious, on the following Sunday. THE New Zealand Government are about to collect salmon ova in Scotland and transfer them to that colony for incubation. It will be remembered that the Royal Commissioner for New Zealand has previously carried out similar work successfully, and it has been found that the S» sa/ay thrives well in the waters of that possession, Last year a large number of salmon ova were collected from Scotland, and hatched out and reared in New Zealand. COMMENCING on January 1, 1887, a journal is to be published by the National Fish-Culture Association, comprising not only information regarding its transactions from time to time, but also articles relative to the subjects of fish-culture, fish, and fisheries. A record will also be given of what takes place in connection with these subjects throughout the whole of the United King- dom, the colonies, and abroad. A STRONG shock of earthquake, lasting several seconds, was felt at Smyrna and in the adjacent districts early on the morn- ing of November 27, and news has been received of Tchesme and Chios having been similarly visited. A strong shock was felt at Tashkend on the morning of November 29, causing damage to many houses in the Russian quarter. Two shocks were felt on Sunday at Somerville and at Charleston. A slight shock was felt in Cairo at half-past four o’clock on the after- noon of the 17th. The vibration lasted several seconds. DuRING the past summer, Dr. Fr. Svenonius, the well-known Swedish geologist, has been prosecuting geological, ethnogra- phical, and glacial studies in Swedish Lapland. On the evening of November 4 a splendid display of the aurora borealis was seen at Throndhjem, in Norway. Not only the northern, but also the eastern and part of the southern, sky were covered with aurora, The radiation was particularly brilliant from south-west to north-east, forming a wreath in all the colours of the rainbow. During October, several splendid dis- plays of aurora occurred, but none as brilliant as this one. ON the evening of October 30 a brilliant meteor was seen from the Faloterbo lightship, on the south-west coast of Sweden. It went in a direction south-south-west to north-north-east, ex- ploding, as it seemed, from time to time, and displaying the most brilliant yellow, red, and green light. At times the sky was illuminated as in full moonlight. About a couple of minutes after the last explosion, reports as of guns were heard. At about 2 a.m. of November 5 another splendid meteor was seen at Hamar, in Norway. It went in a southerly direction across Lake Mjosen, and disappeared from view, leaving a long, broad, variegated trail behind. ProF, COLLETT, the well-known Norwegian zoologist, an NATURE [Dec. 2, 1886 but estimates that about roo are still in existence in the south, chiefly in the province of Nedenaes. A KITCHEN-MIDDEN has just been discovered at Ginnerup, in Denmark, at the foot of a cliff near a dried-up sound. It is about a yard in depth and of considerable extent, and contains quantities of shells of oysters, mussels, &c. THE last numbers of the ¥owrvnal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (vol. xxi. Nos. 1 and 2) contain a ‘* Sym- posium” on the question whether Western knowledge, and especially, of course, Western science, should be conveyed to the Chinese through the medium of their own or of a Western language. Fourteen of the leading European scholars in China took part in the discussion. Their views will not bear classifica- tion under the heads affirmative or negative, as some hold a middle place, exhibiting a leaning in one direction or another. The general tendency, however, is in favour of exciting the curiosity and interest of intelligent Chinese in the matter of Western knowledge by popular exposition in the native tongue, while reserving a more adequate representation for a time when a sufficient number of Chinese shall have acquired foreign lan- guages to constitute a learned class in our sense of the expression, A further and final stage will be reached when the members of this class, themselves impregnated with foreign knowledge, shall convey it to their fellow-countrymen in their own tongue, gradually modified to suit the exigencies of doctrines now abso- lutely foreign to the genius of the Chinese language and beyond its capabilities. IN the course of the discussion, some interesting facts with regard to the translation of scientific terminology into Chinese were mentioned. Dr. Martin, of Pekin, referred to Ricci’s old translation of Euclid, which he entitled ‘‘ The Fundamental Principle of the Science of Quantity.” Oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen are translated so as to express their characteristics of supporting life, of lightness, and of derivation from nitre. On the other hand, Dr. Macgowan mentions that a translator’s difficulties in dealing with natural history terms are really enor- mous. He undertook the translation of Dana’s ‘* Mineralogy ” and Lyell’s ‘‘ Elements of Geology” into Chine-e for the Go- vernment, and a scientific native scholar was detailed to assist him. When they came to the plants that have the names of foreign botanists, most of them polysyllabic, they were appalled, and as they could only be rendered phonetically, the native scholar decided against translating any portion of the plant’s name, transferring it bodily, according to sound, into Chinese. Similarly, the complex nomenclature of organic chemistry pre- sents a formidable difficulty. A Chinese clergyman, who took part in the discussion, delivered a particularly interesting address, urging that the phonetic method should, as a rule, be employed, on the ground that the characters used in the translation of scientific terms have traditional meanings to the Chinese mind, and thus great confusion is created. The ‘‘ term ?-controversy which has agitated theologians in China for the past half-century, and has divided them into two hostile camps, appears likely to revive in the domain of science, the question lying betweea translation or phonetic reproduction. From a study of thirty-two years’ observations of thunder- storms in the Vienna region, Dr. Hann finds that there is a double maximum of frequency. The greatest number occur in the first half of June, the second smaller maximum is in the end of July; between these is a secondary minimum. (Thunder- storms hardly ever occur in winter.) This agrees with observa- tions in Munich. In Brussels most thunderstorms occur in the second halves of June and July. The daily period in Vienna shows a chief maximum about 3.20 p.m., and a secondary one at 1.2a.m. The spring and summer storms come mostly from nounces that the beaver is now extinct in Northern Norway, | the east or south-east, and seem to belong to Mediterranean ss Dec. 2, 1886} NATURE 113 depressions, coming up from the Adriatic, as those of late summer seem to be on the south or south-east border of Atlantic depressions, BETHNAL GREEN FREE Liprary has been doing a large amount of good work in the thickly-populated district in which it is situated, not only by giving facilities for reading books, but by science lectures and science ‘‘talks.” It is much in want of funds for the extension of operations, and we commend it to the consideration of our readers. ‘The librarian is G. F. Hilcken, THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus stnicus) from India, presented by Miss G. M. Fisher; a Hedgehog (Zrinaceus ) from Madras, presented by Mr. H. R. P. Carter; two Mute Swans (Cygvzs olor), European, a Common Peafowl (Pavo cristatus) from India, presented by Lady Siemens ; a Red and Yellow Macaw (Avra chloroptera) from South America, presented by Mr. Arthur Daunt ; a Grey Parrot (Psittacus er.- thacus) from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Greenwood ; five Great Eagle Owls (uso maximus), European, presented by Mr. Philip Crowley, F.Z.S.; a Common Guillemot Zomvia toile), British Islands, presented by Mr. J. H. Gurney, F.Z.S. ; two Gambel’s Partridges (Ca//ifepla gambelli) from California, presented by Mr. W. A Conklin, C.M.Z.S. ; a Malabar Green Bulbul (Phyllornis aurtfrons) from India, received in exchange ; five Great Titmice (Pars maj7), four Blue Titmice (Paras ceruseus), two Bullfinches (Pyrriula europea), European, pur- chased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THE ARGENTINE GENERAL CATALOGUE OF STARS.—This Catalogue, containing the mean positions of 32,448 southern stars determined at the National Observatory of Cordoba, has recently been published by Dr. Gould. The observations from which the Catalogue positions are deduced were made with the meridian-circle of the Cordoba Observatory during the years 1872-80. During these years the zone-observations were the chief object of attention, and the present Catalogue contains the places of those stars whose positions were more elaborately determined during the progress of that great work, and consti- tute an addition to our knowledge of southern stellar positions of perhaps not less importance than the Cordoba Zone-Cata- logue. ‘Tbe General Catalogue gives the positions, for the epoch 18750, of most of the southern stars brighter than magnitude $4, the deficiencies in this respect being chiefly found north of the parallel of 23°, at which the zones begin. These omissions will be of comparatively small importance, inasmuch as the new Durchmusterung of Prof. Schonfeld comprises all the southern stars within this region, while accurate determinations of the brighter ones will have been made in the re-observa- tion of Lalande’s stars now nearly completed at the Paris Observatory. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1886 DECEMBER 5-11 (POR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed. ) At Greenwich on December 5 Sun rises, 7h. 51m. ; souths, rh. 50m. 51°4s. ; sets, 15h. 50m. ; decl. on meridian, 22° 25’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 2oh. 47m. Moon (two days after First Quarter) rises, 13h. 30m. ; souths, 19h. 35m. ; sets, th. 5tm.*; decl. on meridian, 0° 19’ N. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian . m. 5 i h. m. ac RG Mercury WeLOe 2... IT 32 Doe AG! pce) TOMS SHO: Venus ... eS Anas LEGS She ceo Lo mec 2 202 719e Marsares lO 29 .-. 14) TO) \-.. iifey owe Se Jupiter... RP coe ES Ey Seay eo ls Si Sato eens 5 Ge. 2350 sc) KONA oc 2 2GUN- * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting that of the following morning. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding angles from ver- Dec. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. tex to right for inverted image ; h. m. h. m. Gi oi Giese) 14. Ceti . 64 ... 16 52 nearapproach 358 — TOms-) 49) Cauriiensmee--i ON matter—opinions vary almost as hopelessly as on the size. No doubt the ‘‘ vast clouds of the most pungent sulphurous steam,” which are described as rising swiftly out of the caldron, render exact observation difficult. The Z%es Correspondent speaks of catching glimpses of the crater-wall at depths which a very moderate estimate would place at joo feet. But the gradual convergence of the cavity apparent at this depth forbids the acceptance of the enormous profundity for which some visitors have contended, and suggests that the depth can hardly much exceed 500 feet. After a weird description of the appearance presented to the spectator by the volcano at work, the writer concludes by remarking that the present crater is apparently the youngest and innermost of three. Further down on the south west side are to be seen, along with numerous fissures of un- fathomable depth, remains which point to the existence of two former craters, concentric and of large dimensions, an1 separated from one another by a considerable interval. Possibly the exist- ing cone was formed by the great eruption of 1783. A TELEGRAM from New York of December 2, states that eight slight shocks of earthquake are reported from Summerville, one severe shock from Columbia, and two slight ones from Charleston. No damage was caused. Dr. Forel writes that earthquakes were felt in Switzerland on November 25 at 3h. at Pontresina and Bernina (Grisons), and again at 3h. 58m. (both Greenwich times) at Pontresina. ACCORDING to the Ceylon Observer, Mr. C. Stevens, a naturalist, has returned to Colombo from a most successful and interesting sojourn amongst the Veddahs, whose district he has thoroughly explored, and with whom he was enabled to establish a closer intimacy than any European ever did before. He has been able to clear up a good many dubious points relating to the manners, customs, and religious beliefs of these veritable wild men of the woods. He has succeeded in obtaining several perfect skeletons, and a number of skulls. THE London and China Telegraph states that a Folk-Lore Society has been established in the Philippines, at the prompting of a Society for the study of folk-lore in Spain. The archipelago certainly presents a wide field for investigation and inquiry in this respect, on account of the diversity of native races inhabiting it. The survivals in the shape of traditions, customs, and observances amongst the primitive tribes still to be found in the inaccessible interior of many of the islands may be expected to throw much light on the early history of the people, and on the origin of many superstitious practices common in more civilised lands. THE Report of the Public Free Libraries of the City of Man- chester, while expressing the deep regret of the Committee at the loss of Sir Thomas Baker, their chairman for nearly twenty- five years, is at the same time a testimonial to the ability and judgment with which the work under his care has been carried on. Additional libraries, a tenfold increase in circulation since the two first of them were opened, and over 4000 volumes with- drawn this year as wor owt, are proofs of the earnestness of this work. Nor does the increase seem likely to cease, for the extension of the time of keeping open the reading-rooms till 10 o'clock, although it adds to the already long hours of those - engaged in their management, is sure, we think, to increase their counter-attraction to the public-houses, and to brinz up the number of visitors annually to the libraries to three millions. Two recently incorporated districts also have requested that equal advantages may be extended to them, and help in carrying this out has been liberally supplied by independent public bodies. A remarkably large proportion of books are taken out to be read in the reading-rooms. Boys especially avail them- selves of these rooms on a Sunday, nearly twice as many of [ Dec. 9, tear ie them attending then as on a week-day ; a direct reversal of the practice of other classes. The success of Manchester is the more marked that so moderate a proportion of fiction is supplied to its readers. Tue additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Macaque Monkeys (M@acacus cyno- molous 6 2) from India, presented by the Countess Dowager of Lonsdale ; a Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus monz 9) from West Africa, presented by Miss Bashall; a Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries, var.) from West Africa, presented by Sir Albert Kaye Rollitt, F.Z.S.; a Grey-striped Mouse (Smithus vagus) fron the Tatra Mountain, presented by Dr. A. Wryesniowski ; a Poé Honey-eater (Prosthemadera nove-zealandia) from New Zealand, presented by Capt. B. J. Barlow, s.s. Zaimu ; a Blue-fronted Amazon (Chrysotis e@stiva) from Brazil, presented by Miss Joachim ; two Tuatera Lizards (Sphenodon punctatus) from New Zealand, presented by Dr. E. B. Parfitt; a Cerastes Viper (Vipera cerastes) from Egypt, presented by Mr. J. H. Leech, F.Z.S.; a Beisa Antelope (Oryx betsa 8) from North-East Africa, a Rough Fox (Canis rudis) from Guiana, purchased ; a Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus), born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN CORRECTIONS TO REFRACTION TABLES.—Prof. Cleveland Abbe, in ashort note to the Astronomische Nachrichten, calls attention to the fact that the reading of the mercurial barometer which is used in the refraction-formula as an index to the density of the air is not a true index to the pressure controlling that density until it is corrected for the effect of the variations in gravity. The correction is accomplished by adding one more factor, g, for gravity, when the formula becomes— I = 0700259 cos 2 pp yen R =a tanz (- I — 0°00259 cos 2) where # is the latitude of the observer, and , of the station for which the tables were computed. Prof. Cleveland Abbe con- siders that the omission of this correctioa for gravity may partly explain the origin of small systematic differences in the declina- tions of different star-catalogues, though such differences, so far as they are due to refraction, must also be caused by local irregularities in the di-tribution of pressure and temperature, which produce effects equivalent to slight inclinations of the horizontal planes of equal density. The systematic changes in his distribution, due to change of season, must introduce an annual variation in refraction similar to the effect of parallax, and it will occasion a difference in the refractions north and south of the zenith, which may often attain an appreciable amount, CoMEt FINnLAy (1886 ¢).—The following ephemeris by Dr Krueger, for Berlin midnight, is in continuation of that given in NATURE of November 25 (p. 85) :— 1886 R.A. Decl. log x log A Bright- Wij fabs SS . : ness Dec. 10 22 249 13 2568. 0°0074 9°8941 er TA 22,2305) MATIN O27 070142 98909 3°0 18 224458 8 46:0 0°0221 98901 2°9 22) .23) 16) fom) (6; 16:7 0'0309 98917 —.28 26 23 2649 3.44°6S. o'0404 9°8958 2:6 The brightness at date of discovery is taken as unity. CoMET BARNARD (1886 /).—This object is now visible to the naked eye, and is at its brightest. As it is now visible in the early evening, it should be frequently observed. The following ephemeris by Dr. Aug. Svedstrup, for Berlin midnight (4s¢r. Nachr., No. 2756), is in continuation of that given in NATURE of November 25 (p. 85) :— 1836 R.A Decl log x log A Bright- ieee eS: . ness Dec. 11 17 6 7 16 20°99 N. 9°8266 oO'0004 24°7 16 17 5419 13 43°9 9°8212 0°0300 22°1 20, 18 3415) exo R22 9°8266 00679 + 18°0 26) To) Ropse sy, 9'$42r o'1084 14°0 31 «Lo 32932 “Val S5e2N.) 19786520 (0:14 7S) ORy The brightness at date of discovery is taken as unity. Dec. 9, 1886] ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1886 DECEMBER 12-18 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.) At Greenwich on December 12 Sun rises, 7h. 59m. ; souths, rth. 53m. 58"os. ; sets, 15h. 49m. ; decl. on meridian, 23° 6’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 2th. 14m. Moon (one day past Full) rises, 16h. 34m.*; souths, oh. 29m. ; sets, $h. 27m. ; decl. on meridian, 18° 57’ N. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian Pama h. m. h. m. ae MercinveeeenOPEc TOMS c.. 15 TL... TS 3)S. Weriser ne ote ey 12) 406. 15 56) ... 23) 30%a: Mars ea LONTO TAeeOme ee TO 26 6.4 29) elass Wipers se Sarde eo 20... 13/38 .-. TO: 7S: Saturn .. NeLOnwOtiesss | 62: 9 TO, 1200 ee 2S * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding angles from ver- Dec. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. - esto Enea inverted image h. m. h. m. _ a Ae AUCKL «.5. ~ 0 O EeA2) 2 2540) vay TOON 227 14 ... B.A.C. 2731 ... 64 ... 6 54 near approach 207 — FAW wa 54. anctl.... (eos Ot Aa) Te) 85 181 Dec. h. igs Seeerya Ae) Mercury stationary. Tpec) (7 Saturn in conjunction with and 2° 59’ north of the Moon. Variable Stars Star R.A. Decl. hm. Sy h. m. U Cephei onp2-2)-) Si 16) N-...Dech13;, 1 25) 7 Ys US; 1) 15) 772 TM Aniefis; :.. BW ren- 1 oN sspn ey 1ED m S Tauri 4 23:0... 9 42N. Ag ash M R Leporis ASSASAE ATA SQUSs 9.02 59)» L2> M Si@ancr 9... Bis 74h lO) 279. y We 2 eee W Virginis .. RI 2ORci een 7h ee) ese 5520 Ov) 3 Libre ee TABS ACO ine Ol fuGverre 655) 10; 450) 772 WpGoronaweeey se. 15) 1356)... 32 ANNs... |), 13,122 15) 72 Batya i-2 LON 5:9) +5. 33) P4) Ni... 4, 155) 2) 30! 9725 OUCephewe ss) | <5 2212459)... H7 SON... 4, 16, 4 50m 3 617, 19 20 4% JM signifies maximum ; 7 minimum ; #7, secondary minimum. Meteor-Showers Moonlight interferes with meteor observation during the early part of the week, which is also less fruitful of meteors than are the first few days of the month. Amongst the radiants which have supplied meteors at this season are one in the constellation of the Lynx, R.A. 108°, Decl. 63° N., and one in Quadrans, R.A. 221°, Decl. + 53° N. THE LAW OF STORMS IN THE EASTERN SEAS? I. JN the Eastern seas the earliest signs of a typhoon are clouds of the cirrus type—looking like fine hair, feathers or small pale white tufts of wool—travelling from the east or thereabout, their direction backing towards the north, a slight rise in the barometer, clear and dry but hot weather, and light winds. This fine weather lasts for days, and the existence of a typhoon at a great distance contributes therefore to the safety of ships at sea,—a fact that is not sufficiently appreciated hy mariners. The cirrus clouds, wh‘ch frequently assume fantastic shapes, make their appearance within 1500 miles of the centre of a typhoon, the barometer is generally rising beyond from 630 to 1000 miles of the centre, and the mean of the twenty-four hours’ temperature rises in Hong Kong above 81°. A swell in the sea is noticed within from 300 to 500 miles of the centre, but this depends greatly upon the situation of the * By Dr. W. Doberck, Hong Kong Government Astronomer. Reprinted from the Hong Kong Telegrash. NATURE 135 nearest land. Halos round the sun and the moon, phosphor- escence of the water, and also glorious sunsets appear to be frequently noticed before typhoons. Within about Soo miles of the centre the sky is generally half covered with cumulus clouds, above which cirro-cumulus are usually seen. South and south-west of the centre, thunder- storms and cumulo-stratus clouds are observed. On approaching nearer to the centre the cloudiness increases, the temperature falls in consequence, and the mercury begins to descend in the barometer. Then the air becomes oppressive from the increasing dampness, aslight haze is observed during the morning hours, and the sky presents a threatening and vaporous appearance. Within 300 miles of the centre the temperature falls quickly owing to the cumulus, roll-cumulus, or nimbus clouds, with which the sky is nearly completely overcast. And meantime the wind has risen and blows generally with the force of a strong breeze about 300 miles from the centre. But this depends also upon the bearing of the centre, the wind being usually strongest in the right hand semicircle. Within 150 miles of the centre the sky is densely overcast with nimbus clouds accompanied by heavy rain, and within 60 miles it generally pours down in torrents, while the wind blows so hard that no canvas can withstand it ; but there is no thunder and lightning. The tem- perature at sea is frequently about 76°, and on shore about 7 : Within from 2 to 15 miles of the centre the wind either calms down or blow only moderate breezes, and the sky clears, being now covered only by very light clouds. The sea is as a rule mountainous, but in so ne reports it is stated that the sea had calmed down to some extent when the wind fell. Quan- tities of sea-birds, and near land also butterflies and other insects, cover a ship situated in the bull’s eye of a typhoon. It is possible that the central calm does not quite accurately coincide with the centre of the typhoon. The angle between the direction of the wind and the direction of the radius (the straight line between the observer and the centre of the typhoon) is, on an average, between 10° and 25° latitude, 43° in front of the centre and 53° behind the centre ; between 33° and 35° latitude, 65° in front and 85° behind; and between 10° and 35° it is about 49° in front and 62° behind the centre. The angle appears to be smaller near the shore for off-shore winds, and far out at sea the difference between the angle in front of and behind the centre appears to be small. The following rule for finding, on board ship in the China seas, the bearing of the centre of a typhoon is, therefore, approxi- mately correct: Stand with your back to the wind, and you will have the centre on your left side, but 3 points in front of your left hand ; z.e. ¢he centre bears about 11 ports From the zwind. If your ship is in a very low latitude the centre may lie as much as 4 points in front of your left hand, ze. bear 12 points from the wind, and if you are in a high latitude it may bear only 9 points from the wind. Once the wind has reached the force of a strong breeze, the average angle between the wind and the direction of the centre does not appear to change at all, but the wind, which blows in great gusts ina typhoon, may oscil- late to both sides of the true value. There does not appear to be any foundaticn at all for the belief that the wind near the centre blows in circles round the centre. To act according to this rule might prove disastrous to a ship experiencing a typhoon. Very low clouds in a typhoon move with the wind, but if the clouds are high they are frequently seen to move in a different manner, and the following rule may then occasionally be of use: If right in front of the centre, stand with your back towards the direction whence the clouds are coming, and you will have the centre from 1 to 2 points in front of your left hand ; and if straight behind the centre you may have it a point or two to the left of the direction in which you are looking. Once the bearing of the centre has been ascertained, the master of a vessel in a typhoon requires to know in which semi- circle, looking in the direction towards which the typhoon is moving, he is situated : If 7 the right hand semicircle, the wind will veer, 7c. shift with the sun; and if iz the left hand semt- circle, it will back, z.e. shift in the opposite direction. But this rule is strictly applicable on board of a vessel only when hove- to, or at any rate proceeding at a slower rate than the typhoon. For a vessel moving at a faster rate than and in the same direc- tion as a typhoon, the rule may be reversed. In case of doubt ; it may therefore become advisable to heave-to in order to be quite sure of the semicircle in which you are situated. But we have seen that the wind moves in spirals towards the centre, and 136 NATURE [Dec. 9, 1886 it is therefore dangerous to lie-to in a typhoon, particularly before you are sure that the centre is past. Vessels near the coast of China, or in the Formosa Channel, generally seek refuge in the nearest typhoon harbour indicated in the Directory. The wind shifts faster the nearer the centre you are. If the barometer falls rapidly and the wind does not change its direc- tion, and when the gusts continue to increase in force, your ship is in danger of entering into the central calm of the depression with its mountainous and confused seas, which is by all means to be avoided, as it is the high cross seas that do the most damage, and not the force of the wind. When once you are caught in a typhoon you should make no sail, except what may be necessary to steady the ship, till the gusts continue to decrease in force and the barometer has risen for some time. Very deceitful lulls are reported to occur during the raging of a typhoon. The master of a sailing-vessel is said to have put up topgallant sails after getting into the central calm. Of course he could have had no reliable barometer on board. In storms encountered in higher latitudes, where the incurva- ture of the wind is not so great as in a tropical hurricane, the right-hand semicircle is termed the dangerous semicircle, as a ship running before the wind is in more danger of crossing the path of the storm in front of the centre and perhaps be over- taken by it ; but ina typhoon there is not much to choose between | the semicircles. A dismasted ship is in danger of being carried into the centre from any quarter. However, the right-hand semicircle is also in a typhoon generally more dangerous than the other, both with regard to the risk of crossing the path in front of the centre, and also, as remarked above, with regard to the force of the wind and con- sequent greater sea disturbance, A ship experiencing a northerly gale and a falling barometer in the China Sea in the typhoon season is generally in greater danger than another experiencing a south-westerly gale. When you have ascertained in which semicircle your vessel is situated, you should, if in the right-hand semicircle, keep the wind as long as possible on the starboard tack ; and if in the left- hand semicircle, you should run on the starboard tack, or heave- | to on the port tack, so as to let the ship come up as the wind backs and run no risk of being taken aback. As explained further on, a typhoon encountered in a low latitude moves so slowly that a steamer or fast sailing-ship has a fair chance of running away from it, but farther north, when the centre proceeds at the rate of thirty or forty miles an hour, it requires careful manage- ment even supposing you have ample sea-room. Typhoons are dangerous on the open sea, but they are still more to be feared in open anchorages or near lee shores. Along the south-west coast of Formosa and elsewhere, a ship must in the south-west monsoon be prepared to run to sea at very short notice, as in some of the harbours you could not lie with any chance of riding out a typhoon. A steamer at anchor should get up steam as soon as the wind rises above the force of a strong breeze, and a sailing-vessel should take down the top-masts. The direction in which the wind is going to shift must early be determined so as to select a sheltered anchorage. If the centre passes very near the anchorage, the berth may have to be changed to the other shore during the lull, before the wind shifts to the opposite quarter. A ship moored by a single anchor with her head to the wind, will swing with the sun in the right-hand semicircle and against the sun in the left-hand semicircle. If two anchors are dropped, the anchor on the advancing bow should be let go first, there- fore a ship in the right-hand semicircle of a typhoon should first drop the port anchor and afterwards the starboard, in order that she may ride with open hawse. And a ship in the left-hand semicircle should first drop the starboard anchor. But ships have to ride with a long scope ina typhoon, and as they are liable to drag the anchors, some prefer to drop the second anchor to veer upon if the first should not hold, Il. The force of the wind and the appearance of the sky do not always furnish a reliable guide to determine how far you are from the centre of a typhoon. The dimensions are different in different typhoons, and near land the strong winds are often so irregularly distributed that in a place near the centre less wind may actually be experienced than at some distance farther away from it. Also the 11-point rule for ascertaining the bearing of the centre fails near some shores if the centre is not near at hand; thus there often blows a steady easterly gale along the southern coast of China when a typhoon is crossing the China Sea, and the gale blows often steady from north-east about the northern entrance to the Formosa Channel when there is a typhoon in a more southern latitude. The surest of all warnings is furnished by the standard barometer on shore and the compensated aneroid on board ship ; you are all right if you can put your vessel on the tack that will keep your barometer rising. But in order to understand the indications of the barometer you will have to keep a regular meteorological register. The master of a vessel who does not look at his aneroid till he isin a typhoon, does not derive half the benefits from his observations that he would have enjoyed had he watched it beforehand. He might perhaps have avoided the weather he is now experiencing, or even have benefited by the favourable winds and sailed round the typhoon. No doubt the time is approaching when underwriters will stipulate that the indications ofan aneroid or a marine barometer must be regularly registered on board a vessel insured by them. On the other hand, it would not be fair to ask the mariners to keep complete meteorological records, such as are kept in the lighthouses out here. Some seamen have a taste for this kind of work and make very useful and fairly accurate observations, but, for instance, the readings of dry and damp bulb thermo- meters taken on many vessels are of very little use. The tube of the marine barometer has to be so much con- tracted to stand the incessant pumping and danger of breakage, that the instrument is sluggish and often reads half an inch or more too high near the centre of a typhoon. Some cheap wooden barometers cannot be registered below a certain height, the cistern being too small to hold the mercury that comes out of the tube. Of course some cheap aneroids are no better, and even a first-class compensated instrument requires to be tho- - roughly verified, as the scale is never quite correct, but they act nearly as quickly as first-class standard barometers, and for use on board ship the instrument that is quickest in its indications must be preferred. The objection to the use of the aneroid is founded on the fact that its index-correction changes gradually ; but then this can be determined and allowed for by reading it off as often as the vessel enters a port, such as Hong Kong, where correct meteorological observations are constantly being made. The best hours for making observations are 4 a.m., 8 a.m., &c., up to midnight inclusive. The observations should consist in readings of the aneroid, temperature (this is no use except when the thermometer is placed well forward so as to be exposed to the wind, though ina position sheltered from the sun and the rain), direction and force (0-12) of the wind, direction whence coming of the clouds, amount (0-9) of sea-disturbance, and weather (Beaufort’s notation). For further particulars the ‘* In- structions for making Meteorological Observations, prepared for use in China,” published in 1883 by the writer, may be consulted. From 4am. to 10 a.m. the barometer is rising, falling from loam. to4p.m., rising from 4 p.m. to ro p.m., and falling from 10 p.m. to4a.m, It reads highest at to a.m, and lowest at 4 p.m. During the approach of a typhoon this regular daily variation may be masked, but it goes on all the same, and must be taken into account when the barometer begins to fall before a typhoon. Thus if it has fallen a certain amount between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. you must subtract the normal descent be- | tween these hours in order to know how much of the fall is due to the approach of the typhoon, and if it were between 4 p.m. | and 10 p.m, that it fell, you must add the normal rise for the same purpose. In many typhoons, the barometer, reduced to 32° Fahrenheit, and to sea-level, does not fall below 28°80 inches. In others it falls as low as 28°50. Lower readings of the barometer appear to be rare, but it has been stated to have fallen much lower. The rate at which your barometer is falling depends upon your approach to the contre, and in consequence upon the rate at which this is travelling. For this reason it is not safe to draw conclusions concerning the amount of wind to be expected from the rate at which the barometer is falling, but to some extent, of course, this may be done. Remember, that, when the barometer has fallen to its lowest reading and begins to rise, you may expect to experience as much bad weather as you have already gone through. The wind blows from a region where the barometric pressure is higher, towards one where it is lower, being, however, deflected towards the right in a typhoon, and the force of the wind depends upon the difference of pressure between one place and > ET ' Dec. 9, 1886 | NATURE 137 another situated in the direction of the greatest barometric slope or gradient. This is expressed in hundredths of an inch per fifteen nautical miles. Now, the gradient corresponding to a certain force of the wind is somewhat uncertain, particularly when the force of the wind exceeds a whole gale, but on an average a gradient of o’02 inches in 15 miles corresponds to a force of wind equal to6 on Beaufort’s scale, 0 03 to 7, 0'04 to 8, 0°05 to 9, 0'07 to 10, o'10 to 11, and where the gradient is above a tenth of an inch in fifteen miles it generally blows with full typhoon force. In low latitudes the gradient occasionally exceeds one inch in fifteen miles. _ Curved lines drawn on a map through the places from which 110 120 the same height of the barometer (reduced) is reported, or between those that report a higher and a lower barometer, are called isobars. The gradient lies at a right angle to the isobar. These are the most important elements in forecasting the weather. Thus during the south-west monsoon the barometer as a rule reads higher over Luzon than along the China coast, the gradient being directed from about south-east towards north-west, indi- cating southerly winds as prevailing over the China Sea according to the r2-point rule. But when, as occasionally happens in the typhoon season during the south-west monsoon, readings reported from stations along the south-eastern coast of China are higher than those reported from Luzon, the gradient is found to be 20 |W. Doberck —— 10 120 130 140 Principal Typhoons of 1884 and 1885. reversed, being directed towards south-east, thus indicating northerly winds. At such times a typhoon may be expected, and the probability is increased if the barometer is falling in Luzon and rising slowly in Northern China and Japan, and if cirrus clouds have previously been observed to come up from east or north. III. Nearly all the typhoons appear to have their origin east | or south-east of the Philippine Archipelago, in a part of the ocean south of the high-pressure area that covers the Northern Pacific in the summer season, which part of the ocean is charac- terised by high sea-surface temperature. Typhoons are some- times formed in the China Sea, but then they seldom develop much energy, as they usually move quickly northwards and enter the mainland of China or Formosa. Owing to their small dimensions they are easily avoided by such ships as may fall in with them. The sea-disturbance is nothing terrible, and only whole gales of wind were reported in those cases that have been investigated here. If, however, a typhoon of this kind passes northwards up through the Formosa Channel, it soon becomes as formidable as any of those that originate in the tropical Pacific. We have not traced typhoons nearer to the equater than about 9. But it appears that they may possibly in some cases originate nearer than that to the equator, as hurricanes have been encountered in a lower latitude. It frequently happens that a vessel encountering a typhoon in, say, 12” north latitude and 135° longitude east of Greenwich, - 138 does not experience any strong wind or bad weather till within a hundred miles or so of the centre, and as the typhoons are most violent in that locality, it is very important to look out for the premonitory signs referred to in the first section of this article, taking into account that the dimensions of a typhoon are so small there. On the other hand, they move at so slow a rate that you may run away from them if you are aware of the danger in time, so much more as you may be sure that a typhoon in that locality is directing its course to somewhere about west- north-west or north-west, and most likely in the first-named direction. So it is better to get to the eastward of it. Nearer the Philippine Archipelago the typhoons usually take a more northerly course, moving north-west or north-north-westward. But frequently they continue their course west-north-westward and cross the islands to enter the China Sea. In spring and autumn they have even been found to move westward and turn south-westward after entering the China Sea. But when you are east of the Philippines you should try to get your ship south- east of the typhoon by crossing the path behind the centre, if possible. If you are going northwards, you will then benefit by the fresh south or south-west breezes, taking care not to approach too near to the typhoon, whose progressive motion may not be more than six miles an hour, You will probably have squally and wet weather. When all the paths of the typhoons that have been investigated by the writer in the course of the last three years are laid down ona map of the Far East, the picture looks much like a fan, the paths, with a few stray exceptions, radiating from the locality referred to above, and running in all directions between west and north, but most of them at first westward and then north-west- ward. In a higher latitude they generally recurve and pass off to the north-east, after first, of course, having turned northwards. Every typhoon does not recurve ; in fact, as stated above, some of them finally disappear in the China Sea after turning to the south-west. The others recurve betwen 20° and 40” latitude, and 115. and 130° longitude. The Middle Dog Lighthouse is situated in the centre of the region of recurvature. The normal path is therefore, roughly speaking, a parabola, whose axis lies from east to west, and whose apex is turned westward and lies within the. region indicated above. But each path individually is anything but a regular parabola, and the deviations are evidently due to the influence of the coast-line of the mainland of Asia and to the mountainous islands (espe- cially the high mountains of Formosa) as well as to the prevailing winds. For there is no doubt that the progression of a typhoon is the effect of the wind prevailing at the time, not necessarily at the surface of the earth, but at a somewhat higher level in the almosphere, which agrees with the direction of the clouds, that have, as explained in the first section of this article, been found to move nearly straight towards the centre in the posterior semicircle. If, however, the wind at the surface of the earth is strong, it is at times plainly seen to blow the typhoon before it. The typhoons do not appear to move south-westward in the China Sea except when the north-east monsoon is strong, and in the summer of 1885, when the south-west monsoon was strong, most of the typhoons moved northwards while yet to the east of Formosa. This is then the reason why the typhoons depend upon the season of the year. They are likewise deflected from their previous path when exposed to strong winds blowing out of open channels, such as the Formosa or Corea Channels, in which case the speed of their progress is sometimes abruptly increased. The average rate of progress of the centre of a typhoon in 11° latitude is § miles an hour. In 13° it is 64, in 15° it is 8, in 20° it is 9, in 25° it is 11, in 30° it is 14, and in 324° latitude itis 17 miles an hour, The rate of progress does not vary perceptibly in case of typhoons south of 13” latitude, so it is well for masters of vessels to know this, but it is more variable the farther north you go. In 324° latitude it ranges between 6 and 36 miles an hour, so that you cannot at all be sure that a typhoon, which you may happen to be near, will travel at anything like the average rate of progress in that latitude. In ‘‘ Observations and Researches made at the Hong Kong Observatory in the year 1884,” the writer suggested the division of typhoons into four classes according to the paths which they usually follow. Of course abnormal instances, such as for instance are presented by the typhoons that originate in the China Sea, occur occasionally in China as well as elsewhere, but they are comparatively rare. ISA IOS [Dec. 9, 1886 of the typhoon season. They cross the China Sea and travel either in a west-north-westerly direction from the neighbourhood of Luzon towards Tonquin, passing south of or crossing the Island of Hainan, or, if pressure is high over Annam, they travel first westward and subsequently south-westward. They can generally be followed for between five and six days. Typhoons of the second class are the most frequently encoun- tered, and their paths can be traced farthest. They generally travel north-westward while in the neighbourhood of Luzon, and either strike the coast of China south of the Formosa Channel, in which case they as a rule abruptly lose the character of a tropical hurricane, recurve in the interior of China, re-enter the sea somewhere between Shanghai and Chefoo (thereby regain- ing some of their past violence), pass across or near to Corea, and are finally lost sight of in their motion towards about east- north-east ; or they pass up through the Formosa Channel, recurve towards north-east, and pass along the coasts of Japan ; or they may strike the coast of China north of Formosa. Typhoons following the latter path originate further east of the Philippines than the others. They either continue their motion north-westward, in which case they are soon lost, or recurve and pass north-eastward near Corea. Typhoons of the second class occur from June to September inclusive, but are most common in August and September. It appears that a third of the typhoons helong to this class. They can be followed on an average 7 days, or rather between 5 and 12 day<. Typhoons of the third class are probably the most numerous of all, but are not encountered so frequently as the typhoons of the second class, and therefore the existence of a typhoon of this class is sometimes only suspected, although it of course influ- ences the weather along the eastern coast of China through the fine weather area with which it is surrounded. They pass to the east of Formosa, travelling northwards. After recurving, they generally pass near Japan, but sometimes a typhoon of this class continues to move north-north-westward and does not recurve till west of Corea, They prevail in the same season as typhoons of the second class, and may be traced on an average during 7 days, or more correctly between 3 and 12 days. A typhoon of this class frequently follows after one of the second class. It isa well-known fact that depressions are attracted towards places which have just been traversed by a depression. Typhoons of the fourth class pass south of Luzon, travelling westward, or first in this direction and then south-westward. They occur at the beginning and the end of the typhoon season, while the north-east monsoon is strong, namely in April and late in autumn, but are very rare. They are said to be more violent in autumn than in spring. Existing in so low a latitude, their dimensions are, of course, very limited. The writer has not been able to follow them for more than a day or two. The number of typhoons that are known to have occurred in each month of the year, expressed in percentages of the total num- ber of typhooas, is as follows :—January 2, February 0, March 2, April 2, May 5, June 5, July 10, August 19, September 27, Octo- ber 16, November 8, and December 3. These figures prove that typhoons are most frequent during the month of Septem- ber, but they also show that, strictly speaking, there scarcely exists a well-marked typhoon season. On an average there are 15 typhoons every year, but typhoons in different years exhibit some variations. IV. The writer on his arrival in the colony in 1883 found that meteorological observations were received from a few of the Treaty ports, &c., and were published in the local papers ; and seeing that these returns would only have to be corrected and reduced, as well as slightly extended, in order to be of great value to the shipping, he took upon himself to effect this. Sub- sequently, as the official work of the Observatory was fully started, he would have had to give up this purpose had not the Government decided to support it. Thus originated the China Coast Me'eorological Register, which is published daily from here. It contains, at present, observations of the principal meteorological elements, which are received through the co- operation of the great telegraph companies from Manilla, Bolinao (Luzon), Haiphong, Hong Kong, Amoy, Foochow, Shanghai, Nagasaki, and Vladivostock, but the number of the stations might with advantage be extended. It gives also information about the weather prevailing in the Far East, and more or less: rough intimations concerning such typhoons as happen to be indicated by the telegraphic returns, as well as by local observa- Typhoons of the first class occur at the beginning and the end | tions, Subsequently more or less extensive monthly meteoro- Dei. 9, 1886] NATURE 139 logical returns are received from about fifty land stations in the Far East, and the examination of the log-books of ships calling at this port, as well as observations received from commanders of men-of-war and masters of vessels trading in these seas, furnish a perhaps unequalled amount of material for scientific discussion, the results of which, as far as they go, are from time to time published in the Goverment Gazette. But no funds are available for this work, the Observatory being supposed to make and investigate only local observations, and with reference to weather-intelligence to warn the colony of storms by which it may be threatened, as far as may be possible through local observations. Some distinguished individuals having the welfare of the colony at heart would gladly see the little Observatory extended into a Meteorological Office for the Far East, for which it would be so peculiarly adapted owing to its central position, extensive telegraphic connections, &c. ; but where the money is to come from has not yet been suggested. The Meteorological Office in London is allowed over ninety thousand dollars a year. The area in question is considerably larger than the area covered by the United Kingdom. The annual cost of the local Obser- vatory was estimated to begin at ten thousand dollars, and it was remarked that additional clerical help would certainly be needed if it were resolved to undertake a thorough investigation of tne monsoons of the China Sea. But actually only about six thousand dollars a year are expended in connection with the Hong Kong Observatory. The Colony itself is warned by means of the ¢yAhoon gun, placed at the foot of the mast for hoisting signals beside the time-ball tower. It is fired one round whenever a strong gale of wind is expected here, and two rounds whenever the wind is expected to blow with typhoon force. It will be fired again, if possible, when the wind is likely to suddenly shift round. In 1885 it was fired also as a mail gun, but this practice has been discontinued, and as long as the typhoon gun is not fired in future, one may be sure that no typhoon is expected here. During the approach of a typhoon, and at other times when it appears desirable, special messages are telegraphed from the Observatory to be distributed in Hong Kong in such manner as the Govern- ment may from time to time see fit to direct, but as soon as they are issued from here the writer’s responsibility in the matter ceases. This arrangement will, however, be found to be of very little use until the Observatory is placed in direct communication with the telegraph offices in Hong Kong, as the connections be- tween the police stations generally break down in bad weather, when there is no boat-communication with the other side of the harbour, and thus the colony may expect that communication with the Observatory will sometimes be interrupted just at such times when the intelligence issued from here would be particu- larly useful. As soon as direct communication with the telegraph offices is established, the daily returns from the Treaty ports will be telegraphed across the harbour, and the China Coast Meteoro- Zogical Register can then be issued at an early hour, by which its utility will be very much increased. In the course of the summer of 1884 the writer invented and started a system of meteorological signals, which continue to be hoisted on the mast beside the time-ball tower at Tsim-sha-tsui. As these signals could not be hoisted without friendly co-opera- tion with the officials of foreign Governments, they are, of course, unofficial, using this word in the sense in which it is understood by scientific men. ‘The utility of these signals is confined to the shipping and to those interested in ships about to leave the harbour, or out in the China Sea. Ze colsmy its If is warned by means of the typhoon gun. A red drum is hoisted to indicated the existence of a typhoon felt in the China Sea ina longitude more easterly than the colony. Steamers, if bound for northern, western, or southern ports, should lose no time in starting, and may then expect more or less fine weather. Those bound for the Philippines should take precau- tions to avoid the typhoon, and observe the rules set forth in the first section of this article. Sailing-vessels bound for western or southern ports should luse no time in starting, but those that are bound for northern or eastern ports ought to remain in the harbour awaiting further information, as they may expect to fall in with calms or contrary breezes after starting, even should the wind be westerly here at the time. The day after the drum has been hoisted the China Coast Meteorological Register should be consulted, taking into account that typhoons east and south east of Hong Kong generally travel at the rate of from six to fourteen miles an hour. A red cone pointing ufwards indicates that a typhoon exists in a latitude more northern than the colony, or that it is progressing towards the north. More or less persistent south-west winds, at times accompanied by thunderstorms, may then be expected, and ships leaving the harbour are not at all likely to run any risk from the typhoon. Sailing-vessels bound for the north should start as soon as convenient, so as to benefit by the favourable breeze to run through the Formosa Channel and avoid the way round Formosa. By following the latter route a sailing-vessel, moreover, runs the risk of encountering the next typhoon east of Formosa, particularly during the months of August and September. A red cone pointing downwards indicates that a typhoon exists in a latitude more southern than the colony, or that it is pro- gressing towards the south. As such a typhoon is likely to travel In a northerly direction, ships desirous of avoiding bad weather should await further instructions, or remain in port till the barometer begins to rise. Then the danger is past. A red ball indicates that the typhoon exists in a longitude more westerly than the colony. Ships starting for northern, eastern, or southern ports may expect breezes from east round by south to south-west. Those starting for western ports run no risk as long as the barometer is rising. If it should happen to fall, they may heaye-to, and subsequently, if necessary, take refuge in some typhoon anchorage, such as St. John’s harbour, but this will rarely occur, If a vessel in the Formosa Channel experiences an increasing south-westerly gale and a falling barometer, the typhoon has very likely recurved. All you have to do in that case is to lie- to, when the weather will quickly improve, and you may expect a pleasant voyage. V. Asthe typhoons during their entire course are nearly always moving northwards, or rather into a higher latitude, a ship situated in the southern semicircle is on the whole in a safer position than north of the centre. East of Luzon typhoons move west-north- westward, or thereabout, and a ship must shape its course so as to reach the quadvant south-east of the centre. As a general rule, they move north-westward in that part of the China Sea between Hong Kong, Luzon, and Formosa, and east of the latter island they generally travel in some direction between north-west and north. So your vessel is safest when south of th2 centre, where you must heave-to till the weather improves, particularly if bound for one of the northern ports. If bound for the south, you may run across the path in front of the centre with the north-westerly breeze, but if you are not in time you may lose your boats and sustain other damage. About 30° latitude, between China and Japan, you are liable to fall in with a typhoon travelling in any direction between west- north-west, north, and east-north-east. Here you are as arule safest when south of the centre, but if the typhoon is travelling north-eastward this is in the dangerous semicircle. However, the investigations of the writer, though he has paid less attention to typhoons near Japan than elsewhere, nevertheless indicate with some degree of probability that the wind is less incurving behind the centre in that locality than elsewhere. North of this latitude you would of course prefer to be west of the centre. Suppose that after leaving Singapore bound for Hong Kong the south-west monsoon begins to blow fresher and the barometer to fall, and you suspect that a typhoon is raging in a latitude more northern than where you are at present (the phenomena men- tioned would not recessarily indicate the existence of a typhoon, if they were not accompanied with some of the other signs enumerated in the first section of this article), you will, of course, set your course to th2 east in order to sail round the typhoon and benefit by the south-easterly backing to east, winds which you may expect to fall in with; but if the season is late in the year, you had better assure yourself that the typhoon is not travelling south-westward, in which case you might possibly be overtaken by the centre. These typhoons are often the cause of high seas even in the Gulf of Siam; but as their progressive motion is usually rather slow, you may heave-to in order to make observations without losing ground perceptibly. Supposing a typhoon in the China Sea does not make itself felt till you have reached a higher latitude, and that it is passing westward in a latitude south of your ship; being in the dangerous semicircle, where the wind is, moreover, stronger than south of the centre, you may have to cross the path in front of the centre to arrive in the anterior left-hand quadrant ; or, if the typhoon is yet distant, the wind light, and your ship thoroughly sea-worthy and in good trim, you may possibly put her on the port tack and run north- eastward, but be ready to change the tack as soon as it becomes advisable. 140 NATURE [| Dec. 9, 1886 Many of the anchorages along the south-eastern coast of China and the south-western coast of Formosa afford excellent shelter against north-east winds, but would prove to be much worse than the open sea during a heavy southerly gale. If you observe a northerly gale and a falling barometer, by far the surest signs of an approaching typhoon, and appearances are rapidly getting worse, then occasions may possibly occur when you may be under the dire necessity of running southwards with the northerly gale, against the rules Jaid down by meteorologists, and bring your ship into a most dangerous position in front of the centre. But you may happen to be better off there after gaining ample sea- room, than in the snug anchorage, where your vessel would be smashed against the rocks as soon as she began to drag her anchors when the storm burst upon her from the south, although the south-west storms experienced along the south eastern coast of China during a typhoon that enters the mainland are asa rule less violent or protracted than the preceding storm from the north. Suppose that after leaving Hong Kong bound for a northern port you were to ascertain the existence of a typhoon about to cross your course in front of your vessel, and you experience, say, a strong breeze from the west-north-west. If you do not alter your course, you may, from the fact of its subsequently appearing to be a hanging gale and seeing the mercury falling in the barometer, draw the erroneous conclusion that you are on the path of the centre of a typhoon coming down on you from the east-north-east. In such a case it does not appear to be advisable to scud before the wind, it being decidedly wiser to heave-to. Then if the gale is observed to begin to back towards south-west, you may run southwards and shape your course so as to sail round the typhoon. Masters of steamers leaving Hong Kong while the red drum is hoisted generally lose no time in running southwards as soon as the typhoon is observed to have taken a north-western course, and suffer very little delay in consequence. Steamers bound for Shanghai are, while between Foochow and Ningpo, liable to experience the northerly gales that precede a typhoon of the second class travelling north-westward and about to strike the coast in that locality. Not wishing to expose their ships to the high cross seas round northern Formosa, the masters generally take them into the nearest typhoon harbour in order to wait till the centre has entered the mainland, and then run northwards with the southerly gale. These few examples will be sufficient, the more so as the further consideration of the subject would lead into details with which the writer is not familiar, being possessed of no further knowledge of navigation than the little that can be gleaned from the inspection of log-books and from occasional conversations with masters of vessels of many years’ standing. The writer has invariably found these gentlemen ready to recount their experi- ences and to communicate any information, as soon as they found that it was required for scientific purposes exclusively. The master of a vessel, afterencountering a severe typhoon, has often to undergo the vexation of seeing every manceuvre of his sub- jected to the comments of those unaware of the hundreds of things he has to take into consideration besides the law of storms, and who were comfortably ensconced in their houses while he was experiencing the typhoon with its fierce gusts, interrupted by the, if possible, more ominous lulls, during which he cannot see three ship’s lengths before him, the mountainous waves in which his good ship is but a ‘‘cock-boat,” the loudest shouting in- audible, drowned in the roar of the tempest, boats and everything movable having been washed overboard, rudder gone, and per- haps one of the masts thumping at her bottom, while the seas threaten at every moment to swamp the ship. VI. The origin of a typhoon is not quite understood, but | appears to be connected with an abnorwally high temperature and humidity in some place in comparison with the neighbour- hood. Over such a place the hot air expands, ascends, and is thereby cooled. But the heat liberated by the consequent con densation of water-vapour retards the rate at which it cools on rising in the atmosphere, and enables it to rise still further. When the air has risen to a high level, it effects there an increase of barometric pressure, in consequence of which the upper air is set in motion out towards the circumference of the area in question. Thus a fall in the barometer at the surface of the sea in the middle of the hot and damp region is effected, and the surrounding air is impelled in towards the centre. The motions inwards at the surface of the sea, and outwards at a high atmo- spheric level, are, of course, contemporaneous, and one is assisted by the other. But air in motion is deflected towards the right in the northern hemisphere, owing to the rotation of the earth, except at or very near the equator ; whence typhoons do not exist in that locality, for if the wind continues to blow into the depression it is soon filled up. Owing to its deflection towards the right, the wind is caused to move in a curved path in towards the centre, and the centrifugal force, developed in the curvilinear motion, deflects it still further from the straight line leading into the centre. The friction between the wind and the greatly disturbed sea-surface likewise retards the entrance of the air at the sea-surface into the central parts of the depression. But the air at a higher level in the atmosphere is subject to little friction, and escapes therefore at a greater speed from the central high- pressure area at that level. It is, therefore, apparent that once a cyclonal motion is started under circumstances favourable for its continuation, it tends to increase and to spread outwards. There is, however, this important difference between a typhoon and a tornado, that the latter is taller than it is broad, whereas a typhoon perhaps does not reach above an altitude of four miles, while its horizontal diameter may amount to upwards of a thousand miles. Moreover, it is not at all likely that the centre at a higher level lies vertically above the central calm at the earth’s surface, or even that the centres at different altitudes are situated in a straight line. We are, therefore, scarcely entitled to speak of an axis in a typhoon. The spirals described by the air particles approaching the centre in a typhoon are known as logarithmic spirals, but unless a typhoon is stationary, which is perhaps never the case in Nature, new portions of air are constantly set in motion in front of the centre and others left behind by the typhoon. As already remarked, the progressive motion of typhoons is evidently caused by the wind prevailing, if not at the surface of the earth, at any rate at a higher level. That the principal part of the disturbance is situated high above the surface of the earth is proved by the fact that the centres of typhoons pass across mountains several thousand feet high, and also by the circum- stance that the difference between the temperature at the Hong Kong Observatory and at Victoria Peak is not perceptibly affected by the approach of a typhoon, for we cannot very well assume that the temperature of a vertical column of air is lower near the centre than outside the cyclone. The mountains referred to are situated on islands, and while crossing them the typhoon derives its store of water-vapour from the surrounding sea, for as soon as the centre has entered the coast,-and is on all sides surrounded by dry land, it ceases to exist as a tropical storm, and can only be traced in the registers through a slight fall in the barometer, a freshening of the wind, perhaps amounting to a moderate gale at stations crossed by the centre, and wet weather. Inland in China the bull’s eye of a typhoon does not appear to be observed. As the wind blows more straight into the centre the nearer the equator you are, it follows that more air enters the typhoon from the southern semicircle than from the northern, and this is one of the reasons why typhoons nearly always move in a northerly direction. Moreover, the difference increases together with the dimension of the typhoons, which explains why they expand and accelerate their progressive motion at the same time. The foregoing observations contain the principal practical results of investigations of about forty typhoons, continued during a period of three years. The mariner into whose hands this article may fall is advised to determine for himself the direction in which the centre of a typhoon, which he is experiencing, is travelling ; for although typhoons of the classes enumerated are by far the most common, he never can be quite sure that he has not to do with an exceptional case, and quite possibly a case that is not found among the forty typhoons referred to above. By the time that we shall be in possession of full and trustworthy investigations of a couple of hundred typhoons, we may expect to have complete lists of the sub-classes of the four classes of typhoons, and to be better acquainted with cases of rare occur- rence, for, after all, the typhoons are of a simpler construction and their paths more regular than is the case with storms in Europe. Typhoons are so violent near their centre that the whole disturbance is evidently ruled thereby, whereas storms in the North Atlantic and in Europe appear to be made up of a lot of local eddies, some of which are by degrees detached from the chief disturbance and form subsidiary depressions. The writer has not been able to ascertain the existence of a subsidiary depression in the China Seas during the last three years, and it is therefore doubtful whether such ever occur. Dec. 9, 1886] NATURE 141 A great advance in our knowledge of typhoons in the China Sea will no doubt follow on the construction of a lighthouse on the dangerous Pratas Shoal, such as has for many years been talked about. Our storm-warnings would gain still more in value, and the cost of construction need not exceed the loss caused by a single disastrous typhoon. EARTHQUAKE IN SIERRA LEONE THE following correspondence has been forwarded for pub- lication by Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., Secretary, Meteoro- logical Office :— Government House, Sierra Leone, October 29, 1886 Sir,—I have the honour to transmit a copy of a communica- tion received from Mr. J. M. Metzger, Manager of the Western District, in which he reports that an earthquake was felt at Sennehoo, in the Bompeh River, about the middle of last month. (2) In the third and fourth paragraphs of his letter, Mr. Metzger draws attention to the fact that the shock in question was almost simultaneous with those experienced in other quar- ters of the globe, and that the latitude of the Bompeh District is within a few degrees of Charleston, America, where their effects lately proved so disastrous. Ihave, &c., (Signed) J. S. Hay, Administrator-in-Chief The Right Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P., &c., &c., &c. I HAVE the honour to state, for the information of His Ex- cellency the Administrator-in-Chief, that on the return of the District boat from the Bompeh River on the 16th inst., the cox- swain reported that he had been informed at Sennehoo that about the middle of last month an earthquake was felt at that place and in the upper parts of the country ; in consequence of which, many of the natives, who interpreted the event as_prog- nostic of coming war, hastened down to the water-side to pro- cure arms and powder in preparation for hostilities, which they regarded as imminent. (2) The shock is said to have been continuous, accompanied with a rumbling noise as of some heayy-laden cart being moyed along, resulting in the cracking and falling down of the mud plaster on the walls of the houses at Sennehoo. What happened in the upper parts of the country is, of course, not known, but the force must have been sufficiently severe to im- press the people and influence them as they appeared to have been. (3) It is remarkable that these vibrations, which seemed to have been extensive throughout the Bompeh District, and which seemed to have been so distinct, are almost simultaneous with those experienced in some places in the Mediterranean Sea, in Greece, and notably at Charleston, on the Atlantic coast of America, where their effects were so disastrous. (4) The Bompeh, like the Ribbee and Cockborough Rivers, runs into Yawry Bay, which is an arm of the Atlantic, and the Bompeh District, on the eastern side of this ocean, is opposite to, and not many degrees of latitude below, the scene of the late disasters in America, (5) I think it my duty to make this communication, as the information might possibly be of use to scientists engaged in the study of the facts connected with the range and transmission of these seismic disturbances. (Signed) Jos. M. MrtzGEr, Manager Kent, Western District, October 20, 1886 SCIENTIFIC SERIALS American Fournal of Sctence, November.—The higher oxides of copper, by Thomas B. Osborne. The oxides here dealt with are copper dioxide and copper sesquioxide ; but being unable to continue the subject, at least for some time, the author publishes the incomplete results so far obtained, in the hope that they may be of use to others wishing to continue this line of investigation. —The structure of the Triassic formation of the Connecticut Valley, by William Morris Davis. It is shown that disturbance has taken place after the period of deposition ; that it was not caused by overflow or intrusion of trap-sheets ; that it was not a simple monoclinal tilting ; and that there is evidence for occur- rence of unseen faults. The probable character of the disturb ing force, its action on the fundamental schists, with consequent monoclinal faulting of overlying Triassic strata, and generally the area and depth of the disturbance, are questions also discussed in this elaborate paper.— Researches on the lithia micas, by F. W. Clarke. Descriptions and exhaustive analyses are given of the lepidolites of Rumford, Hebron, Auburn, and other parts of Maine, and of the iron-lithia micas of Rockfort granite- quarries near Cape Ann, Massachusetts.—The thickness of the ice in North-Eastern Pennsylvania during the Glacial epoch, by John C. Branner. So far from rising only 2200 feet above sea- level, as hitherto supposed, the ice is shown to have covered the twin peaks of Elk Mountain (2700 and 2575 feet), and no doubt also the Sugar Loaf, Ararat, and the other loftiest summits of this region during the Glacial epoch. A sheet of ice 1500 feet or less in thickness could never have flowed across such a moun- tainous region, so regardless as the great glacier was of its marked topographical features. —On the time of contact between the hammer and string in a piano, by Charles K. Wead. Owing to the uncertainty attending the theory developed by Helmholtz regarding the action of the hammer on a piano-string, the author has attempted to measure directly the time of contact by a simple process with results here tabulated.—Photographic determinations of stellar positions, by B. A. Gould. This is a reprint of the paper presented at the late Buffalo meeting of the American Association, and containing a brief history of stellar photography, and of the results so far obtained by the author in this department of practical astronomy.—Lucasite, a new variety of vermiculite, by Thomas M. Chatard. A de- scription and full analysis is given of this substance, specimens of which have been found associated with corundum at Corundum Hill, Macon County, North Carolina. It has been named lucasite in honour of Dr. H. S. Lucas, so well known in con- nection with the Chester emery mine, Massachusetts. —Crystallo- graphic notes, by W. G. Brown. An account is given of cer- tain artificial copper crystals, of artificial crystallised cuprous oxide (cuprite), and of crystallised lead carbonate (cerussite) found under circumstances here described.—On the chemical composition of ralstonite, by S. L. Penfield and D. N. Harper. A comparative table is given of the analyses made by Nordens- kjold, Penfield, and Brandle of this rare mineral, which was found associated with thomsenolite at Arksuk Fjord, Greenland. —Analyses of the thomsenolite by the same chemists.—Mineralo- gical notes, by Edward S. Dana. Descriptive analyses are given of columbite from Standish, Maine, of diaspore from Newlin, Pennsylvania, of zincite from Stirling Hill, New Jersey, and of some native sulphur from Rabbit Hollow, Nevada, interesting because of its complex crystalline form. Rivista Scientifico-Industriale, October.—On the cause of the magnetic rotatory polarisation, by Prof. Augusto Righi. Fres- nel’s hypothesis having been proved inadequate by recent ex- periment, the author has resumed the subject, with the view of ascertaining whether it may be explained by the reflected or transmitted vibrations of bodies endowed with rotatory power. If the incident polarised ray on penetrating a body is really de- composed into two inverse circular rays endowed with different velocities, the intensity of the two rays must also vary both in the reflected and transmitted light. The ray possessing greatest velocity of propagation, and consequently a lower index of re- fraction, must possess least intensity in the reflected and greatest in the transmitted light, assuming the two indices to be greater than unity, as in the opposite case the result would be reversed. Hence both the reflected and transmitted ray will become ellipti- cal ; and Prof. Righi has succeeded in determining this ellipticity by employing iron, the body endowed with the greatest rotatory power. The elliptical vibration of the reflected ray 1s in the opposite direction to that of the magnetising current, while that of the transmitted ray is in the same direction. In a future com- munication it will be shown that this agrees with the hypothesis of double circular refraction.—On the tests of fatty substances, and especially of olive oil, by Professors G, B. Bizio and L. Gabba. This paper contains a critical inquiry into the methods of testing the purity especially of olive oil, and it concludes that none of the processes now in use are absolutely trustworthy. Even that of Bechi fails to distinguish with certainty between olive and cotton oil. 142 NATURE SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES LONDON Royal Society, November 18.—‘‘A Theory of Voltaic Action.” By J. Brown. Communicated by Lord Rayleigh, Sec.R.S. The difference of potential near two metals in contact is due to the chemical action of a film of condensed yapour or gas on their surfaces. Such a pair of metals is thus similar to a galvanic cell with its electrolyte divided by a diaphragm of air or other gas, and it is the difference of potential of the films that is measured in ‘‘contact”’ experiments; the metals themselves being at one potential. Experiments with an electrometer having quadrants of the’| < ited to the circumstances of planters than any other. metals under examination, the construction of which was. de- scribed, were made on the rate of decrease of the difference of potential near two metals in contact, and exposed to the action of the air and of other gases; also where a change in the con- stituents of the atmosphere surrounding a pair of metals in con- tact reverses the difference of potential near them in correspond- ence with the reversal of electromotive force which takes place after a similar change in the corresponding liquid electrolyte used with the same metals as a voltaic cell. Such reversal takes place with pairs of copper-iron when hydrogen sulphide gas, or ammonia gas, is added to the air surrounding them ; with silver-iron, when hydrogen sulphide is added ; and with copper-nickel when either ammonia or hydro- chloric acid gas is added. Neutral or inert gases have little or no effect. Covering the metals with varnish, or immersing them in naphtha, ta protect them from atmospheric action, reduced the difference of potential near them considerably, but not to zero. - Drying the atmosphere about a copper-zinc pair by means of phosphoric anhydride in one instance reduced the difference of potential in 173 days from *66 to ‘5 Daniell. Then, on opening the instrument, it rose to *67 Daniell. A permanent current was produced by placing the (apparently) dry plates of copper and zinc in close proximity, so that their films were in contact. When the plates were either brought into actual metallic contact, or separated farther apart than a certain distance, as stated the current ceased. This ‘‘ film- cell” could also be polarised by sending a current through it from another battery. Modifying an old experiment, due to Gassiot, so as to avoid any contact of dissimilar metals, it was shown that, when the zine plate of the volta condenser was joined to the zinc quadrant of the electrometer and the copper of the condenser to the copper of the electrometer, on altering the capacity of the con- denser an alteration of the difference of potential near the quadrants was produced. In an appendix, Mr. J. Larmor, of St. John’s College, Cam- bridge, points out the difficulty of explaining this last experiment by any hypothesis other than that of some kind of chemical action at the surface of the metals. November 25.—A paper by Sir Richard Owen, F.R.S., was read, of which the subject was a fossil lower jaw of the large extinct marsupial quadruped which the author, from previous fragmentary specimens, had referred to a carni- vorous pouched species of the size of a lion, to which was assigned the generic name 7/ylaco/eo, and the probable prey of which had been the larger forms of herbivorous marsupials, which, with their destroyer, had become extinct. Several species, allied to the kangaroo, but equalling respect- ively in bulk a rhinoceros, an ox, an ass, had become extinct. The largest existing kind, to be seen in the Zoological Gardens, was named by Dr. Shaw, MJacropus major. It has escaped extinction by its swiftness and power of concealment in the “*scrub.”” Wombats, also, of the size of fallow-deer, co-existed with the huge kangaroos ; the small kinds, capable of concealing themselves in burrows, alone survive. Remains of the large extinct marsupials, both devourers and prey, are to be seen in the Geological Department of the Museum of Natural History ; they are described and figured in the author’s work on ‘‘ Fossil Marsupialia.” Their extinction is attributed, with that of the wolf-lke Cyxocephalus and the Thylazoleo, to the aboriginal natives of Australia. Linnean Society, November 18.—W. Carruthers, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. H. Bury was elected a Fellow of the Society.—Mr. W. H. Beeby showed specimens of Callitriche truncata, Gussone, from near Westerham, Kent. The species had long been supposed to be extinct in this country, being only known as British from dried specimens from Sussex in Borrer’s Herba- rium.—Mr. D. Morris exhibited two enlarged photographs of the Castilloa Rubber-tree of Central America (see Zrans. Linu. Soc. Botany, 2nd ser. vol. ii. part 9). The larger photograph illustrated the manner in which trees were treated to extract rubber, by a special cut from above downwards. Trees of ten years old and upward are said to yield about eight gallons of milk at the first bleeding. This milk is coagulated by the use of the juice of Calonictyon speciosum, and the rubber prepared by washing and pressing. Mr. Morris described the habit’ and growth of the trees in their native forests, and expressed the opinion that for cultural purposes this rubber-tree may be better It could be utilised as a shade tree in cacao and coffee plantations, and yield at the end of ten years at the rate of twenty shillings per tree inmarketable rubber. In British Honduras trees are tapped for rubber every three or four years.—Mr. A. D. Michael ex- hibited living specimens and preparations of an Avgas, received from Mrs. Crawford, the State Entomologist of Adelaide, Australia. The insects in question appear to be identical with the much-dreaded Argus fersicus, Fischer, the bite of which was supposed to cause madness and death.—Mr. H. N. Ridley made remarks on specimens in spirit and drawings of species of Coryanthes, viz, C. macrantha, Hook., and C, maculata punctata. He mentioned that Mr. Rodway, of Demerara, had lately pub- lished observations showing that the statement of Criiger, hitherto believed, as to the fertilisation by bees, did not obtain in all the species ; inasmuch as in C. sfeciosa he (Mr. Rodway) had noticed that a kind of green fly was the fertiliser.—Mr. Geo. Murray exhibited specimens of AAzpila in spirit from Grenada, West Indies, obtained at a depth of five fathoms.—Mr. W. Fawcett, exhibited coloured drawings of Wydnora abyssinica and f/. dogosensts, sent by Signor Beccari from Florence. They clearly showed the difference between the two species, in colour, and in the former having a book-like process below the apex, and its ramentiferous surfaces have long ramenta at their margins. Both species differ from H. africara in the ramentiferous sur- faces not extending to the apex.—Mr. C. T. Musson drew attention to a branch of a blackthorn, obtained near Newark, showing a curious malformation of the branchlets. —- Dr. Maxwell Masters read a paper on the peculiar conforma- tion of the flowers of Cypripedium. The explanation may be sought in the course of development, in the minute anatomy and arrangement of the fibro-vascular bundles, and in the examination of the comparative morphology of the flower ; organogeny affords in this case only doubtful testimony, as the flower is ‘irregular from the first. The distribution of the primary fibro-vascular bundles, and of the offshoots from them, affords more conclusive evidence of the true construction of the flower, and if studied in conjunction with the comparative morphology leads to very satisfactory results. By these means it becomes easy to refer the flower to the ordinary type seen in a regular pentacyclic and trimerous monocotyledon, and from which it is reasonable to infer it may have originated. The deviations from the type have arisen from concrescence or inseparation of some parts, inordinate development of others, and complete suppression of a third series. The author cited instances showing numerous intermediate gradations between the ordinary conformation of Cypripedium and that of the ideal type trees, proving that what was, at first, a matter of speculation and inference from imperfect evidence, was borne out by actual facts. The illustrations brought forward afforded examples of the reduction of parts and the increased number of parts, in connection with which the author alluded to the special tendency to develop the second or inner row of stamens, as happens in Restiaceze and Xyridacee, while in Iridacez the opposite tendency is manifested. Another series of illustrations comprised cases of regular and of irregular Felovia, which were of special importance as affording evidence on the one hand of the probable past conformation of the flower, and on the other of the probable course of development in the future. —The fifth and concluding part of the Rev. A. Eaton’s monograph of recent Ephemeridz or may-tlies was read. The author says 55 genera and 270 species have been characterised, in addition to 11 nymphs and 19 species of doubtful position ; 5 genera and 68 species are new to science.—Mr. J. G. Baker read a paper entitled ‘‘ Further Contributions to the Flora of Madagascar,” in which upwards of 250 new plants, seven of them new genera, gathered recently by the Rev. R. Baron, F.L.S., are described. Of the new genera, one belongs to Menispermacez, one to Geraniaceze near /mpatiens, one to Rubiacez, and two [Dec. 9, 1886 i Dec. 9, 1886] each to Melastomaceze and Composite. Of well-known Cape types, Pelargonium, Stoebe, Cineraria, and Belmontia are now for the first time added to the Madagascar flora. The faint affinity of the flora of Madagascar to that of India and Malaya is strengthened by the discovery of the genus Cyc/ea, and of new species of Alyxia, Didymocarpus, and Strvbilanthes. Of types of economic interest there are new species of Dalbergia, Macar- anga, Strychnos, Balsamodendron, and Garcinia. It seems that during the last ten years between 1100 and 1200 new plants from Madagascar (29 of which are new genera) have been described in the Zournal of the Linnean Society and Fournal of Botany, nearly all of them collected by our own countrymen. Chemical Society, November 18.—W. Crookes, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.—The following “papers were read + —Researches on the relation between the molecular structure of carbon compounds and their absorption-spectra ; part 8, a study of coloured substances and dyes, by W. N. Hartley, F.R.S.— Spectroscopic notes on the carbohydrates and albumenoids from grain, by W. N. Hartley, F.R.S.—Preliminary note on the electrolysis of ammonic sulphate, by Herbert McLeod, F.R.S. —The preparation and hydrolysis of hydrocyanides of the di- ketones, by Francis R. Japp, F.R.S., and N. H. J. Miller, Ph.D. —The action of salicylic aldehyde on sodium succinate in pre- sence of acetic anhydride, by Gibson Dyson.—The reduction of nitrites to hydroxylamine by hydrogen sulphide, by E. Divers, F.R.S., and T. Haga.—Note on some double thiosulphates, by J. B. Cohen, Ph.D.—Preliminary note on the action of triphenyl- methyl bromide on ethyl sodio-malonate, by George G. Hender- son, M.A., B.Sce.—Action of silicon tetrachloride on aromatic amido-compounds, by Arthur Harden, B.Sc. Physical Society, November 27.—Prof. W. G. Adams in the chair.—The following papers were read :—On a method of measuring the coefficient of mutual induction of two coils, by Prof. G.' Carey Foster, F.R.S. The two coils are for conve- nience designated by P and S (primary and secondary). The method as originally devised consists of two parts: (1) observing the swing of the needle of a galvanometer placed in series with the secondary coil when a current of strength y is started in the primary ; (2) placing the galvanometer and a condenser of known capacity, c, as a shunt between two points, 4 and A, of the primary circuit, such that the first swing of the galvano- meter needle on completing the primary is the same as in (1). It is easily seen that under these conditions AZ = cr7, where AZ is the coefficient to be determined, 7 = resistance between the points 4 and B, and 7, =resistance of galvanometer and secondary coil. The method requires the value of y to be the same in the two experiments, and facilities for varying 7 with- out altering y. To overcome these difficulties the arrangement has been modified so as to make it a null method. The con- nections remain the same as in (2), excepting that the ends of the secondary coil are connected to the terminals of the galvano- meter through a variable resistance with no self-induction. If # be the resistance of the secondary coil and variable resistance when adjusted, so that, on completing the primary circuit, the integral current through the galvanometer is zero, it is shown that JZ = cpr, where c and y have the same meaning as before. For let 4 and Z be the potentials of the galvanometer terminals at any time, ¢, g the resistance of galvanometer, y the current through it, and Wand Z the coefficients of self-induction of the galvanometer and secondary coil respectively. Then consider- ing the path from 4 to & through the secondary coil we have— ax dy A-E=f7x+Ll—- M—. dt at For path through galvanometer— ady A-£L=q+N—. dt Equating these, and integrating from / = 0 to tf = », we get— ro p | xdt — My = o. 0 oo Since f xdt = charge of condenser, 0 = cy’, we see that M = cpr. It is easily shown that if Z = AZ then 4 — Z =0 for all values of ¢. Hence the galvanometer might in this case be replaced by NATURE 143 atelephone. By inversion, the method could be used for de- termining the capacity of condensers in absolute measure if JZ be known, The author thinks the method will be useful for dynamo-machines, and gave a series of numbers obtained by experiments on different coils, showing that it gives consistent results. Mr. C. V. Boys suggested that, by arranging a switch to change the connections from (1) to (2) in rapid succession, a steady deflection might be obtained, and thought that this would enable very small coefficients to be determined. Remarks by Prof. Forbes, Prof. Adams, and Prof. Perry were answered by Prof. Foster and Dr. Fison.—On the critical mean curvature of liquid surfaces of revolution, by Prof. A. W. Riicker, M.A., F.R.S. The paper is chiefly mathematical, and deals with liquid surfaces of revolution attached to two circular rings, the planes of which are at right angles to the line joining their centres. By ‘‘mean curvature” the author designates half the sum of the reciprocals of the two principal radii of curvature of the surfaces. Maxwell has shown in his article on ‘‘ Capillary Action” (‘‘ Encyclopzedia Britannica”), that, if the film be a cylinder, a slight bulge will cause an increase or decrease in the 7 mean curvature according as the length is< or > — times the 2 Tv If 7= — d, then a small change in the volume of the 2 surface will modify its form, but will not alter the mean curvature. Thus the mean curvature of such a cylinder is evidently a maximum or minimum with respect to that of other surfaces of constant mean curvature, which pass through the same two rings at the same distance apart, and which differ but little from the cylin- drical form. Hence the cylinder may be said to have a erttical Tv mean curvature when the distance between the rings is — times 2 their diameter. If the distance between the rings is altered, a similar property is possessed by some other surface. The author’s paper investigates the general relation between the magnitude and distance apart of the rings, and the form of the surfaces of critical curvature. If x is the axis of revolution, then the equation to a liquid surface of revolution is given by the expressions— x=ak + BF, where F and £ 4fe elliptic integrals of the first and second kinds respectively, of which the amplitude is g, and the modulus A = s/o? — B’/a asusual,A = ,/1— A®sin® p, whence y = aA, and if X =sin@, then B =a cos @, and since a>8, aand # are the maximum and minimum ordinates. The re.ults show that as @ increases from 0° to 90°, the surface of critical mean curvature is an unduloid with limits of cylinder and sphere, when @ = 0°, and @ = 90° respectively. When @ passes from 90° to 180°, the surface isa nodoid with limits of sphere and a circle whose plane is perpendicular to the surface of revolution. Jn the third quadrant the surface is still a nodoid the limits of which are a circle and the catenoid. Finally, in the fourth quadrant the surface is an unduloid, the limits being the catenoid and cylinder. Experiments were shown proving that with cylindrical Tv films, where 7< —d, increase of internal pressure produced a 2 diameter. jy = a? cos? + B’sin’¢, Tv bulging, whereas if />-—d, a bulging was produced by decrease 2 From this it is evident that if the interiors of two Tv cylindrical films, whose 7< —d, be connected, stable equilibrium 2 of pressure. us will result, whereas if 7 > —d, there will be unstable equilibrium. 2 These facts were illustrated experimentally with great success. After some remarks by Mr. C. V. Boys, the proceedings terminated. Anthropological Institute, November 23.—Francis Gal!o., F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The election of Mr. C. W. Rosset as a Corresponding Member was announced.—Prof. A. H. Keane read a paper, by Consul Donald A. Cameron, on the tribes of the Eastern Soudan.—The Assistant Secretary ex- 144 NATURE [ Dec. 9, 1886 hibited, on behalf of Mr. J. Olonba Payne, nine symbolic letters (Aroko) as used by the tribe of Jebu in West Africa. —The Secretary read a paper, by Mr. T. R. Griffith, on the races inhabit- ing Sierra Leone.—The Rev. George Brown gave a brief résemé of his paper on the Papuans and Polynesians, the reading of which was adjourned till the next meeting. PARIS Academy of Sciences, November 29.—M. Daubrée in the chair.—The medal prepared by the youth of France to com- memorate the centenary of M. Chevreul, was presented to the President of the Academy, with some appropriate remarks by M. de Quatrefages. The medal, which is a fine work of art by M. Roty, bears on one side a bust of the illustrious savant, and on the reverse his ful] figure, seated in an armchair, in an attitude of study, with the legend ‘‘ La Jeunesse francaise au Doyen des Etudiants, 31 Aotit, 1786—31 Aotit, 1886.” After defraying the expenses of this and another medal of smaller size, a copy of which will be supplied to all subscribers, the Committee has a large balance in hand, which it proposes to utilise by issuing a complete Catalogue raisonné of M. Chevreul’s works.—Re- marks on the 210th volume of the Conzaissance des Temps (for 1888), presented to the Academy by M. Faye.—A contribution to the history of the decomposition of the amides by water and the diluted acids, by MM. Berthelot and André. These studies have been undertaken for the purpose of better determining the degree of stability, in presence of the acids, of some typical amides, which play an essential part in the tissues of organised beings, such as urea, asparagine, and others.—Glycose, glyco- gene, and glycogeny, in relation to the production of heat and of mechanical power in the animal system, by M. A. Chauveau. In this second communication the author deals with combustion and the development of heat in the organs while at work. In this state of physical activity the quantity of glycose which disappears in the capillaries is increased, and is in pro- portion with the excessive activity of the combustions ex- cited by the play of the organs.—Fluorescences of man- ganese and bismuth, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. In this preliminary paper three conditions are considered: (1) a single solid dissolvent and two active substances, each fluorescing with this dissolvent ; (2) a solid dissolvent and two active sub- stances, of which one alone fluoresces with the dissolvent ; (3) two solid dissolvents and one active substance fluorescing with each of the dissolvents.—Treatment of the grape-vine with the salts of copper against mildew, by MM. Crolas and Raulin. Quantitative analyses are given of the amount of copper detected in the products of vines treated by this process. Although the actual quantity is never really dangerous, special precautions are recommended in all cases where the grape is intended for con- sumption.—On the phosphates and arseniates of silver, by M. A. Joly. The precipitated triargentic phosphate, PO,Ags, ob- tained by double decomposition, is shown to be amorphous, easily dissolving in phosphoric acid even at a low temperature. The limits are determined within which the concentration of the phosphoric solution should be varied in order to obtain at pleasure the crystallised triargentic phosphate or the diargentic phosphate, PO,Ag,H.—On some coloured reactions of the titanic, niobic, fatale and stannic acids, by M. Lucien Lévy. Some new specific characters of these acids are described, the reagents employed being substances which nearly always present a phenolic function. Hence reciprocally these latter may in their turn be characterised by the same mineral acids.—On the conditions favourable to the restoration of the elements of the transparent cornea, by M. Gillet de Grandmont. These conditions are shown to be suppression of the suppuration, absolute repose, and absence of all intervening irritation.—On a process for intensifying the normal virulence of the microbe of symptomatic charbon, and restitution of the original activity after attenuation, by MM. Arloing and Cornevin.—Note on some essays in antituberculous vaccina- tion, by M. Vittorio Cavagnis. These experiments were made according to M. Pasteur’s method, on some rabbits and guinea- pigs, with but partial success. The author is now endeavouring to ascertain whether this method of vaccination is at all applicable to tuberculosis.—On the conformation of the external reproduc- tive organs in the female of the anthropoid apes of the genus Troglodytes, by M. A. T. de Rochebrune.—Observations on the continuous blastogenesis of Botrylloides rubrum (Milne- Edwards), by M. S. Jourdain.—New methods of preparing the crystallised carbonates, by M. L. Bourgeois.—The Uralian Society of Naturalists informs the Academy that it is organising at Ekaterinburg, Russia, a Scientific and Industrial Exhibition for Siberia and the Ural ‘Mountains, which will be opened on May 15/27, 1887, and closed on September 15/27 following. STOCKHOLM Academy of Sciences, November 10.—On a recently dis- covered map of Scandinavia and parts of the North Atlantic, edited, in 1539, by Olaus Magnus, a Swedish Catholic clergy- man, by Baron A. E. Nordenskjold.—On the mineral thorite, from two new localities, by the same.—On the Quaternary strata of the Isle of Gothland, by Herr H. Munthe.—On the develop- ment of bi-periodic functions in the series of Fourier, by Dr. C. Charlier.—Contributions to the knowledge of the infloration and fructification of the Scandinavian alpine plants, by Dr. C. Lindman. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED Histoire Générale des Races Humaines: A. de Quatrefages (A. Hennuyer, Paris).—Microscopic Fungi, sth edition: Dr. M. C. Cooke (Allen).— The Greyhound: H. Dalziel (Gill).—British Dogs: H. Dalziel (Gill).—British Cage-Birds : R. L. Wallace (Gill).—On the Conversion of Heat into Work : W. Anderson (Whittaker).—Lives of the Electricians: W. T. Jeans (Whit- taker).—Clark’s Transit Tables for 1887: L. Clark (Spon).—A Text-Book of Steam and Steam-Engines : Prof. A, Jamieson (Griffin).—Outlines of Quan- titative Analysis: Prof. A, H. Seaton (Griffin),—Studien iiber Protoplasma- mechanik: Dr. G. Berthold (Felix, Leipzig).—Proceedings of the Queens- land Branch of the Geological Society of Australasia, vol. i. (Watson, Brisbane).—A New Department in Science: Dr. C. Radcliffe (Macmillan). —The Mystery of God, 2nd edition : T. V. Tymms (Stock). CONTENTS PAGE Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates .. 121 Science in Nonway sae ec cien eneneee n= 122 Our eee Shelf :— “* Acta Mathematica” 123 Shenstone’s “ Methods of Glass- Blowing ” a ceo LS, Letters to the Editor :— Two Hours with a “‘ Subject Index.”—Justitia . . 123 aS en of Species.—Dr, George J. Romanes, 6 omg) O80" 124 Heredity in Npmoresecll Toed Gee. _William White 125 Algebraic Notation of esas —Prof. Alexander Macfarlane . : 126 Seismometry. Tomes Guay) es 126 Botanical Lecture Experiment.—Prof. Bayley Bae POLS Eb) Gnd) Onc, GuaeGuoh a dan . 126 A Lecture Experiment on the Pkeemcton of Solids by Heat.—C. E. Stromeyer .. . cae 126 Meteors and Auroras,—Dr, M. A. Reeder aon on as) The Guthrie Memorial Fund... . ety, Volcanic Eruption in Niua-fu, Biiendiy: Teleecies By Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S.... 127 Fourth Annual ara of the Fishery Board for Scotland tana mcremears 5s) cpio RZ The Electric Charre on the Atom, By eee auricle WCRGR te oe OSE Music and Mathematics: By Prof. J. J. Sylvester, Sau Ei OmORaera ore. Om oo 0 | RE Notesits, Gp «Se 5 iets ieee ie) cpreniece ane ane into mE Our Astronomical Column :— Corrections to Refraction Tables. .... . 134 Comet Finlay (1886 e) vio) Nol adaee ota) ooo tae ae MSS Comet Barnard! (88677) = =) civ) 134 Astronomical Phenomena for the Week " 1886 Decemiber/12=18 c) -) im) fy cles) eS The Law of Storms in the Eastern Seas. By Dr. W. Doberck, (With a Map) . : Oo Ss) Earthquake in Sierra Leone. a I S. Hay A NORRIS WICARRS? og ay oo 0 8 6 141 Scientific’Serialsi ee as) cen 141 Societies and Academies. ........+.+.4: 0 I42 Books and Pamphlets Received. ...... 144 NATURE THURSDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1886 THE PALISSY OF CALICO-PRINTING The Life and Labours of John Mercer, F.R.S. By Edward A. Parnell. (London: Longmans and Co., 1886.) HE subject of this memoir was one of the most remarkable men of his time. A son of the soil, and almost wholly self-taught, he effected what was prac- tically a revolution in one of our staple industries by his discoveries in technical chemistry and by his application of chemical principles to the dyer’s art. With no Jabora- tory training other than that which he gave himself, he by his skill and sagacity as an experimentalist added enor- mously to the resources of a great industry : owing nothing to academies, and uninfluenced by schools of learning, he made himself master of the chemical philosophy of his time, and by the acuteness and originality of his specu- lations he has permanently influenced the development of theoretical chemistry. In Lancashire, the scene of his work, the name of John Mercer is held in hardly less esteem than that of John Dalton; and probably to many people in Cottonopolis the director of the Oakenshaw Print-Works was a far more important personage than the old Quaker in George Street, who gave lessons in the New System of Chemical Philosophy at the rate of half-a- crown an hour. The Atomic Theory has doubtless con- tributed much to the intellectual greatness of Manchester, and Manchester men are not ungrateful: they have named one of their streets after its illustrious author. Still calicoes and calico-printing are what they have to live by, and although they have not yet, so far as we know, named a street after John Mercer, they have shown, by the widespread adoption of his processes, a very practical appreciation of the value of his labours. John Mercer is the Palissy of calico-printing. Not that there was anything in the least degree tragic in the life of the Lancashire dyer ; his career was one of almost uninterrupted success, and his domestic peace was un- clouded. But he had the great potter’s indomitable will and fixity of purpose ; his unwearied patience and unre- mitting industry. Both men had the same high ideal of their art and the same contempt for false work. Each began his life at the bottom rung of the social ladder, and each found his life’s work in a direction other than that in which he set out. Both were men of strong religious feeling, and both left the faith of their forefathers in com- pliance with the dictates of principle, but with this differ- ence, that whilst the Huguenot artist found the Bastille and death, John Mercer could build his Sunday-schools in peace and quietness, and find contentment in a standard of doctrine which Mr. Matthew Arnold has characterised as the product of a mind of the third order. John Mercer was born on February 21, 1791, at Dean, near Blackburn. His father was originally a hand-loom weaver, but the development of the factory system had led him to take to agriculture. He died when the son was barely nine years old, and John was set to work as a “bobbin-winder.” A pattern-designer belonging to the Oakenshaw Print-Works, in which Mercer was destined to play so considerable a part, gave him his first lessons in VOL. XxXv.—NO. 894 | After ten months’ irksome labour 145 reading and writing ; and the Excise-surveyor at the same works (it was in the days when each square yard of printed calico paid an Excise duty of threepence) taught him the elements of arithmetic. He soon became noted for his aptitude at figures, and later on for his skill in music ; and for a time he found a congenial exercise for his artistic faculty in the band of a militia corps. Music remained a passion with him throughout his life, and although, we are told, a man of great self-possession, he was sometimes entirely overcome by it. Mercer was sixteen years of age, and had settled down apparently to the work of a hand-loom weaver, when a very slight incident—as slight as that which made Palissy a potter—gave an entirely new direction to his thoughts. His mother, it appears, had married again. Visiting her one day, John was so much struck with the orange colour of the dress of his little step-brother on her knee, that, to use his own words, he “was all on fire to learn dyeing.” He had no means of obtaining instruction: he had no book on the subject, nor could he procure any receipts. He found, however, that the dyers of Blackburn, some five miles distant, obtained their materials from a certain druggist in that town. Mercer repaired to him, and requested to be supplied with materials for dyeing. ‘“ What do you want?” in- quired the shopman. “TI can’t tell you,” replied John ; “will you tell me the names of all the different materials you sell the dyers here?” ‘Oh, I sell them peach-wood, Brazil-wood, logwood, quercitron, alum, copperas, and others,” mentioning their names. Mercer reckoned his money, and found he could afford threepence for each dye-stuff. Armed with these articles he returned home, “full,” as he says, “of dyeing and dyeing materials.” He seems to have been fortunate in obtaining the use of a convenient place for his experiments, where he had all the necessary apparatus for small trials. Here he com- menced entirely by “ rule-of-thumb”; but by industry and close observation he acquired considerable knowledge of the properties of dye-stuffs, and ascertained the methods of dyeing in most of the colours then in vogue. To become a dyer was now the dominant idea of Mercer’s life. Everything comes to him who waits, and fortunately for Mercer, as it seemed at the time, he had not to wait long. The Messrs. Fort, the proprietors of the Oakenshaw Print-Works, heard of the success of his dyeing experiments, and offered him an apprenticeship in the colour-shop of their factory. It was one thing to get inside a colour-shop and quite another to get any infor- mation there. No workmen are more jealous of their arcana than the foremen of colour-shops: their know- ledge even to-day is almost entirely empirical, and their secrets are invested with a degree of mystery which is frequently ludicrously disproportionate to their value. Mercer’s indentures were cancelled. The Continental disturbances of 1810 reacted disastrously upon all industries connected with the cotton manufacture, and the “ Berlin decree,” which led to the destruction of all printed calicoes and other goods of English manufacture then in bond in certain European States, was severely felt by the Lancashire printing establishments. Mercer was forced for a time to abandon the calling of a colour-mixer, and to return to his work at the hand-loom. But his brains were still among his colour-pots. It was characteristic of the man, H 146 NATURE [Dec. 16, 1886 that, being in Blackburn to procure a marriage license, he should be led to a secondhand bookstall in the market- place to search for printed matter relating to his favourite art. Ata time when Mary Wolstenholme might properly consider him as more anxious about the res angusta domz, he was engaged in negotiating the purchase of “ The Chemical Pocket-Book; or, Memoranda Chemica, ar- ranged in a Compendium of Chemistry, by James Parkin- son, of Hoxton.” This book, together with “ The Tables of New Nomenclature, proposed by Messrs. De Morveau | Lavoisier, Berthollet, and De Fourcroy, in 1787,” opened out a new world to him. He had, at the very outset of his trials, convinced himself that it was only by a thorough knowledge of the properties of dyeing materials, and of their behaviour under varying conditions, that the opera- tions of the dyer can be intelligently carried on: he now saw that all this knowledge must primarily depend upon chemical science, and that it was on chemistry that the extension of his art must ultimately rest. This view of the relations of science to practice strengthened with Mercer’s experience. Years afterwards, when he had attained to fame, he was called upon to express his opinion concerning the necessity of technical education in this country. “TI entirely concur with you,” he wrote to a friend, “that for the preservation and benefit of the British arts and manufactures, the masters, managers, and skilled artisans ought to be better instructed in the rationale and scientific principles involved in their opera- tions. Chaptal remarked that ‘ practice is better than science’ (z.e. abstract principles), ‘but when it is neces- sary to solve a problem, to explain some phenomenon, or to discover some error in the complicated details of an operation, the mere artisan is at the end of his knowledge, he is totally at a loss, and would derive the greatest assistance from men of science.’ Probably no person would, from his own experience, confirm the above remark, as regards the art of calico-printing, more heartily than myself.” He observed that, “as regards good practical men, no district could excel Lancashire ; but in all the processes, from the grey piece to the finished print, embracing thirty to forty operations, both the science and practical experience of the cleverest are requisite to keep all things straight and to detect the cause of, and rectify, mishaps. . An amusing volume might be written about ludicrous mistakes, and equally ridiculous attempts to rectify them.” Mercer’s first important invention in calico-printing was made in 1817, and curiously enough it was in the application of a colour akin to that which had fired his ambition to become a dyer. He found in the alkaline sulphantimoniates an excellent medium for procuring a bright orange colour on cotton fabrics. Heretofore no good orange suitable for the use of the calico-printer was known. The best orange was made from a mixture of quercitron yellow and madder red, but it was difficult to adapt it to other colours in the styles then in demand. Mercer’s antimony orange supplied the want: it was not only a fine colour in itself, but was capable of being com- bined and interspersed in a great variety of styles. This discovery led to his re-engagement at the Oakenshaw Works : after a seven-years’ service he was admitted as a partner, having as a co-partner, for a while, Richard Cobden; and he remained connected with the firm until its dissolution in 1848, when he retired from business with a moderate fortune. It would be difficult in the space at our disposal to do full justice to the many discoveries and improvements which Mercer introduced into the art of dyeing and printing. His skill and energy led not only to the inven- tion of new styles and new colours, but to the development even of new branches of chemical industry. His applica- tion, for example, of chromium compounds practically created the manufacture of bichrome: when Mercer first began experimenting with this substance its cost was half-a-guinea an ounce; it is now produced by the hundreds of tons, and may be bought retail at less than sixpence per pound. Some of his processes are, of course, obsolete, but many are still in use: the “ manganese bronze,” for example, which he introduced in 1823, seems to re-appear about every ten years, and was in large demand some three or four years since. Mercer was an indefatigable experimenter : nothing is more extraordinary than his skill and inventiveness in the application of his new colours to the creation of fresh styles or novel combinations; his genius in this respect was almost kaleidoscopic. One of the greatest improvements made by Mercer in | the operations of the dyer was his introduction of the alkaline arseniates in what is called the “dunging” operation, the object of which is to remove that portion of the mordant which has not become insoluble and firmly attached to the fabric by the process of “ageing.” The loosely-attached mordant, unless previously removed, would dissolve in the dye-bath, to the injury of the whites and the deterioration of the dyeing liquor. Of scarcely less importance was his method of preparing mixed cotton and woollen fabrics so as to enable the mixed fibres to acquire colouring-matters with equal readiness. His observation of the extraordinary facility with which certain “‘lakes,” or compounds of alumina with organic colouring-matters, are dissolved by oxalate of ammonia led to the introduction of a method of using aluminous colour-precipitates in steam colour-work, which was ex- tensively employed in the East Lancashire print-works. And lastly, his method of preparing stannate of soda was not only of service to the calico printer by greatly cheapening an indispensable agent, but was of consider- able pecuniary benefit to himself. Mercer’s skill and knowledge were ungrudgingly given to the fellow-workers in his art, and he was constantly appealed to by the calico-printers and chemical manu- facturers of Lancashire for assistance and advice. His acquaintance with the literature of the abstract chemistry of his time was very remarkable. He had indeed all the essential qualities and instincts of the scientific mind: there was a certain comprehensiveness about the man, a certain vigorous grasp of general principles, and a large- ness of view which made his influence felt at once among men of science. There is no question that had Mercer devoted himself to pure science he would have attained hardly less distinction than he has secured as a techno- logist. His method of work was essentially scientific. Thus no sooner did he become acquainted with the doctrine of chemical equivalents than he had the strengths of his chemicals and reagents adjusted to a simple relation of their equivalents. Mercer indeed was ———— Dec. 16, 1886] NATURE 147 one of the earliest workers in volumetric analysis; in 1827 he devised a method of valuing bleaching-powder and bichrome by means of standard solutions. His specu- lations on the nature of white indigo, on the constitution of bleaching-powder, and on the ferrocyanides and _nitro- prussides were much in advance of his day. His theory of catalysis, which he illustrated by many striking and original examples, was extended by Playfair, and has been subsequently worked out by Kekulé as the only satisfactory explanation yet given of a very remarkable and interesting group of phenomena. Graham’s early experiments on the heat of chemical combination and the nature of solution induced Mercer to test the practica- bility of effecting the partial separation of different hydrates by some process of fractional filtration. These experiments, made from a purely scientific stand-point, resulted in the discovery of the mode of action of the caustic alkalies on cellulose, and led to the process which has come to be known as “ mercerising,” in which cotton fabrics are “fulled” by their contraction on treatment with caustic soda. Mercer appears to have been the first to notice the remarkable solvent action of an ammoniacal copper solution on cotton, which could be re-precipitated as almost pure cellulose by the addition of an acid. His habit of searching for first principles led him, as far back as 1854, to speculate on the relations among the atomic weights of the chemical elements, and the constitution of chemical compounds: he brought his views before the Leeds meeting of the British Association in 1858. He was an early worker on photography, and devised several modifications of the cyanotype process adapted to printing on cambric and similar fabrics. Mercer was one of the original Fellows of the Chem- ical Society, and he was a juror of the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862, In 1852 he was elected into the Royal Society. He died, ripe in years and rich in the content- ment afforded by the retrospect of a well-spent life, on November 30, 1866. T. E. THORPE THE BRITISH INTERNATIONAL POLAR EXPEDITION Observations of the International Polar Expeditions, 1882-83: Fort Rae. 326 pp. 4to, and 29 plates. (London: Triibner and Co., 1886.) the Polar Conference of Vienna in April 1884 it aly : A was declared to be very desirable that the results from all the circumpolar stations should be published by Christmas 1885. This time was not kept strictly by any of the parties. The first Report completed was that of Lieut. P. H. Ray, of the U.S. Army, for Point Barrow, which appeared early in 1886, and this has now been followed by the present volume, which came out in August last. The other Expeditions, however, have not been idle, for several have issued portions of their Reports: e.g. the French for Cape Horn; the Russians for Sagastyr at the mouth of the Lena ; and the Austrians for Jan Mayen; while quite recently the Germans have announced the publication of the results for their two stations— Cumberland Sound and South Georgia. The British Expedition was from the outset at a serious disadvantage. It was not until April 2, 1882, that the definite sanction of the Government was obtained, and the party were obliged to sail from Liverpool on May 11 in order to catch the Hudson Bay Company’s convoy from Winnipeg. Accordingly the time available for pre- parations and training was extremely short, and no special instruments could be made. The party consisted of Captain (now Major) H. P. Dawson, R.A., with two sergeants and a gunner of the same service. The journey was prolonged and fatiguing, lasting three months and a half, and the Expedition only reached its destination at 10 p.m. on August 30. Only one day was thus available for unpacking, &c., before the regular hourly observations commenced. The start for the return journey was made within three hours of the time of the final observation, and even then it was only owing to a fortunate shift of wind on Lake Athabasca, which opened the ice and allowed the boats to get through, that the party was able to reach Manitoba, with its baggage, in October. Otherwise the instruments must have been left behind for some months, as the Expedition must have completed its journey by sledge. The observations have been discussed in strict accord- ance with the International scheme, the units employed being metric and centigrade. The magnetic discussions were carried out by Major Dawson in conjunction with Mr. Whipple. The meteorological work was intrusted to Mr. R. Strachan and Mr. John A. Curtis, of the Meteoro- logical Office. The magnetic observations are specially interesting, from the proximity of the station to the magnetic pole The disturbances were therefore of great frequency and violence, as will be seen from the plates to the volume. The auroral journal also affords a copious store of infor- mation on that subject. The following few results, which we extract from the observations made by the Expedition, will be of interest to our readers :— The barometer at Fort Rae varied between 771 mm. (30°35 inches) and 721 mm. (28°39 inches), with a maxi- mum daily range of 24 mm. (0'94 inch), and the least of 0°7 mm. (0°03 inch). The highest thermometer-reading recorded by the Ex- pedition was 25°6 C. (78°1 F.), whilst the lowest was — 44°°6 C. (— 48°3 F.) in the air, the terrestrial radiation instrument registering — 46°7 C. (— 521 F.). On the coldest day experienced (January 3) the mean temperature of the twenty-four hours was — 41°9 C. (— 43°4 F.), whilst that determined for the hottest day (August 13) was 19%9 C. (67°8 F.), giving an extreme range of average daily temperature of 61°°8 C. (111°°2 F.)- The highest mean velocity of the wind recorded any day was 8°5 metres per second (19 miles per hour) from the north north-west. The average magnetic declination at Fort Rae was 40° 20' E., the extreme change observed in the diurnal range being 11° 25’. On the most quiescent day the angular motion of the needle was o° 17’, both values largely exceeding movements observed in these latitudes. The dip or inclination of the needle was 82° 55’, whilst the measured values of the total and horizontal magnetic forces were 062 and o08 electrical respectively. units 148 NATURE [ Dec. 16, 1886 OUR BOOK SHELF Natural History, tts Rise and Progress in Britain, as developed by the Life and Labours of Leading Naturalists. By Alleyne Nicholson, M.D., D.Sc., Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Aberdeen. British Science-Biographies. (London and Edinburgh: W. and R. Chambers, 1886.) THIS little octavo volume of about 300 pages is a readable book, and accurate in its information as far as it goes. But, besides being sketchy—which is no doubt a fault inci- dental to the form of the series—it is strangely ill- balanced. In the first place, the author has travelled beyond the limits of his title by giving biographical sketches of Aristotle, Linnzeus, Lamarck, and Cuvier— together constituting more than a third of the whole number of “ British Science-Biographies” with which they are intermingled. In the next place, as regards the “ British Science-Biographies ” which are given, there is no proportion observable between the relative magnitudes of these British biologists and the amount of notice which is respectively bestowed. Running the eye over the table of contents, we find that separate chapters are devoted to eleven “leading naturalists” of this country. These, of course, must be understood by his general readers, for whom the book is designed, as representing what, in the author’s opinion, are the eleven greatest names in the records of British biology. Yet six of these names are Sir Hans Sloane, Gilbert White, Alexander Wilson, William Swainson, Edward Forbes, and Robert Cham- bers! To take only the first and last of these names, surely when a whole chapter, with a portrait, is devoted to Sir Hans Sloane, it is remarkable that no mention at all should be made of Sir Joseph Banks ; or that, when another whole chapter is assigned to Robert Chambers, we should nowhere encounter the name of Robert Brown. It appears to us that when a Professor of Natural History undertakes to popularise his science, his aim should be to place before what this writer calls “ unprofessional readers” a true conception of the merit that attaches to solid work in science, as distinguished from the celebrity | that belongs to a graceful writer or to an interesting personal character. He should endeavour to raise the popular mind to a just appreciation of xaturalists : he should not pander to the already accomplished popularity of authors. Now, if this has been the aim of Prof. Nicholson—and in his preface he says as much—in our opinion he has shot wide of his mark. But, as before observed, if his object has been to produce a readable assemblage of short biographies, calculated to suit the popular taste, we should say he has every reason to be satisfied with the result. The Fournal of the Royal Agricultural Soctety of England. Part II., 1886. (John Murray, Albemarle Street.) THE current number of this /ozsna/ furnishes an excellent illustration of the wide limits of agricultural science, and the varied knowledge required of its professors. There is perhaps no art or occupation which so directly requires elucidation from so many sciences; hence the varied nature of the bill of fare provided by the Jornal Com- mittee of the Royal Agricultural Society. In proof of this assertion we may take the contents of the entire volume for 1886, the second part of which lies before us. Pathology is treated of in papers upon foot-and-mouth disease ; Pasteur and his work; lung parasites, by the late T. Spencer Cobbold, M.D.; and abortion in cows. Anatomy and physiology are the topics in Prof. Brown’s paper upon organs of the animal body, their forms and uses. Chemistry and botany are amply represented in reports by Mr. Carruthers and Dr. J. Augustus Voelcker. Entomology in the form of papers on the recent appear- ance of the Hessian fly is the theme of Miss E. A. Ormerod. Social science is illustrated by Mr. H. M. Jenkins’s report upon farming and agricultural training in reformatory and industrial schools, and engineering in the report of the Judges on the Exhibition of Implements at Norwich. The more immediately agricultural information is embodied in many interesting papers, among which may be mentioned continued reports upon field and feeding experiments at Woburn ; experiments on ensilage con- ducted at Crawley Mill Farm, Woburn ; report on the prize-farm competitions in Norfolk and Suffolk, 1886 ; the report on the Exhibition of Live-Stock at Norwich ; and lessons from the winter of 1885-86. The number issued during the past month also con- tains the examination papers on agricultural education set during the present year, and much statistical informa- tion useful to agriculturists. With such a large mass ot material at hand, it is by no means easy to compress remarks into the limits of a short notice. The names of the authors of the various contributions is a guarantee of their value, and any person who desires to keep pace with scientific agriculture, whether actually engaged in agri- cultural pursuits or not, will do well to peruse these pages. The most interesting papers, and those containing the newest information on subjects of vital interest to us, are as follows :—(1) An inquiry into several outbreaks of abortion in cows, by C. J. B. Johnson, L.R.C.P., who traces most of the cases to the presence of ergot (CZavz- ceps purpurea) in grass and hay. (2) Report on ensilage experiments, in which the results are less favourable to this innovation upon old-fashioned practice than some of — the apostles of the movement could wish. Silage isfound inferior to homely, honest hay and roots. It is true that silage made from green oats showed a distinct superiority, but the question still remains open whether these promising young oats, sacrificed while in the green stage, might not have developed into still greater value had they been allowed to bloom and fructify and bear their thirty, sixty, or perchance a hundred-fold. Promoters of ensilage have little to congratulate themselves on in this result of strict inquiry and accurate tests brought to bear upon their hobby. No doubt they will be equal to the occasion. The prize-farm competition is, as usual, interesting, but it is a matter of regret that, in such a noted county as Norfolk for farming, the best-known agriculturists, whose farming has been the admiration of their countrymen for generations, should apparently have held aloof from the competition. The first prize was awarded to a suburban farm close to Norwich, and but little can be learnt from management carried on under quite exceptional circumstances. It is also a pity that the able officials of the Royal Agricultural Society do not insist upon a greater uniformity in the reports of their judges in the matter of statistics. For purposes of comparison it would be well if some tabular statement could be made out, as for example as to the amount paid in rent, in labour, feeding-stuffs, and trade expenses ; also as to the gross and net produce per acre in each case; the yield of corn in bushels, and of roots in tons; the uses made of straw ; the amount of work expected per day from horses and men ; the hours of labour; the rate of payment for day and for task work, &c. The reader looks in vain for any such comparisons, Statements regarding them he finds in respect of this or that farm, but any plan by which he may compare or note extremes and means he looks for in vain. Considering the many years in which prizes for the best-managed farms have been given, it is a matter for wonder that it is simply impossible to con- struct any comparative statement as to points of manage- ment in the numerous farms inspected and reported upon. Lastly, we must notice Mr. H. M. Jenkins’s report on the cultivation of tobacco in the north-west of Europe, a fairly hopeful paper as to the introduction of this cultiva- tion into England. It would ill become the able secre- ee Dec. 16, 1886] INA BORE 149 tary of our greatest Society to throw cold water on any suggestion made for the good of agriculture, especially in these sad times; but alas for the frosts of June, July, August, and September, which most of our years carry in their bosoms! Gardeners and farmers know them and dread them. Our summers are not to be relied upon, or we should grow tobacco—ay, and grapes! JOHN WRIGHTSON Madagascar : an Historical and Descriptive Account of the Island and its Former Dependencies. Compiled by Samuel Pasfield Oliver, late Captain R.A. Two vols. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1886.) Capt. OLIVER has made auseful compilation of information on Madagascar in allits aspects. The compilation consists largely of extracts from previous writers. Capt. Oliver him- self visited Madagascar a good many years ago, and has naturally taken much interest in the island and its people ever since. It is evident these two volumes must have cost him much labour, which will no doubt be appreciated by those in search of information on Madagascar in a handy form. After an historical sketch, the first volume is devoted to geography, topography, climatology, geology, and natural history. These, in the second volume, are followed by chapters on natural and agricultural pro- ducts, ethnology, manufactures, administration, trade and finance, bibliography and cartography, and a very long chapter, with appendixes, on the Franco-Malagasy war. The work, we should say, is exceedingly well supplied with maps and plans, of which there are nineteen altogether. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- scripts. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] An Ice Period in the Altai Mountains M. B. von Corra, who once visited the Altai Mountains, is decidedly of opinion that there are no traces of the Ice period on this range. But at the southern part of the Altai, where there are some large glaciers and many ridges covered with eternal snows, there are undoubted traces of a mighty spreading of ancient glaciers. At least this is the conviction I brought back in 1870 from a rapid examination of nearly the same localities as those which have been recently visited by Mr. Bialoveski. The deposits of ancient glaciers may be observed, far more to the south, on the ranges of Tarbagatay and Saoor, the southern limits of the basin of the Irtysh. There are not now any glaciers on Tarbagatay, but some sporadic snow-spots. As to the range of Saoor, it attains to the height of 12,500 feet above the level of the sea, and snow always lies there in large masses. But there are no glaciers, properly so called. Along the northern declivities of these mountains there are at many places large deposits of boulder- or cobble-stones, in great part composed of granite, which forms the crest of both ridges. The boulders are of various rocks and of different sizes, from an inch to some feet in diameter ; and they are mingled together in complete confusion, the small boulders being generally well rounded, the large ones more angular, and the intervals being crammed with clay and sand without any traces of layer or assortment. The relation of these deposits to the neighbouring defiles is in most cases incomprehensible. Only at the sources of the River Kenderlik the boulders lie as if the ice which had carried them down had but lately melted. Here, instead of the sections of defiles in the form of the letter V, we find, beginning from the elevation of nearly 3000 feet above the level of the sea, a broad defile with transverse section in the form of the letter U. The walls (or cheeks, as the Russians call them) of this defile are composed of inclined layers of sandstone and lime- stone (probably Tertiary deposits), replaced, nearer to the crests, at first by diorite and subsequently by granite. The bottom of the defile is filled up with a close layer of boulder-stones, many of which reach some Io feet in diameter, the greater number being of gray granite with dark ellipsoidal inclusions. Just the same granite forms the crests of Saoor. To the height of 8500 feet the defile rises steeply enough ; but after this limit the inclina- tion becomes more faint. Higher up, the defile grows broader, and at the height of 10,000 feet it is stopped up by two deep valleys crammed with close snow, and surrounded by steep snowy peaks. The full length of the layer of boulders reaches some ten English miles, with a direction from south to north. The Saoor chain is a post-Tertiary elevation, but the Altai range certainly arose at a most remote time. It must have formed dry land since the Cretaceous formation at least. Here might be found the solution of the question whether there was on the earth an ice period more ancient than that of which we have evidence in the ice-deposits of Europe and North America. Some facts observed by myself seem to me to show that the ques- tion must be answered in the affirmative. E. MICHAELIS Oostkamenogorsk, November 3 How to make Colourless Specimens of Plants to be preserved in Alcohol Many plants assume a brown colour when placed in alcohol for preservation. The colouring-matter is partly soluble in the alcohol, partly not, and is the product of the oxidation of colour- less substances of the cell-sap. This unpleasant change may be prevented in a very easy manner by using acid alcohol. To 100 parts of common stronz alcohol add 2 parts of the ordinary con- centrated solution of hydrochloric acid of the shops. Parts of plants brought into this liquid while yet living will become absolutely colourless, or nearly so, after the alcohol has been sufficiently often renewed. Such parts as already had a brown colour before, being brought into the mixture, usually retain this character. By this method colourless specimens may be made of such plants as Orobanche and Monotrepa, which, when treated in the ordinary manner, always become of a dark-brown tint. There are only some species with coriaceous leaves that cannot be treated with success with the acid alcohol; colourless specimens of these must be made by plunging them into boiling alcohol. The acidity of the mixture here recommended is nearly o'2 Aeq. A greater quantity of acid is neither noxious, nor does it improve the effect. A lesser quantity was in many cases found not to be sufficiently efficacious. The specimens may remain for months, perhaps for ever, in the acid alcohol without any injury. If the alcohol, after having been used, is to be decolourised by distillation, the acid should be neutralised by a previously-deter- mined quantity of ammonia or carbonate of soda. Old specimens, which have become brown in consequence of being treated in the ordinary manner, cannot, as a rule, be de- colourised by using the acid alcohol. This, however, may often be done by adding to the alcohol some chlorate of potassa and some sulphuric acid. HuGo DE VRIES University of Amsterdam, December 1 Virtual Velocities De MorGAn in his ‘‘ Differential and Integral Calculus,’ p- 501, says :— © The principle of virtual velocities, like all other fundamental theorems, has had no proof given of it in the admission of which all writers agree. From its universality and simplicity it may be supposed to be rather the expression of some axiomatic truth than the proper consequence of first principles by means of a long course of regular deduction.” Would you kindly allow me to submit to your readers the following attempt to base the principle of virtual velocities and D’Alembert’s principle on easily admitted axioms ? (1) The power of a force imparted to any molecule is (or is measured by) the product of the force itself, and the effective component in the line of the force, of the velocity of the molecule to which the force is imparted, and is positive or negative accordingly as the force and the effective component of the velocity are in the same or opposite directions. (2) The power of a system of forces, whether imparted to the 150 NATURE [Dec. 16, 1886 same or different molecules, is the algebraical sum of the powers of the individual forces. From the parallelogram of motions it follows that— Prop. I. ‘the power of the re-ultant of a system of forces imparted to a single molecule is equal to the power of the forces. Whence— Cor. 1. If the forces imparted to a molecule are in equi- librium, their power for any actual or hypothetical motion of the molecule is zero. Cor. 2. If the forces imparted to a molecule are not in equi- librium, their power for any motion in the direction of the resultant is positive. Definition. —A system of molecules is said to be passive for a given motion when for that motion the power of its internal forces is zero. Prop. II. The power of the external forces of a system for actual or hypothetical motions-for which the system is passive is equal to the power of the resultant motions of the several molecules of the system. For (by Prop. I.) the power of the resultant forces for each {and therefore for all) of the molecules is equal to the power of the external together with that of the internal forces, but the latter, in. the case of the entire system, is zero by hypothesis. Cor. 1. If external forces be imparted to a passive system at rest in a given position such that for any hypothetical motion through that position the power of such forces is zero, the system will remain at rest. For if motion ensued, the resultant and therefore (Prop. I.) the external forces would have positive power for such motion, which is contrary to hypothesis. Cor. 2. If external forces be imparted to a passive system at rest, and be in equilibrium, the power of these forces for any hypothetical motion of the system through this position of rest is zero. For as the whole system is at rest each molecule is at rest, and the resultant forces of the molecules are all of them zero, whence their power and therefore that of the external forces (Prop. I.) is zero. It will be seen that Prop. II. is (or is equivalent to) D’.4/em- bert’s Principle, and its two corollaries constitute what is called the Principle of Virtual Velocities. It may be urged that this merely relegates the difficulty to determining for what motions systems are passive. This really, however, presents no difficulty, for it is obvious that a system is passive generally when its internal forces neither tend to pro- duce or destroy kinetic energy in the system; so that (1) rigid systems are passive for all m stions consistent with their rigidity ; (2) all systems are passive for rigid motion ; (3) inelastic and theoretically perfect funicular systems are passive ; and (4) in- elastic and theoretically perfect fluid systems are passive, &c. D’Alembert’s principle and the principle of virtual velocities ought to form the basis of that part of kinetics which involves the idea of the transmission of force, whether the result is moti n or equilibrium. D’Alembert’s principle is the most general. The principle of virtual velocities is to it what Maclaurin’s theorem is to Taylor’s. The form in which it is given in Prop. II. above is more convenient for use than that in which it is generally stated, viz. that the resultant forces reversed balance the impressed forces. ; Lagrange’s proof of the principle of virtual velocities and its modifications are altogether too artificial and unsatisfactory, Cape of Good Hope F,. GUTHRIE Recent Gales THE gales of October 16 and December 8 varied cons‘derably. In the former gale there were constant oscillations, from ‘004 to ‘oro of an inch, every 30 seconds between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m, ; whilst in the December gale there were no oscillations, but a constant fall that was most rapid during squalls. The difference between the dry and wet bulb thermometers in the October gale was only a quarter of a degree, whilst in that of December it exceeded from 23° to 34° (or a difference of from thirteen to eighteen times as great). During the gale in October, 1°160 inches of rain fell, and in that of December 0°758 of an inch. The lowest reading (corrected for temperature) of the baro- meter at 530 feet above the sea was on October 16, 28019, and on December 8, 27°693 inches (this occurred at 8 p.m. ). The barometer reduced to sea-level was Jess than 28°5 inches from 11.30 a.m. of the 8th till 8.15 a.m. of the oth (or nearly 21 hours). The October gale was W.S.W., and the December gale W. Barometer é Hour reducedto Temp. Wet bulb Diff. sea-level Oct. 15, 4.15 p.m. 28°880 49°7 49°5 o-2 16, 12.15 a.m. 28°S11 478 47°6 o'2 2.15 5, 28 °699 7-45 35 28°591 47-2 470 o2 Su30l ss 28°668 47°7 475 o'2 TOO 5; 28°744 47'8 476 o'2 2.45 p.m. 28°941 47°8 476 o-2 5-Ol ats; 29042 478 46°8 1'0 Dec: 85% 2.20.a.m. 29°212 3-39 55 29°144 BS) 3p 28°596 TOLON hs 28°561 40°3 38°7 16 2.0 p.m. 28°431 40°3 37°55 2°38 , 3-30 ,, 287378 ~ 3731) 3457 wee 35 23'287 7aBOm tas 28°278 ” 28273 39°7 37°0 27 Ce) oh 28286 9, 12.30 a.m. 28°327 37°0 33°4 3°6 2.45 55 28°297 5:50 5, 28°342 . HOO). 55 28 642 42°0 38°7 33 7°0 p.m. 28°987 Io, 10°0 a.m. 29°339 41°6 386 30 The last gale commenced at 1 a.m. on the 8th (with constant squalls of hail and rain), and was most violent from 4.45 p.m. till 8.30 p.m. Thunder and lightning occurred from ri a.m. till 11.30 a.m. 3 and from 4 p.m. till 4.40 p.m. on the 8th, and from 1.35 a.m. till 2.45 a.m. on the oth. Much damage was done to house-roofs. Very few trees were blown down here, for in this exposed situation trees are better prepared to resist gales. About 11 feet of the top of a large specimen of Picea Webbiana was destroyed. E, J. Lowe Shirenewton Hall, Chepstow, December 11 Note on the Manipulation of Glass containing Lead In reading Mr. Shenstone’s very useful little treatise on glass- blowing (reviewed in NATURE of the 9th inst., p. 123), I have failed to notice any mention of an expedient which I have found very useful for dealing with English flint-glass containing much lead silicate ; although I greatly prefer for most purposes the readily fusible ‘‘soda-glass”” used probably everywhere except in England.! OF course, all ordinary flames, such as those of the Bunsen burner and the blow-pipe, consist, in part, of reducing gases which cause the separation of lead from glass introduced into them. This reduction can be prevented or remedied, as Mr. Shenstone says, by holding the glass a little in front of the visible flame ; but there is in this region hardly enough heat to do all that is required in the manipulation of the glass. If, however, oxygen instea of air is used ina Herapath blow- pipe, the resulting flame has so little reducing power, that lead- glass can be safely held well within it ; and this is the flame that I always use in dealing with such glass. 2 It is true that oxygen is, at present, rather more expensive than air ; but most, if not all, laboratories have a supply of the gas, either in a gas-holder or a bag, for the optical lantern and other purposes; and with it the manipulation of lead-glass becomes wha: shavi ig is, in certain advertisements, sazd to be— “a luxury.” H. G. MADAN Eton College P.S.—The oxy-coal-gas blow-pipe is also extremely useful for difficultly-fusible ‘* combustion-tubing.” Bulbs of fair size can be blown, and side-junctions, &c., made in this glass, with almost the same facility as in ordinary ‘‘ soda-glass.” 1 The dest glass of this kind is that used by Geissler, Alvergniat, and others, for making their marvellous specimens of glass-work ; but I doubt if : glass of the same excellence, in regard to fusibility and freedom from any tendency to devitrify, is generally procurable. . Dec. 16, 1886] NATURE I51I Fireball of December 4, 1886 THE fireball seen at Stonyhurst College, near Blackburn, on December 4, gh. 16m., and described in NATURE of December 9, p- 133, was observed here as follows :-— 1886, December 4, gh. 17m., meteor equal 2. Path from 184° + 52° to195° + 47°, ratherswift. At the point 180° + 503° it left a short brilliant streak of about 4°, which remained visible to the eye for 1} minute. The meteor gave a distinct flash in the moonlight, and the streak was projected just where the maximum outburst took place. I have made a preliminary comparison of the observations recorded at the two places, from which it appears that the fire- ball, when first seen at Bristol, was some 64 miles vertically over a point of the earth’s surface near Farndale, in Yorkshire. Travelling to south west, it evolved an enduring light-streak when 49 miles high, near Thirsk, and disappeared near Otley, at an elevation of 28 miles. These values are derived chiefly from the Bristol observation, but they are somewhat uncertain, because the meteor was at a great distance from that city, and appeared close upon the sensible horizon. According to the Stonyhurst path, the figures are less, the streak being computed at a height of 42 miles near Thirsk, and the end point of the meteor, near Otley, is indi- cated at only 19 miles above the earth, The observations are extremely discordant in altitude. The exact place of the streak is given by both observers, and if we adopt a mean height of 45 miles we cannot be far wrong. The apparent radiant-point derived from the two paths is at 137° + 59°. Before seeing the Stonyhurst observation, I attri- buted the fireball to a shower near 8 Ursze Majoris, at 162° + 55°, from which I saw many swift streak-leaving meteors at the end of November and beginning of December, both in 1885 and 1886, I have a strong suspicion the observed paths of the fire- ball are slightly in error, both as to direction and length, and that the radiant should be near 8 Ursa. In this case the motion would have been from near Guisborough to Harewood at heights of about 68 and 27 miles, but this does not differ materially from the course previously assigned. In presence of the doubts as to the fireball’s exact path in the air, it is most desirable to hear of further observations, and re-investigate it. W. F. DENNING Bristol, December 11 THE DISPERSION OF PLANTS BY BIRDS “Pee part taken by birds in the dispersion of plants is one of great interest in view of the diffi- culty of accounting for the appearance of certain species in remote islands, no less than in localities nearer to each other, or divided by such barriers as mountain-ranges or deep seas. This subject has, more or less, engaged the attention of botanical travellers from the time when Darwin published his classical “Journal of Researches,” nearly fifty years ago, down to _ the publication of Mr. Hemsley’s “ Botany of the Cha/- lenger Expedition,” Part I., which was issued as lately as last year. In the careful summary of plants probably distributed by birds, Zoc. czt. pp. 44-49, it is mentioned that seeds may be carried by birds in either of two ways. First, by seeds, especially those provided with barbs and hooks, attaching themselves to the feathers of birds, and, in the case of aquatic or burrowing birds, being embedded in mud and thus carried accidentally outside ; or, secondly, by seeds swallowed by frugivorous birds being for a time lodged within, and dejected after- wards in such a state as to be capable of germination. My object now is not to treat generally of this subject, but to place on record two remarkable and striking in- stances where seeds carried and dispersed by birds have come immediately under my own observation. The ex- amples which I shall here describe will, I believe, show clearly that birds are capable of acting as very effective agents in the dispersal of plants, and that the results are so apparent as to be placed beyond reasonable doubt. In cases where seeds of a light character are provided with barbs or hooks, they are well adapted for attaching themselves to passing objects, and are most favourably placed for dispersal by means of birds. The particular plant with barbed seeds which I describe under this category has not, I believe, been mentioned before; but it is deserving of notice, as it fully meets all the require- ments incidental to this form of dispersal, and, moreover, I have had, for some years, very favourable opportunities of observing its behaviour. This plant is Uncénia jamaic- ensis, Pers. (Cyperaceze), which grows in damp places in the mountains of Jamaica, at elevations of 5000 to 6000 feet. Itis generally found overhanging small pools of stagnant water or on banks of mountain rivulets. Its slender tapering spikes, when ripe, literally bristle with long exserted rachilla, each shaped something like a shepherd’s crook (hamate), but with the hooked part so closely fitting and elastic, that, if drawn along the back of the hand, it would grasp and draw out the finest hairs. Now, such places as are affected by this Uncinia are also the frequent resort of numerous birds that come there to drink or bathe, or to seek coolness and shade. In the case of migratory birds, and especially those that cover long distances in their flight, the high lands are generally those first touched. This is doubtless owing to the eleva- tion at which they fly to escape surface-currents or local objects. I have often noticed birds from the north (the United States) on their way south, and again birds from the south returning to the north in early spring, fre- quenting the high lands of Jamaica, and resting there for a time before continuing their journey. Some such birds have been easily caught by hand, so exhausted were they with their long flight. In two instances I have found small migratory birds so completely entangled in the hooks of the Uncinia (Gardener's Chronicle, 1831, p. 780) that they were unable to extricate themselves ; and, unless set at liberty at the time, would probably have died in that situation. In these instances the hooks of the Uncinia overstepped their proper function ; for, obviously, no benefit would arise to the plant from the death of the birds, but only in the removal of the seed to another place. Larger birds, of course, would not be caught ; but on the other hand, if they came within reach of the Uncinia, they could hardly get away without detaching a large number of the fruits and transporting them wherever they went. Inthe case of the Uncinia, there is present nearly every condition necessary to secure a very com- plete dispersion of its fruits. The plant, in the first place, is possessed of light portable seeds easily carried about from one locality to another ; in the second place, the seeds are provided with highly specialised hooks which effec- tually grasp anything that comes within their reach ; and lastly, the plant affects just those places which are visited by birds, and seldom fails to secure a sure and trusty carrier. It follows, as a matter of course, that Uncinia Jamaicensis is found plentifully distributed in the track of migratory birds, and is found in similar situations in the mountains on the mainland in Central America, Venezuela, Ecuador, &c. So much for seeds with barbs and hooks. We now come to the second class of seeds, namely, those which are swallowed by frugivorous birds and dejected in a state suitable for germination. The most striking ex- ample I know of the dispersion of such seeds, and of the results which immediately follow, are shown in connection with the pimento industry of Jamaica, which, as shown below, depends entirely for its existence on the offices of frugivorous birds. The pimento of commerce is the dried fruit of the pimento allspice, or Jamaica pepper-tree (Pimenta vulgaris). No other country supplies this article (although the tree itself is widely distributed both in the West Indies and on the mainland), and the value of the exports of pimento from Jamaica have reached (in 1880) a total of 100,000/. This is probably the largest spice industry in the world, and, to repeat what is mentioned above, it is wholly dependent upon the action 152 NATURE [Dec. 16, 1886 of frugivorous birds. In Lunan’s “ Hortus Jamaicensis,” vol. ii. p. 67, published about the end of last century, it is stated that “ the usual method in forming a new pimento plantation or ‘pimento walk’ is nothing more than to appropriate a piece of woodland in the neighbourhood of a plantation already existing ; or, in a country where the scattered trees are found in a native state, the woods of which being fallen, the trees are suffered to remain on the ground till they become rotten and perish. In the course of twelve months after the first seasons (rains), abundance of young pimento plants will be found growing vigorously in all parts of the land, being without doubt produced from ripe berries scattered there by the birds, while the fallen trees, &c., afford them both shelter and shade.” Ina foot-note it is added that “birds eagerly devour the ripe seeds of the pimento, and, muting them, propagate these trees in all parts of the woods. It is thought that the seeds passing through them undergo some fermentation which fits them better for vegetation than those gathered immediately from the tree.” The present plan for forming pimento plantations in Jamaica is exactly as described above. In fact, the planters firmly believe that no other plan is likely to produce good pimento walks, although it has been shown by experiments in the Botanical Gardens that by careful treatment plants of pimento can be raised in nurseries in large numbers, exactly as any other economic plants. It remains, how- ever, that all the present pimento plantations in Jamaica have been formed by the action of frugivorous birds, and to this agency alone we are indebted for the commercial supply of a most valuable and wholesome spice. Kew, December 3 D. Morris SOUNDING A CRATER Pees following is a brief account of my third ascent of Asama Yama, an active volcano about 75 miles north-west from Tokio. My first ascent was made in the spring of 1877. The time we stayed on the summit, which is about 8800 feet above sea-level, was exceedingly short. The crater looked like a bottomless pit, with per- pendicular sides. It was audibly roaring, and belching forth enormous volumes of sulphurous vapour, threaten- ing suffocation to any living thing they might envelop. The drifting of these vapours across the snow, with which the upper part of the mountain was covered, had ren- dered it so bitter that we were unable to use it as a means of quenching our thirst. A quantity of this snow was carried to the bottom of the mountain in a handkerchief, where it was bottled, and carried to Tokio for chemical examination. The examination, however, only yielded pure water, from which it was concluded that the lique- faction of the snow had been accomplished by heating over a fire, and whatever it was that had given the snow its peculiarly bitter taste had been evaporated. My next visit to Asama was in the spring of 1886. One of the chief objects of this expedition was to satisfy a curiosity which had arisen with regard to the depth of the crater. Many visitors to the summit reported that at favourable moments, when the wind had blown the steam to one side, they had been able to see downwards to an enormous depth. One set of visitors, who had remarkable opportunities for making observations, were convinced that if the crater was not as deep as the moun- tain is high above the plain from which it rises (5800 feet), it must at least be from 1500 to 2000 feet in depth. Al- though I had provided myself with sufficient wire and rope to solve this problem, owing to the inclemency of the weather and the quantity of snow then lying on the mountain the expedition proved a failure. One of our number had to give up the attempt to reach the summit at about 6000 feet above sea-level, while I and my re- maining companion only reached it with great difficulty. Our stay was very short. The wind, which was at times so | strong that we were often compelled to lie down, ren- dered it impossible to approach the crater, and after a few minutes’ rest we beat a retreat, worn out with fatigue, across the snow-fields, towards our starting-point. Two months after this, a visitor who ascended the mountain by moonlight reported that the crater was only 200 feet in depth, and that at the bottom there was a glowing surface. A second visitor, Colonel H. S. Palmer, R.E., estimated the depth as being between 500 and 600 feet. This estimate was based on the convergence of the walls of the crater, which he saw to the depth of about 300 feet, and the diameter of the crater, which he estimated by walking round a semi-circumference as about 370 yards. Previous estimates of the diameter had been 200 yards, three-fourths of a mile, and 1000 metres. The Japanese say that the periphery is 3# miles. These last estimates, as pointed out by Colonel Palmer, are nearly in the ratio of 10, 81, 85, and 150! These wildly discordant results as to the dimensions of Asama, and the increasing curiosity on this question, led me, in conjunction with Messrs. Dun, Glover, and Stevens, to face the fatigue of ascending Asama for the third time. We left our resting-place, Kutoukake, at the foot of the mountain, at 4.30 a.m. on the morning of October 2, and in company with five coolies we reached the summit at I1a.m. Aftera short rest, we commenced our measuring operations, the general arrangements of which were en- tirely the suggestion of Mr. Dun. When these are ex- plained, they are no more remarkabie than the manner in which Columbus caused the egg to stand ; but before Mr. Dun made his suggestion, the various schemes which were proposed would, to my mind, have been unpractical and unsatisfactory. One suggestion was to roll a cannon-ball, with a string attached, down the crater; another was to shoot an arrow ‘carrying a string into the hole; a third suggestion was to fly a kite across the crater ; &c., &c. Mr. Dun’s method, as carried out, was as follows :— First, a light rope some 500 yards in length was attached to a block of rock lying on a high portion of the rim of the crater. Next, this rope, which I shall call the cross- line, was carried round the edge of the crater for about 150 or 200 yards. Here a heavy brass ring was tied upon it, and through the ring was passed the end of a copper wire coiled on a large reel. This was the sounding-line. Close to the ring, a string, which I shall call the guy- rope, was made fast to the cross-line. This being com- pleted, the cross-line was then carried on round the rim of the crater until it reached an eminence, as near as we could judge, opposite to the point where the other end of it was attached to the block of rock. After this, the same line was jerked clear of pinnacles and boulders lying round the edge of the crater. The cross-line now formed two sides of a triangle, stretching across the crater from where the ring and lowering apparatus were to two points diametrically opposite to each other. By letting out the guy-rope, the cross-rope could be stretched until it formed a diameter to the crater, with the ring in the middle. The setting of these ropes into position was a matter of no little difficulty. Furst was the fact that clouds of vapours not only prevented us from seeing from station to station, but also from seeing far out into the crater. Secondly, on account of the hissing and bubbling noises in the crater itself, we could only communicate with each other by sound for short distances. And, thirdly, there was the difficulty of clearing the cross-rope from the ragged edges of the crater, which involved considerable risks in climb- ing. All being ready, word was passed along to haul on the cross-rope ; and, as it tightened, the guy-line was let out, together with the sounding-line, running parallel to it, but passing through the ring. Owing to the twisting of the cross-line by tension, and the consequent revolu- tion of the ring, the wire was broken, and the first attempt at sounding failed. This difficulty was overcome by attaching the guy-rope to the ringitself. Very luckily, a i ee —-.llle ——— Dec. 16, 1886] NATURE 153 owing to the sounding-wire having been entangled in the cross-rope by the twisting before it broke, the apparatus it carried was recovered. This apparatus consisted of an iron wire, to which were attached a number of metals of low fusibility, like antimony, zinc, &c., together with pieces of wood, india-rubber, sealing-wax, &c. By the melting, burning, or fusing of some of these, it was hoped to ob- tain a rough idea of the temperature. Above these came a small net, containing what was christened the “auto- matic chemical laboratory.” This consisted of pieces of blue and red litmus-paper, Brazil-wood paper, and lead paper. With the assistance of my colleague, Dr. E. Divers, I had planned a number of chemical tests ; but from previous experience I had learnt the impossibility of carrying out anything but the simplest of experiments when working on the summit of a live volcano. At the second sounding, at a distance of about 100 feet from the edge, bottom (side?) was reached at 441 feet. The wire of metals, &c., came up without change, farther than the softening and bending of the sealing-wax. The automatic laboratory had a strong smell of the action of acid vapours. The blue litmus was turned red, and the lead paper was well darkened. Assuming the lead paper to have been blackened by sulphuretted hydrogen, then, as pointed out to me by Dr. Divers, the absence of this gas at the surface, and the presence of sulphurous acid, might be due to the decomposition of sulphuretted hydro- gen by oxidation or by sulphurous acid in the presence of steam. The presence of sulphuretted hydrogen would indicate a relatively low temperature. At the third sounding, the line, which was a copper wire, gave way at a depth of about 200 feet, carrying with it a mercurial weight thermometer and other apparatus which I had reserved for what I hoped to be the best sounding. The fourth and last sounding was made, as measured on the guy-rope, at a distance of about 300 feet from the edge. In this case, the line, which was strong twine, after striking bottom when nearly 800 feet of it had run out suddenly became slack. On hauling up, 755 feet were recovered. The end of this line was thoroughly carbonised, and several feet were charred. Assuming that the guy-rope was paid out at an angle of 45°, we may conclude that the depth at this particular place was at least 700 feet. It is probable that the greatest depth is about 750 feet A final experiment was to attach a stone to the end of the cross-rope, and then throw it into the crater, with the hope of hauling at least a portion of it up the almost perpendicular face on the other side. Unfortunately the line caught, and, in the endeavour to loosen it, it was broken. Before we left the summit, we were very fortunate in obtaining views of one side of the bottom of the crater. This we did by cautiously crawling out upon an over- hanging rock, and then, while lying on our stomachs, putting our heads over the edge. The perpendicular side Opposite to us appeared to consist of thick horizontally- stratified bands of rock of a white colour. The bottom of the pit itself was white, and covered with boulders and debris. Small jets of steam were hissing from many places in the sides of the pit, while on our left, where we had been sounding, large volumes of choking vapours were surging up in angry clouds. After this we descended the mountain, reaching our hotel at 8 p.m., after 15 hours’ absence. This concludes the narrative of a holiday excursion, partly undertaken with the object of making a few scien- tific observations. The results which were obtained are undoubtedly very few, while the labour which was ex- pended and the risks which were incurred were very great. All that we did was to solve a problem chiefly of local interest, to learn a little about the nature of the gases which are given off by one of the most active vol- } canoes in this country, and to enjoy the spectacle of a phenomenon which it is the lot of very few to witness When a stranger gazes for the first time down upon the burnt and rugged sides of an apparently bottomless pit, which, while belching out enormous clouds of steam, roars and moans, he certainly receives an impression never to be forgotten. The recorded eruptions of Asama took place in the years 687, 1124 or 1126, 1527, 1532, 1596, 1645, 1648, 1649, 1652, 1657, 1659, 1661, 1704, 1708, 1711, 1719, 1721, 1723, 1729, 1733, 1783, and 1869. This last eruption was feeble, but the eruption of 1783 was one of the most frightful on record. Rocks, from 40 to 80 feet in some of their dimensions, were hurtled through the air in all direc- tions. Towns and villages were buried. One stone is said to have measured 264 by 120 feet. It fell in a river, and looked like an island. Records of this eruption are still to be seen, in the form of enormous blocks of stone scattered over the Oiwake plain, and in a lava-stream 63 kilometres in length. JOHN MILNE Tokio, October 10 THE MATHEMATICAL TRIPOS} Il. Rye RY important regulations came into effect in 1848. The examination, as thus constituted, underwent no further alteration till 1873, and the first three days remain practically unchanged at the present time. The duration of the examination was extended from six to eight days, the first three days being assigned to the elementary and the last five to the higher parts of mathe- matics. After the first three days there was an interval of eight days (soon afterwards increased to ten), and at the end of this interval the Moderators and Examiners issued a list of those who had so acquitted themselves as to deserve mathematical honours. Only those whose names were contained in this list were admitted to the five days, and after the conclusion of the examination the Moderators and Examiners, taking inco account the whole eight days, brought out the list arranged in order of merit. No provision was made for any further examination cor- responding to the examination of the Brackets, which, though forming part of the previous scheme, had been discontinued for some time. A very important part of the scheme was the limitation, by a schedule, of the sub- jects of examination in the first three days, and of the manner in which the questions were to be answered ; the methods of analytical geometry and differential calculus being excluded. In all the subjects contained in this schedule, examples and questions arising directly out of the propositions were to be introduced into the papers, in addition to the propositions themselves. Taking the whole eight days, the examination lasted 44} hours, 12 hours of which were devoted to problems. In the same year as these regulations came into force, the Board of Mathematical Studies (consisting of the mathematical Professors and the Moderators and Ex- aminers for the current and two preceding years) was con- stituted by the Senate. Although the new regulations had so strittly limited the subjects, and parts of the sub- jects, which could be set in the first three days, they had imposed no limitation whatever upon those which could be set in the last five days, the subjects of examination appearing in the schedule simply as pure mathematics and natural philosophy. Accordingly, the first matter to which the newly-constituted Board turned its attention was that of restricting the subjects on which questions should be set in the last five days of the examination. It becomes necessary, therefore, at this point, to refer 1 Address delivered before the London Mathematical Society by the President, Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher, M.A., F.R.S., on vacating the chair, November rr, 1886. Continued from p. 106. 154 briefly to the range of subjects which were included in the examination. Of the nature of the questions proposed prior to 1828, the first year in which all the papers were printed, very little can be known except what can be gathered from the problem papers and the specimens of the other papers that have been preserved ;1 but there can be no doubt that their character was determined by the ordinary Cambridge treatises then in use, which, it is well known, were far behind the corresponding treatises published on the Continent. Woodhouse’s “ Principles of Analytical Calculation” (1803), and “ Plane and Spherical Trigono- metry ” (1809) are the earliest indications of the introduc- tion of the analytical element into the mathematics of the University ; a more decided impulse in this direction was given by the translation of Lacroix’s “ Differential and Integral Calculus” by Herschel, Peacock, and Bab- bage (1817), followed by Peacock’s “Examples on the Differential and Integral Calculus,” and Herschel’s “ Ex- amples on the Calculus of Finite Differences” (1820). The reform in the mathematical studies of the Univer- sity which was effected by Herschel, Peacock,and Babbage, is well known. It is to them that we mainly owe the revival of mathematics in this country, and the restora- tion of intercourse with the rest of Europe after three- quarters of a century of isolation. Peacock was Mode- rator in 1817, and he ventured to introduce the symbol of differentiation into the examination, his colleague, however, retaining the old fluxional notation. The old system made its appearance once more in 1818, but in 1819 Peacock was Moderator again, with a colleague who shared his views, and the change was fully accomplished. The introduction of the notation and language of the differential calculus into the Senate House examina- tion forms an important landmark in the history of Cambridge mathematics. From that time onward the University began to make up slowly but surely the ground she had lost; step by step the analytical pro- cesses and methods superseded the older geometrical modes of treatment ; and each year saw a substantial in- crease in the range of subjects included in the course of study. Only second in importance to the revolution effected by the substitution of the differential for the fluxional calculus was the rise of analytical geometry in the first thirty years of the century ; and, considering the amount of attention that this subject has received at Cambridge in the last fifty years, and the accessions that have been made in this country to the analytical theory of curves and surfaces, a peculiar interest attaches to the introduc- tion into the University of the algebraic treatment of geo- metry and the early stages of its development. The first edition of Wood’s “ Algebra,” which appeared in 1795, contained, as Part IV., a chapter of thirty pages ‘Cn the Application of Algebra to Geometry,” in which are given the equations of the straight line, ellipse, cissoid, conchoid, | and other curves, the construction of equations, &c. This chapter remained unchanged in the ninth edition (1830), and seems to have formed the only introduction to ana- lytical geometry existing in the University until 1826, when Hamilton? published his “ Principles of Analytical Geometry, designed for the use of Students,in the Uni- versity.” This was not the first English treatise on ana- lytical geometry, as Lardner’s “ Algebraic Geometry ” was published, three years earlier, in 1823; but it was the first Cambridge book, and the first which included solid geometry. The problem papers from 1800 to 1820 show that at the beginning of the century analytical geo- metry was always represented to some extent, though scarcely as an independent subject, most of the questions relating to areas, loci, &c., in which but little more than * The problem papers were printed from 1779; but only those of the present century are accessible in the Cambridge University Calendars and other publications. 2 Late Dean of Salisbury ; born April 3, 1794; died February 7, 1880. NATURE | the mode of representation by means of ordinates and abscissee was involved. Hymers published his “ Ana- lytical Geometry of Three Dimensions” in 1830, and his “ Conic Sections ” in 1837. The latter at once superseded Hamilton’s treatise, and remained the standard work on the subject for many years. In applied mathematics the character of the questions proposed was largely influenced by the publication of Whewell’s “ Mechanics ” (1819), Whewell’s “ Dynamics ” (1823), Coddington’s “Optics” (1823), Woodhouse’s “Plane Astronomy” (1821-23), and Airy’s “ Tracts” (1826). A second edition of this last work, which appeared in 1831, contained a tract on the “ Undulatory Theory of Light,’ a subject which was freely represented in the examination for many years. Not only were the ques- tions modified, in character and range, by the publication of new mathematical treatises in the University, but they were also affected to a certain extent by some of the pro- fessorial lectures. At this time, too, the Smith’s Prize examination exerted a beneficial effect upon the Senate House examination, certain classes of questions which were originally introduced into the former having shortly afterwards been admitted into the latter. Between 1830 and 1840, questions in definite integrals, Laplace’s coeffi- cients, electricity, magnetism, and heat were also intro- duced. There were no regulations of any kind, and the responsibility of introducing innovations and alterations rested solely with the Moderators and Examiners. The uncertainty as to the subjects that the examination would embrace, and the want of any due notice of any extension of them, were found to be serious inconveniences to the higher class of students, although, as has been already stated, the introduction of a new subject had been gene- rally preceded by the publication of a work by a Cam- bridge mathematician, in which it was treated in a manner adapted to the examination. The Board of Mathematical Studies was created by the Senate on October 31, 1848, and in May of the following year they issued a report to the Senate in which, after giving a short review of the past and existing state of mathematical studies in the University, they recom- mended that, considering the great number of subjects occupying the attention of the candidates and the doubt existing as to the range of subjects from which questions might be proposed, the mathematical theories of elec- tricity, magnetism, and heat should not be admitted as subjects of examination. In the following year they issued a second report in which they recommended the omis- sion of elliptic integrals, Laplace’s coefficients, capillary attraction, the figure of the earth considered as hetero- geneous, &c., besides certain limitations of the questions in lunar and planetary theory, &c. In making these recommendations the Board expressed their opinion that they were only giving definite form to what had become the practice in the examination, and were only putting before the candidates such results as they might them- selves have deduced by the study of the Senate House papers of the last few years. The Board also recom- mended that the papers containing book-work and riders. should be shortened. From 1823 onwards, the examination was conducted in each year by four examiners—the two Moderators and the two Examiners, the Moderators of one year be- coming as a matter of course the Examiners of the next. Thus of the four examiners in each year two had taken part in the examination of the previous year. The con- tinuity of the examination was well kept up by this arrangement ; but perhaps it had the effect of causing its traditions to be rather too punctiliously observed, the papers of each year being, as regards the subjects in- cluded, exact counterparts of the corresponding papers of the previous year. The resolutions of the Board in 1849-50 were not binding on the successive Moderators and Examiners up to 1872, but each year they seem to [Dec. 16, 1886 il Pin er ade - presented to Parliament. Dec. 16, 1886] _ have felt themselves bound to follow the precedent of their predecessors, so that no new subjects were intro- duced. One would suppose from an examination of the papers set that those of the last five days must have been framed in accordance with a schedule as precise and detailed as that which governed the first three. In 1865 the Board recommended that after 1866 La- place’s coefficients and the figure of the earth considered as heterogeneous should be included in the examination, but this appears to be the only extension of the range of sub- jects recommended by the Board during the time that the regulations of 1848 remained in force. The period that followed the constitution of the Mathe- matical Board was one of activity in the whole University. The first examinations of the Moral Sciences Tripos and of the Natural Sciences Tripos were held in 1851. In 1850 a Royal Commission was issued to inquire into the University and Colleges, and in 1852 their Report was In consequence of this Report, a Bill was introduced into Parliament, which received the Royal assent in 1856; and, under its powers new statutes were framed, both for the University and the Colleges. Amid all these changes the Mathematical Board, though not very active, was not idle. The subjects which chiefly occupied its attention were the alteration of the date of the first three days from January to the previous June (as by recent changes the poll-men were examined in June, and so received their degrees seven months before the mathematical honour men), and the introduction of the vzvd@ voce element into the examina- tion. Neither of these innovations, though frequently discussed and finally recommended by the Board, was received with much favour in the University. With re- gard to the latter, the opinion seems now to have become general that an admixture of the v/vd@ voce element, how- ever valuable it may be in the lecture-room, is useless, or even worse, in testing the proficiency of candidates with the view to arranging them in strict order of merit. The change of time from January to June was at length effected, as will be seen, by the regulations which came into operation in 1882. In 1866 the attention of the Board was directed to the exclusion of certain important branches of mathematics from the studies of the University, owing to the fact that they were not represented in the Tripos examination. The rewards attending a high place in the Tripos were so great that the reading of most of the best men was directed almost wholly to this end ; it was therefore prac- tically impossible to introduce new mathematical subjects into the University without assigning to them some place in the Tripos. Now, although the recommendations of 1849-50 had curtailed the range of subjects, the course had nevertheless extended itself in some directions— where the name of the subject permitted of such exten- sion—and especially in analytical geometry and higher algebra. The fact of this extension taking place in cer- tain subjects, while others were wholly omitted, alone sufficed to show the need of some revision of the limita- tions imposed upon the subjects that might be set. The Board, after careful consideration, came to the conclusion that the time had come when it was desirable to allow the candidates a certain option with respect to the higher branches of mathematics, and that this could be effected by increasing the number of subjects and arranging them in several divisions over which the marks were distributed in a known proportion. Each candidate would be at liberty to devote himself to such of the divisions as he thought most advantageous, there being nothing to pre- vent his taking up all the divisions, if it were possible for him to do so. In a Report dated May 8, 1867, the Board gave expression to these views, and recommended a scheme for the five days, according to which the sub- jects of examination were arranged in five divisions, with an approximately determinate number of marks assigned NATOERE 155 to each division. The subjects included in the five divi- sions were thirty-five in number, and included elliptic integrals, elastic solids, heat, electricity, and magnetism. On June 3, 1867, a syndicate was appointed by the Senate to consider the proposals of the Board; and the regulations recommended by this syndicate were approved by the Senate on June 2, 1868, and came into operation in January 1873. In this new scheme of examination the three days were left unchanged, and the schedule of subjects for the five days, and their arrangement in divisions as proposed by the Board, were adopted with very slight modifications, the marks awarded to the five divisions being to those awarded to the three days in the proportion of 2, I, I, 1, 2 to I respectively.t The new regulations also made two other changes of, importance: they added an extra day to the examination and increased the number of the examiners from four to five. The extra day was the day immediately following the three days, and it was devoted to easy questions upon the subjects in the five days’ schedule. Although the papers set on this fourth day were put before all the candidates, they were taken into account along with the five-day papers, and not with the three-day papers ; so that this day had no effect upon the alphabetical list of those who deserved mathematical honours; which, as before, was dependent upon the three days’ marks only. The Additional Examiner was appointed on the nomination of the Mathematical Board, and held office for one year only ; and, to render his duties as little irk- some as possible, he was not required to take part in the first three days—the most laborious part of the examina- tion as far as the looking overthe papers is concerned, on account of the quantity of work sent in. It was thought that in introducing the new subjects of electricity and magnetism into the examination, certain non-resident Cambridge mathematicians whose names were closely connected with great recent advances in these subjects might be willing to give the University the benefit of their assistance, and that the influence of eminent non-resident mathematicians upon the examination, and therefore also upon the course of studies in the University, would be of the greatest value. These hopes were abundantly justified. The general working of the new system soon disclosed the fact that the desired effect of inducing the best candidates to make a selection from the higher sub- jects, and concentrate their reading, had not been attained. It was found that, unless the questions were made extremely difficult, more marks could be obtained by reading superficially all the subjects in the five divisions than by attaining real proficiency in a few of the higher ones ; and the best men of the year were tempted, not to say compelled, to extend their reading as widely as possible over the book-work of the whole range of sub- jects. Thus, with respect to the main object which the framers of the scheme had in view, it was a complete failure. Accordingly, on May 17, 1877, a syndicate was appointed by the Senate to consider the higher mathematical studies and examinations of the University. This syndicate con- sisted of eighteen members representing nearly all phases of mathematical research and study in Cambridge; they met every week during the whole academical year, and the thorough examination and discussion that the subject received, both on the syndicate and in the University at large, brought out in the strongest light how great were the intrinsic difficulties connected with the re- tention of the order of merit, and how wide was the diversity of opinion—so much so, that at one time it seemed almost hopeless to attempt to devise a scheme 1 The regulation assigning the proportion of marks to be awarded to the different divisions was one which was found in practice very difficult to carry out, even approximately. 156 NATURE [ Dec. 16, 1886 that should receive a fair amount of general support. Even when the subjects were restricted, as they had been in the twenty-five years from 1848-72, it was sufficiently difficult to include in one list all the various classes of candi- dates—those who may be described as professed mathe- maticians, who intended to devote themselves to mathe- | matics after their degree as investigators or teachers ; those who adopted mathematics as their subject of study on account of its unrivalled mental training, and sub- ordinated their whole reading to the single object of obtaining the highest place their abilities would enable them to reach; and those who, without any hope of ob- taining a good place in the list, desired, nevertheless, to graduate in the Tripos, on account of the high position held by mathematics among the branches of a liberal education. But, when the range of subjects was extended, there was the further dilemma : if there was to be a single order of merit, all the questions must be submitted to all the candidates ; but, if a candidate was to be at liberty to attempt all the questions, it appeared that, under any scheme that could be devised, the best candidates would find it more to their advantage to read the elementary portions of all the higher subjects than the higher portions of afew. If the questions were to be alternative, how could the order of merit be retained? How was it pos- sible to compare one student’s elliptic functions with another’s elastic solids ? was a question often asked. It was keenly felt in the University that subjects like heat, electricity, and magnetism could not with propriety be omitted from the course systematically studied by can- didates for mathematical honours. On the other hand, it was universally admitted that, by the extension of the range of subjects, the severe strain of the competition had been intensified to an injurious extent ; and not only had the addition of the new subjects aggravated the evils arising from excessive competition, but they had even caused a deterioration in the quality of the work of many of the students, who were led, in the hope of gaining higher places, to attempt matter really beyond their grasp. The opinion was expressed on the syndicate that the only escape from the dilemma was by abandoning the order of merit. The majority, however, preferred to attempt some other remedy without interfering with the final form of the Tripos list, which had been of such im- mense service to the University in the past, and was connected with so many valued associations. They therefore proposed, as the only method by which the pressure on the mathematical candidates could be re- lieved, to omit a varying portion of the higher subjects of examination in each year. The Report of the syndicate was presented to the Senate on March 29, 1878. They recommended that the nine days of the examinations should be divided into three groups of three days each, called Parts I., II., and III. Part I. was to be the same as the first three days in the schemes that came into operation in1848 and1873. Part II. was to be conducted according to a schedule of subjects considerably more restricted than the unwritten schedule that ruled the five days from 1848 to 1872. It included the more elementary portions of most of the ordinary subjects, such as differential equations, hydrostatics, rigid dynamics, optics, spherical astronomy, &c, but excluded calculus of variations, thermodynamics, physical optics, &c. It was proposed to move forward the time of exam- ination in these first two parts, from January to the previous June, z.e. two years and nine months from the time of coming into residence of the students. After the examination in Parts I. and II. a list of the candidates was to be published, arranged in three classes as before, the senior and junior optimes being placed in order of merit, and the wranglers in alphabetical order. Only the wranglers were to be admitted to Part III., which was to take place at the old time in the following January. final list was then to be issued in which the wranglers Al | | | were to be placed in order of merit, the marks obtained by them in all three parts being added together. The most important part of the scheme was the schedule of subjects for Part I]I. It contained all the subjects which were included in the schedule of the five days of the then existing examination (for the syndicate had decided that they would neither propose the addition of any new sub- jects nor the omission of any that had been already included), divided into three groups, A, B, C. It was re- commended that questions from the subjects in group A should be set every year, and that questions from groups B and C should be set in alternate years. It was thus proposed to establish, as it were, a “rotation of subjects.” This scheme was voted upon by the Senate on May 13, 1878, when all its essential features were rejected. The division of the examination into three parts, of which the first two should take place in June and the third in the following January, was agreed to, as also was the limita- tion of Part III. to wranglers; but the carrying over the marks of the wranglers from June to January and the proposed rotation of subjects were rejected. It is evident that the acceptance of the scheme, even by those who assented to its principle, depended largely upon the manner in which the subjects were divided into the three groups A, B, C. Whether a satisfactory division of the subjects was possible is very doubtful ; but it is certain that the grouping of the subjects proposed by the syndicate was extremely unsatisfactory. This scheme, though it never came into operation, will be memorable in the history of the Tripos as the final attempt made to retain the order of merit in its old form. With its rejection there passed away all hope of express- ing the results of the whole examination by means of a single order of merit. The scheme also deserves notice for its own sake, if only on account of the influential mathe- maticians who supported it. The syndicate then proceeded to build a new scheme upon the ruins of the old. They considered that the - result of the voting on the nineteen graces in which the previous scheme had been submitted to the Senate showed that it was the opinion of the University that the examination in Part III]. should be independent of the preceding parts, and that no scheme would be acceptable in which it was not provided that all the subjects should beincluded in the examinations of each year. They accord- ingly presented a Report to the Senate in October 1878, in which they proposed that in June, immediately after the examination in Parts I. and II., the complete list of wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes should be issued arranged in order of merit, that Part III. should be a separate examination, to which wranglers only should be admissible, and that after the examination in Part III. a list should be issued in which the candidates were arranged in three classes, the names in each class being arranged in alphabetical order. The schedule of subjects consisted of all the ex- isting subjects divided into four groups, A, B, C, D. Group A contained the pure mathematics; Group B, the astronomical subjects; Group C, hydrodynamics, sound, physical optics, elastic solids, &c. ; and Group D, heat, electricity, and magnetism. In order to encourage the candidates to specialise their reading, one of the regulations authorised the Moderators and Examiners to place in the first division a candidate who showed eminent proficiency in any one group; so that it was not absolutely essential for a student, in order to be placed in the first division, to extend his reading beyond the subjects of a single group. This scheme was approved by the Senate on November 21, 1878, and it came into operation in 1882, the first examination in Part III. taking place in 1883. Parts I. and II. taken together differed in no essential respects from the Tripos as it had existed from 1848. | The five days of the scheme of 1848 were reduced to Dec. 16, 1886] three, and the range of subjects was more limited ; other- wise the examination was exactly the same as in the period 1848-72. But Part III. was a complete novelty, and a great deal of curiosity was felt as to how the first Moderators and Examiners would interpret the regula- tions. Would the new examination resemble, as regards the character of the questions set, the last three days of the old five days, or was the examination to be one of a distinctly higher order? The result showed that the latter anticipation was the correct one. No longer hampered by the order of merit, the examiners felt them- selves free to set difficult and elaborate questions, such as were only appropriate to specialists in the particular subjects ; and a new departure was made. As soon as the newsystem came into full operation, it was found that it needed amendment in various respects ; and this is not to be wondered at, considering that it had been constructed in order to fit in with the few regulations that had escaped the general massacre of May 1878, and that almost every part of it was the result of a compromise. It was found that the interval between June and January —less than seven months, and including a long vacation in which very few lectures were given—was too-short for an adequate preparation for Part III. It is true that most of the work for Part III. could be done—and indeed was done—before the examination in Parts I. and II. ; but the competition in these two parts remained as keen as ever, and, as the examination became imminent, the candidates were tempted to neglect the higher work, and give their whole attention to the more elementary subjects, upon which the list in order of merit depended. As a consequence there was a diminution in the numbers of students attending the higher mathematical lectures in the University. With respect to the actual conduct of the examination, it was found that the strain upon the Moderators and Examiners was very serious, and general regret was expressed that under the new scheme no pro- vision had been made for the annual appointment of an Additional Examiner, as in the previous scheme which had been in operation from 1873 to 1882. Under the new system the candidates devoted themselves to special branches of the higher mathematics, and there was even greater difficulty in adequately representing all the subjects of examination. June 12, 1884, the Senate confirmed a Report of the NATLORE Accordingly, on | Mathematical Board recommending that the examina- | tion in Part III. should take place in June, exactly a year after that in Parts I. and II., and that the Mode- rators and Examiners, with the Chairman of the Mathe- matical Board, should nominate an Additional Examiner, the first nomination being made in the Easter term, 1885, and having reference to the examination in January 1886. It was considered that the Moderators and Examiners were themselves the best judges of the branches of mathematics in which they most desired assistance, and were therefore the most suitable body to nominate the Additional Examiner. The last time that the whole examination took place in January was in 1882. This year (1886) the examination in Part III. has taken place in January for the last time, so that the historic connection between the Tripos and the month of January has now finally ended. Henceforth the examination in all three parts will take place in the iniddle of the year. (To be continued.) EARTHQUAKE AT SEA E have received the following communication from Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., Secretary, Meteorological Office :— British Consulate, St. John’s, Porto Rico, November 4, 1886 Si1rR,—I have the honour to inform you that Mr. J. Simmons, master of the British brigantine W7/helmina, 157 of Lunenburg, now loading in this port, has reported to me that, on October 20 last, at 4.30 p.m., while in latitude 19° 21’ N., and longitude 64° 22’ W., he felt a shock of earthquake which caused the ship to tremble. The shock lasted one minute, and was accompanied by a loud rumbling noise like distant thunder. Capt. Simmons states further that, were it not that he believed the depth of water at the spot to be no less than two thousand fathoms, he could have imagined that his vessel was running upon the rocks, so great was the vibration and so loud the noise. I have thought it my duty to report this occurrence officially, as it seems not improbable that some volcanic disturbance is in operation in the locality herein referred to. I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, REGINALD H. HERTSLET, H.M. Consul The Assistant Secretary, Marine Department, Board of Trade NOTES WE regret to hear of the death at Calcutta of Father Scorte- chini from dysentery. He has succumbed to his extraordinary exertions in the botanical exploration of Perak, where he had made very large and valuable collections. These he intended to make the basis of a flora of this native State in collaboration with Dr. King, the Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta. His collections will, as far as possible, be made use of by Sir Joseph Hooker in the portions of the flora of British India now in progress at Kew. ONE of the severest storms of recent years swept over the country in the middle of last week, being indeed a storm seldom paralleled for its wide-spread destructiveness. The damage to property and the loss of life have been exceptionally great, and each morning newspaper has been adding to the long tale of losses and disasters. Another peculiarity of the storm is that it was heralded with only the slightest premonitions of its approach. It was at Valencia only that the observations of the previous evening indicated a storm, and these even seemed to foreshadow no more than a subsidiary cyclone. But on Wednesday morning last week the centre of the storm had already advanced on the north- west of Ireland, where at Belmullet, at 8a.m., the barometer had fallen, at 32° and sea-level, to 27°§80 inches. In the course of the day the cyclone moved eastward at the rather slow rate of 20 miles an hour, and by 6 p.m. its centre was near Barrow-in- Furness, where the barometer is stated to have fallen to 27°410 inches. The centre passed somewhat to the south of Edinburgh, about half-past seven, pressure being then 27°650 inches, and the wind easterly. The greatest interest is attached to the observations that may have been made in the north of England and the south of Scotland during the evening of Wednesday week, from which the path of the cyclone may be traced; and particularly, if the low reading at Barrow- in-Furness be confirmed, what lower readings of the barometer were made to the eastward. But in any case it is plain that in this part of Great Britain, on the evening of Wednesday week, pressure fell nearly as low as it did on January 26, 1884, at Och- tertyre, Perthshire, where it fell to 27°333 inches ; and it is re- markable that these two low barometers, hitherto the lowest observed by man anywhere on the land surfaces of the globe after being reduced to sea-level, have occurred in the British Islands, and within three years of each other. It is noteworthy that the lowest pressure on Ben Nevis was 23°451 inches at 2h. 31m. p.m., and that at the height of the storm, at 6 p.m., the wind was south-east, and blowing at the rate of fully 120 miles an hour—thus indicating that the storm was not only wide-spread, but that it also, as regards direction and force 158 NATURE [Dec. 16, 1886 of wind, extended to a greater altitude than the Ben Nevis Observatory. Mr. T. H. Cox, of the firm of Cdx Brothers, manufacturers, Camperdown Linenworks, Lochee, has given a donation of 12,000/. for the endowment and equipment of a Chair of Anatomy in connection with the Medical School it is proposed to establish in University College, Dundee. WE are glad to notice that in the new French Ministry M. Berthelot, the eminent chemist, takes the portfolio of Education. AN elecirical metronome has been established at the Paris Opera House, which enables the chef a’orchestre to conduct choruses at any distance from his chair. The working is very satisfactory, and the effect really admirable. THE late Prof. Morris at the time of his death had made con- siderable progress with a third edition of his ‘Catalogue of Bnitish Fossils.” Some of his friends, reluctant that so valuable a work should be lost to science, have arranged to revise and complete the manuscript, and the necessary expenses of pre- paring it for the press have been guaranteed by his nearest surviving relative, who rightly holds that this will be the best monument to his memory. The editor-in-chief is Dr. H. Woodward, of the British Museum, and he is assisted by a number of eminent specialists, among whom are Drs. Hinde and Traquair, Profs. Duncan, Rupert Jones, Lapworth, Nicholson, and H. G, Seeley, Messrs. Carruthers, Etheridge, Hudleston, and Lydekker. The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press have now undertaken the publication of the work, which it is hoped may appear in the course of the coming year. THE annual distribution of prizes and certificates to the suc- cessful students at the City and Guilds of London Institute was held on Monday night, when the Lord Chancellor gave an address in which he contrasted the restrictions which hampered industrial progress in the past with the complete freedom and publicity of the present day. A VIOLENT shock of earthquake occurred at Smyrna and also at Chios on the morning of December 11. Frequent oscillations have been felt at Smyrna during the past fortnight, cau-ing fissures in the walls and fronts of many houses in the town. A shock was felt on the 8th in Missouri City and in Missouri State, and a shock is also reported from Columbia, South Carolina. On the night of November 1, at 12.15 p.m., a sharp shock was felt at Nordheinsund, on the west coast of Nor- way. Houses and windows shook, whilst a man walking in the road felt the earth slowly rock under him. The shock, which was accompanied by a heavy rumbling noise, was from north- west to south-east. A CORRESPONDENT in South Africa writes :—‘‘Rogeria longi- flora, the Martynia-like plant, has capsules which pierce the lips of the gnu or ‘wildebeest,’ and are rubbed to pieces in their efforts to get rid of them. Truly, what with Uyxcaria, costing the life of a springbok for every capsule trodden out, and Rogeria festering in the poor ‘wildebeest’s’ mouth, the beneficent ‘Nature’ of the teleologist is in Africa a remarkably cruel divinity.” In an interesting recent paper on Siberia as a cclony, Prof. Petrie points out that there are two classes of colonists there— those attracted by the immense wealth of the country in furred animals and minerals, and an industrious people from the Russian peasant class engaged in agriculture. The number of wild animals taken in the boundless forests of Siberia shows a great reduction from year to year. The fisheries are capable of great development, and multitudes of fish are thrown away because the art of salting and preserving is not understood. In Ural, the southern steppes, Altai, and other places, there is immense mineral wealth in silver, gold, iron, lead, copper, anthracite, graphite, &c. The steppes (quite different from the Central Asiatic and Kirghisian) are well suited for cattle-breed- ing ; they have excellent grass and numerous birch woods, and also many lakes, Jarge and small. In Western Siberia, about 32 per cent. of the whole land is arable. With her four rivers of the first rank, three of them flowing north and the other east, Siberia is well off for intercommunication by water and for transport of commerce to neighbouring countries. | Notwith- standing three hundred years of occupation, the Russians in Siberia only amount to 4,800,000, and there are nearly as many natives. The Russian colonist in Siberia diverges from the Sclav type, as the Yankee does from the Englishman. At present, farming and cattle-breeding in Siberia are carried on in an irrational way, commerce is in absolute dependence on European Russia, and the road; are dreadfully bad, so that, ¢.g., people commonly make circuits rather than use the post route from Tomsk to Irkutsk. There is, however, a party of intelli- gent Siberians bent on gaininz the liberties and advantages of the mother country, stopping the deportation of criminals, and promoting education, &c. Many thousand roubles have been contributed by Siberian merchants to found the Tomsk Uni- versity and other institutions. Mr. J. B. MEDLAND, of 12, Borough, has sent us a specimen of his new portable cabinet for microscope-slides. The cabinet has sixteen trays to hold nine objects each, contained in a well- made polished pine case. When closed, it is the same height and width, and only two inches and a half longer than the ordinary case holding only half the number. Each glass slip is held at its ends by the projecting side flap of the tray, which is held down by the succeeding tray, and so on, the lid holding the whole firmly down. When open, the lid and front fall back, forming a stand or table to place the trays upon, keeping them together and less liable to get displaced or upset, as when placed among other apparatus or upon the desk or work-table. The advantages of the cabinet will be obvious to microscopists. A work by Mr. J. Allen Brown will appear early in January, published by Messrs. Macmillan and Co., entitled ‘‘ Paleolithic Man in North-West Middlesex ; the Evidence of his Existence, and the Physical Conditions under which he lived in Ealing and its Neighbourhood, illustrated by the Condition and Culture presented by certain existing Savage Races.” THE Council of the Essex Field Club has determined in future to issue the Zvansactions and Proceedings of the Club combined in the form of a monthly periodical, entitled Zhe Essex Naturalist ; being the Fournal of the Essex Field Club. The journal will contain papers read before the Club, reports of past and announcements of future meetings, and, as space allows, notes and communications upon any matters of interest connected with the natural history, botany, geology, and prehistoric archzeo- logy of Essex. We believe that this is a new departure in the policy of local societies, at least in the south of England, but the plan has been adopted by the Essex Club from a rapidly growing conviction that, if local societies are to flourish and do useful work, it is necessary to devise some means of ‘‘ keeping touch” with their members, and encouraging intercommunica- tion among them. The first number of the Zssex Naturalist will appear in January next, and will be conducted by Mr. W. Cole, who has edited the publications of the Club since its establishment seven years ago. THE Japanese Government has despatched an official of the Ministry of Commerce to Norway, in order to study the cod- fisheries, the preparation of oil, &c., in that country, the object being to develop these industries in Northern Japan, where large numbers of cod appear at certain seasons. aye ae ie ee A ie Dec. 16, 1886] Some important geological work has just been carried out at Landsort, near Stockholm. Close to the coast, pipes have been driven through the rock to the sea, by which sea-water will be carried up into a specially constructed kiosk for examination and registration, the object being to measure the elevation of the shore in course of time. It is intended to establish similar stations at various places on the coast. BETWEEN 8 and 9 0’clock on November 3 a remarkable pheno- menon was observed at Hamar, in Norway. At the time there was perfect darkness, when, suddenly, a bright white cloud appeared in the sky, drifting in a north-easterly direction, and from time to time emitting brilliant rays of light in various directions, The cloud retained throughout its original form, and disappeared at last in the darkness. FISH-HATCHING operations have now commenced at the establishment of the National Fish Culture Association. The new hatchery that has lately been constructed is completed, and a batch of ova has already been laid down for incubation. These were taken from Sa/mo fontinalis located in the ponds of the establishment. A large number of rainbow trout (5. tridens), of California, hatched out two years ago by the Association, from ova sent by the American Government, will be ready to spawn at the end of the year, which is six weeks earlier than in their native waters. This shows to what extent fish alter their natures and habits according to the climatic and other conditions of their locations. The .S. zridens is a late spawner in its native country, which is accounted for by the hardness of the water and the low temperature that prevails. It is hoped to secure a large quantity of ova from these fish. The American Government have announced their intention of for- warding consignments of ova from Transatlantic Salmonide. A feature is to be made this year of hatching ova for Fishery Boards and other public bodies, who will collect ova from their respective waters and forward them to the Association for incubation. When hatched, the fry will be turned into the parts from whence they came. ACCORDING to the Colonies and India, a discovery of much geological intere-t has just been made at Cockatoo Island, Sydney. A large fossil shell of the genus Planorbis was found in the excavation for anew Government dock at Cockatoo Island, and was forwarded to Mr. Wilkinson, the Government Geologist of New South Wales. This being the first fossil shell found in the Hawkesbury formation, he took the opportunity of examin- ing the rocks, but only obtained some fossil plants. As, how- eyer, the rocks looked promising for fossil remains, he sent the collector, Mr. Cullen, to make a further search, which was rewarded by the discovery of a most interesting fossil, which Prof. W. J. Stephen has identified as Mastodon aurus, of which a similar fossil specimen from Stuttgart is in the collection of the Sydney University. This being the first discovery in Australia of Labyrinthodon, is of much scientific importance, as proving the Triassic age of the Hawkesbury sandstone formation. THE first number is to hand of the Proceedings of the Camera Club, the President of which is Capt. Abney. It is nicely printed, and will no doubt prove useful to members and to photographers generally. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Sclater’s Curassow (Crax sclater? Q) from South America, a Razor-billed Curassow (A@itua tuberosa), a Lesser Razor-billed Curassow (Mitua ‘omentosa) from Guiana, presented by Rear-Admiral Fairfax, R.N., F.Z.S. ; a Spanish Terrapin (Clemmys /eprosa) from Spain, presented by Miss Eden ; eighteen Brown Newts (Sfelerfes fuscus), South Euro- ‘pean, presented by Prof. H. H. Giglioli, C.M.Z.S. ; two European Phyllodactyles (Piyllodactylus eurofeus) from Cannes, presented by Mr. J. C. Warburg ; two Peruvian Thicknees (@dicnemus NATURE 159 superciliaris) from Peru, an Allied Saltator (Sa/tator assimilis) from Brazil, an Australian Sheldrake (Zadorna tadornoides) from Australia, received in exchange; a Common Zebra (Agus sebva 8) from South Africa, two Shore Larks (Octscorys alpestris), British, purchased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN PUBLICATIONS OF THE WASHBURN OBSERVATORY, VOL. IV. —In the month of March 1884, Prof. Holden offered to Prof. Auwers to undertake the observation at Madison of the 303 fundamental stars required for the southern zones of the Astrono- mische Gesellschaft. In view, however, of the smallness of the staff of the Observatory, Prof. Holden would only pledge him- self to secure four complete observations of each star; but, with his assistants, Mr. Comstock worked with so much zeal and energy that on his appointment to the Lick Observatory in the autumn of 1885, the stars from oh. to 6h. of R.A., and from 12h. to 24h. had all been completely observed six times, the number Prof. Auwers had desired, in each element. Mr. Updegraff and Miss Lamb, who had latterly been Prof. Holden’s assistants, succeeded in bringing the entire work to completion by the close of 1885, no fewer than 6444 observations of stars, irrespective of observations of the nadir point, having been se- cured in the course of its carrying out. The observations were always kept in a forward state of reduction, and thus the present yolume contains the results of the entire work. Prof. Holden was not, however, able to give the observations so full a discus- sion as he had intended, and as they themselves seemed to merit by their accuracy. The probable error of a single R.A. of stars of the 303 list, observed in 1884, he found to be + 0°037s. for himself, + o'031s. for Mr. Comstock ; and for a single declina- tion, for himself + 0”*400, for Mr. Comstock + 0”°436. The results of these observations, which were made with the Repsold meridian-circle of 4°8 aperture, an instrument of essen- tially perfect optical and mechanical quality, naturally occupy the greater part of the present volume. It also contains some other matters of interest, amongst which may be noted a series of observations with wire screens before the object-glass of the meridian telescope, for the purpose of ascertaining the effect of magnitude on the recorded time of transit, and the determina- tion of the longitude of a station near the western boundary of Dakota. It has been Prof. Holden’s effort also to make the collection of star catalogues in the library of the Observatory as complete as possible, and for that purpose he has bought most of the principal catalogues attainable, and marked in them, so far as possible, all the errata which were known to him. A list of the sources from whence these corrections have been derived is here given, and will doubtless be of considerable use to other astronomers. THE SECOND ARMAGH CATALOGUE OF 3300 STARS.—Dr. Dreyer, on his appointment to the direction of the Armagh Observatory after the death of Dr. Robinson, found a great mass of unpublished meridian observations which had been accumulating since 1859, the date of the publication of the first Armagh Catalogue. On the completion of that great work, Dr. Robinson had formed the plan of re-observing a number of stars occurring in Baily’s Catalogue from Lalande’s ‘‘ Histoire Celeste,” and the observations were commenced in 1859, but the work was interrupted at the end of the following year, the Primate, Lord John George Beresford, having generously pro- vided a new telescope of 7 inches aperture for the mural circle, instead of the old one of 32 inches aperture. The idea of Dr. Robinson, of converting the mural circle into a transit instru- ment by the addition of a second pier, was not, however, carried out, The observations were recommenced in April 1863, the Rev. W. H. Rambaut being the observer from August 1864 to July 1868, and the Rev: C. Faris from November 1868 to the beginning of 1882. Dr. Dreyer himself observed during 1883, with the end of which year the observations close. Considering that the majority of the stars had, in the course of late years, been observed in the zones of the Astronomische Gesellschafte, and that nearly all might be expected to be included in the forthcoming great Paris Catalogue, Dr. Dreyer thought it im- portant to publish the Armagh results as speedily as possible, and the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society having promised to meet the cost of publication, the present Catalogue was prepared. It contains the results of the whole of the meridian work carried on at the Obseryatory since 1859 ; 160 NATURE [ Dec. 16, 1886 containing thus, with the first Armagh Catalogue, a complete record of all the meridian work accomplished at the Observatory since 1827; for the results published in the Zvamsactions of the Royal Dublin Society in 1872, and forming a catalogue of 1000 stars, have been incorporated in the present work, as there were numerous unpublished observations of many of the stars there iven. The R.A.’s of the present Catalogue depend on the standard stars of the Mautical Almanac, four or five of which were ob- served on each night, whilst the N.P.D.’s depend upon observa- tions of the nadir point, the adopted being 54° 21' 12°70. Dr. Robinson’s investigation of the division-errors of the circle (Mem. R.A.S., vol. ix.), and also his refraction-tables (Armagh Catalogue, pp. 834-35) have been used. The details of the construction of the refraction-tables, which may be considered as identical with Bessel’s, are given in the Zyansactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xix. The places of the stars are reduced to the epoch 1875°0, with Struve’s constant, but proper motions were never taken into account. The Catalogue, which is very clearly printed, and forms a very compact and neat- looking volume, contains for each star its number in Lalande, its magnitude, generally from the DM., its mean R.A. and N.P.D. for 18750, together with the annual precession, the number of observations, the epoch and references to other modern star catalogues, this last column being very complete. The secular Variation has been omitted. The introduction also contains a comparison between the present Catalogue and Prof. Grant’s Glasgow Catalogue of 6415 stars, not only because it was deduced from observations made nearly at the same time as the Armagh observations and depended in R.A. on the Nautical Almanac stars, but also because it had already been rigorously compared by Prof. Auwers with his ‘* Fundamental Catalogue.” From the comparison of 539 which the two catalogues have in common, it would appear that the Armagh and Glasgow Cata- logues, though perfectly independent of each other, are in fair agreement, so far as N.P.D.’s are concerned. But the R.A.’s appear less satisfactory, as considerable discordances are evident. These Dr. Dreyer thinks may be readily accounted for, partly by the one-sided character of the instrument, partly by the conjecture that perhaps the azimuth found by observing the meridian mark may not be strictly applicable on the opposite (south) side of the zenith. The comparison with Auwer’s ‘* Fundamental System” gives a similar result, the N.P.D.’s agreeing much better than the R.A.’s. The probable error of a single observation found from 400 observations of 80 stars between 30° and 100° N.P.D. was R.A. + o'o81s,, N.P.D. + 0°85. Great credit is due to Mr. Faris for his perseverance in con- tinuing and reducing the observations during thirteen years, and to the present Director for his energy in completing and publish- ing the entire results, which will not fail to be a useful addition to our star catalogues. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1886 DECEMBER 19-25 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.) At Greenwich on December 19 Sun rises, 8h. 4m. ; souths, rth. 57m. 21°5s.; sets, 15h. 50m. ; decl. on meridian, 23° 26’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 2th. 43m. Moon (one day after Last Quarter) rises, oh. 42m.; souths, 6h, 52m. ; sets, 12h. 51m. ; decl. on meridian, 1° 8’ S. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h. m. ley i h. m. ‘ n Mercury 6.3 IO 26 ... 14 49 ... ‘T8s54eS Wenusi. ese) 0) 2 eh 1 UY ep ee 32) G5 Si Marsigeente-c) LO). On e-em Aas, RS 49 (0p 22eeAaO. upiters :--, 2758 8 3 3.13) =... Wousms. Satunessn es e7asoe I 39 9 43 21 38 N. * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding 3 gles fi rere Dec. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. REE CAHEHE for inverted image : i h. m. h. m. 0 4) ROMY VATEINISS,. ... 240 2.2 1 eSOle ead. 74 170 TOM bal ©. 4277+... 6 ZS ce) Si 2l eee elLOOMEAS Dec. h. ZO) RLS, Jupiter in conjunction with and 3° 24’ south of the Moon. 21 — Sun at greatest declination south ; shortest day in northern latitudes. 22 14 Mercury at greatest elongation from the Sun, 22° west. Variable Stars Star R.A. Decl. I iy, OMe h. m. U Cephei © 52°2... 81 16 N. ... Dec, 23, 0 44 7 Algol 3, 10'S"... 40) STNajieos) 55 ASA OME A Tauri 3) 54:4... 12 LON. =.) G5 20s ondeare % ” 24, 5 35 m U ‘Monocerotis)y2.) 7) 12534)... 9) 3219: op M Wiens eeu IS e2OL2 ee 2A Gs 2452 Ws Onee 5 Librae SALANSATOlan. (9! 45S. eee eyueZOmZONS am ”? 23; 4 24 m U Corone ... U5 13s6)... 32 4uN. 2 55) 20, ONS mee », 24, 6 48 m V Ophiuchi Foe MP ANY, coy HOS Goa ay | 22215 M R Scuti seen LOW AILGA ees 5 LSOUNTeesk ve piezee M 5 Cephei +) 225 2AO) ne. 57) SON eoc) 155) 235) 2 ZO M signifies maximum ; 7#z minimum. Meteor-Showers Ursa Major supplies a couple of radiants at this season—one near 1, R.A. 131°, Decl. 48° N., the other near a, R.A. 157°, Decl. 64° N. December 19 and 21 are fireball dates. SANITARY PROGRESS DURING THE REIGN OF THE QUEEN} ]N opening the meetings of the One Hundred and Thirty-third Session, it appeared to me that, as we are entering upon the jubilee year of the Queen’s reign, it might be interesting to take stock, as it were, of the progress which has been made by the nation in some one of the branches of usefulness to which the proceedings of this Society have contributed ; and it occurred to me that the most fitting subject to select would be that of the progress which has been made in sanitation during Her Majesty’s reign. The year 1838 was the first complete year of registration. The first report of the Registrar-General brought forward the sanitary condition of different parts of the country, and of differ- ent classes of the population. Disease was as prevalent amongst the labouring population in rural villages as it was in the most crowded and filthy districts in towns, and, on the motion of the Bishop of London, the House of Lords, in August 1839, presented an address to the Queen, begging her to direct an inquiry into this prevalence of disease. From this period may be said to date that great social and sanitary movement which has tended so largely to ameliorate the moral as well as the physical condition of the people of this island, and which forms one of the most prominent features of the Queen’s reign. The Poor-Law Commissioners were directed to report upon the condition of the labouring classes ; and the direct evidence of much preventable disease, which the records of disease and death furnished from all parts of the country, formed the basis on which the Commission founded their recommendations. In towns, the people were crowded in courts and alleys ; they swarmed in cellars which were neither ventilated nor drained. In 1837, it was calculated that one-tenth of the population of Manchester, and one-seventh of the population of Liverpool, lived in cellars. The dead were buried in overcrowded churches, chapels, and churchyards in the middle of towns. The rural districts were no better. In the towns this condition of things arose from the great increase of population which had been taking place for some years previously, coincident with the rapid expansion of our trade and manufactures, coupled with the absence of legislative provisions to meet the new exigencies which had arisen, and with which the older laws, in consequence of that increase, were unable to cope. But there were other active causes. For instance, the Com- missioners state that parochial administration operated mis- chievously in degrading the habitations of the labouring classes, * Abstract of Address by Capt. Douglas Galton, C.B., F.R.S., at the opening of the Session of the Society of Arts. Dec. 16, 1886 } and in checking tendencies to improvement. The depression of the tenement depressed the habits and condition of the inhabitants. In speaking of the insanitary condition of houses, we must not forget the effect of the window tax. This tax had been estab- lished for 150 years. Air and sunshine are the first requirements of healthy dwellings, and the window tax induced every builder to shut out the sun and exclude the air, so that poor men were unable to afford the luxury of adequate windows for their dwell- ing-rooms, or of any windows for their closets. Darkness and dirt go hand in hand, and in the class of houses above the cottages, darkness and want of ventilation were much fostered by the window tax. This tax was not abolished till 1851. At the commencement of the Queen’s reign, drainage over the whole country was provided for by various Commissions of Sewers. Their duty was limited to causing “to be made, corrected, or repaired, amended, put down or reformed, as the case shall require, walls, ditches, banks, gutters, sewers, gates, cullises, bridges, streams, and other defences by the coasts of the sea and marsh ground.” The Highway Acts provided for road cleansing and road structure ; and there was a law for cleansing of ditches, which forbade throwing offal and foul refuse into the ditches which might lead to the pollution of streams. The most important, perhaps, because the most cheap and accessible, authority for enforcing the execution of the law for the protection of the subject against nuisances, and for punish- ing particular violations of it, was vested in the Courts Leet. The juries, commonly called “‘ annoyance juries,” impanelled to serve on courts leet in towns, perambulated their districts to judge of nuisances upon the view; but the Commissioners reported that, with all this legal strength, there was scarcely one town in England found in a low sanitary condition, or scarcely one yillage marked as the abode of fever, that did not present an example of standing violations of the law, and of the inflic- tion of public and common as well as of private injuries, the tenements over-crowded, streets replete with injurious nuisances, the air rendered noisome by these and by the smoke from factory chimneys, and the streams of pure water polluted. As regards smoke, most of the then modern private Acts contained penalties on gas companies, prohibiting their washings to contaminate streams, or using for steam-engines furnaces which did not consume their own smoke. The general statute, 1 and 2 Geo. IV., c. 41, empowered the Court to award costs to the prosecutor of those who used such furnaces ; but the duty of informing was not placed on public officers, and private individuals were unwilling to become informers. The provision of pure water, and the disposal of the water after it had been fouled, had scarcely been thought about. No doubt, in London, and in some large towns, water was provided by public companies or by the corporation ; but in almost every country town the water supply was defective. The report on the sanitary condition of the labouring classes states that it was difficult to conceive the great extent to which the labouring classes are subjected to privations, not only of water for the purpose of ablution, house-cleansing, and sewerage, but of wholesome water for drinking and culinary purposes. Whilst, however, the water supply was insufficient even in London, on the other hand the necessity for providing means for getting rid of the fouled water was generally ignored. It is stated, in the report of 1842, that the courts inhabited by the poorer classes in towns are generally not flagged ; they are paved with a sort of pebbles; they are always wet and dirty. The people, having no convenience in their houses for getting rid of waste water, throw it down at the doors ; that scarcely one house for the working classes will be found in which there is such a thing as a sink for getting rid of the water. It mentions, in a typical case, that, where in one locality a large sewer had recently been made, the landlords are not compelled, and do not go to the expense of making any communication from the courts to the sewer ; the courts are as wet and dirty, and in as bad a condition as they were before the sewer was constructed ; and it is added that this miserable accommodation in the wretched courts pays a better percentage than any other description of property ; it pays as much as 20 per cent. in many instances. With regard to fecal matter, the general practice had been for each house to have its cesspit, which was emptied at intervals by night men; but in the poor districts the soil was allowed by the occupiers to accumulate for years to avoid the expense of emptying. Within the preceding twenty years water-closets had NATURE 161 been introduced into the better class of houses. The refuse from these was generally allowed to flow into the cesspits; but, to avoid the expense of frequent emptying, an overflow was made, where practicable, into sewers or adjacent ditches; in other cases the refuse was turned directly into the sewers, and created a dangerous deposit. The danger had begun to be noticed long before ; for in 1834 one medical witness stated to a Committee of the House of Commons that of all cases of severe typhus that he had seen, eight-tenths were either in houses of which the drains from the sewers were untrapped, or which, being trapped, were situated opposite gully holes ; and the report of the Poor-Law Commis- sioners remarks that this recent mode of cleansing adopted in wealthy and newly-built districts by the use of water-closets, which discharge all refuse af once from the house through the drain into the sewers, whilst it saves delay, prevents accumula- tion, and also saves the expense of hand labour; yet has the objection that if much extended it may pollute the water of the river into which the sewers are discharged. They, however, recommend that this danger should be incurred, as a lesser evil than the retention of the refuse in houses ; adding that— ‘Tt is possible to remove the refuse in such a mode as to avoid the pollution of the river, and at the same time avoid the culpable waste of this most important manure.” The conditions under which the drains had been constructed were entirely different from those which became necessary with the increase of population. The sewers had been constructed for land drainage, and only with reference to the wants of the immediate locality, so as just to drain it to the nearest outlet, without any reference to any general plan of sewerage. The sewers were generally flat at the bottom, of stone or brick ; the joints were not specially water-tight, so that much ‘of the liquid passed into the surrounding soil, and the floor of the sewers was coyered with deposit, which had to be removed at much expense by hand, and in many cases the size and form of the sewers were adapted to enable the workmen to enter for cleansing purposes. When new lines of houses were built, new sewers were required for which outlets into the old sewers did not afford sufficient fall, and they then became choked with deposit. The cleansing of streets was not performed with uniformity or rapidity ; and the condition of many of the back streets and courts was deplorable. They were not properly paved, and had no conveniences. The Poor-Law Commissioners recommended, in the report already mentioned, that the expensive and slow process of the removal of the surface refuse of the streets by cartage might be dispensed with, and the whole at once carried away by the mode which is proved, in the case of the refuse of houses, to be the most rapid, cheap, and convenient, namely, by sweeping it at once into the sewers, and discharging it by water. This recommendation was largely adopted. In order to convey some idea to your minds of the difficulties which would necessarily be caused by turning the:street sweep- ings, which consisted largely of mud from macadamised roads directly into the sewers, I may mention that at the present time in London every effort is made to stop the road material from passing into the sewers by sweeping the streets, and by placing catchpits at the gullies and cleansing them frequently, and that in the metropolis the quantity of dirt from roads and gullies, and of deposits from sewers, removed annually, amounts to nearly 1,000,000 tons, and the annual quantity in those days cannot have fallen far short of 350,000 tons. The combined effect of turning the street sweepings and the water-closet refuse into sewers, with uneven falls and flat bottoms, naturally added to the deposit, and intensified the evils in such a manner as finally to force on improvements in the construction of the sewers. The difficulties as to drainage and the removal of refuse were principally entailed by the absence of any legal machinery to enable the inhabitants of a locality to combine for sanitary purposes, and to share the expenditure necessary for improve- ments. Another important insanitary condition was caused by the fact that the vagrant population of the kingdom _ resorted to common lodging-houses, which were under no sort of supervision, and which were foci for the propagation of epidemic disease, as well as of moral depravity. The general conclusions at which the Poor-Law Commissioners arrived in their report on the condition of the working classes were that disease originating in, or propagated by means of, decomposing refuse and other filth, and damp, close, and over. 162 NATURE [ Dec. 16, 1886 crowded dwellings, prevailed generally among the working classes in all parts of the kingdom ; and that whilst these diseases could be abated by improved sanitary conditions, they were not removed by high wages and abundant food if sanitary conditions were absent. They also pointed out that owing to the defective water-supply cleanly habits were impossible. In illustration of the loss caused to the nation by these pre- ventable diseases, they mentioned that out of 43,000 widows and 112,000 destitute orphans relieved from the poor-rates, the greater number had lost their husbands or fathers from prevent- able diseases ; and that the youthful population of either sex brought up in crowded, unwholesome dwellings, and under the adverse circumstances described, were deficient in physical strength and moral conduct, and grew up improvident, reckless, and intemperate, caring for nothing but sensual gratification. They pointed out that the expenses of local public works were unequally and unfairly assessed, oppressively and uneconomically collected by separate collections, and wastefully expended by unskilled and irresponsible officers, and that the existing law for the protection of the public health, and the constitutional machinery for its execution, such as the Courts Leet, have fallen into desuetude. The Commission then went on to state the conditions required for improving the sanitary condition of the labouring classes. This report was thus one of the early fruits of the system of vital statistics which commenced at the accession of the Queen, under the able supervision of our late eminent member, Dr. Farr. The report itself was drawn up by another eminent member of this Society, Mr. Edwin Chadwick, C.B. It is a remarkable tribute to the foresight of Mr. Chadwick that, during the last half-century, almost all the sanitary principles laid down in the report have been recognised by the Legislature as necessary to the welfare of the community, and have become matters of ordinary practice. The conclusions of the Poor-Law Commis- sioners, and the general interest awakened in the subject, led to various sanitary investigations, both by Royal Commissions and Committees of the Houses of Parliament. When the Registration Act came into operation, an epidemic of small-pox was advancing over this island. It attained its maximum in the spring of 1838, and destroyed 30,819 persons. Dr. Farr mentions that vaccination protected a part of the popu- lation, but that there is reason to believe that inoculation led to the extension of the epidemic by diffusing the infection artificially. In 1840 and 1841, the first Vaccination Acts were passed. These prohibited inoculation, and empowered the Guardians to provide means for vaccination, and to charge the expense on the rates ; and enacted that vaccination was not to be considered parochial relief, thus recognising the fact that the community should bear the cost of measures which are found necessary to secure the public health. It was not, however, till 1853 that vaccination was made compulsory. The reports of the various Commissions and Committees of Parliament which inquired into the condition of the people showed the great importance of cleanliness of person and cloth- ing to health, and the difficulties which the poor suffered in respect of it; and in 1844, private associations, not only in London, but in Manchester, Liverpool, and other large towns, were formed to encourage cleanliness amongst the working classes by establishing public baths and wash-houses, and lend- ing out pails, brushes, and whitewash to the poor to cleanse their dwellings ; and in 1846, the Bishop of London brought in a general Act empowering local authorities to establish public baths and wash-houses, the expense of which was to be defrayed out of the rates. As regards general sanitary legislation, it is probable that the recommendations in the Poor-Law Commissioners’ report and in the reports of these several Royal Commissions and Committees of the Houses of Parliament, would have remained long in abeyance had it not happened that the nation was threatened with an epidemic of cholera. In 1832-33, the cholera had visited our shores and snatched 16,437 victims. It again appeared in London on Septem- ber 22, 1848, and in Edinburgh in the beginning of October, 1848. So long as the insanitary conditions remain, epidemics invariably haunt the same localities, and the first appearance of the cholera in Bermondsey in 1848 was close to the same ditch in which the earliest fatal cases occurred in 1832. The first case of cholera that occurred in the town of Leith took place in the same house and within a few feet of the very spot from whence the previous epidemic of 1832 commenced its course. On its reappearance in 1848 in the town of Pollockshaws, it snatched its first victim from the same room and the very bed in which it broke out in 1832. It did not, however, attain its full intensity until 1849, and it ceased on December 22, 1849. Its pro- gress fully corroborated the report of the Poor-Law Commis- sioners. It attacked those towns and houses which offered to it the best inducements to visit them, in their filth, decaying refuse, crowded and dirty population, bad water, damp polluted sub- soil, or any other of those conditions which lead to bad health in a population, and which, when cholera is absent, afford an evidence of their existence by the prevalence of scarlet fever, small-pox, typhoid and other fevers, measles, whooping-cough, &e. The total number of victims was 53,293. The near approach of the cholera led Parliament, in 1848, to the conclusion that— “Further and more effectual provision ought to be made for improving the sanitary condition of towns and populous places in England and Wales, and it is expedient that the supply of water to such towns and places, and the sewerage, drainage, cleansing, and paving thereof, should, as far as practicable, be placed under one and the same local management and control, subject to general supervision.” An Act was passed creating a General Board of Health. The main feature of this Act was, that when the Registrar-General’s returns showed that the number of deaths on an average of the preceding seven years exceeded 23 per 1000, the General Board of Health were empowered to send an inspector to make a public inquiry as to the sewerage, drainage, water supply, burial-grounds, number and sanitary condition of inhabitants, and local Sanitary Acts in foree; also as to natural drainage areas, the existing local boundaries, and whether others might be advantageously adopted. The General Board were empowered to issue pro- visional orders, creating a system of local administration by means of Local Boards of Health, consisting partly of municipal authorities and partly of elected members. These Local Boards were empowered to appoint necessary officers, including medical officers of health, surveyors, and inspectors of nuisances. The public sewers were vested in the Local Board, and they were to maintain, cleanse, and regulate the use of sewers. All houses rebuilt were required to be provided with drains approved by the surveyor ; and, before any new house was commenced, the levels of the cellars or lowest floors, and the position and character of the drains or cesspools, were to be approved by the surveyor. The occupation of cellars as dwellings was prohibited. Water-closets, or privies, and ash-pits were to be provided to all houses and workshops. The Local Board was also required to manage, repair, and clean the streets, and to provide for removal of refuse. They were to abate nuisances, regulate slaughter-houses, register and make by-laws to regulate common lodging-houses, The local authorities were empowered to provide public recreation- grounds, and to provide a water supply, except where a water company would supply. on reasonable terms. They were also to provide mortuaries ; to obtain power to close burial-grounds which they considered to be unhealthy, and to open new ones. The Local Boards were empowered to make by-laws and impose penalties, subject to confirmation by the Secretary of State, and to levy rates, to mortgage the rates, and to borrow from the Public Works Loan Commission. The Act also pro- vided for sewers, wells, pumps, &c., to be made where desired by the inhabitants in parishes containing less than 2000 persons. The metropolis was exempted from the operation of this Act. The General Board of Health came into existence in 1848, just before the outbreak of cholera in this country, and it took measures at once to check the disease, and proclaimed the prin- ciples upon which the preventive and other measures for meeting the epidemic ought to be conducted. Amongst these measures, probably the one which had the greatest effect in promoting subsequently a general feeling of the necessity for sanitary im- provements, and which awoke in the nation the needs of moral improvement, was that requiring house-to-house visitation, and the cleansing of the houses and streets, and obtaining an adequate water supply. This epidemic also brought into notice the necessity of ap- pointing efficient medical officers to supervise the sanitary condition of the different towns and districts. Further Acts for regulating the public health were passed in 1858, 1861, and subsequent years; and all their provisions were embodied in a General Act in 1875, from the operation of which the metropolis was exempted. Subsidiary to these may be mentioned the Acts regulating rural water supply, the Artisans’ Dec. 16, 1886] NATURE 163 and Labourers’ Dwellings Acts, or what have been more recently termed the housing of the working classes, and also Acts for checking the adulteration of food, as well as other Acts relating to the diseases of animals. This general legislation has been largely supplemented by by-laws issued by local authorities, with the sanction of the Local Government Board, and by means of Local Acts obtained by various towns. The Act of 1848 initiated the system which subsequent legis- lation has supplemented, under which many towns and rural districts have borrowed money for and have executed public sanitary works during the last forty years. The importance of this measure may be gauged by the fact that the money borrowed since that time for sanitary works, and not yet repaid, amounts to over 130,000,000/., in addition to very large sums spent out of current rates ; and in addition to an enormous private expen- diture, which is beyond the reach of calculation, for the recon- struction ofhouse drains. This legislation and expenditure have caused a complete revolution in that branch of engineering science connected with public health, viz. drainage and water supply, and has gradually established it on a scientific basis. Modern sewerage may be said to date from the introduction of oval forms in sewers, by Mr. Roe and Mr. Phillips,! under the Commissioners of Sewers, in 1845 ; the construction of impervious clay pipes for smaller drains; the recognition of the necessity that sewers and drains should be water-tight and self- cleansing ; and that junctions should be carefully made. Ven- tilation of the sewers followed a severe outbreak of typhoid fever, consequent upon the construction of a new unventilatcd sewer at Croydon. In 1849-50, Sir Robert Rawlinson introduced the system of constructing sewers and drains in right lines from point to point, with lamp-holes or man-holes at every change of direction or of gradient ; this is now the recognised method of construction among all English-speaking races. The reconstruc- tion of the sewers led to a reform in house drainage, of which the leading characteristics are imperviousness of material, free aération, and facility of inspection at all points. The disposal of water-carried sewage began by leading to the widespread pollution of our streams and rivers, and the serious injury of the sea beach in many of our seaside health resorts. The problem was complicated by the doctrine that as the pollu- tion was caused by a vast amount of fertilising matter, large profits might be made out of its removal. But those who made this assertion generally overlooked the fact that the conveyance of the refuse would have to be paid for just like any other work. The subject has been repeatedly discussed in this hali, but it is far too extensive for me to enter into here. Let us now turn from the community generally to the metro- polis, which was excluded from the operation of the Sanitary Acts of 1848 and 1875. The population of London was 960,000 in 1801. At the Queen’s accession it had more than doubled, and amounted to about 1,900,000. At the present time it is very nearly 4,000,000. The metropolis has, from its situation, all the attributes of a healthy city. It lies in a valley through the centre of which the Thames sweeps from west to east, and the winds rushing over its water afford a continuous supply of fresh air to the middle of the City. But the advantages of this situation had been largely frustrated by the unopposed efforts of the landowners to accumulate the greatest possible number of houses on the least possible space, by which the free circulation of air was impeded in some districts, and the families of artisans were crowded in small, low, close rooms, without space for the safe retention of refuse ; and there was no adequate machinery for its rapid removal. London is now, undoubtedly, the finest capital in the world. It was far from being so at the beginning of the Queen’s reign, Among other things, there were deplorable deficiencies in the sewerage. The drainage found its way through badly-formed, leaky drains into the old water-courses, and thence to the river ; the sewage was floated up and down by the tide in the heart of London, until it was deposited on the shore at low water in fetid banks, which covered the foreshore from Blackfriars to Battersea. One of the early effects on the metropolis of the report of the Poor-Law Commission, was a Metropolitan Building Act for improvement of drainage, and for securing a sufficient width of streets and alleys, and due ventilation of buildings, and to regulate the construction of buildings, authorising the vestries to appoint district surveyors. * Mr. Phillips is at present employed in sup=rintending the reconstruction of the drainage of the Houses of Parliament. In 1846, a new Commission of Sewers was formed, and charged with the duty of revising the metropolitan drainage. The Commissioners applied for an Ordnance survey of the metropolis, which was commenced in 1847. The water supply of London was furnished by water com- panies, who trenched upon each other’s districts. Its volume may be assumed, at the Queen’s accession, to have been about 36,000,000 gallons per twenty-four hours. It was estimated by Mr. Wicksteed, in 1845, at 45,000,000 gallons. Some was derived from the tidal part of the Thames, and was more or less filtered ; but, from its doubtful purity, pumps in surface-wells, often adjacent to chuarchyards, were frequently preferred for drinking-water. In many of the courts and smaller streets water was obtained only from a small stand-pipe, where the water was turned on for an hour or less daily, when the inhabit- ants stood around waiting with whatever vessels they might have at hand for their turn to procure a portion of a miserably scanty supply, which was then stored for use in probably the only room occupied by a whole family. Amongst the poorer classes, almost the only receptacles that existed were wooden butts, frequently in a state of decay ; and, as they were for the most part without covers, the water was placed under favourable circumstances for the reception of dirt and refuse and for the development of animal and vegetable growths. After the cholera epidemic, the question of the purity and quantity of the water supply attracted notice; and in 1852, Parliament passed an Act forbidding the supply of water from the tidal part of the Thames or its tributaries, and requiring all river water to be filtered and to be kept covered after filtration ; also requiring a constant service when demanded by four-fifths of the houses in a district. In 1858, the average daily supply had risen to 75,009,000 gallons. In 1871, another general Act was passed, to make further provisions for securing to the metropolis a constant supply of pure water ; this Act defined the sources of supply of the several companies, and required, amongst other matters, efficient filtration, and the application of tests of purity. The amount of water delivered into London by the water companies for September last was 178,196,597 gallons in twenty- four hours, of which about 90,009,000 gallons came from the Thames above Teddington Lock; its purity is ascertained by continual analysis; and it may now be said that the water supplied to London rivals that of any other city in purity. It was not till 1852 that the Secretary of State was authorised to prohibit burials within the metropolis. A new era in metropolitan sanitation was inaugurated in 1855. In that year the Metropolitan Board of Works was created. In this body was vested the main drainage of the metropolis, but the charge of the subsidiary parish sewers was left to the vestries, who were also charged with the care of the streets and roads, the Metropolitan Roads Commission being abolished, and all duties of lighting, control of removal of refuse, &c., were placed on the vestries. Thus the formation of this new Board was somewhat of a retrogade movement, because the concentration of functions, which had been commenced under the Metropolitan Roads Commission and Metropolitan Sewers Commission, instead of being strengthened in the new Board, was abandoned, and something approaching chaos was introduced. This Board has, however, by degrees had remitted to it the care of London improvements, and certain other general municipal functions, as well as power to levy general rates. The City retained its individuality, excepting as to the main sewers, and effected improvements and opened out thoroughfares in the part under its jurisdiction. The improvements in the other parts of London are mainly due to the action of the Metropolitan Board of Works. Great alterations have taken place in our thorough- fares. Many of those large tracts of London which were occupied by dwellings of the most wretched description, are now traversed by wide thoroughfares, and covered by artisans’ dwell- ings erected by private enterprise. But there is no diminution of the rate at which the vast aggregation of population in London still continues to progress ; and, unfortunately, many of the wretched crowded dwellings still remain, where those born in close rooms, brought up in narrow streets, and early made familiar with vice, are deteriorated in physique, and grow poorer from inability to work. The reconstruction of the drains, the removal of the sewage from the midst of the population, the opening out of thorough- fares so as to admit ventilation into crowded districts, have all tended to improve the sanitary condition of London. 164 “NATURE [ Dec. 16, 1886 I have some interesting tables, prepared for me by the kind- ness of Mr. A. J. Mundy, of the Registrar-General’s Office, which show the remarkable sanitary results of these various efforts. The death-rate of London in the five years 1838-42 was 25°57 per 1000, In the five years 1880-84 it was 21’or per 1000 ; and the deaths from zymotic diseases, which in the decade 1841-50 had averaged annually 5°29 per 1000, were reduced in the years 1880-84 to 3°4 per tooo. If, however, we assume that there had been no change in sanitary conditions, and therefore that the death-rate had gone on increasing accord- ing to Dr. Farr’s formula of increase due to density of popula- tion when the sanitary conditions remain unchanged, the death- rate of 1880-84 would have averaged 26°62 per 1000 ; that is, a saving of 5°61 per 1000 has been effected by sanitary measures. If upon this basis we compare the saving in life which has resulted from sanitary improvements at different periods since | 1838-42, we find that it amounted to an annual saving of 4604 lives during 1860-70 ; of 13,929 lives annually during 1870-80 ; and of 21,847 lives annually between 1880-84. The main drain- age works were commenced about 1860, and terminated in 1878, and the increase in the saving of life in these consecutive periods may to some extent be taken as a gauge of the effect of the gradual construction and completion of these works. No doubt this London death-rate is far too high, and is an evidence that insanitary conditions still prevail all round us, that the housing of the working classes is still far from satisfactory, and that we are too careless about infectious disease. The Metropolitan Board of Works has never had a clear field for municipal action ; yet when we compare the present condition of London with what it was at the Queen’s accession, the Metropolitan Board of Works, in spite of the disadvantages of its constitution, will have a grand record to show, in the jubilee year of the Queen’s reign, of metropolitan improvements and metropolitan sanitation. The main principle which guided public administration, both before and during the earlier years of the Queen’s reign, may be said to have been that of non-interference, and of allowing free competition to prevail; although, no doubt, some efforts had been previously made to regulate the labour of females and children in Factory Acts. The practical application of the knowledge derived from the Registrar-General’s statistics led to further investigation in particular cases by such men as Dr. Simon, Dr. Buchanan, Sir Robert Rawlinson, and others, and gradually caused a reaction from what may be called the /azssez-faire system, to the spread of opinion in the direction of control over individual action in the interest of the community generally ; and the result was the enactment of the successive laws, for regulating the sanitary condition of the people, which I have enumerated above. This large amount of legislation is practically little more than the interpretation required by the increase of population, and by the complicated exigencies of modern life, of the common-law maxims, Prohibetur ne quis faciet in suo quod nocere possit alieno ; and Sic utere tuo ut alienum non ledas: that is to say, no man shall do anything by which his neighbour may be injuriously affected, and each person must so use his property and his rights as not to harm any one else. This common-law doctrine had become practically obsolete, because there was no machinery in existence to enforce it ; and the present generation inherited a legacy of misery amongst the poorer classes, owing to the absence of regulations in the build- ing of houses as the towns increased in size, absence of water supply and drainage, and other matters which I have mentioned. Mr. Mundy’s calculations show us what have been the general results of the sanitary improvement of the nation. The death- rate of 1838-42 for England and Wales was 22°07 per 1000 ; that of 1880-84 was 19°62 per 1000; and the deaths from zymotic disease, which averaged 4°52 per 1000 in the decade 1841-50, were reduced to 2°71 per 1000 in the years 1880-84. It is, however, curious to note that the improvement in urban districts does not appear to have kept pace with that in rural districts, for it appears that whilst the deaths from zymotic disease in certain urban districts have declined from 5°89 per Iooo in the decade 1851-60 to 5°12 per 1000 in the decade 1871-80, the deaths from zymotic disease in rural districts in the same interval have declined from 2°77 to 1°67 per 1000. In order to form an estimate of the saving of life due to sanitary measures, we may assume that sanitation remained in abeyance, and calculate what the death-rate, according to Dr. Farr’s formula, would have been in consequence of increased density of population, and compare that with the actual death- rate; upon this assumption we find that the sanitary improve- ments only began to tell after the cholera epidemic of 1848-49. In the decade 1841-50, indeed, it appears that the death-rate was actually larger than that due to the increased density of population. But in the following decade, the sanitary improve- ments began to produce their effect, and this effect has gradually increased. In the decade 1850-60, the annual average saving of lives in England and Wales from sanitary improvements was 7789 ; in the decade 1860-70, it rose to 10,481; in the decade 1870-80, it was 48,443; and in the five years 1880-84, the average annual number of lives saved by sanitary improvements have been 102,240. The present social condition of the people affords an equally striking evidence of general improvement. Food and clothing are cheap ; the construction of streets and new buildings in our towns are regulated ; houses are improved; overcrowding and cellar dwellings are prohibited ; the common lodging-houses are controlled. Petroleum affords a brilliant light to the poor in country districts which are beyond the reach of gas or of the electric light, and who were formerly dependent on rushlights. Water supply is rarely deficient ; removal of refuse is enforced. But there remains much still to be done. Numbers of the people are still crowded in wretched dwellings ; our rivers are polluted and subject to floods ; our infectious diseases are not properly cared for. The main feature of the legislation of the past half-century is | the recognition of the principle that when large numbers are congregated together in communities, the duty of preventing injury from this aggregation rests on the community ; and if this principle is duly acted on, if in all aggregations of population free circulation of air is encouraged by preventing the crowding together of buildings ; if refuse is immediately disposed of, so as to cause no injury to any one; if pure water be provided ; if we isolate infectious diseases ; and, above all, if we are fortunate enough to retain the blessing of cheap food and clothing, we shall not transmit to our posterity a similar legacy of misery to that which we inherited. ON THE FORMS OF CLOUDS* THE object of the paper was to explain a theory with regard to the principles that may have the greatest effect in producing the leading cloud-forms. Neglecting occasional and exceptional influences, the author stated that the causes with which his paper dealt might be classed under three heads: (1) the diminished specific gravity of the air when more or less charged with in- visible vapour, (2) the differertial horizontal motion of the atmo sphere, (3) the vertical motion in the atmosphere produced by the heat of the sun expanding the lower air. The first of these was universally recognised as the initial cause of the cumulus, or first-born primary cloud. It was produced when there was so much vapour generated in the lower atmosphere that the vapour-laden layer projected up within the limit of condensation. Of course the vapour below this limit would itself become condensed if cooled in the course of its travels. During the formation of the cumulus, calm was supposed to prevail. When the atmosphere was in motion, its differential horizontal movement produced the first important modification. Retarded by friction and other causes, the lower portion of the cumulus moved more slowly than the upper, and the cloud sheared over into a slanting position, and ultimately became the cumulo-stratus. A young cloud was thus distinguishable from those that had travelled even a short distance. In this climate large well-developed cumuli, though common in summer, were seldom seen in the cold season. ‘The majority of the clouds of the first stage seen here were born in warm latitudes, and, coming as travelled cumuli, showed more or less the condition of the cumulo-stratus. The invisible vapour was subject to this same shearing motion, and far-travelled water-vapour would, on its rising, as it soon does in this climate, to the height necessary for condensation, at once take the shape of the stratus. In the next stratum above, Mr. Glaisher’s investigations in his balloon ascents showed a rather rapid change to a drier atmosphere. Here were found the cirro-cumulus, and cirro-stratus. The differential motion of the atmosphere, though diminished, was still an important agent, and produced results that were not possible in the more bulky and dense clouds of the lowest range. When the sun’s Abstract of a Paper read at the Birmingham meeting, 1886, of the British Association, by A. F. Osler, F.R.S. Communicated by Prof. Balfour Stewart, F.R.S. Dec. 16, 1886] heat expanded the lower atmosphere, the upper cloud-stratum would be lifted, flattened, and broken into patches, the result being a mackerel sky. Should, however, the expansion in the lower atmosphere take place very slowly, it was possible that the cloud, though thinned, would remain unbroken. Rapid motion of the atmosphere would elongate the cloud in the direction of motion ; and, if accompanied by expansion from below, would rupture the cloud into ribs or bars at right angles to the current. If the mass of the cloud were stationary or moving slowly, prominent parts might be drawn out into ‘‘ mares’-tails.” FURTHER EXPERIMENTS ON FLAME [N my former paper, published in NATURE, vol. xxxi. p. 272, I showed that there are two classes of continuous spectra, viz. those due to an incandescent precipitate, in which case the flame has the power of reflecting and polarising light ; and, secondly, flames that possess no reflecting power, but give a soft continuous spectrum without maxima or minima. Of this second class is carbonic oxide, which gives, at normal pressures, a fairly bright, and at increased pressure, according to Dr. Frankland, a very bright, continuous spectrum. I have observed its spectrum recently under reduced pressure, using an apparatus similar to that described by Dr. Frankland in his “*Experimental Researches,” p. 884 ef seg. I had considerable difficulty at first in keeping the flame alight at anything like low pressures, and finally adopted a glass jet, of a trumpet shape, increasing very gradually from r milli- metre to 3 millimetres in diameter, the flame being farther shielded from draughts by a wide disk of cork 10 millimetres below the mouth of the jet. Experiment 1.—Carbonic oxide was burnt in oxygen. The flame was densest close to the jet, and diminished in brightness Flame of carbonic oxide burning in oxygen at 60mm. pressure, with spectrum showing maxima. The continuous spectrum at the bottom is given by the red-hot top of the glass jet. to the tip, without any definite separation into mantles with a space between. At normal pressure every part of it gave a continuous spectrum. -4At about 260 millimetres there began to be a noticeable con- centration of the light in the violet and the green in the position of the principal bands of the carbon spectrum. At 120 milli- metres the concentration was unmistakable, but the spectrum was still continuous. At 60 millimetres it presented the appear- ance shown in the sketch. There appeared to be a second maximum in the green—not, however, at all well defined—but the principal maximum was continued upwards into a faint green cloud corresponding to the very faint tip of the flame; this cloud was perfectly isolated, but, unlike the carbon bands, was brightest in the middle.’ I failed to see a similar cloud over the maximum in the violet, but this might be owing to insufficient light, my pumps being only able to maintain so high a vacuum against a very small lame. Mr. T. Legge, of Trinity, who was with me, observed that the comparative absence of the blue was very remarkable. My supply of oxygen becoming exhausted, I had to use air. The flame became less bright, and the maxima less marked. By turning it very low, we brought the gauge down to 4o milli- metres. The flame still burnt steadily. Finally, at 60 millimetres pressure, I adjusted the flame to a height of three-quarters of an inch, opened the air-taps, and checked the pumps. The flame increased in brightness and decreased in size to rather more than a quarter of an inch at normal pressure, the spectrum becoming again perfectly con- tinuous. * It is impossible ina woodcut to give a true idea of the extreme faintness of this isolated cloud. It is only visible when the brighter part of the spec- trum is hidden from the eye, and the room is perfectly dark. NATURE 165 Lxperiment 2.—Having the apparatus ready, I repeated Dr. Frankland’s experiment of burning coal-gas in air under re- duced pressure. He says that ‘‘ finally, at 6 inches pressure, the last trace of yellow disappears from the summit of the flame, leaving the latter an almost perfect globe of a peculiar greenish- blue tint.” He used a jet contracted at the mouth to 1°5 millimetres. With my much wider trumpet-shaped jet, by turning on more gas I could produce smoke at 160 millimetres so as to blacken the glass chimney. At 120 millimetres the light was noticeably less vivid, the flame having a diluted appearance, but the spec- trum showed the usual carbon lines much more sharply defined, the mantles being very much thicker than at normal pressure. With this exception there was no difference caused by the reduc- tion of the pressure to 60 millimetres, and even then, on turning up the gas a little, the ellipsoidal flame became pointed, and the yellow light, giving the incandescence spectrum, re-appeared in the tip of it. It is evident that the trumpet-shaped jet allows carbon to be precipitated in the flame at much lower pressures than the contracted jet. In the same way alcohol heated in a bulb tube burns from the mouth of it with a bright and even smoky flame, whereas it burns from a wick with a blue one. One phenomenon observed by Dr. Frankland I was dis- appointed not to see. He says: ‘‘ Just before the disappearance of the yellow portion of the flame there comes into view a splendid halo of pinkish light forming a shell half an inch thick around the blue-green nucleus; . . . the colour of this luminous shell closely resembles that first noticed by Gassiot in the strati- fied electrical discharge passing through a nearly vacuous tube containing a trace of nitrogen.” He does not speak of having used the spectroscope to determine the nature of this pink glow. I went considerably below the lowest pressure mentioned in his paper, viz. 4°6 inches, but entirely failed to reproduce it. But I have noticed that very small flames from capillary tubes, observed under a power of 100 in the microscope, are sometimes tinged with rose-colour in the outer mantle, from a very faint trace of sodium orange light mingling with the blue of the soft outer mantle ; and I think that the jet he used or the glass chimney may have been sufficiently heated to give a rosy tinge to the flame. One other point I would call attention to. The appear- ance of the gas-flame at low pressures is precisely like that of a very small gas-flame under the microscope. The inner mantle appears to be bordered with bright green light, due to the principal green band of the carbon spectrum extending slightly beyond the others. Beyond this, again, comes a zone of violet light due to the band in the violet, and in most cases this extends nearly, if not quite, to the outer mantle. At ordinary pressures this can only be seen with a magnifying-glass, except with a special burner; but the 2 vacuo flame is, as it were, magnified as to its structure, which is thus visible to the naked eye. This fact suggests that flames may in a sense obey Boyle’s law, z.e, that the space required for complete combustion under given conditions varies inversely as the pressure. Iam continuing my experiments. GEORGE J. BuRCH SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES LoNDON Royal Society, November 18.—‘‘ The Coefficient of Vis- cosity of Air. Appendix.” By Herbert Tomlinson, B.A. Communicated by Prof. G. G. Stokes, P.R.S. In the previous experiments by the author on this sub‘ect, the coefficient of viscosity of air was determined from observations of the logarithmic decrement of amplitude of a torsionally vibrating wire, the lower extremity of which was soldered to the centre of a horizontal bar. From the bar were suspended verti- cally and at equal distances from the wire a pair of cylinders, or a pair of spheres. The distances of the cylinders or spheres from the wire were such that the aiz part of the loss of energy resulting from the friction of the air may be characterised as being due to the pushing of the air. Acting on a suggestion of Prof. Stokes, the author proceeded to determine the coefficient of viscosity of air by suspending a hollow paper cylinder about 2 feet in length and half a foot in diameter, so that its axis should coincide as to its direction with the axis of rotation. The cylinder was supported by a light hollow horizontal bar, about 7 inches in length, to the centre of which the vertically suspended wire was soldered. The wire 166 was set in torsional vibration, and the logarithmic decrement determined with the same precautions as before, The following were the results :— Yibration-period Coefficient of viscosity Temperature in degrees in seconds of air in C.G.S. units, Centigrade 376038 0'00017708 12°225 8°8656 900017783 3°075 In these experiments the loss of energy arising from the friction of the air may be characterised as being due to the dragging of the air, and it is very remarkable that there should be such close agreement in the values of w as determined by this and the previous methods. The mean value of the coefficient of viscosity of air obtained by this method is 000017746 at a temperature of 12°°650 C., and the mean value deduced from the previous experiments when proper correction has been made for the rota- tion of the spheres and cylinders about their axes is f0°00017711 at a temperature of 11°°79 C. > November 25.—‘*‘ On the Structure and Life-History 0 f Zniy- Zoma Ranunculi (Bonorden).” By H. Marshall Ward, M.A., F,L.S., Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge, and Professor of Botany in the Forestry School, Royal Indian College, Cooper’s Hill. The author found plants of Ranunculus Ficaria, the leaves of which were spotted with white patches; the white patches spread from leaf to leaf, and the disease assumed the nature of an epidemic over a given area under examination. The rise, progress, and climax of the disease were observed both on isolated plants and in the open country, and the nature of the lesions in the leaves was made out. Some plants were found to succumb more rapidly ; the evidence supporting this conclusion was given, and the circumstances to which the differences are due explained. The white disease-spots contain the mycelium of Extyloma Ranunculi, and the resting-spores of this fungus (one of the Ustilagineze) were observed on it. The mycelium is very delicate and septate, and runs in the middle lamellae between contiguous cells. The white powder on the outside of the disease-spot consists of conidia, very like those of some Ascomycetes. The author examined the anatomical connection between the conidia and the resting-spores, and showed that the conidia really belong to the same mycelium—in other words, the conidia are a second kind of spore of the Axtyloma. Even more important is the germination of these conidia : this has not been before observed in any Zxtyloma. The ger- mination was traced step by step, not only on glass slips, but also on the living plant. Artificial infections were made, and it was shown how the germinal hyphze entered the stomata, and produced a mycelium exactly like that in the disease-spots first investigated ; not only so, but the vesting-spores of the Entyloma were produced on this mycelium, thus placing beyond doubt the connection of the two spores. The time occupied in infection was also determined in many cases. Moreover, all the symptoms of the disease produced by infection with the conidia were as before. The paper was illustrated by diagrams, and specimens of the fungus were exhibited under the microscope. Mathematical Society, December 9.—Sir J. Cockle, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Prof. D. Y. Kikuchi, of Tokio, was elected a Member, and Mr, F. S. Macaulay ad- nitted into the Society.—The following communications were made :—The linear partial differential equations satisfied by pure ternary reciprocants, by E, B. Elliott.—Circular notes, by R. Tucker.—The problem of the duration of play, by Capt. Mac- mahon, R.A.—Note on two annihilators in the theory of elliptic functions, by J. Griffiths. —Mr. Hammond spoke upon the sub- ject of Capt. Macmahon’s communication at the November meeting. Linnean Society, December 2. — William Carruthers, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The following gentlemen were elected Fellows of the Society, Messrs. J. W. Willis Bund, Arthur Dendy, Anthony Gepp, Tokutaro Ito, F. Krause, F. M. Lascelles, Fred Sander, R. von Lendenfeld, John Sam- son, Harry S. Burton, A. W. Sutton, and Chas. W. Wilson ; afterwards Mr. Geo. Sim was elected an Associate.—The Pre- sident read a letter from the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, concerning the death of his old and respected co-worker on fungi, Mr. C. E. Broome.—Mr. G, Maw exhibited ten photos of living Narcissi, made in the Riviera in 1870. He afterwards gave a short NATURE [Dec. 16, 1886 observed by him on a recent visit thither. The Marcissus papyraceus extends as far as Fez, in Morocco; south of that LV. sub-Broussoneti takes its place, and is found from Saffi to Mogador, Incidental allusion was made to the smallest of the white forms of JV. Zazze/¢a in the Island of sTeneriffe. Of the autumnal species, reference was made to JV. xaudiflorus, which had been lost sight of for half a century, but was re-discovered by Mr. Maw in 1883 in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar, and again recently near Tangier. A hybrid between WV. viridiflorus and JV. sevotznus was found by him close to Gibraltar, and a series of hybrids between WV. viridiflorus and NV. elegans were got in North Morocco. Mr. Maw stated that VV. servotinus was limited .to the south of Spain, and J. elegans to the Morocco coast, the latter plant bearing true leaves. He mentioned the abundance in flower and fruit ofa small Amaryllid, Zapeinanthus humilis, Herbert, as occurring eight miles south of Tangier.— Dr. Day read a paper on the Lochleven trout, which is the form that has been utilised by Sir James Maitland at Howietoun, where the elevation is similar to that of their original home, distant about 25 miles. These fish are known by their numerous ceecal appendages, and up to their fourth or fifth year they are of a silvery gray, with black, but no red, spots. Subsequently they become of a golden purple with numerous black ‘and red spots. Undergrown ones take on the colour of the burn trout. Remove these fish to a new locality, and they assume the form and colour of the indigenous trout. In 1883 a salmon parr and Lochleven trout were crossed, and the young have assumed the red adipose dorsal fin, and the white-edged margins to the dorsal and ventral, also the orange edges to both sides of the caudal—all colours found in the brook trout, but not in the salmon or Lochleven trout. The maxilla in this form not extend- ing to behind the eye, the absence of a knob on the lower jaw in old breeding males and the difference in the fins from those of Salmo fario were shown to have been erroneous statements.— A paper was read on Hermann’s ‘‘Ceylon Herbarium ” and Linnzeus’s ‘‘ Flora Zeylanica,” by Dr. Henry Trimen. The col- lection of dried plants and the drawings of living ones made in Ceylon by Paul Hermann in the latter half of the seventeenth century possess a special interest as being the first important instalment of material towards a knowledge of the botany of the East Indies ; but Hermann himself, who died in 1695, published very little of this material. Some of his manuscripts were subse- quently printed by W. Sherard, including a catalogue of the herbarium, as then existing, under the title of ‘‘ Museum Zeylanica” (1717). This herbarium was lost sight of till 1744, when it was recognised by Linnzeus in a collection sent to him from Copenhagen. After two years work at it, Linnzeus pro- duced in 1747 his ‘* Flora Zeylanica,” in which all the plants that he could determine are arranged under his genera. At that date Linnzeus had not initiated his binomial system of nomen- clature ; but in his subsequent systematic works he quoted the numbers of the ‘‘ Flora Zeylanica,” and thus Hermann’s speci- mens became the types of a number of Linnzeus’s species, for the most part additional to those in his own herbarium in the pos- session of the Linnean Society. Zoological Society, December 7.—Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Prof, Bell exhibited and made remarks on a specimen of a rare Entozoon (Ztentia nana) from the human subject.—Mr. Tegetmeier exhibited and made remarks on a pair of antlers of a Deer, said to have been recently obtained in the Galtee Mountains in Ireland. to be those of the Elk (4/ses machlis).—Mr, Frank E. Beddard read a paper on the development and structure of the ovum in the Dipnoan fishes. The present communication was a con- tinuation of a research into the structure of the ovary in Pyoéo- pterus. The author, besides being able to give a more complete account of the ovarian ova of Protepferus, was also able to sup- plement this account with some further notes respecting the structures observed in the ovary of Cevafodus.—Mr. A. Smith- Woodward read a paper on the anatomy and systematic position of the Liassic Selachian, Sgzaloraza polyspondyla, After a brief notice of previous researches, the author attempted an almost complete description of the skeletal parts of Sgzaloraja, as revealed by a fine series of fossils in the British Museum. He confirmed Davies’s determination of the absence of the cephalic spine in certain individuals (presumably females), and added further evidence of its prehensile character, suggesting also that the various detached examples afforded indications of one or account of the North African and South Spanish Narcissi as | More new species. The author concluded with some general They appeared ~ Dec. 16, 1886 | remarks on the affinities of the genus, and proposed to institute a new family, ‘‘ Squalorajidz,” which might be placed near the Pristiophoridze and Rhinobatidce.—Mr. Sclater, F.R.S., pointed out the characters of an apparently new Parrot of the genus Be orrurss, from a specimen living in the Society’s Gardens. The species was proposed to be called Conurus rudritorguis.—Mr. F. Day, F.Z.S., communicated (on the part of Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby, of the Australian Museum, Sydney) a paper on an unde- scribed fish of the genus Pimelopterus from Port Jackson, N.S.W., proposed to be named 2. meridionalis.—Mr. G. A. Boulenger read a paper on the South African Tortoises allied to Testudo geometrica, and pointed out the characters of three new species of this group, which he proposed to call Zestedo triment, 7. smithii, and T. fiskiimA second paper by Mr. Boulenger contained some criticisms on Prof. W. K. Parker's paper ‘f On the Skull of the Chameleons,” read at a previous meeting of the Society.——-Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a paper on the Wallaby, commonly known as Lagorchestes fasciatus, and showed that the dentition of this animal was entirely different in character, not only from that of the typical species of Zagorchestes, but even from that of all the other members of the sub-family Macropodine. He therefore proposed to form a new genus for its reception, to which he gave the name of ZLagostrophus.—A communication was read from Prof. R. Collett, C.M.Z.S., containing the description of a new Pouched Mouse from Northern Queensland, which he proposed to name Anfechinus thomas?. Geological Society, November 17.—Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The following communications were read :—A letter from the Lieutenant-Governor of the Falk- land Islands, communicated by H.M. Secretary of State for the Colonies, and printed in NATURE, vol, xxxiv. p. 440.—On the drifts of the Vale of Clwyd, and their relation to the caves and cave-deposits, by Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, M.A., F.G.S. The author divided his subject as follows :—I. Introductory re- _marks ; II. the Drifts, viz. (i.) the Arenig Drift, (ii.) the St. Asaph Drift, (iii.) the Surface Drifts ; III. the caves, viz. (i.) the caves themselves, (ii.) the cave-deposits ; IV. conclusion. He exhibited a table showing the tentative classification he pro- posed. Ii. (i.) The Arenig Drift, he said, might be called the Western Dyift, as all the material of which it was composed came from the mountains of Wales; or the Great Lce-Drift, as it was the only drift in the vale which contained evidence of direct ice-action. He traced its course from the Arenig and Snowdon ranges by strize on the solid rock and by the included fragments, a large proportion of which were glaciated. There are no shells in this drift. II. (ii.) The St. Asaph Drift might, he said, be called the Northern Dyift, as it was the deposit in which fragments of north-country rocks first appeared ; or the _ Marine Drift, as it was, excepting the recent deposits at the mouth of the estuary, the only drift in the vale which showed by its character and contents that it was a sea-deposit. It contained north-country granites, flints, and sea-shells, of which he gave lists. Most of them are common on the adjoining coast at the present day ; a few are more northern forms. None of the rocks are striated, except those derived from the Arenig Drift (i.). IL. (iii.) The Surface-Drifts included the older and newer alluvia of the rivers, the Morfa Rhuddlau Beds or estuarine silt, the recent shore-deposits or Rhyl Beds, and all the various kinds of deposits known as talus, trail, rain-wash, head, run-of-the-hill, &c., of which, in so long a time, very thick masses have accumu- lated in many places. He explained some methods of distin- guishing gravels according to their origin. Turning to the sub- ject of caves, he thought they should be careful not to confound (III. i.) the question of the age and origin of the caves them- selves with (III. ii.) that of the deposits in the caves. He then described some of the more important caves of the district, ex- plaining the evidence upon which he founded the opinion that the deposits in Pontnewydd Cave were post-glacial palzeolithic. He arrived at the same conclusion with regard to the deposits in the Ffynnon Beuno Cayes. Combating the objections to this view which had recently been urged, he pointed out that the _ drifts associated with the deposits in those caves cannot have been formed before the submergence described under II. (ii.), _ because they contained north-country fragments and flints, and that, even if they were of the age of the submergence, they would not be pre-glacial ; that they cannot have been formed during the submergence, as the sea would have washed away the bones, &c., from the mouth of the cave, and its contents must have shown some evidence of having been sorted by the sea. He considered that the greater part of the material that 1 7 NATURE 167 blocked the upper entrance of the upper cave belonged to the surface-drifts described under II. (iii.), and were, as they stood, almost all sub-aérial. He further pointed out that, so far as palzeontologists had been able to lay before them any chrono- logical divisions founded on the Mammalia, the fauna of the Ffynnon Beuno Caves agreed with the later rather than with the earlier Pleistocene groups. Middlesex County Natural History Society, November 16.—Dr. Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., in the chair.—A paper was read by Mr. Sydney T. Klein, entitled ‘‘ Thirty-six Hours’ Hunting amongst the Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera of Middle- sex, with Notes on the Methods adopted for their Capture.” The especial object of the paper was to show how much good work could be done in a short time and within a small space— the time being made up by an hour or so each evening, and the space being the author’s garden at Willesden. Detailed obser- vations on the methods of enticement and capture—such as the rearing of special food-plants, sugaring, bright lights, &c.,— were entered into, and a list of the Noctuz captured was read. Mr. Klein stated that he had taken over 170 species in the short time at his disposal, and had noticed, on an average, 500 or more moths on each occasion. With regard to the Hymeno- ptera, both mason and leaf-cutter bees had established them- selves in his garden, and some interesting observations on their habits and economy were given. A large collection, containing specimens of every insect taken, was exhibited, together with the ichneumons peculiar to several of the species; a torpid mason-bee, which was restored to activity by breathing ; and cells of the queen of the Ligurian honey-bee. A discussion fol- lowed, in which the Chairman joined ; and, with a few remarks by the other members who had brought exhibits, a vote of thanks to Dr. Geikie brought the meeting to a close. Another paper, ‘‘On the Flora met with on the occasion of the High- gate Excursion,” by Dr. Henry Wharton, was postponed till the December meeting. CAMBRIDGE Philosophical Society. Oct, 25.—Annual General Meeting. —-Prof. Foster in the chair.—The following were elected Officers and new Members of Council for the year:—President: Mr. Trotter ; Vice-Presidents : Prof. Babington, Prof. Adams, Prof. Foster ; Secretaries: Mr, Glazebrook, Mr. Vines, Mr. Larmor ; new Members of Council : Prof. Liveing, Mr. Forsyth, Mr. Marr, Mr. Pattison Muir.—Mr. Trotter then took the chair, and the following communications were made to the Society :—On Lagrange’s equations of motion, by Mr. J. C. McConnel. The paper contains a proof of Lagrange’s equations founded on that in Lord Rayleigh’s ‘‘ Theory of Sound,” with some remarks on the proof given in Maxwell’s ‘‘ Electricity and Magnetism.” —On the potentials of surfaces formed by the revolution of limacons and cardioids about their axes, by Mr. A. B. Basset. The potential of a spheroid can be expressed in terms of a series of spheroidal harmonics. From this by inversion with respect to a focus the potential of limacon is found, while that of a cardioid is obtained from a paraboloid either in a similar manner or by treating it as the limiting case of the spheroid.—An attempt to explain certain geological phenomena by the application to a liquid substratum of Henry’s law of the absorption of gases by liquids, by Rev. O. Fisher, The author supposes that a liquid substratum exists beneath the earth’s crust, and that this con- sists’ of fused rock holding gas, chiefly water above its critical temperature, in solution, This water is supposed to be that which is given off so largely in volcanic eruptions. If such be the constitution of the substratum, the reactions between it and the crust will largely depend on it, and also the tidal effects. The problem is worked out in the paper, and numerical results, which accord fairly with observed facts, are obtained.—A new method of determining specific inductive capacity, by Mr. L. R. Wilberforce. The author briefly described the method, which consisted in the comparison of the directive couples upon two spheroids, the one made of the dielectric to be investigated, and the other of some conducting material, when they were placed in a uniform electric field. He farther indicated certain theo- retical considerations with regard to the eccentricities of the spheroids and their manner of suspension, and stated a geueral theorem relating to the mechanical effect due to such a field upon a body of any material or form. PARIS Academy of Sciences, December 6.—M. Daubrée in the chair.—Reply to M. de Lapparent’s note of November 22, on the 168 DV AD Oe [Dec. 16, 1886 conditions determining the form and density of the earth’s crust, by M. Faye. The conclusions of modern physicists regarding the uniform flattening of both terrestrial poles are vindicated against M. de Lapparent’s captious objections. The general charge that the work of geodesy is far from completed is ad- mitted ; but it is pointed out that, in order to continue this work, it is not necessary to sweep away the secure results already obtained ; it will be safe to prosecute it on the safe lines already laid down by Sabine, Freycinet, Foster, Clarke, Liitke, and other eminent men of science.—Action of manganese on the phosphorescent property of carbonate of lime, by M, Ed- mond Becquerel. The experiments here described place in a clear light the action of manganese, explaining how the car- bonate of lime derived from the solution of Iceland-spar in pure hydrochloric acid always leads to preparations of orange phos- phorescent sulphurets, while the’ phosphorescent matter is always bright green when the carbonate of lime used in the preparation is aragonite.—On the nitric substances of vegetable soil, by MM. Berthelot and André. A first series of experiments is here described, which have been carried out in the presence of diluted hydrochloric acid for the purpose of determining the chem1- cal constitution of the nitric substances found in all vegetable soils in association with carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and almost ab- solutely insoluble. —On the composition of cider, by M. G, Lechar- tier. A quantitative analysis is given of the vaiious ciders at pre- sent consumed in Paris, and coming chiefly from Normandy and Brittany. The results show an average proportion of alcohol lying between 5°1 and 9°40 per cent.—On the red fluorescence of alumina, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. ‘These experiments show that the presence of chromium appears to be indispensable for the production of the red fluorescence of alumina. ‘There seems to be a complete analogy between the parts played by chromium and all other active substances, such as Mn, Bi, Za, Z8 or Sm.—Report made, in the name of the Section of Physics, in reply to a letter of the Minister of Public Instruction, Fine Arts, and Worship on sundry questions connected with the establish- ment of lightning-conductors on the buildings of the Lyceums (Commissioners : MM. Becquerel, Berthelot, Cornu, Mascart, Lippmann, and Fizeau). The report considers it indispensable for complete safety to have all iron roofs, doors, sashes, pipes, &c., carefully connected with the general apparatus usually attached to these buildings as protections against electric dis- charges.—On the fundamental principles of the higher geometry, by M. A. Mouchot. To generalise the figures of geometry by assigning them well-defined imaginary points, and then to prove that the algebraic symbols express all the relations of magnitude or position between the elements of these figures, is the double problem which has engaged the attention of the author forthe last thirty years, and a rational and complete solution of which is now submitted to the Academy.—On certain pro- blems in which are considered, on a plane curve, arcs of the same origin traversed in the same time as the corresponding chords, by M. G. Fouret.—On a new testing exploder (‘* ex- ploseur-verificateur”) of quantity and tension, by MM. Louis de Place and Bassée-Crosse. This apparatus consists of a moist pile of the Place-Germain system, an induction bobbin, and a telephone. It is described as very handy, portable, and durable, advantageously replacing the exploders of quantity and the exploders of tension. It also verifies the circuits at any given moment without danger of premature explosion.—Calorimetric researches on the specific heats and changes of state at high temperatures, by M. Pionchon. In this first communication the author gives, in tabulated form, the results of his calorimetric studies for silver, tin, iron, nickel, andcobalt. His experiments fully confirm the opinion already announced by M. Berthelot on the so-called law of Dulong and Petit.—On the tensions of vapour of solutions made in ether, by M. Em. Raoult. The tensions of vapour for the solutions here determined by Dalton’s method show that the molecular diminutions of tension are always comprised between 0°67 and 0°74, with a general average of 0°71, whatever be the composition, chemical function, and molecular weight of the substances held in solution.—Researches on the bi-metallic phosphates and allied salts, and on their transformations, by M. A. Joly.—Saturation of normal arsenic acid by magnesia, and formation of ammoniaco-magnesian arseniate, by M. Ch. Blarez. These researches on the forma- tion of the arseniates of magnesia and of ammoniaco-mag- nesian arseniate have been undertaken for the purpose of completing the author’s studies on the saturation of normal arsenic acid.—On the phenomena attending the heating and cooling of cast steel, by M. Osmond. In continuation of his studies of these phenomena between the normal tem- perature and 800° C. the author here gives the results of his researches brought up to 1200° C.—On the influence of silicium on the state of the carbon in pig-iron, by M. Ferdinand Gautier. The experiments already carried out by Messrs. Stead and Wood, of Middlesbrough, are here repeated under somewhat altered conditions and with analogous results.—On the water of com- bination of the alums, by M. E. J. Maumené.—Heat of neutral- isation of the meconic and mellic acids, by MM. H. Gal and E. Werner.—A contribution to the study of the fossil fruits of the Eocene flora in the west of France, by M. Louis Crié.—On the diseases of the olive, especially tuberculosis, by M. L. Savastano. —On the phenomenon of the green ray, by M. de Maubeuge. The author’s repeated observations of this well-known pheno- menon, both at sunset and sunrise under varying atmospheric conditions, lead him to conclude that it is really objective, and not merely a subjective sensation.—The Indo-European Canal and the navigation of the Euphrates and Tigris, by M. Emile Eude. It is suggested that with a capital of about 60,000, 000/. a canal available both for navigation and irrigation might be constructed from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, shorten- ing the route to India by six days. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED The History of Howietoun, and also of the Fish-Cultural Work: Sir J. R. G. Maitland (Guy, Stirling).—Mitteilungen des Vereins fiir Erdkunde zu Halle, 1886 (Halle).—Traité de Zoologie Agricole: P. Brocchi (Baillitre et Fils, Paris). —Pearls and Pearling Life : E. Streeter (G. Bell and Sons).— The Owens College: J. Thompson (Cornish, Manchester.)—Journal of the Royal Society of New South Wales, vol. xix. (Sydney).—The Pre- History of the North: J. J. A. Worsaae, translated by H. F. M. Simpson (Triibner).—The Age of Electricity : P., Benjamin (Cassells).—Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, December (Williams and Norgate).—Hydraulic Power and Hydraulic Machinery: H. Robinson (Griffin).—Education Exhibits, part 1 (Washington).—Elementary Course of Practical Zoology : B. P. Colton (Heath, Boston).—Old and New Chemistry: S. E. Phillips (Wertheimer, Lea, and Co.).—Calendar of the University College of Wales, Aberystwith, 1886-87 (Cornish, Manchester).—A Treatise on Chemistry, vol. ili. part 3: Sir H. Roscoe and Prof. C. Schorlemmer (Macmillan).—A Text-Book of Pathological Anatomy and Pathogenesis, part 2, sections ix.- xii. : Prof. E. Ziegler, translated by Dr. D. Macalister (Macmillan). CONTENTS PAGE The Palissy of Calico-Printing. By Prof. T. E. PEVHOL Pe ERAS s | egies oy Fonte: Wo) toile Jo lo) (orale eee eEE The British International Polar Expedition ... 147 Our Book Shelf :— Nicholson’s ‘‘ Natural History, its Rise and Progress in Britain’? 9s.) ch noes) cl euet chet ayn mee) “The Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.”—Prof. John Wrightson ..... 148 Oliver's re KHARTUM® MASSOWAH FSS AnD 4 v 3 ; KOSEAL SIND 77 ease treay Z Sot Site NILE VER RY WELLE rod (a of eee SS Sse ye ~ oa +. WADETA IIS a-. c MUTA | / Kos > (3) is) & oO fo} NYANGWE ~ as TABOROI™ CUTE oh Ss [rene =< N Ruri R. a LONGITUDE 20° EAST OF GREENWICH 400 500 ENGLISH MILES =f has been navigated for about 250 miles by Mr. Grenfell. On the other hand, Dr. Junker has been down the Welle- Makua to 22° E., within about 200 miles of Grenfell’s farthest. Now, if we were certain that the two rivers were one, in spite of the rapids on the Makua this is a route we should be strongly in- clined to support. But no risks should be run and no experiments tried in a matter so critical. By all means send an expedition by this route, and solve one of the few remaining hydrographical problems in African geography. We must say, however, that those best acquainted with the levels in this region still maintain that the Welle does not come down to the Congo at all, or, if it does, not by the Mobangi. This route is 1900 miles in length. The Abyssinian route, in our opinion, does not deserve any consideration so far as the relief of Emin Pasha is concerned, though there is some exploring work | STANFORD'S GEOG* ESTAST to be done in this direction. The total length from Massowah to Wadelai is 1400 miles,;—Massowah to Fashoda 700 miles, of which at least one half is un- explored, and from Fashoda to Wadelai by the Nile about 7oo miles. In the same category as the Abyssinian route is the Shoa route—r1o50 miles, from Assab to Wadelai, 300 miles being unexplored. There is also a rumour that the King of the Belgians intends to send Mr. Stanley up the Nile, but this isa rumour that can scarcely be credited. Altogether it seems evident that, if Emin Pasha is to be reached with the least possible delay and with sub- stantial relief, the Masai Land route is the one to take. There is one important consideration that must be men- tioned. With a caravan consisting solely of men they could take only what they themselves would consume, and it is difficult to see how a supply of ammunition and eet NATERE 179 Dec. 23, 1886] other necessaries could be conveyed. Now, by Masai Land it is all but certain that camels could be utilised, and these animals could find their own provender. With 30 or 40 camels and 60 donkeys, very substantial relief could be taken to Emin Pasha. Indeed, the whole route, at least to the borders of Emin Pasha’s province, is so comparatively level that Cape wagons could be taken, though in such an expedition it would not be advisable to try the experiment. The important thing is that there should be no further delay in starting at least one expe- dition, whoever the leader is to be. Mr. Stanley was to arrive at Southampton yesterday, and we may be sure that if there is any delay in getting an expedition under way he will not be to blame. NOTES ON the 15th inst. a meeting was held of the Association for Promoting a Teaching University for London, when the Com- mittee presented their second report. At a meeting held in December 1885, the Committee were instructed to open com- munications with the governing bodies of the University of London, University College, King’s College, the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, and the various Medical Schools of London, as well as with the Council of Legal Education, for the purpose of pro- moting the objects of the Association on the basis of that report. The Committee have been informed by the Senate of the Uni- versity of London and by the Councils of University College and King’s College, that committees of those bodies had been appointed to consider the objects and proposals of the Associa- tion. The Council of King’s College have adopted a resolution to the effect that ‘‘the Council, while reserving their opinion as to the details of the scheme laid before them by your Committee, approve generally of the objects which the Association has in view.’ The subject having been brought before the Council of University College, they adopted a resolution to the following effect :—‘* That this Council do express a general approval of the objects of the Association, which are as follows :—(1) The organisation of University teaching in and for London, in the form of a teaching University, with Faculties of Arts, Science, Medicine, and Laws; (2) the association of University examination with University teaching, and direction of both by the same authorities; (3) the conferring of a_ sub- stantive voice in the government of the University upon those engaged in the work of University teaching and exa- mination ; (4) existing institutions in London, of University rank, not to be’abolished orJignored, but to be taken as the bases or component parts of the University, and either partially or completely incorporated, with the minimum of internal change ; (5) an alliance to be established between the University and the Professional Corporations, the Council of Legal Education as representing the Inns of Court, and the Royal Colleges of Physicians and of Surgeons of London.” A conference between the deputation of the Committee named in that behalf and the Committee of the Senate of the University of London was held on November 23 at the University of London ; and, at the conclusion of a long and important dis- cussion, the Vice-Chancellor gave to the deputation the” assur- ance that the general disposition of those present was to move in the direction indicated by the Association. Various other institutions have virtually expressed approval of the object of the Association, and, while awaiting some further com uunication from the Senate of the University of London, which it is understood will be made, either to them, or in an independent way to the University teachers of London, the Committee propose to take steps for bringing to the notice of Her Majesty’s Government the need which exists for the co-operation of the Government and of the Legislature, in order to. place University teaching in London on a more satisfactory basis. Tn connection with the report referred to above, the Uz- versity College Gazette of December 17 contains a long article sketching briefly the career of University College, and alluding specially to the results of its severance from the Uni- versity. The University, the article maintains, has carried out with great success, and to the great benefit of many workers, its design of a testing machinery that should enable it to throw its degrees open to all the world, without restrictions of any sort. It has grown to be a great Imperial University. Whatever faults there may be in its imperial system are of a kind to be corrected in the ordinary course of administration as time proves the need. On the side of the University of London, there is leisure now to go back to the point of separation from the Colleges, and having done one part of its work well, see that it does not leave the other undone. On the side of the Colleges, and of London itself, there is now a determination that the chief city of the world, abounding in the best elements of a true Uni- versity life, shall not remain without a teaching University. The first aim of University College, the article goes on to'say, is to form an alliance with the present University, by large ex- pansion of its powers. ‘‘The desired work can be done so much more thoroughly by the University in concert with the College, and the issues are so important for their influence on the London of the future, that, if the result of the present de- liberations at the London University were but faintly satisfac- tory, effort towards united action should be steadily continued by our College. Not until it has been proved (apart from rash assumption) that the desired concert cannot be obtained, should we consider that the time had come for advancing our next line of battle. Then it must be our resolve to apply all our powers to the creation of a separate teaching University in London; to the resuming of our first battle, and recovering for University College the position it gave up on conditions that are no longer fulfilled. King’s College will join forces with us, but with or without allies we must press on to victory, and in this form of the battle, should we be forced to it, we depend on ourselves; we shall have public feeling with us, and the fault will be ours if we fail.” ‘Tue death is announced, on Friday last, of Sir Douglas Forsyth, at the age of fifty-nine years. He will be best known to science as the leader of the mission to Kashgar, the report on which, only recently completed, forms so valuable a contribution to the natural history of Central Asia. Ir is evident that at Rodriguez, a small dependency of fauritius, the indigenous plants are threatened with extinction from an enemy of a peculiar character. In the Annual Report of the Acting Civil Commissioner on Crown Lands and Forests for 1885 it is stated :—‘‘In my report for the year 1884, I pointed out the existence of a kind of white lice, commonly called here ‘cochenille,’ which had in a very short time multi- plied enormously, and threatened to destroy the forests of Rodriguez. During the year 1885 matters looked more alarm- ing still. It was reported to me that these insects had begun to attack the maize, manioc, and bean plantations : I myself while visiting the mountain ascertained the correctness of the report. However the bean harvest had not been bad, and the inhabitants had not to suffer from any scarcity of food. As regards the citron, lemon, and orange trees, for which this island has long been famous, hundreds of them have been killed by these insects. The mango and cocoanut trees felt their baneful influence, and yielded sour and unsavoury fruits. One of the best forest trees which grow here, the ‘Bois puant’ (Fetidia mauritiana), seems unable to resist their attack, and I am afraid that there will not be one of these trees left within a 180 NATURE ——<$<————— eee ee eee twelvemonth, unless, by some happy circumstance, these insects were to disappear altogether.” We learn from Kew that the interesting indigenous tree, whose complete extinction within twelve months is here anticipated, is very rare in Mauritius, and unless steps are taken to preserve it at Rodriguez, it will probably disappear altogether as a forest tree from the flora of these islands. A MEETING of students anxious to form a Biological Society in connection with University College, London, was held on Monday, the 13th, in the Zoological Theatre, Prof. Lankester in the chair. The provisional Committee appointed at the first meeting submitted to the Society the rules they had drawn up, which after some discussion were passed with slight amend ments, and sent up to the Council for approval. Many lady- students were present at this meeting, and so strong is the wish on all sides that they may be admitted to the Society, especially as the classes of Botany and Zoology have been thrown open to them, that two lady-students were put up as candidates for the Committee, and only missed election by a few votes. AT a meeting of biologists held in the Natural History labora- tory, University College, Liverpool, on Saturday, December 11, it was resolved to found a Biological Society in Liverpool, to have for its object the study and advancement of zoology, botany, paleontology, anatomy, physiology, and embryology, and the publication of papers of scientific value on any or all of these subjects. The following gentlemen were elected as office-bearers for the ensuing year :—President : Prof. W. Mitchell Banks, M.D., F.R.C.S. ; Vice-Presidents : James Poole, J.P., Mayor of Liverpool, and Prof. W. A. Herdman, D.Sc., F.R.S.E. ; Treasurer: J. C. Thompson, F.R.M.S.; Secretary: R. J. Harvey Gibson, M.A., F.R.S.E, It was decided to hold the first meeting of the Society at University College on Saturday, January 15, 1887, when the work of the Society will be initiated by the delivery of an inaugural address. DURING a recent voyage of the U.S.S. ¥uniata to South America, observations were made as to the height and length of waves, with the following result, as reported by Commander Davis: height of wave from hollow to crest, 25 feet ; length from crest to crest, 375 feet ; wave-period, 7°5 seconds. The wind-velocity at the time was 1o miles per hour. The height of wave was measured by the elevation at which an observer could see over the crest when the ship was in the hollow. The wave- period was estimated by counting the average number of waves per minute. The wave-length was determined by the time occupied by the crest in passing a measured portion of the vessel’s length. Ir is stated that the task of working up the materials collected by the survey parties of the Afghan Boundary Commission during the past two years into a regular series of maps has been under- taken by Capt. Gore, R.E., and that it will be carried out at Dehra Dun. HIGHER mathematics in its applications to social problems is the subject dealt with in a new Vienna journal, Die Controle, which is edited by the mathematician, Dr. Grossmann. In an appendix, entitled ‘‘Die Mathematik im Dienste der National- cekonomie,” questions of national economy are treated on a mathematical basis. Pror. Dewar’s course of six lectures on the Chemistry of Light and Photography (adapted to a juvenile auditory) which begin on Tuesday next (December 28) at the Royal Institution will be very fully illustrated. Arrangements have been made for the introduction of a powerful beam of electric light, equal in intensity to a sunbeam, into the theatre, for photographic experiments. Many improvements have been made in the warm- ing, lighting, and ventilation of the theatre during the autumn recess. THE last mail from Singapore brings news of the death there, on November 29, of Mr. William Cameron, explorer and geo- logist to the Government of the Straits Settlements, at the age of fifty-three. Mr. Cameron, after an eventful life in England and Australia, settled down in the Straits Settlements, where his practical knowledge of mineralogy and geology, combined with his love of exploration, procured him several appointments. Lately he had been employed by the Colonial Government in exploring and mapping out the unknown parts of the Native States, and he received the title of Government Explorer and Geologist. The production of one of his maps of these States has recently been noticed in these columns, He was well known throughout the Native States, especially amongst the Malays and Sakies, of whose language and customs he is said to have had a most accurate knowledge, and over whom he had great influence. On December 18 the fine new Ethnological ‘Museum at Berlin was ceremoniously opened by the Crown Prince, who was accompanied by the Princess. The Museum, which is a very fine large building, contains collections from all parts of the world, including the antiquities dug up by Dr. Schliemann at Ilion. Herr Gossler, the Minister of Public Worship, read an address on the nature and objects of the institution, and the Crown Prince in replying referred among other things to the benefits which had accrued to the Museum from the colonial expansion of the Empire, AT the last meeting of the Paris Geographical Society, M. de Lesseps was in the chair. After having heard an account of an expl-ration in the Panama Isthmus by M. Désiré Charnay, the Chairman spoke about the canal. He said that, if neces- sary, sluices should be constructed, so that the canal should be opened at any price in 1889. Ulterior steps should be taken for dispensing with them. We have received the report of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society for the past year, and also the first number of the new quarterly series of the Zyavzsactions. The reports from the various sections contained in the former are in all respects but one eminently satisfactory, as they show great activity and excellent work. The exception is Section B, for astronomy, physics, and chemistry, in respect to which it is stated that there is ‘‘a lack of interest in Leicester in physical science, especially when real work is to be done,” Indeed, it has become a question whether the Council should not be asked to terminate the existence of the section; but ‘‘the Council express a hope that the section may live through its time of depression, and, when the interest in physical science has re- vived, may regain its vigour.” We are glad to observe that the botanical sub-committee, who have undertaken and are now editing a work on the flora of Leicestershire, have nearly com- pleted the printing of the book, and hope to be able shortly to announce its publication. The 7yausactions will in future be pub- lished quarterly, in place of annually with the Council’s report. Of the first quarterly number of the Zyansactéons little need be said. It speaks well for the prosperity of the Society that the annual publication no longer supplies its requirements, and the high standard of the papers read is shown by the fact that a number of them have been published by scientific periodicals of repute. The papers now published deal mainly with scientific subjects connected with Leicestershire, such as the Campanulas of that county, the Lower Lias and Rhetics in the Spinney Hills, Leicester, &c. Special mention should be made of a very interesting chart by Mr. Montagu Browne, giving the dates of arrival of summer birds of passage in Leicestershire, from 1843 to 1855, and from 1877 to 1886. WE understand that Mr. H. S. Vines is intending entirely to re-cast and almost re-write his edition of Prof. Prantl’s ‘‘ Ele- [Dec. 23, 1886 - “ Dec. 23, 1886] NATURE 181 mentary Text-Book of Botany,” and that his new work may be expected from Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. in the ourse of next year. In the meantime the publishers are re- issuing the existing book without alteration. In the annual report of the Leyden Museum for the year ending September 1, 1886, Dr. Jentink, the Director of the Museum and the successor of Prof. Schlegel, is able to report sub- stantial progress with the zoological collections, the most notice- able additions being an egg of Zpyornis maximus and a skeleton of Echidna bruijniz. Considerable series of animals of all classes have been added to the Museum from the travels of Mr. Stampfli in Liberia and Mr. Van der Kellen in Benguela. ACCORDING to the Colonies and India, the last experiment in sending salmon-ova to the antipodes appears to have been a great success. In January 1885, a shipment of eggs was made by Mr. James Youl, by desire of the Tasmanian Government, and the bulk of the eggs reached the colony in good condition, development of the embryo having been suspended by means of Haslam’s refrigerating machinery. The eggs have developed into ‘‘fry,” and the ‘‘fry” into “‘smolts,” for several young salmon about 8 inches long have been captured accidentally in the Tasmanian Mersey. THE same journal states that a Mining Institute has been suc- cessfully launched at Sydney, with a programme of future work calculated to increase the welfare of the mining industry. In the Reingraben slate of Polzberg, near Lunz (Austria), among other fossils a well-preserved skull of Ceratodus has been found. Two years ago a flat-pressed vertebral column was found in the same place, which seems to have belonged to the same animal, THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include a Red-handed Tamarin (Jfiidas rufimanus ? ) from Surinam, a Mauge’s Dasyure (Dasyurus maugei) from Australia, presented by Mr. Robert J. Hamilton ; two Collared Pecearies (Dicotyles tajacu) from South America, presented by Mr. Thomas Bell; two Peafowls (Pavo cristatus 6?) from India, presented by Mr. Richard Hunter ; two Indian Crows (Corvus splendens) from India, presented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. ; a Yarrell’s Curassow (Crax carunculata) from South- East Brazil, a Razor-billed Curassow (AZitua tuberosa) from Guiana, a Red-billed Tree Duck (Dendrocygna autumnalis) from America, two White-faced Tree Ducks (Dendrocygna viduata) from Brazil, presented by the Rev. W. Bramley Moore; four Herring Gulls (Zarus argentatus), British, pre- sented by Capt. S. T. Sargent ; six Spectacled Salamanders (Salamandrina perspicillata) from Italy, presented by Prof. H. H. Giglioli, C.M.Z.S.; a Macaque Monkey (MZacacus cyno- molgus), an Isabelline Bear (Ursus isabellinus 6) from India, deposited. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN BARNARD’S COMET.—This comet has become an exceedingly interesting object, of no small beauty and brightness. Prof. Cacciatore, Director of the Palermo Observatory, in a letter appearing in the Giornale di Sicilia of December 1, speaks of it as visible to the naked eye. He says :—‘‘Its head shines as a star of the fifth magnitude, and is accompanied by two tails, the one directed to the north-west, of a length of about a degree and a half, and the other to the west, about half a degree in length.” But few observations would seem to have been made of the comet in this country, when the comparative brilliancy of the object is borne in mind; still, several English observers have called attention to the second tail. One observer speaks of the brighter tail as being, on December 9, more than 10° in length, and visible to the naked eye ; the second tail, which was inclined at an angle of 4o° to the other, was much fainter and shorter, and required an aperture of about 2 inches to show it well, The comet is now receding rapidly both from the earth and sun, and as its declination is diminishing, it will soon be lost to English observers. ROTATION-TIME OF THE RED Spot ON JUPITER.—Prof. Young, in the December number of the Sidereal Messenger, gives a fresh determination of the rotation-period of the great red spot on Jupiter. The determination rests upon eight obser- vations made in the spring of the present year, and the rotation- period deduced is gh. 55m. 40°7s. + 0°2s. ; the probable error of a single observation being + 44s. This rotation-period shows that the gradual retardation of the period still persists, the following having been the values deduced in former years :— h,m s. In 1879 Mr. Pratt made the period 9 55 34'9 1880-81 Mr. Hough 2 37°2 1882-83 20 ” 38"4 1883-84 % ” 38°5 1884-85 5 ” 40°! Prof. Young remarked the apparent overlapping of the southern belt and the red spot which took place towards the end of March and the beginning of April, and which was ob- served by many English observers (Odservatory, May 1886, p- 188) ; but, whilst admitting that it was impossible to say which was uppermost, Prof. Young was inclined, in opposition to Mr. Denning’s view, to believe the red spot to be the lower. Mr. Denning has pointed out that the apparent partial coalescence of the two markings was simply due to an arm of the southern belt overtaking the red spot, the former having a rotation-pericd shorter by about 19s. than the latter. Prof. Young observed a white spot in a yet higher latitude than this part of the southern belt, and deduced a period of rotation for it of gh. 55m. 11*14s. It would thus appear that the red spot moves more slowly than the markings on either side of it, to the south as well as to the north. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1886 DECEMBER 26—1887 JANUARY 1 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.) At Greenwich on December 26 Sun rises, 8h. 7m. ; souths, 12h. om. 51°4s.; sets, 15h. 54m. ; decl. on meridian, 23° 22’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 22h. 14m. Moon (one day after New) rises, 8h. 32m. ; souths, 12h. 56m. ; sets, 17h. 22m. ; decl. on meridian, 18° 54’ S. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h, m. h. m. h. m. ons Mercury 6 18 Io 28 14 38 20 50S. Venus... 8 35 12 25 16 15 23 49 S. Mars 9 47 13 57 1S 20 55S. Jupiter... 2 32 7 40 12 48 Io 52S. Saturn... 17 6% I Io 9 14 21 44N. * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening. Variable Stars Star R.A, (1887°0) Decl. (1887°0) h. m Ghia’ A h. m. U Cephei © 52°3... 81 16 N. ... Dec. 28, 0 24 m Algol SOF Sh ee AOnSIP NG... os) 27s ON SO Um72 »» 29, 21 47 m A Tauri eS AsGness W2yLOUNeec! Us) 205) 4027 E Jan. I, 3 19 m 5 Libree > t4 §4sg... 8 4:9.°... Dec. 27, 20) 7m teh st bts) U Corone ... PySHEGiO1.2-932) ALNe cne99), 27th Aone Sis Agee R Serpentis... ... 15 45°5... 15 29N.... ,, 29, M B Lyre... . -18. 4559 ..- 33 14 N. ..... 591528, 10) 01m, Pei i OZ R Lyre wth LSS 159 2s 4304 ON Gt aos m 3 Cephei » 2225°0) 2. 57) 50).Ne) est es ZOs 20 SO) 72 M signifies maximum ; 7 minimum ; 7, secondary minimum. Meteor-Showers On December 30 and 31 slow bright meteors fall from a radiant near 2 Lyncis, R.A. 92°, Decl. 57° N. Other showers of the season radiate from near ¢ Ursze Majoris, R.A. 2or’, Decl. 57° N., and from near 8 Bootis, R.A. 221°, Decl. 41° N. 182 Occultation of Star by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding angles from ver- Dec. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. CesCEORTEETE for inverted image 4 : h. m h, m. a o 28 ... 29 Capricorni ... 6 18 310 <5 19,34 50 50mg07 Dec. h. 27 cence LO Mars in conjunction with and 3° 29’ south of the Moon. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES SEVERAL recent German geographical periodicals refer to a paper read by Prof. Kan, of Amsterdam, before the Section for Geography and Ethnology at the fifty-ninth Congress of German Physicians and Men of Science at Berlin in September, urging on German explorers the necessity of undertaking a geographi- cal and geological exploration of the Moluccas. He said that, although Europeans had settled in the islands for centuries, our knowledge of the orohydrography, especially of the physical features of the archipelago, was exceedingly small. Excellent charts exist in abundance, and travellers, English and German, have subsequently visited it ; but they were neither geographers nor geologists, but as a rule studied only the fauna and flora, The Dutch Government has done nothing as yet in reference to the geography of the Moluccas, because it has turned all its energies to procuring good maps of the more extensive Sunda Archipelago. Java has been triangulated and surveyed ; there are excellent charts of the coast of Sumatra, and the triangula- tion of this great island has also been commenced, and, in late years, maps of parts of Celebes and Borneo have been produced. In geology, those islands of the Sunda Archipelago which con- tain useful minerals have been studied, and excellent geological maps of Sumatra, Banka, Billiton, South-East and North-West Borneo have appeared. In addition, the Government places annually at the disposal of the Geographical Society of Amster- dam 10,009 florins, which, Prof. Kan hoped, would next year be applied to the exploration of the Aru Islands. On the whole, therefore, the Dutch authorities are not lax in surveying and mapping their possessions in the East. Besides the Moluc- cas, Flores and Timor still offer a virgin field to the explorer, and Prof, Kan hinted that the traveller who undertook the work would not lack pecuniary or other help in Holland. THE last number of Petermann’s Mitteilungen contains th conclusion of Lieut. von Frangois’s account of his journey in the Southern Congo basin, the present instalment beinz mainly occupied with climatology and detailed hydrographical ubserva- tions. Dr, Philippi also concludes the very interesting paper, to which we have already referred, on the changes wrought by man in the flora of Chili. It contains systematic tables of the plants introduced into Chili, and which it now has in common with Europe. Dr. Emil Jung continues his examination of the last census returns of India, the special subject in this number being the effect of the last famine on the movement of the popu- lation. There is, further, a brief review of the new edition of Berghaus’s ‘‘ Physical Atlas,”’ and notes on an excellent map of the Dobrudja, which is appended. WE have also received the last supplementary number (No. 84) of the ALiteilungen. It deals with the economical geo- graphy of the whole of North America, and is really the first number of a series called Aychiv fiir Wistschaftsgeographie. It ae of agriculture, forestry, mining, industry, trade, shipping, &c. AT the last meeting of the Paris Geographical Society (No- vember 19), M. Hansen-Blangsted read a communication on the physical appearance of Denmark in the middle of the eleventh century, as compared with the present time. M. Venukoff referred to the results of M. Nikolsky’s studies last year of the physical geography of Asiatic Russia, especially the gradual drying up of Lake Balkash. The level of the lake is lowered by about 1 metre every fourteen or fifteen years. Two letters addressed to the Ministry of Public Instruction by M. Chaffanjon ex route for the Upper Orinoco, were read, one from Ciudad Bolivar, the second, dated August 18, from Caicara. An interesting communication was read with regard to the last resting-place of Tavernier, the celebrated French traveller, who died in 1689. It was long unknown where he was buried, but it has at last been discovered to be the Pro- NATURE [Dec. 23, 1886 testant cemetery at Moscow. The question of the best method of permanently marking the grave was referred by the Society to aCommittee. Capt. Longbois read a humorous account of a journey to Choa, which had for its object the exploration of the Awash and its basin. THE current number of the Boletin of the. Madrid Geo- graphical Society contains an interesting account of Don Manuel Iradier’s recent explorations in the newly-acquired Spanish terri- tory on the west coast of Africa. The enterprising explorer paid two visits to this region—first in 1875-77, and again in 1884-85, during which he traversed 40co miles between the equator and 3° N. lat., penetrating from the sea-board into the interior as far as about 20° E. long., and surveying to their sources all the coast streams between the Rio-del-Campo and the Gaboon. By far the largest of these rivers is the Muni, which enters the Atlantic in Corisco Bay, after receiving the contributions of the Utamboni, Noya, and other considerable affluents on both sides, and draining an area of nearly 6000 square miles between the Gaboon and the Rio San Benito, The whole of this river-basin is now Spanish territory, the protectorate having been every- where accepted by the chiefs of the local tribes, who are col- lectively known as Vengas, and belong in type and speech to the Bantu family. THE same BSoletiz reports the arrival in Lisbon of Major Serpa Pinto and Lieut. Augusto Cardoso, leaders of the Portu- guese Expedition which has just completed the exploration of the region between Mozambiyue and Lake Nyassa. Starting from Ibo, south of Cape Delgado, the explorers advanced to the Mutepuezi River, and thence to Medo, where, Serpa Pinto falling ill, Cardoso took the lead. After traversing the Metarica district, the Lienda, an affluent of the Rovuma, was followed for some days, and found not to rise in Lake Nmaramba, but to flow through that lacustrine basin from Mount Songe, further to the west. From this point Lake Nyassa was reached in the Ki-Rassia district, whence the explorers proceeded by the familiar route down the Shiré to the Zambesi, and so on to Quilimane, on the coast. Being provided with excellent instruments, the explorers were able to take a very large number of astronomical and meteorological observations in a region now for the first time systematically surveyed. THE prospectus has been issued in Vienna of a new geogra- phical periodical to be called Geographische Abhandlungen ; the editor is Prof. Penck, of the Vienna University, and Herr Hdlzel is the publisher. It is not intended to compete with any existing geographical publications, but rather to supplement them. Each number will be complete in itself; compilations will be wholly excluded, and although a certain number will appear in the course of a year, the dates will not be fixed before- hand, in order to leave the writers as unfettered as possible. The three numbers promised are on the glaciation of the Salzach district, the orometry of the Black Forest, and the arrangement or distribution of the Eastern Alps, by Drs. Briickner, Neu- mann, and Bohm respectively. : ON SOME FURTHER EVIDENCES OF GLACIA- TION IN THE AUSTRALIAN ALPS? GINCE my announcement of the discovery of glacier evidences in the Mitta Mitta Valley (‘‘On the Meteorology of the Australian Alps,” Zyans. Roy. Soc. Vict., 1884, p. 23), and Dr. von Lendenfeld’s subsequent discovery of traces of ancient glaciers on Mount Kosciusko (‘‘ On the Glacial Period in Austra- lia,” Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 1885, p. 45), an interesting controversy has arisen respecting the nature and extent of such glaciation. Having recently undertaken an exploration of Mount Bogong, the highest mountain in Victoria, in company with Dr. von Lendenfeld, for the purpose of discovering further glacier evidences, and so aiding a solution of this important question, I have much pleasure in submitting the following re- marks on the results of that expedition. It may be of interest to review my connection with the controversy as a student of physiography resident in the central part of the Australian Alps. During 1880-83, when studying the fora of the Australian Alps and collecting herbarium specimens for our venerable Nestor of botanic science, Baron von Mueller, it appeared to me that the date of the introduction of the endemic //ovwz/a of the Australian * Paper read at the Linnean Society of New South Wales, on May 26, 1886, by James Stirling, F.G.S., F.L.S. — - \ ae 2i38 1886] Alps (whose affinities were so closely Tasmanian) might safely be centred in glacial movements since Miocene times (‘‘ Re- marks on Flora of Australian Alps,” Southern Science Record, 1885, p. 93), provided geological evidences which would lend support to the hypothesis could be obtained ; for, as remarked by the ex-President of the Linnean Society, Mr. Wilkinson, F.G.S., F.L.S., in one of his admirable addresses to the Society (Pre- sident’s Address, Zinn. Soc. N.S.W., vol. ix., p. 1236), the existence of a semi-tropic flora in South-East Australia during Pliocene times and its subsequent banishment from this region is evidence of a great change of climate in Post-Pliocene times. In a paper which I haye in preparation on the geographic range of the flora of the Australian Alps, it will be shown that many species found there between 2000 and 5000 feet have a wide range, recent researches on the flora of Morocco in Africa, and on that of Kurum Valley, Afghanistan, having disclosed the presence of numerous species of plants common to the Australian Alps; and as Sir Joseph Hooker remarked many years since in his splendid essay on the flora of Australia, ‘‘if as complete evidence of such a proportionately cooled state of the intertropical regions were forthcoming as there is of a glacial condition of the temperate zones, it would amply suffice to account for the presence of European and Arctic species in the Antarctic and south temperate regions of both hemispheres on the mountains of intermediate tropical latitudes.” As early as 1882 I discovered many examples of what ap- peared to be glaciated surfaces in the higher regions of the Australian Alps, notwithstanding that in some areas there were strong evidences of powerful sub-aérial denudation and erosion having taken place during Pleistocene times. 2 passant, | may mention that these apparently glaciated surfaces were seen on the quartz porphyries of Mount Cobboras at elevations between 4000 and 6000 feet; on the metamorphic rocks of Mount Pilot on the Pilot River Valley, down to 3000 feet ; and on the granitic rocks of Mount Kosciusko, recently photographed by Dr. yon Lendenfeld. Partly, however, from inexperience of glaciated surfaces elsewhere, I hesitated to pronounce authorita- tively on them as glacier evidences until further opportunities were afforded me of discovering moraines and erratics at the lower levels. From the fact that my friend, Mr. A. W. Howitt, F.G.S., had not observed any appearances which he could in any way refer to a glacial period analogous with that of the northern hemisphere, unless (as he further remarks) the old lake basins near Omeo might suggest the action of ice (‘‘ Geology of North Gippsland,” Q. 7. G.S. Zond., vol. xxxy. p. 35), I thought it very probable that any pre-existing evidences at the lower levels might have been scoured away by a subsequent pluviatile period (* Ona Geological Sketch Section through the Australian Alps,” Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., 1884). The publication by my friend, Mr. G. S. Griffiths, of a paper on evidences of a glacial epoch in Victoria during Post- Miocene times (Z7ans. Roy. Soc. Vict., 1884), induced me to re-examine the evidences at the higher altitudes, and to endeavour to follow the traces to lower levels in the Indi and Mitta Mitta Valleys, with the result that I felt justified in making the an- nouncement previously referred to on December r1, 1884, even though some of the phenomena therein ascribed to glacier action might be found on closer scrutiny to have been produced by other causes. The indications taken as a whole were sufficient in my opinion to justify the hypothesis of glaciation, for on no other conceivable theory, as it appeared to me, could the facts as a whole be accounted for ; while refrigeration of the area, and the consequent production of glaciers in the valleys of the Australian Alps over wide areas, would harmonise with conclu- sions deducible from an examination of the flora and fauna. In the beginning of January 1885, Dr. von Lendenfeld ascended Mount Kosciusko and photographed some glaciated surfaces. From the absence of any reference to my previous announce- ments save a mere reference from the Southern Science Record to the snow patches at the higher regions of the Australian Alps, I inferred that Dr. von Lendenfeld was unaware of my previous writings and discoveries, or he would not have stated in his interesting paper ‘‘On the Glacial Period in Australia,” read before the Linnean Society of N.S.W. during January 1885, that the glacial area was limited to 100 square miles above 5800 feet altitude. On July 9 I published in the Zrazsactions of the Royal Society of Victoria the first of an intended series of papers ‘‘On the Evidences of Glaciation in the Australian Alps,” detailing certain phenomena in the Livingstone Creek and Victoria River Valleys. During the same month a | NATURE 183 paper, by Captain, now Professor, Hutton, F.G.S., of New Zealand, was read before the Linnean Society of N.S.W., “On the Supposed Glacial Epoch in Australia,” being in part a reply to Dr. yon Lendenfeld’s previous writings concerning a very recent glacier epoch in the southern hemi- sphere, based upon New Zealand experiences and explorations, and partly an endeavour to show that the reches moutonnées and smoothed surfaces on Mount Kosciusko by no means imply, or, to use the actual words of the learned Professor, ‘‘it by no means follows, that they were caused bya glacial epoch, because they might equally well be due to greater elevation, combined with greater atmospheric moisture. We are also advised to ‘distrust an attempt toexplain an ssolated phenomenon by means of a wide-spread cause.” Now it appears to me that Captain Hutton would not have assumed the isolation of the phenomena if he had been fully acquainted with the literature of the subject, and especially my announcement previously referred to. I do not propose to join issue with him in respect to the distinction he seeks to draw between a ‘glacier epoch” and a ‘‘glacial epoch,” but merely to show that the phenomena of glaciation are not so isolated as his remarks would lead one to suppose he believes them to be. I am led to make these remarks because as a student of physiography I feel very much indebted to Prof. Hutton for the valuable information supplied by his writings con- cerning the geological structure, flora, fauna, and climatology of New Zealand, and I should be sorry to know that he laboured under any misapprehension as to the nature and extent of the evidences of glaciation in the Australian Alps. Following the publication of the papers of myself and Prof. Hutton we have one by Prof. Tate, F.G.S., of South Australia (‘‘ On Post- Miocene Climate in South Australia,” Zranzs. Roy. Soc. S.A., 1885), read before the Royal Society of that colony, in which are stated very clearly the evidences in favour of a glacial period in South Australia. The objections by Mr. Scoullar, Cor. Mem., as to the origin of the glaciated surfaces near Adelaide, viz. that they were caused ‘‘ by the attrition of blown sand,” are also con- troverted. I have seensome photographs of these glaciated sur- faces (sent to me for inspection by Prof. Tate), and they resemble very strongly the glaciated surfaces on Mounts Cobboras and Bogong, to be hereinafter referred to. Dr. von Lendenfeld has also seen some photographs of polished rocks from South Australia, and has no doubt as to the glacier origin of the polishing (‘‘ Note on the Glacial Period in Australia,” Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.1V., vol. x. p. 330), although he doubts whether the strize referred to are isochronal with the glacial traces he dis- covered on Mount Kosciusko. In consequence of a very inter- esting correspondence on the subject of glacier evidences between Dr. von Lendenfeld and myself, it was arranged that we should make a joint trip to the highest mountain in Victoria, Mount Bogong, and, if time and circumstances permitted, explore the Bogong High Plains to the south, and proceed thence along the main dividing range towards Mount Kosciusko, so that his exten- sive European Alpine experience and my local geological know- ledge might be utilised, and the features discussed on the ground. On January 3, 1886, we met at Snowy Creek junction, a tributary of the Mitta, and on the following three days made the ascent of Mount Bogong from the north, an arduous journey, but still of great interest. Dr. von Lendenfeld has already described our journey in the publications of the Mining Depart- ment of Victoria (Mining Registrar’s Returns for Quarter ended March), so that it is unnecessary for me to repeat the narrative. Suffice it to say that the evidences of glaciation discovered by us are :— (1) Erratics in the Reewa River and Snowy Creek Valleys. (2) Blocs perches and smoothed surfaces on Mount Bogong. | (3) Moraines at base of Mount Bogong, Mountain Creek in Reewa River Valley. The first-named are abundant in the Pleistocene drifts at Snowy Creek, consisting of huge basaltic boulders, &c., in linear extension for miles, as at Granite Flat; the nearest basaltic outliers being fully twenty miles distant on Bogong High Plains, &c. The second, or what I have called dlocs perches, are large semi-rounded or sub-angular masses of igneous or rather plutonic rock—hornblende porphyrites—occupying the crests of spurs and sidelings in a regular descending series from near the summit of Mount Bogong, 6508 feet, towards the Reewa Valley, many of them resting upon smoothed surfaces of pegmatite at lower levels. (Mount Bogong is gneissic.) The last-named are huge masses of angular and sub-angular 184 NATURE [Dec. 23, 1886 eee rocks at the base of Mount Bogong, pronounced by Dr. yon Lendenfeld to be undoubted moraines (at an elevation of 1000 feet above sea-level). I may remark that these masses are too extensive and distant from the steep spurs of Mount Bogong to be considered as ¢a/ws ; besides which they show evidences of translocation. ‘ I do not purpose entering into a description of further evidences discovered by myself in the Mitta Mitta Valley, at Lake Omeo, or Benambia Creek, &c., in the present paper. There will in due course be communicated a second article on the evidences of glaciation in the Australian Alps, together with a reply to later criticisms. I merely desire to show that the evidences discovered on Mount Kosciusko by Dr. von Lendenfeld are by no means isolated, and that the highest mountain in Victoria, Mount Bogong, presents features which confirm the evidences of glacia- tion elsewhere, and that there is no @ friori impossibility of the area of glaciation being more extensive than has been assumed. In conclusion, I would add that taking into consideration the facts supplied to us by the examination of the ancient flora and fauna of Australia as contained in the writings of Prof. Tate, of South Australia, and of Mr. Wilkinson, F.G.S., of New South Wales, and the geological evidences of glaciation over wide- spread areas daily accumulating, it is difficult indeed to resist the conviction that Southern, Australia, as well as South America and Southern Africa, and indeed New Zealand, all participated in a period of refrigeration, culminating in an ice-clad region during later Pliocene or Pleistocene times, notwithstanding that many difficulties suggest themselves in endeavouring to work out the problem from mere localised observations. SORGHUM SUGAR SOME months ago considerable interest was excited by a report by Mr. Victor Drummond on the production of sugar from sorghum and maize. The report was sent from the Colonial Office to Mr. Thiselton Dyer, with a request that he would state his opinion on the questions raised by Mr. Drummond. For several years the importance of the subject had been recognised at Kew ; and in his reply, dated August 10, 1886, Mr. Thiselton Dyer expressed his belief that if sugar could be produced at a cheap rate from sorghum and maize it would entirely take the place of cane and beet sugar, the geographical range of sorghum being far more extensive than that of the sugar-cane proper or of the beet. At the same time he drew attention to the fact that the results summarised by Mr. Drummond had been for the most part derived from laboratory experiments only, and that the question whether the new industry was likely to prosper could not be determined until those results had been tested over wide areas. He also pointed out that some statements in Mr. Drummond’s report were at variance with well-known facts in vegetable ‘physiology. that exact information as to the position of the sorghum- and maize-sugar industry in the United States should be obtained through the Foreign Office. In accordance with this advice, copies of Mr. Drummond’s report and Mr. Thiselton Dyer’s letter were sent to Sir L. West. By him the matter was put into the hands of Mr. C. Hardinge ; and now Mr. Hardinge’s report has been published in the series of Foreign Office ‘* Reports on Subjects of General and Com- mercial Interest.” The sorghum-sugar industry has hitherto been conducted on a small scale. In 1884 it was carried on at eight factories, which produced 1,009,000 Ibs. in all. The com- parative insignificance of this result will be seen when it is stated that in 1885 the quantity of cane-sugar consumed in the United States was 1,170,000 tons. In most cases it was found that the cost of extracting sugar from sorghum exceeded receipts, and at the present time the industry is prosecuted at only two factories —that of the Rio Grande Company and that of the Franklin Sugar Company, whose works have been remoyed from Ottawa to Fort Scott. Dr. Wiley, by whom the subject has been thoroughly inyesti- gated, attributes the failure of the industry, so far, chiefly to the following causes :— (1) The difficulties inherent in the plant have been constantly under-valued., By taking the mean of several seasons as a basis of computation, it can now be said that the juices of sorghum, as they come from the mill, do not contain over ro per cent. of sucrose, while the percentage of other solids in solution is at least 4, thus rendering the working of such a juice one of extreme difficulty. Mr. Thiselton Dyer therefore advised | (2) The chemistry of the process is at present hardly known, and great development is necessary in this direction. (3) The area of land where the climate and soil are best adapted for the cultivation of sorghum is not nearly so extensive as was at first imagined, and investigation should be made in order to discover in which localities the necessary conditions are most favourable. (4) Commercial depression and the consequent low prices have affected this industry, and caused failure and losses in cases where all other conditions were favourable. (5) Lastly, the mechanical treatment of the juice is very im- perfect, the machinery used in the mills being quite inefficient for the purposes intended, In order that the last-mentioned defect might be corrected, the Commissioner of Agriculture decided that experiments for the application of the process of diffusion on a practical scale should be carried on with the best machinery possible, and the direction of the experiments was intrusted to Dr. Wiley. He erected the battery and necessary buildings in connection with the works of the Franklin Sugar Company at Ottawa, Kansas, and the first trial of the process of diffusion was made on October 8, 1885. The general results of the experiments of 1885 show that :— (1) By the process of diffusion 98 per cent. of the sugar in the cane was extracted, and the yield was fully double that obtained in the ordinary way. (2) The difficulties to be overcome in the application of diffu- sion are purely mechanical, and by enlarging the diffusion-cells to a capacity of 130 cubic feet, and by making a few changes in the apparatus, it would be possible to work 120 tons per diem. (3) The process of carbonatation for the purification of the juice is the only method which will give a limpid juice with a minimum of waste and a maximum of purity. (4) By a proper combination of diffusion and carbonatation, 95 per cent. of the sugar in the cane can be placed on the market, either as dry sugar or molasses. When his experiments were ended, Dr. Wiley was instructed by the Commissioner of Agriculture to proceed to Europe for the purpose of inspecting and purchasing such forms of machinery as might appear most useful, also to gain such information as might secure the greatest success in this work ; and Mr. Hardinge reports that much useful information, chiefly of a mechanical nature, was obtained by Dr. Wiley during the course of his visits to several of the most important sugar factories in France, Germany, and Spain. During the season of 1886 further experiments have been carried on at Fort Scott, under the direction of the Department of Agri- culture, and the results have not proved to be as satisfactory as was anticipated. ON THE CUTTING OF POLARISING PRISMS? HE author showed the manner of cutting two new polar- ising prisms, designed by Ahrens and by himself, and described and figured in the PAz/. Mag. for June 1886. The Ahrens polariser is a rectangular parallelopipedon of calc-spar having square end-faces, and having its long sides in the propor- tion of about 1°6: I relatively to the short sides. The square end-faces are principal planes of section of the crystal. Two oblique sections are cut in the prism, being carried through the top and bottom edges of one end-face, and meeting in the hori- zontal middle line of the others. The dihedral angle between these planes of section is about 32°. The faces are polished and reunited with Canada balsam in the usual way. The ad- vantages claimed for the new prism are: (1) decrease in length, (2) increase in angular aperture, (3) saving of light consequent on non-obliquity of end-faces, (4) minimum of distortion, (5) less spar required than in Hartnack, Glan, or Thompson prisms of same section. Against this are the slight disadvantages of (1) the line of section across end-face, and (2) the use of more spar than a Nicol of equal section. But Mr. Ahrens has recently added a thin coyering-glass at the end-face crossed by the line of section, thereby making this line almost impercept- ible ; and he has also succeeded in finding a new method of cutting the prism in which there is extremely little waste of spar. The other prism designed by the author is a simple modification of the Nicol, giving a wider angle of field. A wedge is cut oft * Abstract of a Paper read at the Birmingham meeting, 1886, of the British Association, by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson. ‘through ignorance of the extent of the demand. Dec. 23, 1886] NARGRLE 185 each end of the cale crystal so as to make the new end-faces almost co-planar with a principal plane of section, and the crystal is cut through along the other diagonal of the sides. The results may be tabulated thus :— Reversed Ordinary Nicol shortened Nicol mes ° 9 Obliquity of end-face a 3 71 ae 69 Angle between end-face and crys- tallographic axis Ee och 45 ae 5 Angle between balsam-film and crystallographic axis... “ne 45 ees 94 The effect is to throw the blue-iris limit right back, to shorten the prism, and to widen the field. In the discussion that fol- lowed, Prof. Stokes remarked that there was no dearth of Ice- land spar in Iceland, but that the supply had been limited The mine had, however, been bought by the Icelandic Government, and a plentiful supplyfmight therefore be expected. THE SYMPATHETIC NERVOUS SYSTEM? THE lecturer commenced by giving a short sketch of Bichat’s views of the division of life into organic and animal life, and pointed out how that division naturally led to the concep- tion of two separate central nervous systems, the one, the sympathetic, to which all the organic functions are to be re- ferred, the other, the cerebro-spinal, regulating the animal functions. He then pointed out how Remak’s discovery of a special kind of nerve-fibre—the non-medullated nerves—asso- ciated only with the ganglia of the sympathetic system, tended strongly to confirm Bichat’s teaching of the existence of two separate central nervous systems in the human body, each of which communicated with the other by means of its own special kind of nerve-fibres ; the cerebro-spinal supplying the sympa- thetic system with white medullated fibres, and the sympathetic supplying the cerebro-spinal with gray or gelatinous non-medul- lated fibres. He then continued as follows :— Even at the present day the teaching of Bichat still very largely holds its ground. It is true that the tendency of modern physiology is to increase the number of centres of action for the organic nerves, which exist in the cerebro-spinal central axis, and therefore to do away with the necessity for a separate inde- pendent sympathetic nervous system, yet the automatic actions of isolated organs such as the heart, and the existence of special nerve-fibres in connection with this system, still induce the neurologists of the present day to place the sympathetic nervous system on an equality with the brain or spinal cord. In this lecture to-night I hope to give the death-blow to Bichat’s teaching, and to prove to you that the whole sympa- thetic system is nothing more than an outflow of visceral nerves from certain nerve-centres in the cerebro-spinal system, the ganglia of which are not confined to one fixed position, as is the case with the ganglia of the posterior roots, but have travelled further away from the central axis. I do not propose to-night to deal with the argument for the independence of the sympathetic nervous system, which is based upon the automatism of such isolated organs as the heart ; I have already in various papers given the reasons and arguments why I look upon such automatic movements as due to the automatism of the cardiac muscular tissue rather than to any action of nerve-cells comparable to the nerve-centres of the spinal cord ; I shall deal entirely with the anatomical argument, and show you step by step how the nerve-fibres which constitute the sympathetic system can be traced to their origin in the central cerebro spinal axis. Evidently, in endeavouring to determine by anatomical means whether the sympathetic and cerebro-spinal systems are in reality independent of one another, our attention must necessarily be especially concentrated upon the nature of the connecting-link be- tween the two systems, z.e. upon the nature of the rami communi- cantes. Largely owing to the pre-conceived notions of anatom- ists, you will find that the rami communicantes are arranged symmetrically in connection with all the spinal nerves of the body. In reality this is far from being the case; the rami com- municantes of the thoracic nerves differ from those above them, i.e. of the cervical nerves, and from those below them, < Abstract of Lecture at the Royal Institution on June 4, 1836, by Walter H. Gaskell, M.D., M.A., F.R.S. » i.e. of the lumbar nerves, in two important»particulars: in the first place the corresponding sympathetic ganglion is connected with each thoracic nerve by two rami communicantes ; and secondly, these two rami differ in colour, one being gray, 7.e. composed almost entirely of non-medullated nerves, and the other white, z.e. composed essentially of medullated nerve- fibres. This double nature of the ramus communicans is confined to the region lying between the two large plexuses which supply the anterior and posterior extremities, viz. the brachial, lumbar, and sciatic plexuses; the rami communicantes to the lower cervical and first thoracic nerves, as well as those to the nerves forming the anterior crural and the sciatic, are, on the other hand, single, and are composed only of gray rami, In other words, the sympathetic chain is connected with the central nervous system by means of white rami communicantes only between the second thoracic and second lumbar nerves. Further, I have been able to trace both the white and gray rami in their journey to the spinal cord by means of consecutive sections of osmic acid preparations, and have found that the gray rami pass out of the sympathetic ganglion as a single nerve, and then ramify in the connective tissue about the vertebral fora- mina, a portion only reaching the spinal nerve-trunk ; the gray fibres of this portion pass mainly along the nerve peripherally, the few which pass centrally never reach the spinal cord, but pass out with the connective tissue which lies in between the medullated nerve-fibres of the anterior and posterior roots, to ramify over and to supply the blood-vessels of the various mem- branes which inclose the spinal cord. In fact the gray rami communicantes are peripheral nerves, which partly supply the vertebrae and the membranes of the cord, and partly pass to their destination in the same direction as the efferent fibres of the spinal nerve itself. So far then I come to these conclusions :— (1) The sympathetic does not send non-medullated fibres into the cerebro-spinal system, because these fibres all pass out of the nerve-roots before they reach the spinal cord. F (2) White or medullated nerve-fibres constitute the only link between the sympathetic and cerebro-spinal systems, constituting the white rami communicantes. (3) Consequently the connection between these two nervous systems is limited to the region of white rami communicantes, i.e. to the region between the second thoracic and second lumbar nerves. Further, these conclusions are borne out when we attempt to follow the white rami commnnicantes into the central spinal axis by means of their structural peculiarities ; sections of osmic preparations show that each white ramus is composed chiefly of very small medullated nerve-fibres, varying in size from 1°8 u to 3°6 uw, very much smaller, therefore, than the large medullated nerves which form the bulk of the anterior roots of the spinal nerves, these latter varying between 14 4 to 20 « or even larger. Clearly then the fibres of the white ramus communicans ought to show very conspicuously among the large fibres of the anterior roots whenever they are present in those roots. I have cut sec- tions of the anterior roots of all the spinal nerves in the dog; and have found, as I show you on this screen, that these very fine medullated nerve-fibres make their appearance for the first time in the anterior roots of the second thoracic nerve ; they are found in large quantities in all the anterior roots between the second thoracic and second lumbar, and then again the anterior roots immediately below the second lumbar are free from such groups of very fine fibres. We see then that exactly corre- sponding to the presence of white rami communicantes in the thoracic region we find groups of characteristic fine medullated fibres existing in the anterior roots, fibres which clearly form part of the white ramus communicans, and confirm by their presence the conclusion already arrived at, viz. that the nerves which pass from the spinal cord into the sympathetic system are limited to the thoracic region of the cord. ; We can now go astep further and argue in the reverse direc- tion that the presence of groups of these very fine medullated fibres in the anterior roots of any nerve implies the existence of nerve-fibres belonging to the same system as the white rami communicantes or rami viscerales, as we may now call them. Examination shows how just is this argument, for I find that the same groups of fine nerve-fibres suddenly appear again in the anterior roots of the second and third sacral nerves, and can be traced into that well-known nerve which passes from the second and third sacral nerves into the hypogastric plexus to 186 supply the rectum, bladder, and reproductive organs ; a nerve, therefore, which may be looked upon as the white ramus com- municans of the sympathetic ganglia which form the hypogastric plexus. Again, in the cervical region, although such groups of fine fibres are absent from the anterior roots of all the cervical nerves, yet they form a conspicuous part of the upper roots of the spinal accessory nerve, and upon tracing them outwards I find that they separate entirely from the large fibres of the accessory which form its external branch to pass as the internal branch into the ganglion trunci vagi (Fig. 2). Here, then, we see in the upper cervical region that the internal branch of the spinal accessory nerve is formed on the same plan as a white ramus communicans, the ganglion belonging to which is the ganglion trunci vagi. Among the cranial nerves we find, especially in the vagus, glosso-pharyngeal, and chorda tympani, groups of fine nerve- | fibres belonging to the same system, We can therefore say that the communication between the so-called sympathetic and cerebro-spinal systems is not symmetrical throughout, but con- sists of three distinct outhows of characteristic visceral nerves, viz. : (1) cervico-cranial ; (2) thoracic ; (3) sacral ; the break of continuity corresponding to the exit of the nerve plexuses which supply the upper and lower extremities. These medullated visceral nerves then pass out from the central nervous system into the various ganglia of the sympa- thetic, and it is possible that these latter ganglia bear the same kind of relation to them as the ganglia on the posterior roots bear to the sensory nerves. Before, however, we can accept this view, it is absolutely necessary to account for the non- NATURE [Dec. 23, 1886 medullated nerves which arise from the sympathetic ganglia | Now it is hopeless to follow, by anatomical means, any special | nerve-fibre through the confusion of a ganglion. What we can- | not effect by anatomical methods we can by physiological. If we find two nerves, one of which enters a ganglion and the | other leaves it, and we find their function absolutely the same on both sides of the ganglion, we have a perfect right to con- clude that we are dealing with the same nerve in different parts of its course. Thus, in the case of the posterior root ganglion, the same sensory nerves are found on each side of the ganglion, althengh they are in connection with nerve-cells of the ganglion itself, | So also with the sympathetic ganglia: we know, for instance, that the nerves which increase the rate and strength of the | heart’s beat pass to the ganglion stellatum along the rami com- municantes of the second and following thoracic nerves, and we know also that the same nerves pass to the heart from the ganglion stellatum, from the annulus of Vieussens, and from the inferior cervical ganglion. Now, seeing that these nerves are known to pass out of the cord in anterior roots, and from thence into the white rami communicantes of the upper thoracic nerves, it follows that they are medullated in this part of their course, and are to be found among the bundles of very fine medullated nerves which we have seen are characteristic of the anterior roots of this region and of the white rami communicantes, We can then say with certainty that the accelerator nerves enter the ganglia stellata as fine white medullated nerves. I am also able to say with absolute certainty that the accelerator nerves in that part of their course which lies between the chain of sympathetic ganglia and the heart are entirely composed of Fic. 1.—Diagram of section of spinal cord to show the various groups of sympathetic ganglion. 3, cells of lateral horn and non-ganglionated splanchnic nerves. posterior horn and splanchnic sensory nerves. non-medullated fibres. which is so absolutely free from medullated nerves: in other words, nerve-fibres of the same function enter a sympathetic ganglion as white medullated fibres, and leave it in increased numbers as gray non-medullated nerves. Throughout we find the same fact—all the vasomotor nerves behave in exactly the same manner as the accelerators of the heart. In all cases the non-medullated fibres of the sympathetic are simply the fine medullated visceral nerves which have passed from the spinal cord in one or other of the three visceral out- flows and lost their medullary sheath in their passage through the ganglia of the sympathetic system ; together with that loss | of medulla they have increased in number by division. Seeing, then, that the non-medullated (so-called sympathetic) nerve-fibres are throughout modified medullated (so-called cere- bro-spinal) fibres, and do not, therefore, arise in the sympathetic ganglia, we may fairly look upon the sympathetic ganglia as bearing the same kind of relation to the visceral nerves that the ganglia of the posterior roots bear to the ordinary sensory nerves. This conception is remarkably confirmed by the observations of Onodi, who has shown that the ganglia of the sympathetic are developed in close connection with the posterior root ganglia, and travel further away from the central axis as the animal grows. Finally, the meaning of the sympathethic as a simple outflow of ganglionated visceral nerves from certain portions of the spinal cord and medulla oblongata is, to my mind, conclusively settled by the intimate relationship which exists between the structure of the spinal cord and the presence or absence of rami viscerales. 1, cells of posterior horn and somatic sensory nerves. I know no other bundle of nerve-fibres | In the gray matter of the spinal cord we find, as | nerve-cells in the gray matter, and the formation of a spinal nerve with its 2, cells of Clarke’s column and ganglionated splanchnic nerves. 4, cells of anterior horn and somatic motor nerves. 5, solitary cells of Shown in the accompanying diagram, certain well-defined groups of nerve-cells, viz., @, a group of large nerve-cells in the ante- rior horn (4 in Fig. 1); these are known to be the origin of ordinary motor-fibres (4) ; 4, a group of nerve-cells (3) split off from this and forming the lateral horn ; ¢, a group (2) known as Clarke’s column ; and d@ and e, two sets of nerve-cells, (4) and (5), in the posterior horn connected with sensory nerves. All these groups of nerve-cells are found along the whole length of the spinal cord, except those of Clarke’s column. Their connection with nerve-fibres of different functions is known, except those of Clarke’s column. Thus both sets in the anterior horn are connected with ordinary motor- nerves ; both sets in the posterior horn with ordinary sensory nerves. Now, Clarke’s column is limited to certain definite regions of the cord, being conspicuous: firstly, between the second thoracic and second lumbar nerves ; secondly, at the top of the cervical region and extending into the cranial region ; and, thirdly, an isolated patch in the sacral region. In other words, its cells correspond exactly in position to the distribution of the white rami communicantes, so that, corresponding to the | variation of this cell-group, we find variations of the number of | very fine medullated fibres in the anterior roots, and we find corresponding variations in the white rami communicantes, which latter, as I have told you, are the only true connections of the cerebro-spinal nerve-centre with the sympathetic. In other words, we have driven home to their origin these visceral nerve-fibres, and we find that they do not arise from any nerve-cells outside the brain and spinal cord, but from a definite nerve-group within the spinal cord. We can, I think, go further than this, and say, with Bichat, Dec. 23, 1886] NATURE 187 that two nerve-systems do exist—the one for organic, and the other for animal, life. These two, however, are not separate and distinct, but form parts of the same central nervous system. Looking at this diagram of the upper cervical region of the cord, we see that the voluntary striped muscles may be divided into two groups, according to their nerve-supply, viz. a group sup- plied by the anterior (4), and one by the lateral horn of nerve- cells (3), and we know also that these two groups of nerve-cells separate from one another more and more as we pass into the brain region. So that we find for the muscles of the face a dis- tinct separation of two groups, viz. (1) those which move the eyes and the tongue—these are supplied by nerves which arise from the continuation of the anterior horns ; and (2) the muscles of expression and mastication, the nerves of which arise from the continuation of the lateral horn ; and remembering how the smile, the laugh, and the snarl, as well as the action of swallow- or it Spin. access. pi Ll) Ext branch ing, are at the bottom only modified respiratory movements, we see that Charles Bell was not so far wrong when he inserted a lateral or respiratory system of nerves in between the anterior and posterior roots. This insertion is actually to be seen at the upper part of the cervical cord (Fig. 2) where a separate nerve is formed by elements which arise laterally, known as the spinal accessory ; and what is most striking is this fact, that in this region the fine medullated fibres (2 in Fig.) are found only in connection with these lateral motor nerves, and not with the anterior motor, so that not only do these lateral or respiratory tracts supply special muscles with motor nerves, but these motor nerves haye a closer relationship to the visceral nerves than other motor nerves. What is true of the upper cervical region is true also of the medulla oblongata. Here, again, the visceral fine medullated nerves are closely connected with the motor fibres which arise from the lateral horn, e.g. the chorda tympani and the facial. Undoubtedly this particular group of muscles has some closer reiationship to the viscera than other trunk muscles, and that relationship is explained immediately if we can accept and extend van Wijhe’s investigations, viz. that in the cranial region the muscles which are supplied by the third, fourth, sixth, and twelfth cranial nerves are derived from the myotomes, while the muscles supplied by the seventh and fifth cranial nerves are derived from the lateral plates of mesoblast. In fact we may look upon the body as composed of two parts —an outside or somatic part, and an inside or splanchnic part. Each part has its own system of voluntary muscles ; each part is supplied by nerves arranged on the same plan, viz. a ganglionated and non-ganglionated portion ; and each part has its own individual centres of action, the inside portion. of the gray matter of the spinal cord containing the centres for the splanchnic roots (2, 3, 5, in Fig. 1), ze. the centres of organic life; the outlying horns the centres for the somatic roots (1 and 4), ze. centres for the animal life. It is a strange and suggestive fact that these two sets of centres are not arranged symmetrically along the spinal axis, but that two great breaks occur in which the centres of organic life fall into the background in comparison to those of animal life. These two great breaks correspond to the origin of the nerves for the legs and arms, and suggest that the formation of the limbs in the originally symmetrical ancestor of the Vertebrata—z.e. the large outgrowth of somatic elements in two definite portions of the body—caused of necessity a corre- sponding increase in the centres for animal life, while there was no necessity for a corresponding increase in the centres for or- ganic life, The oldest part of us is undoubtedly the vital part ; those organs and their nervous system by which the mere act of existence is carried on. With these two there may have been originally a symmetrically segmental arrangement of locomotor organs, Such symmetry, however, went for good when it was found more convenient to concentrate the locomotor machinery into the anterior and posterior extremities, and with the asym- metrical arrangement of the locomotor organs disappeared also the symmetry of the central nervous system. This correspond- ence between the plan of the central nervous system and the development of the extremities is, to my mind, strongly in favour of the view which I have put before you to-night. In conclu- sion, I thank you for the kindness with which you have listened to me, and hope that I have succeeded in convincing you that Bichat’s teaching of an independent sympathetic system is finally dead. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS Revue & Anthropologie, troisieme série, tome 1, 1886, Paris. —On the colour of the eyes and hair in different parts of France, by M. Topinard. This paper will form the introduction to a comprehensive work, in which the author proposes to consider the various methods followed in other countries in collecting the necessary data for determining the racial significance of these physical characteristics. In France, where good charts of stature have been drawn up for the several departments, no statis- tical observations have been made in regard to the colour of the skin, eyes, and hair. This M. Topinard considers at length, both inits significance asa racial characteristic, and in regard to the modifications which it undergoes at various ages, and from different local surroundings. In considering the more or less typical series of colour, the writer draws attention to the extreme rarity in Europe of greenish eyes. In Germany, Prof, Virchow states that, among 6,000,000 persons, green eyes were noted only in six cases. Chinese annals record, however, that green eyes are met with in parts of Asia ; and Pallas notes a similar fact in regard to Siberia. In concluding his exhaustive résumé of what has been done in other countries, M. Topinard states that he has addressed letters to the members of the French Association for the Promotion of Science, begging their co- operation in the collection of the necessary data for drawing up statistical tables of the relative proportion of the different shades of colour of the eyes and hair in various parts of France.— Illyrian anthropology, by Dr. R. Zampa. The author, who is well known for his able contributions to the ethnography of Italy, has turned his attention to the anthropological character of the Illyrian races, who occupied the South Danubian and other eastern trans-Alpine lands, to which tradition points as the original home of the earliest settlers of the Adriatic provinces of central and lower Italy. Dr. Zampa denies that the: Illyrians were ever a homogeneous race, and he points out that while those of the north retained through the ages the character of 188 savage marauders and pirates, the South Illyrians, four centuries B.c., had been thoroughly amalgamated with the Macedonian and Epirote nations, adopting the pre-Hellenic form of speech of those peoples, which still lingers in the spoken tongue of the modern Albanians, After the incursions of Finns and Slavs into the Balkan and Danube territories, in the sixth and seventh centuries, the remnant of Illyrian and other primitive races that escaped extermination were comprised under the general name of Albanians ; and Dr. Zampa believes that in the mountainous districts of Scutari we find the purest representatives of the ancient Albanian race. In this region, therefore, he has sought the data necessary for the elaboration of the compara- tive anthropological researches of the ethnic relations and differences existing between the Italian and other branches of the Albanian peoples. The author gives at length the results of his measurements of several series of crania obtained in Dal- matia, comparing them with those taken from living subjects ; and although it cannot be said that his researches decide the question whence the Albanian Italians derive their origin, they throw important light on the early history of the primitive races of the Balkan Peninsula, and on their gradual amalgamation with the numerous invaders and alien settlers who, in the course of ages, have occupied the lands of the ancient Illyrians.— On trephining, as practised in Montenegro, by M. Védrenes. The question of prehistoric trepanning, which first excited atten- tion about ten years ago, has Jed to the consideration of the hitherto almost unnoticed fact that cranial trephining has been practised in Europe from the most remote ages to the present day. Indeed, according to M. Védrénes, the operation is also of frequent occurrence among the natives of Aurés, in Algiers, where it is held in high esteem as being both safe and bene- ficial. Here it is generally used to arrest the acute pains which are frequently experienced after severe injuries to the head ; a portion of bone, about a centimetre in diameter, being cut out to admit of the introduction of a sponge for the removal of ex- travasated blood. A precisely similar operation is common in Montenegro, where, as at Aureés, it is performed by the mem- bers of certain families, amongst whom the profession of tre- phining has flourished for ages, and been respected as an hereditary distinction transmissible from father to son. The author draws attention to the curious circumstance that the practice of trephining and implicit faith in its efficacy have kept their ground, not merely in the semi-barbarous populations of Algiers and the Balkan mountain districts, but even among the miners of Cornwall, who have continued, to our own times, to regard this operation as the only adequate mode of treatment in various injuries to the head.—Contribution to the history of anomalies of the muscles, by M. Ledouble. The author considers that, while the pyramidalis abdomilis, peroneus, palmaris, plantaris, and psoas parvus are more usually absent than any of the other muscles, the last-named is so frequently missing, that some writers have even assumed that its presence was abnormal. It is more frequent in women than in men ; but for this peculiarity, as well as for the varia- tions observable in the mode of insertion of psoas magnus and parvus, the author does not attempt to offer any explanation ; his paper giving simply the result of his own observations of muscular anomalies in the lower animals, as well as in man. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES LONDON Royal Society, November 25.—‘‘On Jacobi’s Figure of Equilibrium for a Rotating Mass of Fluid.” “By G. H. Darwin, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S., Fellow of Trinity College, and Plumian Professor in the University of Cambridge. Jacobi was the first to prove that a mass of fluid in the form of an ellipsoid, with three unequal axes, is in equilibrium when rotating about the smallest of the three axes. The determina- tion of the axes in terms of the angular velocity of the system has hitherto been left in an analytical form, not well adapted for numerical calculation. In the present paper the formule are brought into a shape involving elliptic integrals, and, by the aid of Legendre’s tables, a table of solutions is calculated. Ifo be the density of the fluid, w the angular velocity, and $70 the mass, then, when w?/47a = ‘09356, the Jacobian ellipsoid is a revolutional figure with axes 1°1972, 1°1972, 0°6977. For smaller values of the angular velocity the first axis increases and the two latter diminish. For example, when w?/4ro = ‘07047, the axes are 1°899, 0°811, 0°694. NATURE [ Dec. 23, 1886 When the angular velocity is infinitely slow, the ellipsoid becomes infinitely long and thin, and tends to assume a figure of revolution about its greatest axis. Although the angular velocity diminishes as the length of the ellipsoid increases, yet the moment of momentum continually increases, and becomes infinitely great when the ellipsoid is infinitely long. The kinetic energy at first increases with the length, attains a maximum, and then diminishes, so that when the ellipsoid is infinitely long it vanishes. The intrinsic energy, however, always increases, so that the total energy of the system has no maximum, and continually increases with the length of the ellipsoid. Approximate formulz are given, which assume a very succinct form when the ellipsoids are long. December 9.—‘‘ A New Method for the Quantitative Estima- tion of the Micro-organisms present in the Atmosphere.” By Percy F. Frankland, Ph.D., B.Sc. (Lond.), F.C.S., F.I.C., Assoc. Roy. Sch. of Mines. The author commences by describing some of the more im- portant methods which have been elaborated for the bacterio- scopic examination of air. In these he includes the experiments of Pasteur, Tyndall, Freudenreich and Miquel, Koch, and Hesse. After pointing out the several advantages and disadvantages which attend these processes, he describes a new method which he has devised, in which he has endeavoured to overcome some of the objections to which the others are open. The following is a brief description of the author’s method :— A known volume of air is aspirated through a glass tube con- taining two sterile plugs, consisting either of glass-wool alone, glass-wool and fine glass-powder, glass-wool coated with sugar, or sugared glass-wool and fine sugar-powder. The plugs are so arranged that the first one through which the air is drawn is more pervious than the second, After a given volume of air has been aspirated, the two plugs are transferred respectively to two flasks, each containing melted sterile gelatine-peptone, which are then plugged with sterile cotton-wool stoppers. The plug is then carefully agitated with the gelatine until it has become completely disintegrated, care being taken to avoid any frothing of the gelatine ; and the latter is then slowly congealed so as to form an even film over the interior surface of the flask. On incubating these flasks at a temperature of 22° C., in the course of from four to five days the colonies derived from the organisms contained in the plugs make their appearance, and can be readily counted and further examined. A very large number of experiments are recorded which were made to test the accuracy of the “‘ flask-method.” For this purpose experi- ments were made, in which sometimes single, and sometimes double plugs were employed, and it was almost invariably found that all the organisms were deposited on the first plug ; the second plug, in the very exceptional cases when it did yield anything, rarely gave rise to more than a single colony. Tt was also found that, whereas in out-of-door experiments a blank Hesse-tube, exposed side by side with the one through which air was being aspirated, contained a number of organisms, —thus creating an important source of error in the quantitative results obtained by Hesse’s method,—in the ‘‘ flask-method ” such blank tubes rarely contained any organisms; and even when such was the case, but a very small proportion of those present in the actual tube. This shows that, whereas in Hesse’s apparatus any disturbance of the air during the experiment vitiates the accuracy of the result, in the ‘‘ flask-method” no such effect is produced. On the other hand, in the absence of aérial currents, the blank Hesse-tube contained only a few organisms, and a re- markable uniformity was found in the results obtained by Hesse’s method and that of the author. This is important, not only as showing the quantitative accuracy of the ‘‘ flask-method,” but in clearly demonstrating that the organisms present in the air exist in an zso/ated condition, and not in aggregates, as suggested by Hesse, for it will be remembered that the plug is violently agitated with the gelatine-peptone in the flask, during which operation such aggregates would undoubtedly be broken up wholly or at least partially. It would therefore be reasonable to expect that the ‘‘flask-method ” would yield a larger number, and possibly a far larger number, of colonies than found in Hesse’s tubes; but since, on the contrary, the numbers agreed under the circumstances described in so striking a manner, it is shown convincingly that they exist in an isolated condition. The paper is illustrated by photographs and drawings. . . Riemer MIT as Dec. 23, 1886] NATURE 189 Of the numerous experiments recorded in the paper, the follow- ing series made at St. Paul’s may be specially referred to, both as illustrating the quantitative accuracy of the process, as well as showing how it may be employed in ascertaining the distribution of micro-organisms in the atmosphere :— Number of micro- organisms found in November 19, 1886 ro litres of air St. Paul’s Churchyard oo i ds 47 Zip NOsy Boa eh nae 40 Stone Gallery 1 No. 2 35 No. 1 10 Golden Gallery ¢ No. 2 It No. 3 II The following are the principal advantages which the author claims for the ‘‘ flask-method ” :— (1) The process possesses all the well-known advantages attaching to the use of a solid cultivating medium. (2) The results, as tested by the comparison of parallel experi- ments, can lay claim to a high degree of quantitative accuracy. (3) The results, as tested by control experiments, are not appreciably affected by aérial currents, which prove such a dis- turbing factor in the results obtained by some other methods. (4) The collection of an adequate sample of air occupies a yery short space of time, so that a much larger volume of air can be conveniently operated upon than is the case with Hesse’s method. Thus, whilst the aspiration of Io litres of air through Hesse’s apparatus takes about three-quarters of an hour, by the new method about 48 litres can be drawn through the tube in the same time ; whilst a better plan is to take two tubes and alternately draw a definite volume of air through each, as by this means duplicate results are obtained. (5) As the whole plug upon which the organisms from a given volume of air are deposited is submitted to cultivation without subdivision, no error is introduced through the multiplication of results obtained from aliquot parts, and all the great difficulties attending equal subdivision are avoided. (6) The risk of aérial contamination jin the process of fask- cultivation is practically x77. (7) The apparatus required being very simple and highly portable, the method is admirably adapted for the performance of experiments at a distance from home, and in the absence of special laboratory appliances. “Further Experiments on the Distribution of Micro-organisms in Air (by Hesse’s method).” By Percy F. Frankland, Ph.D., B.Sc., F.C.S., F.1.C., and T. G. Hart, A.R.S.M. The authors record a number of experiments, made with Hesse’s apparatus, on the prevalence of micro-organisms in the atmosphere. The results are intended to form a supplement to those already obtained by one of the authors, and published in the last number of the Society’s Proceedings. ‘The greater num- ber of the experiments have been performed on the roof of the Science Schools, South Kensington, the air of which has now been under observation at frequent intervals during the present year. The authors point out the variations, according to season, which have taken place in the number of micro-organisms present in the air collected in the above place. The average results obtained were as follows :— Average number of micro-organisms 1886 found in zo litres of air by Hesse’s method January ... eon in ane je 4 March ... ne oR se ZO May Re ce anh a SL June Ane ees ne are Pas. wety July ae oS dt sk aes August sae eas Nes 105 September a at on ee 4s October ... ae a fs eS. Experiments are also recorded showing the enormous increase in the number of micro-organisms present in the air of rooms consequent on crowding. In illustration of this point the authors cite a series of experiments made in the library of the Royal Society during the evening of the conversazione in June last,-when the following results were obtained :— Number of micro- organisms found in Royal Society’s Library 10 litres of air June 9, 1886, 9.20p.m. ... a3 a 326 » LOSS yee ss = i 432 June 10, 1886, 10.15 a.m. 130 In addition to determining the number of organisms present in a given volume of air, the authors have also, in each case, roughly estimated the number falling on a given horizontal surface by exposing dishes filled with nutrient gelatine and of known super- ficial area, as in the experiments previously published. ee = 4 Society of Antiquaries, December 9.—Dr. John Evans, President, in the chair.—Mr., J. Allen Brown, F.G.S., F.R.G.S., read a paper on his discovery of a Palzeolithic workshop floor of the Drift period near Ealing. He pointed out that the discovery of this Paleolithic working site fully confirmed his previous observations of the higher river-drift deposits in North-West Middlesex, z.e. that such old floors or former land surfaces are often discernible therein, and that such habitable spots have been preserved in different parts of the Thames Valley, though they have frequently been disturbed, removed, and re-deposited in other places by the changing course and curves of the wider river of the past, and by floods and other conditions of the severer climate which then prevailed. This Palzeolithic workshop floor, which is about 100 feet above the present bed of the Thames, and about two miles distant from it, is situated near the junction between the Creffield Road and Mason’s Green Road, Acton ; the floor is here about 6 feet from the surface, with a steeper slope to the river than the present surface ; it is covered to this extent with sand, brick earth, and trail deposits. At this site, on an area of about 40 feet square, were found nearly 600 unabraded worked flints, including long spear or javelin heads from 5 to 6 inches long, neatly trimmed to a point, and of the same form as those of obsidian, &c., now employed by the natives of New Caledonia, the Admiralty Islands, and Australia, for insertion into the shafts of their spears, to which they were fixed by lashings, &c. There were also shorter ones, not only wrought along the sides to the point where the flake required trimming, but also neatly chipped at the butts into rough rudi- mentary tangs. Such spear-heads have not only been described by Messrs. Lartet and Christy from the cave of Le Moustier, in the Dordogne, but have been met with in the alluvial deposits of the Somme at Abbeville, the Seine, and other French rivers, as well as by Dr. J. Evans, from Mildenhall, &c. Roughly wrought hatchets, axes, or choppers formed from flakes chipped on one or both faces to a cutting edge were also found rather abundantly on the floor, They are probably some of the earliest rude celt forms, and have been found also in other gravel deposits of the district. At the Creffield Road site they were discovered both finished and unfinished, and correspond with similar tools described by Dr. Evans from the high-level deposits at High Lodge, Mildenhall, Santon Down- ham, and Fisherton, near Salisbury, &c., as well as in the high- level Quaternary drift at Sauvigny (Loire) described by Dr. H. Jacquinot, and in the deposits of Le Moustier (Dordogne), &e. Some of the specimens exhibited were worked on both faces and pointed, thus approaching the Saint Acheul types, which M. G. de Mortillet considers as belonging to the earliest drift series, that of the Chelléen epoch ; they have also been described from other places in North-West Middlesex, as well as by Prof. Boyd- Dawkins from Wookey Hole, and by Dr. Evans from Bidden- ham, Bedford, Thetford, &c. Among the most interesting implements exhibited were borers, awls, or drills, some being large enough for boring wood; while others were sufficiently small for piercing bone needles, and also flints with neatly chipped symmetrical depressions, which it is believed were used as shaft-smoothers, or spokeshaves, like those lately exhibited in Mr. Dunn’s collection of Bushman and Hottentot stone imple- plements at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. Large numbers of knives formed from flakes, often neatly worked on the edge with fine secondary work, and also saws chipped with a dis- tinctly serrated edge, were exhibited from this site, with other tools apparently intended to be used as chisels, &e. Loirze numbers of waste flakes, as well as blocks of flint which had been worked upon, were also found at this spot ; and in Ealing, about two miles distant, in a deposit of about the same age, a large boulder of metamorphic rock, concave on both faces and roughened and scored in the hollows from use, was met with; it is 74 inches long: and a quartzite boulder which fits the hollows was found near it, in fine gravel. They are the first pounding-stones discovered in the drift deposits. _ The author—after describing the various typical forms of the flint implements from the river-drift deposits of Ealing, Acton, Hanwell, Dawley, &c., in his large collection, and their respective ages, as educed from the position or level at which they have been found, as well as their condition, 190 whether abraded or unrolled, with other surface features of the specimens—showed that the flint implements from the Thames Valley may be divided into three groups, decreasing in age from the highest beds of drift to those lower in the valley as the pro- cess of erosicn and part infilling of the valley continued. The implements and flakes found at the Creffield Road working site, which are as sharp and unabraded as on the day they were struck from the cores, were compared both as to their forms and associated Quaternary fauna with those from the upper drift of England and France. When considered in reference to M. G. de Mortillet’s’classification of four divisions—7.e. the Chelléen or Acheuléen, with which remains of the older Quaternary fauna, such as 2. antiguus, Rhinoceros hemitechus, hippo- potamus, large cave-bear, &c., are ‘associated ; the Moustierien characterised by lance-heads, chopping-tools, &c., formed, from flakes, with the later Quaternary fauna, such as the E. primigenius, Rhinoceros tichorhinus, reindeer, &c. ; and the less ancient divisions of the Solutréen and Magdalénien—Mr. Allen Brown showed, from the discovery of RAznoceros hemt- tachus, of hippopotamus, and an older form of deer, &c. (though at the mid-terrace stage of the erosion of the valley), by Colonel Lane-Fox and others, that the fabricators of the human relics discovered at the workshop site at Creffield Road lived contemporaneously with some of the older Quaternary fauna, and that they may therefore be considered as older than the epoch Moustierien, and may perhaps belong to the Chelléen period ; but it is evident most of them were intended for mount- ing in handles or shafts, as such implements are hafted now by Australians and others, and not as ‘‘the coups de foings,” or fist-strikers, of M. de Mortillet ; and that, since they were made, the vast mass of matter represented now by the space between the 1co-foot contour and the present bed of the Thames, two miles away, has been eroded. A large collection of objects from the workshop floor were exhibited, and many other flint implements from North-West Middlesex, illustrating the author’s classification. © Geological Society, December 1.—Prof. J. W.%Juda F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Henry Howe Arnold-Bemrose, Richard Assheton, Francis Arthur Bather, Rev. Joseph Camp- bell, John Wesley Carr, Thomas J. G. Fleming, Thomas Forster, Edmund Johnstone Garwood, George Samuel Griffiths, Dr. Frederick Henry Hatch, Robert Tuthill Litton, Frederick William Martin, Richard ID. Oldham, Forbes Rickard, Albert Charles Seward, Herbert William Vinter, and Charles D. Walcott were elected Fellows of the Society.—The President announced that he had received from Prof. Ulrich, of Dunedin, New Zealand, the announcement of a very interesting discovery which he had recently made. In the interior of the South Island of New Zealand there exists a range of mountains, composed of olivine-enstatite rocks, in places converted into serpentine. The sand of the rivers flowing from these rocks contains metallic particles, which, on analysis, prove to be an alloy of nickel and iron in the proportion of two atoms of the former metal to one of the latter. Similar particles have also been detected in the serpentines. This alloy, though new as a native terrestrial pro- duct, is identical with the substance of the Octibeha meteorite, which has been called octibehite. Prof. Ulrich has announced his intention of communicating to the Society a paper dealing with the details of this interesting discovery—which is certainly one of the most interesting that has been made since the recognition of the terrestrial origin of the Ovifak irons.—The following communications were read:—On a new genus of Madre poraria— Glyphastvea, with remarks on the Glyphastrea forbes?, Edw. and H., sp., from the Tertiaries of Mary- land, U.S., by Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.B., F.R.S.— On the metamorphic rocks of the Malvern Hills, part 1, by Frank Rutley, F.G.S., Lecturer on Mineralogy in the Royal School of Mines. Part 1 is the result of conclusions arrived at in the field ; part 2 will be devoted to a microscopic description of the rocks. The author referred especially to the paper by the late Dr. Holl, whose work he, in the main, confirmed. Dr. Holl’s object was to demonstrate that the rocks which had hitherto been treated as syenite, and supposed to form the axis of the hills, were in reality of metamorphic origin, and belonged to the pre-Cambrian. Mr. Rutley restricted his observations to the old ridge of gneissic syenite, granite, &c., which constitutes the main portion of the range, and, reversing the order of his predecessor, commenced at the north end of the chain. He ronsiders that the beds of crystalline rock, mostly of a gneissic NATURE [Dec. 23, 188 character, in the old ridge have been disposed in a synclinal flexure, which stretched from the north end of the chain to the middle of Swinyard’s Hill, where they receive an anticlinal flexure, and are faulted out of sight. The length of this synclinal fold would be over 5% miles. The lithological evidence is in favour of the rocks forming the north part of Swinyard’s Hill being a repetition of those on the Worcestershire Beacon. We might expect to find the older beds having the coarsest granula- tion, and being even devoid of foliation, and this is what occurs on the Malverns, where the northern hills are made up of the coarsest rocks, with finer schistose beds towards the south ; the exception is at Swinyard’s Hill ; hence there are two groups of coarsely crystalline rocks at either extremity of the presumed synclinal. The contrast between these and the fine-grained rocks of the other portions of the range has already attracted attention. The most northern of the coarse-grained masses is cut off towards the south by a fault near the Wych, while the other lies between a fault on the north side of the Herefordshire Beacon and the before-mentioned fault on Swinyard’s Hill. The metamorphic rocks of the Malverns seem, therefore, to be divisible into three series, extending from the North Hill to Key’s End ; a Lower, of coarsely crystalline gneissic rocks, granite, syenite, &c. ; a Middle, of gneissic, granitic, and syenitic rocks of medium and fine texture ; and an Upper, of mica-schist, finely crystalline gneiss, &c. A diagrammatic section shows the distri- bution of these: the northern block, extending as far as the Wych, consists of the Lower and the lower part of the Middle ; the central block, from the Wych to the fault in Swinyard’s Hill, consists chiefly of the Lower and upper Middle, but with a por- tion of the Lower at the south end ; the southern block, south of the fault on Swinyard’s Hill, consists wholly of the Upper series. How far the foliation of these rocks and their main divisional planes represent original stratification must, theauthor thought, re- main an open question. It has been held that the strike of foliation lies parallel to the axes of elevation ; but this is far from being the case in the Malverns. Still a once uniform strike may have been dislocated by repeated faulting. The author further dis- cussed the general question of how far foliation may or may not coincide with planes of sedimentation. He admitted that the absolute conversion of one rock into another by a process of shearing has been shown to occur, but doubted its application in this case. Although he is inclined to believe that the divisional planes, with which the foliation appears to be parallel, may be planes of original stratification, yet, as a matter of fact, they are nothing more than structural planes of some sort, between which the rocks exhibit divers lithological characters.—On fossil chilostomatous Bryozoa from New Zealand, by Arthur Wm. Waters, F.G.S. The fossil Bryozoa described in the present paper are from the localities of Petane, Waipukurau, Wanganui, and some simply designated as from the neighbourhood of Napier. The first three represent deposits of a well-known position, which was considered Miocene by Tenison-Woods, but which Prof. Hutton (Quart. Fourn. Geol. Soc., vol. xli.) has more recently called Pliocene. Some others, sent over as from “‘Whakati,” are thought to be from Waikato, The genus Membranipora, which is largely represented from near Napier, is not one of the most useful palaeontologically, because the shape of the opesial opening only, and not the oral, is preserved, and also the appearance of the zocecia is often remarkably modi- fied by the ovicells, which, however, are frequently wanting, and in many well-known species have never been found. The author pointed out that in the commoner and best-known species of Bryozoa the amount of variation is recognised as being very great, and considered that in the face of this there is too great a tendency to make new species on slight differences which may be local variations, and that even in some cases, instead of the description referring to a species, it may be that only a speci- men has been described. A list of New Zealand Bryozoa has been drawn up by Prof. Hutton, and our knowledge of the New Zealand and Australian Bryozoa is being constantly increased by MacGillivray, Hincks, and others ; nevertheless, enough is not yet known to fix the exact age by means of the Bryozoa alone, but the large number of species entirely identical with those living in the neighbouring seas, and the general character of the others, show that the deposits must certainly be con- sidered as of comparatively recent date. Out of the seventy- eight species or varieties, sixty-one are known living, twenty- nine of these from New Zealand seas, forty-eight from either New Zealand or Australian waters, and twenty-eight have been found fossil in Australia. Judging from these alone, it would — nae) a i A Dec. 23, 1886 | seem that some authors have assigned too remote an age to the deposits. The new forms described were :—J/embranipora occultata ; Monoporella capensis, var. dentata, M. waipukurensis ; Micropora variperforata ; Mucronella tricuspis, vars. waipukur- ensis and minima, MW. firmata ; Porina grandipora ; Lepralia semiluna, var. simplex, L. bistata; Schizoporella cinctipora, var. personata, S. tuberosa, var. angustata; Cellepora decepta, Cellepora sp. p Royal Microscopical Society, November 10.—Rey. Dr. Dallinger, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—A microscope, with ca e of apparatus and a cabinet of objects, bequeathed to the Society by the late Miss Tucker, was laid on the table.— Amongst the exhibits was a microscope for examining minute aquatic organisms under very high pressures ; Leeuwenhoek’s microscopes ; objectives made of the new glass by Zeiss and by Powell, which were very highly spoken of by the President and others ; and some gold-plated diatoms.—Mr. S. O. Ridley read a paper on the classification and spiculation of the monaxonid sponges of the Challenger Expedition ; drawings and specimens illustrative of the various typical forms were shown.—Mr. A. Dendy also read a paper on the anatomy and histology of the monaxonid sponges of the Chal/engey Expedition, the subject being illustrated by drawings and specimens.—Dr. Crookshank read a paper on flagellated Protozoa in the blood of diseased and apparently healthy animals. He described a disease known in India as ‘‘ Surra,” occurring among horses, mules, and camels. A parasite was discovered in the blood of these by Dr. Evans, and was referred to Dr. Lewis for an opinion as to its nature, who concluded that it was not identical with, but closely allied to, the flagellated organisms which he had observed in Indian rats. Five years later an outbreak of the same disease occurred in British Burmah, and the report of an investigation was published by Veterinary Surgeon Steel, who observed the same parasite, but regarded it as closely allied to the Spirillum of relapsing fever in man, and named it Sfirocheta evansi. This opinion was not accepted by Dr. Evans, who placed blood, stained pre- parations, and material for section cutting, in Dr. Crookshank’s hands for further opinion. Dr. Crookshank at once dispelled the idea of the parasite being a Spirillum, and gave a full account of his observations. These had led him to discover an anterior flagellum, a longitudinally-attached undulating membrane, and a posterior, acutely-pointed, rigid filament, from which characters he recognised that the parasite was a flagellated monad, probably absolutely identical with the parasite discovered by Mitrophanow in the blood of the carp, and named by him Hematomonas carassiz. Dr. Crookshank consequently observed that the Surra parasite should rather be called Amatomonas evansi than Spirocheta as suggested by Steel. Lewis’s observation with regard to the flagellated organisms in Indian rats led Dr. Crookshank to in- vestigate the species obtainable in England, which resulted in his discovering flagellate parasites in 25 per cent. of apparently healthy rats from the London sewers. These organisms proved to be morphologically identical with the Surra parasite and the parasite described by Mitrophanow in the blood of the carp, and were also recognised bya photo-micrograph made by Lewis to be identical with the organism observed by him in Indian rats, _ though Lewis’s description and figures presented material differences. Entomological Society, December 1.—Robert McLachlan, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Messrs. W. H. Miskin, R.E, Salwey, and F. W. Biddle, M.A., were elected Fellows.—Mr, Howard Vaughan exhibited a long series of Gnuophos obscurata, comprising specimens from various parts of Ireland, North _ Wales, Yorkshire, Berwick-on-Tweed, the New Forest, Folke- stone, Lewes, and the Surrey Hills. The object of the ex- hibition was to show the variation of the species in connection with the geological formations of the various localities from which the specimens were obtained.—Dr. Sharp showed a series of drawings of New Zealand Coleoptera, by Freiherr von Schlereth, which, though executed in pencil, were remarkable for their delicacy and accuracy.—Mr. R. Adkin exhibited speci- mens of Cidaria reticulata, recently bred by Mr. H. Murray, of Carnforth, from larvz collected near Windermere, on Jmfatiens noli-me-tangere. Mr. Adkin said that, as the food-plant was extremely local, Mr. Murray had-endeavoured to get the larve to feed on some other species of balsam, including the large garden species usually known as Canadian balsam, but that he had not succeeded in doing so.—Mr. Billups exhibited a number of living specimens of A/eurodes vaporariorum, obtained from a NATURE 191 greenhouse at Snaresbrook, where they had caused great havoc amongst tomato-plants (Lycofersicum esculentum). He re- marked that the species had been first figured and described by Prof. Westwood in the Gardener's Chronicle, 1856.—Mr. Poul- ton exhibited the blood of a larva of Smerinthus tit@, and demonstrated, by means of a micro-spectroscope, the existence of chlorophyll therein.—Mr. G. T. Porritt exhibited forms of Cidaria suffumata from Huddersfield, and a series of small bilberry-fed Ay pstpetes elutfata from the Yorkshire moors, show- ing green, red-brown, and black forms.—Mr. S. Stevens ex- hibited forms of Camptogramma bilineata and Emmelesia albu- Zata from the Shetland Isles, and a variety of Chelonia caja from Norwich.—Mr. H. Goss read a letter from the Adminis- trator-General of British Guiana, on the subject of the urticating properties possessed by the larvae and pupe of certain species of Lepidoptera collected in Demerara.—Mr. McLachlan read a note concerning certain Memopteride.—Miss E. A. Ormerod communicated a paper on the occurrence of the Hessian Fly (Cectdomyia destructor) in Great Britain. It appeared from this paper that there could be no longer any doubt as to the occur- rence of the insect in this country, specimens obtained in Hert- fordshire having been submitted to, and identified by, Prof. Westwood, and by Mr. W. Saunders, of Ontario. Prof. West- wood said the specimens agreed exactly with Austrian specimens in his possession, sent to him some years ago by M. Léfevre, who had received them from the late Dr. Hammerschmidt, of Vienna. A discussion followed, in which the President, Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, Mr. Theodore Wood, and others took part. Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, December 6.—A paper was read by the Rey. S. D. Peet on the religious beliefs and traditions of the aborigines of North America, which was followed by a discussion, EDINBURGH Royal Society, December 6.—Mr. J. Murray, Ph.D., in the chair.—The chairman gave an opening address. Among other points, he referred to the almost total absence of recognition by Government of scientific research in Scotland. The Ben Nevis Observatory, for example, instead of receiving support from Government, is, on the contrary, a source of considerable revenue to it.—The Hon. Lord Maclaren communicated astro- nomical tables for facilitating the computation of differential re- fraction for latitudes 56° and 57° 30’.—Prof. Tait communicated the second part of his paper on the foundations of the kinetic theory of gases. In this part he treats of gaseous viscosity, and conduction and diffusion of heat in gases. In his investigations he takes account of the fact that the mean free path of swift- moving particles is greater than that of slow-moving particles. This point has been wrongly introduced by all previous investiga- tors.—Mr. R. T. Omond communicated an account of a fog-bow observed on Ben Nevis, October 22, 1886. He communicated also an account of experiments on the temperature at different heights above ground at Ben Nevis Observatory. He hopes to repeat them under more favourable atmospheric conditions, and also when the ground is covered with snow. Mathematical Society, December 10.—Mr. George Thom, President, in the chair.—Mr. R. E. Allardice read a paper on the equiangular and the equilateral polygon; and Mr. J. S. Mackay communicated a solution and discussion, by M. Paul Aubert, of a geometrical problem. PARIS Academy of Sciences, December 13.—M. Jurien de la Gravitre, President, in the chair.—Glycose, glycogen, and glycogeny in connection with the production of heat and me- chanical force in the animal economy, by M. A. Chauveau. In this third and last contribution on the subject, an attempt is made to determine absolutely the extent to which the combustion of glycose co-operates in the development of animal heat and energy. The part played by the liver in these phenomena is specially studied, and it is shown generally that the glycose sup- plied by the liver to the blood constitutes the principal aliment of organic combustions, whence are derived animal heat and muscular energy.—Note on an epidemic of typhoid fever which prevailed at Pierrefonds during last August and September, by M. P. Brouardel. This outbreak is clearly traced to the polluted sources whence was derived the water consumed by the inhabit- ants of the Pierrefonds district.—On the formation of Bilobites during the present epoch, by M. Ed. Bureau. In order to 192 NATURE [Dec. 23, 1886 determine the true character of the doubtful fossil organisms still by many naturalists classed with the Algze, the author has carefully studied the traces of all kinds observed especially at points on the coast of Brittany, where extensive tracts are ex- posed at low water. Impressions have been taken of marks due to animals, yet exactly resembling the forms occurring in Secondary and even Primary formations often described and figured as belonging to the vegetable kingdom.—On the means of reducing momentary accelerations of velocity in machines fitted with regulating gear acting indirectly, by MM. A. Bérard and H. Léauté. The object of this memoir is to supply trustworthy governors, applicable especially to machinery used in the manufacture of gunpowder. For the appa- ratus here described, it is claimed that, while giving the required uniformity of action, it checks all abnormal in- crease of speed, so dangerous in this industry.—Observations of Finlay’s comet (1886), made at the 0°38 m. equatorial of the Bordeaux Observatory, by M. F. Courty. The tabulated results of these observations include the mean position of the stars taken as points of comparison borrowed from Schcenfeld’s Catalogue, published in the eighth volume of the ‘‘ Bonn Observations,” 1886.—A practical demonstration of the exist- ence of diurnal nutation, by M. Folie. The remarkable agreement of the results here recorded, deduced from observa- tions made at various points of latitude and longitude, is con- sidered sufficient to prove the existence of the diurnal nutation of the terrestrial axis, and to determine its constant at about 02", —On certain problems of isochronism, by M. G. Fouret.— On a theorem relating to the permanent movement and flow of fluids, by M. Hugoniot. The curious relation which is shown to exist between the permanent movement of fluids and that of the propagation of sound is here investigated.—On the co- efficient of explosion for a perfect gas, by M. Félix Lucas. Various arguments are advanced to show that this coefficient is 1°40, not 1°41, the number generally adopted. — On the coefficient of pressure for thermometers, and on the compressibility of liquids, by M. Ch. Ed. Guillaume. The probable coefficient resulting from M. Descamps’ experi- ments is shown to approximate very closely to that of Regnault, and the coefficients of compressibility must be corrected accord- ingly. —On the nature of electric actions in an insulating medium, by M. A. Vaschy. Assuming that the reciprocal actions of two electrified bodies are exercised through the intermediary of the intervening medium, and not directly at a distance, the author endeavours here to determine the part played by this medium in the transmission of the electrostatic actions. The medium itself is regarded as a combination of the ether and ponderable matter in relations to be subsequently determined.—Note on an abso- lute electro-dynamometer, by M. H. Pellat. By means of this instrument, which has been constructed by M. Carpentier, the intensity of a current may be determined directly in absolute value with an error less than 1/2000.—Note on steno-telegraphy, by M. G. A. Cassagnes. By this combination of mechanical stenography and telegraphy the operator is enabled to record and transmit along a single wire a considerable number of words instantaneously. Numerous experiments on the French lines have yielded the following results for a single wire: (1) 400 words a minute to a distance of 350 kilometres (with two finger- boards 24,000 words an hour) ; (2) 280 words a minute to a dis- tance of 650 kilometres (with two boards 16,000 to 17,000 words an hour); (3) 200 words a minute to a distance of 900 kilometres (with one board 12,000 words an hour). Messages may even be forwarded simultaneously in both directions, and the system offers other advantages greatly accelerating and sim- plifying telegraphic work.—On a process of rock-erosion by the combined action of the sea and frost, by M. J. Thoulet. Cer- tain results observed on the Newfoundland coast are attributed to the combined action of liquid and frozen water.—On some coloured reactions of arsenic, vanadic, molybdic, and arsenious acids, as well as of the oxides of antimony and bismuth, by M. Lucien Lévy.—Thermic phenomena accompanying the pre- cipitation of the bi-metallic phosphates and allied salts, by M. A. Joly. Here are studied the extremely complex relations of bicalcic, bibarytic, distrontianic, and other phosphates, bibarytic arseniates, and monobarytic hypophosphate.—Heat of neutral- isation of glyceric and camphoric acids, by MM. H. Gal and E. Werner.—On the water-bearing apparatus of Calophyl- lum, by M. J. Vesque. A study of this highly specialised apparatus enables the author to classify the twenty-five known species of the genus Ca/ophyl/um.—Analysis of the Javanese ; —The Tea-Planter’s Manual : mineral waters, by M. Stanislas Meunier. The specimens here examined were brought from the Kuripan district, near Boghor, and yielded 54203 per cent. of chloride of calcium, 40°651 of chloride of magnesium, 2°860 of chloride of sodium, 1'104 of chloride of potassium, and 1°924 residue insoluble in water.—On a new locality containing the nummulitic formations of Biarritz, by M. de Folin.—On the importance and duration of the Pliocene period studied in connection with the Roussillon basin; fresh documents relating to the Pliocene mammiferous fauna of this district, by M. Ch. Depéret. In the discussion which followed the reading of this paper, both M. Gaudry and M. Hebert argued that the Pikermi and Léberon deposits should be referred, not to the Pliocene, but to the Upper Miocene epoch.—Note on the reptiles and fishes found in the caves of Mentone, by M. Emile Rivicre.—On the storm of December 8, by M. Fron.—The Fohn and its cosmic origin, by M. Ch. V. Zenger. It is argued that this wind is a cyclonic movement of cosmic origin, allied to such phenomena as the aurora borealis, electric and magnetic storms, terrestrial currents, and the seismic waves which so often accompany violent tempests. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED Crustacea and Spiders: F. A. A. Skuse (Sonnenschein).—The Queen's Jubilee Atlas of the British Empire: J. F. Williams (Philip).—A Concise History of England and the ars People: Rev. Sir G. W. Cox (Hughes). C. Owen (Ferguson, Colombo).—Disease and Sin (Wyman).—Hours ane a 3-inch Telescope: Capt. W. Noble (Longmans).—Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, vol. iv. (Davenport, Iowa).—Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Vierundvierzigster Band, Drittes Heft (Engelmann, Leipzig).—Differential Calculus : J. Edwards (Macmillan). —Proceedings of the American Philo- sophical Society, vol. xxiii. No. 123 (Philadelphia).—Report of the National i i —Bulletin of the U.S. Geological 27, 28, 29 (Washington).—Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 12 : Prof. Gegenbaur (Engelmann, Leipzig).—Bulletin de la Société Impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou, No. 2, 1886 (Moscou). CONTENTS Canal and River Engineering. By Major Allan Cunningham,R.E... . Date op pea oo e Alpine*Winter .°i5. ci) \¢.24% ae eae Our Book Shelf :— Von Tillo’s “ Magnetic Horizontal Intensityin Northern Siberia” .. 170 PAGE 169 170 White’s “ Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom ” 170 Letters to the Editor :— The Cambridge Cholera Fungus.—Dr. E. Klein, ES TRUSS s. Gch et iobees vo ol te Mle Pehle de geile ike weit The Longitude of Rio. —Prof. C. A. Youngis) em aye An Error in Maxwell’s ‘‘ Electricity and Meenas —James C. McConnell . . Soom oa Lie Seismometry.—Prof. J. A. Ewing aa 172 How to make Colourless Specimens of Plants to be preserved in Alcohol.—Selmar Schénland. .. 173 The Recent Weather.—F. T. Mott; William Ingram .. . oot 173 Electrical Phenomenon. —_Thomas ‘Higgin . 58 173 Electricity and Clocks.—T. Wilson. .... 173 Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Commission. By W. Botting, Hemsley). 5 5 6 = 3. 2) = 2 ee Deaosite of Volcanic-Dustes cs) sm. <= thse) a The) Rotate Mercentenany 7% <7) es ae New. Zealand (Coleopteray., - <5.) oe) = en The Relief of Emin Pasha. (Witha Map) .... 177 ICES B5 chore Ol) Oooo eco . 1778) Our Astronomical Column :— Barnard’s Comet. . ii aes Rotation-Time of the Red Spot | on 1 Jupiter . a) cada Moyea LOH Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 December 26—1887 Januaryr.......... I8t Geographical Notes 182 On some Further Evidence ‘of Glaciation in the Australian Alps. By James Stirling ...... 182 Sorghum Sugar ... SURE aeRO: On the Cutting of Polarising ‘Prisms. By Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson . Bacon at | The Sympathetic Nervous System. | By ‘Dr. Walter H,. Gaskell. (J//ustrated) . PB edudsa tees Ls Scientific'Seriala’. eae ee, oye Ue oe aaa 187 Societies and Academies. ............ 188 Books and Pamphlets Received ........ 192 NATORE 193 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1886 BABINGTON’S “BIRDS OF SUFFOLK” Catalogue of the Birds of Suffolk; with an Introduction and Remarks on their Distribution. By Churchill Babington, D.D., &c. Reprinted from the Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archeology and Natural History. 8vo, pp. 281. Map and 7 Plates. (London: Van Voorst, 1884-86.) UMEROUS as have lately been contributions to local British ornithology, the treatment of the subject is very far from being exhausted, and Dr. Babington’s book is extremely welcome as supplying a new catalogue of the birds of a county having so favour- able a situation as Suffolk. For though wanting the extended sea-board of one neighbour, Norfolk, which meets the uninterrupted roll of the polar waves, and pos- sessing an almost even coast-line, very unlike the irregular contour of its other neighbour, Essex, Suffolk yet contains the most easterly point of England in Lowestoft Ness, as it is still fondly called, though a “ness” is there as hard to recognise in these days as is the “ bay ” of its historic Solebay, a few miles further south. Suffolk also is not without its “ broads”—at Fritton, Oulton, Benacre, and Easton—insignificant as they may be in comparison with those of the northern half of the ancient East Anglian kingdom. It also shares with Norfolk the great Breydon Water, and with Essex the wide mouth of the Stour, while it has for its own the estuaries of the Blythe, the Alde, the Debden, and the Orwell, by no means despic- able, even if they are not equal in size to those of the Colne, the Blackwater, and the Crouch, that drain so much of Essex. Suffolk again has a natural feature, the like of which is not possessed by either of its neighbours :— ** On Orfordness lies many a stone, But Dungeness has ten for one,” says the old adage, anditis not untilthe south-eastern corner of Kent is reached that a similar “ beach” is presented, and that one only to be surpassed by the Chesil Bank of Dorset. Highly cultivated, too, as now is almost every acre in Suffolk that will repay cultivation, there are still some wide tracts along its eastern border, and again towards its north-western extremity, which, if indeed they have ever been under the plough, have long since lapsed into an approach to their original condition, and are over- grown with heather and gorse, or form ‘‘ brecks,” kept, by the teeth of countless sheep and rabbits, in the state of the poet’s “smooth-shaven green.” The western limits of the county not only bound, but slope into, the great Fen district, that spreads for miles and miles in an almost level plain towards the Wash. The chief part of Suffolk has long been inclosed, presenting, in the absence of any but the most inconsiderable elevations, a very uniform appearance ; and, were it not for its numerous woods— not many of which are really ancient—and plantations, would afford harbour to few but the commonest of birds. An indefinite district, the soil of which is of the stiffest clay, is colloquially named “ High Suffolk”; but where it begins or ends, no one knows ; and, for some mys- | VOL. XXXv.—No. 896 terious reason, nobody will own to living in it. “ High Suffolk” always begins in the next parish, or the next parish but one! A great contrast to these heavy lands is presented by the “breck” district already mentioned, where the chalk-formation comes nearly to the sur- face, and is only overlain by a few inches of the lightest sand—so light, indeed, that some places may be found as bare of vegetation as is a real desert—every particle of fertilising matter having been blown away by the wind after a spell of dry weather ; and it will be remembered that in East Anglia the rainfall is less than in any other part of England. This district still retains, in at least one of its birds, in some of its insects, and in a few of its plants, indications of having been once—and that perhaps not so very long ago—a littoral, an arm of the sea having doubtless reached its low hills, and in after times retreating, having left these survivors who still hold their ground. But here we may say that we cannot for a moment subscribe to the opinion to which Dr. Babington gives currency (p. 123), though not saying whether he himself shares it, that the marine connexion was by “a broad estuary running from the South Suffolk coast between Bury St. Edmund’s and Stowmarket through Thetford.” So far as we are aware, there is no evidence in favour of such a violent supposi- tion, and much against it. On the other hand, a very slight depression of the surface would once more bring the seafrom the Wash up to Brandon, if not to Thetford. We make no attempt to trace the deeper effects of geological formations and changes ; but all these super- ficial characters, here so briefly sketched, combined with the geographical situation of the county, will serve to show why Suffolk should present a field of great interest to the ornithologist ; its varied features offering suitable accommodation for many kinds of birds of diverse habits, and its eastward position a sanctuary where the wings of many a weary wanderer from afar may be folded at rest. There is the more need to urge the importance of these favourable circumstances, because they cannot be said to be too prominently laid before his readers by Dr. Babington, who perhaps through modesty, or perhaps through prudence (in which latter case he is certainly to be commended), abstains from setting forth the advan- tageous conditions of existence that the county of his adoption thus affords, albeit he devotes a few pages (255- 268), which might well have been more, to the subject. In computing the birds of a circumscribed area, it is always a difficult task to decide whether the adventitious strangers whom the accidents of travel may have driven upon its coast should be enumerated among its real in- habitants, for there is really much to be said on both sides of the question. At first sight it seems most absurd that, granting even there is no reasonable probability of its importation, the stray example of an exotic species, whose home may perhaps be in the further wastes of Northern Asia or the wilds of Arctic America, should be enrolled as a “ British bird,’ because it has had the ill- luck to find its way hither and be killed—secundum usum Anglicanum—within the confines of the United Kingdom; but almost; immemorial practice may be pleaded for this view of the case, and we are not minded to place on record a distinct decision against the claims K 194 NATURE [Dec. 30, 1886 of a local faunist on so delicate a question. However, the local faunist should recognise the fact that a long list is not necessarily “a strong list ”—to use Dr. Babington’s expression—and if space allowed us to go into details we should be inclined to strike off not a few species from his register. It is true that this would not materially alter his position, for a corresponding number would on the same ground have to be struck off the register of other counties. In reality, no one has ever doubted that the Suffolk roll is one of the highest to be found in England. Perhaps it would stand only second to that of Norfolk on the English record, for though both, so far as published lists go, are inferior to that of York- shire, we are persuaded that this last has been unduly swollen. We have a strong suspicion that a Kentish list would run any of them very hard; but we here speak without facts, for ornithologists have long been scarce in Kent, and no attempt at a Kentish list has been made for many a year. The comparison instituted by Dr. Babing- ton between the ornithological wealth of Suffolk and certain other counties is in some measure fallacious,—the last list of Sussex birds, for example, dates from 1855 (not 1865 as he inadvertently states), while practically it was compiled in 1849, since which time a good many things have happened. Comparison with inland counties is of course misleading, and probably the well-known published catalogues for Cornwall, Somerset, Northumberland, and Durham, and for the Humber district, are alone those with which catalogues for Suffolk and Norfolk can be rightly compared ; while the county last named, from the abundance of ornithological observers it has produced, is manifestly favoured in the race. One other thing may perhaps be mentioned in this connection, and that not so much for Dr. Babington as for authors of future “ Avi- faunas” ; the ornithological richness of a district depends far more on the number of its real inhabitants than on the number of species which have occurred as stray visitors within its limits and only doxd fide travellers. As regards large areas this is a truth so obvious that our remark may seem to be a platitude, but as regards small areas the consideration is too often overlooked. Among all the English works on local ornithology with which we are acquainted, Dr. Babington’s holds a peculiar place. Its contents are distinctly matters of fact, or of what passes for fact ; in other words, it isa summary of records, No one would pretend to say that any book of this kind is, or could be, exhaustive ; but the author has done his best to make his work so, and the infinite pains he has taken to be precise are present on every page—for every page bristles with references that have obviously cost him im- mense labour to collect, and his patient industry in culling them deserves the highest praise. On the other hand, this very precision may not unfrequently mislead the unwary. Unless the reader have a competent knowledge, elsewhere obtained, he may be apt to presume that the fact of such or such a species having been recorded as occurring or breeding at such or such a place and at such or such a time is an indication that it has not occurred or bred there at any other time. For the sake of those who are beginners, or ill-instructed in ornithology, and they ought to form a majority of those who use this book, it would have been better had the author uttered a warning against this kind of misconception, which in many cases is certain to follow from this concise method of citing previously recorded observations. Experts, of course, will not be taken in by it, but we think it may deceive others. Experts, however, unless they be accus- tomed to the way in which local floras are compiled, have some right to complain of the application of botanical methods to a fauna—for it is plain that the “ Catalogue of the Birds of Suffolk” is planned on essentially the same principle as would have been a catalogue of the plants of the same county, and not according to any zoological precedent. A few words are Dr. Babington’s due on another matter. To most zoologists his name will be new, and yet he entered the field of biological literature nearly five-and- forty years ago! His ornithological appendix to Potter’s “History and Antiquities of Charnwood Forest,” pub- lished in 1842, was a respectable, not to say ambitious, performance for an undergraduate ; and, while showing rudiments of the same scrupulosity as is seen in the present work, is equally removed from loquacity, though containing some information that the British ornithologist would not willingly let die. Both in conception and in execution it naturally has been surpassed by later publications, nor can it be regarded as the original pre- cursor of the numerous local “ Avifaunas” of Britain The primacy in this respect’ belongs, we believe, to. one the author of which has lately died, and to his memory we take this occasion of offering a passing tribute. The “Ornithological Rambles in Sussex,” to which was added a catalogue of the birds of that county, appeared in 1849, the work of Mr. Arthur Edward Knox, who died on September 23, 1886, having nearly completed his seventy-eighth year. Mention of this observant naturalist, agreeable author, and accomplished gentleman is all the more needed, since his death obtained scant, if any, notice in the newspapers of the day, though column after column in their broad sheets chronicled the career of a successful horse-jockey who expired not long after. Mr. Knox, it is true, never assumed the character of a man of science any more than that of a man of letters, yet his literary style was of the best, while few professed naturalists more thoroughly practised scien- tific methods of observation, and none could more fully appreciate scientific worth. His three works—that al- ready named, his ‘‘ Game-Birds and Wild Fowl,” and his “ Autumns on the Spey ”—all of the kind that is usually called “ popular,” have some characteristics that at once distinguish them from so many others to which that epithet is commonly applied. They are always accurate, seldom trivial, and never vulgar. To return, however, to Dr. Babington’s little volume. Its value, notwithstanding some shortcomings to which we have referred, is great, and the recorded facts, with which, as already stated, it is crammed, are such as no “ British” ornithologist can afford to neglect. As a final mark of attention, let us notice that Dr. Babington’s scholarly instinct has inspired him with enough courage to be the first writer who has corrected an unhappy mis- take made by Linnzeus, and restored (pp. 200-203) the old © Of course there are several other local lists of older date, from that of Markwick downwards, including “The Norfolk and Suffolk Birds” of Sheppard and Whitear ; but these were published in journals (mostly in the Linnean 7yansactions), and we are here speaking of separate works the scope of which is ornithology alone. | | i Dec. 30, 1886] NATURE 195 spelling Podicipes, for the ungrammatical, senseless, and | misleading Podiceps, thereby removing a reproach wh ic every literary man could successfully cast at a zoologist. Exemplum sequendum ! INTERMITTENT DOWNWARD FILTRATION Ten Years’ Experience (now Fourteen Years) in Works of Intermittent Downward Filtration. By T. Bailey- Denton. Second Edition. (London: E. and F. N. Spon, 1885.) HE treatment of sewage by intermittent downward filtration on specially prepared areas of land is now generally recognised as the most efficient method for the purification of the sewage of towns. Mr. Bailey-Denton is one of the ablest exponents of this system, and one who has had large experience in its practical application. He is also well known as being the joint author, with Col. Jones, of a well-devised scheme for treating the sewage of the metropolis on Canvey Island at the mouth of the Thames—a scheme, however, which has not been received with any sort of approval by the Metropolitan Board of Works. The Royal Commission on Metro- politan Sewage Discharge considered very fully the merits and demerits of the system, and expressed their _ opinion—“ (1) That the process has great scientific merit, and offers valuable practical advantages for the disposal of sewage in situations where broad irrigation is imprac- ticable, and where land suitable for filtration can be obtained. (2) That, however, it appears desirable, when the area of land is considerably reduced, that the sewage should be previously treated by some efficient process for removing the sludge. (3) That an arrangement of this kind would be applicable to the metropolis. . ..” Broad irrigation was defined by the Royal Commission to mean “the distribution of sewage over a /arge surface of ordinary agricultural ground, having in view a maximum growth of vegetation (consistently with due purification) for the amount of sewage supplied,” whereas filtration means “the concentration of sewage, at short intervals, | on an area of specially chosen porous ground, as szall as will absorb and cleanse it ; not excluding vegetation, but making the produce of secondary importance.” On a suitable soil—a sandy loam with a small proportion of gritty gravel to quicken percolation is the best—specially prepared by surface levelling and deep under-drainage, one acre is capable of effectually purifying the sewage— without any preliminary treatment—of 1000 people, pro- vided that the sewage is free from any large proportion of trade or manufacturing refuse, and that storm and surface waters are kept out of the sewers. The obliga- tion to treat storm waters, which come down in the sewers in times of heavy rain, is one of the greatest obstacles in the path of any system of sewage purification, and will continue to be until all towns are supplied with a dual system of drains and sewers. One inch of rain, thrown off 100 acres, equals 2,262,200 gallons ; “and if,” says Mr. Bailey-Denton, “ one-tenth of this quantity sud- denly reaches the outfall—say, in half an hour—no mode of treatment yet devised can deal with such a quantity without injury or defect.” Asa rule, at the present time, despite prospective penalties for river pollution, the mixed sewage and storm water is allowed to pass into the rivers | | without any sort of treatment. Mr. Bailey-Denton recom- mends that the storm overflow be connected with osier beds. “The beds are formed in horizontal areas which serve to check the rapidity of flow of suddenly discharged rainfall. This check causes the deposit of the floating solid matters in the furrows, while the flood-water rises and overflows the ridges and the osiers growing on them. These beds are not under-drained in any way ; their simple purpose being to clarify those excess-waters which, without the check afforded by them, would be impetuously discharged, together with everything floating in them, into the natural streams of the watershed.” Mr. Bailey-Denton does not think it necessary or even desir- able, in most cases, to precipitate the sludge—the minute suspended particles, organic and inorganic, of sewage— by chemical processes or depositing tanks, before the sewage is applied to the filtration beds. He does not believe that the sludge, unless mixed with solid trade refuse, under proper treatment is capable of clogging the pores of the land or of injuring vegetation. He recom- mends the filtration beds to be laid out in ridges and furrows—the sewage only flowing into the latter, and not being allowed to flood the ridges on which plants and vegetables are growing. The plants cannot then be injured by the deposit of the solid ingredients of the sewage on their stalks and leaves. “As soon as the deposit of sludge on the sides of the furrows is sufficient to prevent infiltration in any great degree, the sewage is withheld from the areas so affected. The sludge is then allowed to dry (partially) in the furrows, and when in a fit condition it is lifted and dug into the ridges,—as can be seen practised at Genneyilliers (Paris). The slimy matter which had appeared so considerable, and which puddled the bottom of the furrows, when in a wet state, shrinks to a skin of very insignificant thickness when dry, and is readily broken up and mixed with the soil.” Still Mr. Bailey-Denton admits that the extraction of the sludge has one great advantage, viz. that “ the same land will filter double the quantity of clarified sewage liquid that it would cleanse sewage of which the finer particles have not been removed ;” a very important point to towns where the area of land at disposal for sewage purposes is strictly limited. The intermittency of the application of the sewage to the filter beds is a séze gud non. Each bed should have 18 hours’ rest out of the 24, to allow air to follow the sewage as it percolates through the pores of the land, thereby renewing the oxidising properties of the soil— properties largely dependent, no doubt, on the life and growth of certain Bacterial organisms resident in the superficial layers of the soil, which have been shown by Warington and other observers to be the principal agents in the nitrification and purification of the nitrogenous organic matters of sewage. The assimilative power of growing plants is doubtless also a great aid in the puri- fication of sewage, and the plan of ridges and furrows adopted by Mr. Bailey-Denton, in enabling him to raise large crops on filtration areas, has taken away from the system the reproach that it was utterly unremunerative. There can, however, be no doubt that it is in combination with surface or broad irrigation that intermittent filtration is likely to have its most useful application. Ina valuable chapter on sewage farming, Mr. Bailey-Denton points 196 out that whatever the estimated value of sewage may be —8s. 4d. per annum per head of the inhabitants of water- closet towns, or 12@. per ton with a dilution of 61 tons— it is actually reduced to the sewage farmer by attendant drawbacks to the present mode of application to much less than }d@. per ton. The sewage must be applied to the land whether it is wanted or not, and may, under such circumstances, be the cause of mischief to crops rather than of benefit. It has been assumed that by surface irrigation one acre is capable of purifying the sewage of 100 persons; but what farmer, Mr. Bailey- Denton very pertinently remarks, would give even a farthing per ton for the obligation to apply in a year 6100 tons of liquid to an acre—equivalent to a superincumbent depth of 5 feet, or 2} times the average rainfall—though he would gladly give a larger price per ton if he could have what he wanted, just at such times as he wanted it? “ All experiences tend to prove that the obligation to ‘get rid’ of a large quantity of sewage under all circum- stances and conditions, at night as well as day, on Sundays as well as week-days, on cropped lands as well as fallows, and at all stages of growth, from seed-time to harvest, puts it beyond the reach of man to gain any real profit from it.” Many of the ordinary farm crops, as cereals, pulses, potatoes, and turnips, are injured by the application of sewage. Rye-grass, cabbages, mangolds, carrots, parsnips, and perhaps onions, are the plants that thrive best under sewage (it is said to be impossible to overdose rye-grass with sewage); but these are crops that may very readily be produced in larger quantities than there are markets for. The great drawback, alluded to above, can be overcome by every sewage farm having specially prepared filtration areas, capable of purifying the whole sewage, when not wanted on the general surface of the farm, and leaving it within the power of the occupier to draw such quantities, at such times as he requires them, as dressings for his crops. Under such arrangements sewage farming may be expected—as it has been found by Mr. Bailey-Denton at Malvern and elsewhere—to be remunerative to the farmer and satisfactory to the town authorities. The cost of laying out the land for intermittent filtration is high—from 30/. to 150/. per acre in difficult cases, accord- ing to Mr. Bailey-Denton’s estimate—but not sufficiently high in any way to counteract the immense advantages which the possession of such filtration areas confers. A MEDICAL INDEX-CATALOGUE Index-Catalogue of the Library of the Surgeon-General’s Office, U.S. Army. Vol. VII. Insignarés-Leghorn, pp. [100] and 959. (Washington: Government Printing Offices, 1886.) “T°HE masterly way in which Mr. J. S. Billings is conducting this Index-Catalogue, and publishing punctually year by year these large volumes of about a thousand closely-packed pages, is a matter worth the atten- tion not only of all interested in medicine and surgery, but also of all interested in modern libraries and modern journalistic literature. For the Library of the Office of General Robert Murray, Surgeon-General of the U.S. Army, though only founded in 1830, is now one of the largest collections of medical literature in the world, NATURE [Dec. 30. 1886 larger possibly than that of the British Museum, of the Bibliothéque Nationale of Paris, or the collections of Berlin or Vienna, and it contains some manuscripts, notably a letter of Edward Jenner’s, which the English librarians would be glad to have. Its catalogue is cer- tainly much more complete, as far as it has been pub- lished, in spite of the method of execution having been much more difficult. For these seven volumes that have been hitherto published contain more than 254,000 refer- ences to articles or essays in journals and periodicals of all kinds and in all languages, arranged under the sub- jects to which they refer. The French and German pleasure in framing appended bibliographies on the subjects of some monographs which they publish has never given them courage enough to face such a Her- culean task. The number of periodicals which either have been or are being taken in by the Library has risen since last year, when vol. vi. was published, from 3005 to 3270, and extends through a wide geographical range, from the Vorsk Magazin of Christiania, to the A/n-le T-letzu (the Modern Medical News) of Yedo ; andin wide range of interest from the Revue des deux Mondes, to the Dental Luminary of Macon, Ga., U.S. The learned com- pilers of the Index-Catalogue are good enough always to translate the Japanese titles when they print them in English letters; indeed they sometimes go further, and, avoiding the difficulty of even transliterating them, give us merely the title in English, with a warning note that the original title is Japanese. Magyar is also as arule, though not by any means always, translated ; Polish sometimes, Russian only occasionally. The whole method of the book is so perfectly orderly and symmetri- cal, that it makes us wonder whether this want of rule in translation is one of the trifling points in which the individualism of Mr. Billings’ assistants has crept in ; for we cannot see that the translated titles are in any way more difficult than the untranslated. Under the subject-headings come the great masses of quotation of the titles of articles in periodical literature which make the Catalogue so unique. If we turn to the name of an author who writes both books and papers in journals, &c., we shall not find entered under it anything but his separately published works ; though, probably, all of those down to his smallest reprint from some So- ciety’s Zransactions, and with these, in smaller type, a reference to other books to which he has contributed or which he has translated ; and, if he is dead, a reference, probably, to some biography of him, and some portrait ; but, beyond this, none of his contributions to journals or Transactions. Nevertheless, under the subject-title of any such contribution, whether it be Jaundice, Jealousy, or Jequirity, will be found a reference to his article if it was signed, and his name, in bold type, clearly standing out among the mass of contributors to that branch of knowledge. It would have been possible, of course, to print such references twice over—once under the heading of the author, and again under the subject-title ; but we can hardly wonder that that has not been done, as it would have added some five or six thousand pages to a series of volumes already in danger of being over- weighted, and, also, it would have supplied information which is of more importance to the biographer than to medical science. . Dec. 30, 1886] ' Of the subject-titles in this volume, the largest is Labor, under which, in 150 pages, a very complete library is catalogued of some 1500 books and 10,000 articles, well arranged under many headings. Under Kidney, the student will probably be content to find references to about 400 books and 2500 articles. It is easy to show the vast extent of the work attempted and executed; that there are absolutely no inaccuracies in the result is hardly possible, difficult as it may be to find them. The references in this volume certainly stand many tests, and most of those who have made frequent use of the previous six volumes in practical work have acquired a confidence in their accuracy which is very rare in dealing with such an immense mass of varied languages and types and abbreviations so thickly interspersed with figures. Both the Library and the Index-Catalogue are brought fully up to date. The volume is presented to the Surgeon- General of the U.S. Army in a letter of preface dated June 1, 1886, and it contains the books and periodical references practically complete up to the end of 1885. If any comparatively modern subject is examined, e.g. kairine, we find nothing said or known of it before 1882, and yet 120 references, taking us over all the published literature of the subject, down to the end of 1885. This seventh volume includes the entries from In- signarés to Leghorn. It is likely to be the middle volume of this encyclopaedic work ; and certainly if Mr. Billings is able to publish his last and concluding volume in 1892 no one who has any interest in the progress of knowledge will hesitate to congratulate him and his colleagues even more heartily, if it be possible, than at present. A. T. MYERS LETTERS LO THE EDITOR [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- scripts, No notice ts taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space ts so great that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts.] Sounding a Crater, Fusion-Points, Pyrometers, and Seismometers THE account given by Prof. John Milne of his ascents and attempts at sounding the crater of Asama Yama is exceedingly interesting, and I can thoroughly sympathise with him in the difficulties he encountered, having been exposed to them on many occasions, and not always coming off so victoriously. He and Mr. Dun, however, have been forestalled by the late Robert Mallet. When I came to Naples some eight years since, I found in one of the store-rooms of the geological department of the Naples University a quantity of apparatus which I soon made out the use of. It appears that Mallet had this apparatus made especially for _ the purpose of measuring the temperature and studying the gases and the lava itself within the mouth of the volcano Vesuvius. On his arrival in Naples the state of the mountain did not permit of the experiments being carried on, and the whole of the materials were left in charge of Prof. Guiscardi, who could give no other information than the above. By carefully studying the appa- tatus I was soon able to understand Mallet’s intentions and the mechanism he intended to employ. There are two drums of small wire cable—one for traversing the crater to hold a pulley over the ‘‘docca,” and the other for letting down the weight and crucible. The crucible is of cast iron with a bayonet-jointed cover, and is, no doubt, intended to contain substances of NATURE about 93 miles north-east of Porto Rico. 197 different fusibilities. The apparatus is, however, an improve- ment on that used in Japan, in that the sounding-rope is insu- lated and there is an electrical bell and battery so arranged that when the crucible enters the lava it makes an earth-contact and rings the bell. not get at, researches. From there facts it will be seen that Prof. J. Milne has. been forestalled as faras the method is concerned, but no experiments were ever carried out, either by Mallet on account of failing health, or by those in whose hands the apparatus fell. I made application to be allowed to use the apparatus, but for various reasons was unable to. Before leaving this subject, may I appeal to your readers for a list of substances the fusion-point of which is known, and all of which would be above a dull red heat? I should like to have as complete a series as possible, so as to obtain results confined within narrow limits. Also any suggestions as to the best form of pyrometer that might be forced into and held in a stream of flowing lava, and that would not be injured by the breaking off of the rocky crust on its removal. May I be permitted to make a few observations on the ques- tion lately raised about the authorship of certain seismographs ? Not long since I described in your pages certain instruments that I considered as likely to be useful in such violent earth- quakes as shake Ischia from time to time. With the exception of two, no claim was made to originality of principle, and yet I received through your pages a severe scolding from Prof. Ewing. Now if we really go into the literature of the subject we shall find the horizontal pendulum is not the invention of Prof. Ewing, but his present form of seismograph is one of the best applica- tions of such a contrivance for measuring the horizontal com- ponent of an earth-wave, and I think he is justified in calling it his seismograph in so far as the present model goes. If we did not allow so much, no man using a vertical pendulum, however well contrived and modified, could call such #zs. At any rate I shall leave Prof. Milne, Prof. Ewing, and Mr. Gray to fight their own battle, but Prof. Ewing has fallen into the very same error of which he not long since accused me. Naples, December 20 H. J. JoHNsToN-LAvIs There are other pieces of apparatus that I could but I think they are intended for chemical The Recent Earthquakes May [ask to be allowed to call attention to some points in relation to the two earthquakes ‘mentioned in your issues of December 9, p. 127 (‘‘ Volcanic Eruption in Niua-Fu, Friendly Islands’’), and December 16, p. 157 (‘‘ Earthquake at Sea”). As regards the first, it is stated that *‘ The whole island has been in a disturbed state for some three months and a half, the dates of the principal disturbances coinciding remarkably with those which are going on in other parts of the world—earthquakes on June 8 and 11, which, I think, are the dates of the first New Zealand outbreaks. . . . This is, of course, not wonderful ; but the final catastrophe here took place on August 31, which, we understand, was the exact date of the recent American earthquake. It was preceded for twenty-four hours by earth- quakes, and went on for ten days.” Assuming the synchronism of the Tonga eruption and earth- quakes with those of the North Island of New Zealand, there is this very interesting relation between the two localities, that they both lie very near to a great circle which I may designate as the ‘‘West Coast of Africa Great Circle.” This passes through, or near, the following points :— Cape of Good Hope to St. Helena Bay ; mouth of River Orange ; Walfish Bay ; Cape Martha ; Cape Lopez Gonzalez ; Bonny River ; Algerian coast, near Nemours ; south-east coast of Spain, near Almanzora; north coast of Spain (3° 25’ W. long.) ; west coast of Ireland (Loop Head) ; southern point of Iceland (near Westmanna Island) ; north-west point of Iceland ; Greenland, Cape York ; Melville Island (south coast and point of); Bering Island ; Cape Dalhousie and coast-line of Liver- pool Bay; Ala-ka, Montagu Island; Tonga Island (half a degree to west of Tonga Tabu); New Zealand, north-east point of North Island; passes between Adelie Land and South Victoria Land; Enderby’s Land. It may be remarked that several of these localities are noted for disturbances both volcanic and seismic. As regards the “‘ earthquake at sea” mentioned in your num- ber of the 16th inst., the position where it was felt is given as N. lat. 19° 21’, and W. long. 64° 22’; this gives a point The interest in this 198 case lies in the fact that the antipodal point corresponding, being S. lat. 19° 21’ and E, long. 115° 38’, lies about 100 miles north by east of Barrow Island, off the west coast of Australia. It is further interesting to note that the line which joins this point with the southern point of Barrow Island fairly represents the direction of the coast-line at this point, and leads to the pre- sumption of the existence of main lines of faulting there having that direction. To this relation of antipodean points in connec- tion with earthquakes I have already had occasion to call attention. J. P. O'REILLY Royal College of Science, Dublin, December 22 Barnard’s Comet THIS comet has been observed here with the 74-inch refractor, with power 50, than which no higher power could be used with advantage. On December 19, at 18h., it appeared as bright as a 2nd magnitude star similarly situated ; the nebulous head was about 10’ in diameter, with central condensation of perhaps half a minute. The “‘ position” of the priacipal tail was estimated to be o° : it remains of a parallel breadth throughout, and does not increase in breadth as it recedes from the head of the comet ; this constant breadth is equal to the diameter of the nebulous head, that is to say, 10. By sweeping, this tail may be traced to a distance of some 10° from the head. The secondary tail is inclined at an angle of between 30° and 40° to the principal one, and fades away rapidly at a distance of perhaps 1° from the head ; it is well defined on the preceding side, but on the following side it melts away into a nebulous mass connecting it with the principal tail for some distance from the head. On the 27th, at 19h., the comet was decidedly less bright than on the rgth, but the same general description applies. The ‘‘ positions ” of the two tails were measured, and were : the principal tail, 15°°5; the secondary, 338°; the included angle, 37°50 5. The secondary tail did not appear as well defined, on the following side, as on the roth. Finlay’s comet presents no visible feature of interest. WENTWORTH ERCK Shankill, co. Dublin, December 28 Electricity and Clocks In the absence of any details, apparently Mr. Wilson’s simplest plan would be to insulate the hammer and bell of his ““small striking clock,” and arrange that a galvanic current should pass through both, when they come in contact by the act of striking :; this current of course to be directed to a large electro-magnet, to raise the hammer for striking on his bigger bell. Should the striking of Mr. Wilson’s smaller clock be on a gong with a leather-beaked hammer, a separate attachment must be made for contact. HENRY DENT GARDNER Lee, S.E., December 26 P.S.—If a longer contact be desired, the hammer whilst at rest should repose upon a weak spring, and be kept away from a banking ; when the hammer rises, contact will ensue between the spring and banking, and last until the hammer falls again. — H. D Seismometry THERE are one or two points in Prof. Ewing’s letter on the above subject in the last number of NATURE which seem to call for a few words of reply. (1) As to the alleged inconsistency between what I wrote in 1881 and what I wrote in my lat letter. The remark quoted referred to a light pivoted frame carrying at its centre of per- cussion, relatively to the axis through its pivot, a pivoted mass. There was no ‘‘if need be” about this mass : it was an essential part of the system. I believe the remark I then made was perfectly correct and in no way inconsistent with my remarks in 1886. (2) As to the vertical-motion instrument, the lever with spring joint used at Comrie in 1842 does not at all resemble the rigid lever working on knife edges and supported by springs as introduced by me and used by Prof. Ewing. On the question of compensating the lever by the addition of negative stability, I have nothing to add to what I stated in my last letter. NATURE | schaften. [Dec. 30, 1886 (3) As to the publication referred to by Prof. Ewing, the memoir printed by the Tokio University is probably, from the circumstances of its publication, hardly known to anybody. The “ Encyclopedia Britannica” article is not, in my opinion, a fair account of what has been done in seismometry. Tuomas GRAY 7, Broomhill Avenue, Partick, December 27 The Recent Weather AT Cardross, half-way between Dumbarton and Helensburgh on the Clyde, at about 25 feet above sea-level, in an outer lobby with a temperature of say 45° to 50° F. at 9 a.m. on Wednes- day, the 8th inst., the mercurial barometer stood at 27°51 inches, which, with reduction of say 0°02 added for elevation, and say 0°03 subtracted for temperature, would make it 27°50 inches. On January 26, 1884, it stood at 27°39 inches, which with like reductions would give 27°38 inches. These are nearly as low as those you refer to in your number for last week. Cardross, Dumbarton, December 23 R. B. W. OBSERVATIONS OF NEBUL4 AT ARCETRI TEMPEL observes under difficulties. The Arcetri * Observatory possesses, it is true, two fine refractors by Amici, one of 11, the other of 94 inches aperture; but neither is, properly speaking, available for astro- nomical use. The smaller is rudely set up on an open and uneven terrace, exposed to every gust of wind, and, at the most, serves to display the wonders of the heavens to curious visitors. Amici I. is duly ensconced in a re- volving dome, but clockwork motion is wanting; the circles, both of declination and right ascension, are (strange as it may seem) wsdivided; and when the necessarily somewhat unwieldy instrument is, with infinite pains and without so much as the aid of a handle, pointed towards the object sought, there is actually no means of clamping it in the position so laboriously arrived at! That M. Tempel, under circumstances so discouraging to him and disgraceful to the responsible authorities, should have executed a number of valuable drawings of nebulz, should have re-observed many such objects neglected, or even believed to have disappeared, since the elder Herschel’s time, besides discovering a good proportion of new ones, gives astonishing proof of his keenness, zeal, and accuracy. All the more, nevertheless, there is reason to regret that qualities so rare should be employed at such cruel disadvantage for want of the judicious expenditure of a couple of thousand francs. The paper before us is accompanied by reproductions of two admirable drawings by the author, one of the Orion, the other of the “ Crab ” nebula (Messier I.). The latter is of especial interest, as disclosing a feature un- noticed by any previous observer. This is a dark cleft right through the central condensation, dividing it along the major axis into two spindle-shaped nebule. Incipient fission would seem to be indicated. On the same plate with his own, M. Tempel has engraved five earlier draw- ings of the object, by J. Herschel, D’Arrest, Lassell, Secchi,and Lord Rosse. The comparison is instructive, if somewhat disheartening ; for, assuredly, no two of the six confronted delineations could be supposed, on an unprejudiced inspection, to have been inspired by one original. Yet the nature of that original sufficiently ex- plains the discrepancies. The apparent form of nebula depends upon almost evanescent gradations of diffused faint light, and differs, for each individual eye, with its sensitiveness to them. And since personal equation, as regards such gradations, is shown by many proofs to be enormously large, a vast amount of detailed varia- tion in the representation of the objects exhibiting them becomes intelligible. It is, then, a circumstance of pecu- * “ Ueber Nebelflecken. Nach Beobachtungen angestellt in den Jahren 1876-79 auf der Kénigl. Sternwarte zu Arcetri bei Florenz.’’ Von Wilhelm Tempel. Abhandlungen der Kénigl. Bohm. Gesellschaft der Wiss2n- VII. Folge, 1 Band. (Prag, 1885.) —— Dec. 30, 1886] liarly good omen for progress in the study of nebulz that a mode of record at once so fluctuating and so laborious as that of hand-drawing should be replaced (as it will no doubt soon wholly be) by automatic impressions which, with some points of inferiority, at least leave no room for “individualism.” M. Tempel’s description of the Merope nebula (dis- covered by himself in 1859), and his remarks on the great elliptical mass in the girdle of Andromeda, derive parti- cular interest from recent events. His observational faculty, and the high quality of his telescope, are illus- trated in the disclosure to him, by Amici I., of nearly goo stars in the Pleiades, all of them comprised within the field of view of a 4-inch Steinheil bearing a magnifying- power of 24. With the former instrument he detected independently on September 30, 1875,.a few days before reading Bond’s description of them, the strange obscure channels in the Andromeda nebula ; and has since with some difficulty made out similar markings in some small nebulae of the same class. They would accordingly appear to be a more or less characteristic feature of “oval” nebulz, and might perhaps be assimilated to the symptoms of partial duplication in Messier I. In respect to the nature of nebulze, our author’s experi- ence leads him decidedly to adopt the view of their close connection with stars. He shows, indeed, for spectro- scopic evidence a disregard that is neither philosophic nor just ; yet his contention that Aurely gaseous nebule do not exist, is probably well founded. No aggregation of celestial mist, at any rate, has ever been observed by him in which his 11-inch failed to reveal the pricking light of minute stars, marking some knot or nucleus, and thereby evincing structural relations of a most intimate kind. THE MATHEMATICAL TRIPOS? Ill. HEN the interval between the earlier portion of the examination and Part III. had been extended to a year, it became evident that some substantial relief must be afforded to the examiners. By the existing regulations a person who accepted the office of Moderator would have to take part in the examination in three consecutive years, and in his second year of office he would have to examine the candidates of one year in Part III. simultaneously with those of the year below in Parts I.and IJ. This led to the consideration of the whole question of the appoint- ment of examiners. The two Moderators in each year are nominated by two colleges, according to a prescribed cycle of fifty years. This nomination by colleges, though theoretically not very defensible, had worked very fairly so long as the examination only included subjects with which any high wrangler might be expected to be acquainted ; but it was clearly unsuitable for Part III. In any case the nomination of the four examiners by four independent bodies might easily bring about the result that among the various subjects included there would be some which had not been made the object of special study by any of the examiners: indeed there was nothing to prevent the four examiners being all pure mathematicians or all physicists. Accordingly, with a unanimity almost unique in matters relating to the Tripos, the Board recommended ina Report dated June 15, 1885, that the examiners for Part II1. should be quite distinct from those for Parts I. and II., and that all four should be nominated by the Board. office for only one year. This Report was sanctioned by the Senate on October 29, 1886. In future, therefore, the Moderators will not take part in the highest portion of the examination. The appointment of Moderators dates from 1680. Previously the Proctors had themselves pre- » Address delivered before the London Mathematical Society by the President, Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher, M.A., F.R.S., on vacating the chair, November rr, 1886, Continued from p. 157. NATURE It was also proposed that they should hold . 199 sided in the schools, but in that year the duty of conduct- ing the disputations was transferred to the Moderators, who were specially appointed to perform this office. The Moderators have always been, and still remain, high University officers, ranking next to the Proctors.! Not only were they the earliest examiners in the University, but it is to them that we owe the origin of the examina- tion system. Their severance from a portion—and that the highest portion—of the examination is therefore a notable event in the history of the Tripos. Neither the Board nor the University would have agreed lightly to such a break in the traditions of the Senate House examination, had it been possible to retain the Mode- rators as examiners for the final part without altering the system of nomination by colleges. The complete separa- tion of Part III. from the earlier parts of the examination was, however, inevitable. Many members of the Uni- versity who would discharge most admirably the duty of examining for Parts I. and II. would shrink from Part III.; and the professors and specialists who were best fitted to examine in Part III. would generally be reluctant to undertake the heavy burden of examining all the candidates for Parts I. and II., especially in two consecu- tive years. Thus, by the irresistible pressure of events, it has come to pass, in the last few years, that not only the titles of wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes have lost their old significance and refer only to the earlier examina- tion, but that even the more ancient title and office of Moderator has undergone a similar restriction. The final part of the examination has indeed made rapid progress: within three years of its first coming into existence it has emancipated itself from union with the earlier parts, and become an independent examination. Besides these important innovations, the Senate sanc- tioned at the same time a slight change in the nomencla- ture of the Tripos, the earlier portion of the examination, previously called Parts I. and II., upon which the list in order of merit depended, being designated Part I., and Part III. being henceforth designated Part II. This change was made in order to bring the nomenclature of the Mathematical Tripos into harmony with that of the Clas- sical and other divided Triposes. As soon as Part II., to adopt its new name, became an independent examination, the Board directed its attention to the schedule of subjects relating to it. The existing schedule contained only those subjects which had been included in the schedule which came into operation in 1873, when the results of the whole examination were still expressed by one final list, arranged in order of merit. Now that Part II. was a separate examination, and that there was no order of merit, the reasons for the limitation of the subjects had been entirely removed. Although the theory of elliptic functions, which dates only from the publication of Jacobi’s “‘ Fundamenta Nova” in 1829, was included, the theory of numbers, which had its origin in Gauss’s “ Disquisitiones Arithmeticee” of 1801, was still excluded. Abelian functions, the theory of functions of a complex variable, projective geometry, and quaternions were not formally included by name, and questions on these sub- jects could only be set, if at all, by straining the meaning + of the title of some other subject. Besides the total exclusion of certain branches of pure mathematics, a further reason for revising the existing schedule was afforded by the fact that the four groups A, B, C, D were very unequal both in magnitude and popularity among the students. According to the existing regulations the four groups had to be equally represented by questions, I It is still the custom for the list of wranglers, senior optimes, and junior optimes to be shown to the senior Proctor on the evening of the day before it is read in the Senate House. This is doubtless a relic of the fact that the Moderators were originally the substitutes of the Proctors. It has been already mentioned that the Proctors. as well as the Vice-Chancellor, used to have the right to insert a certain number of names where they pleased in the Tripos list. : 200 NATURE [ Dec. 30, 1886 and this led to a great waste of examining power, many questions having to be constructed each year upon sub- jects which none of the candidates had studied. The Board accordingly formed a schedule in which all the subjects of pure and applied mathematics were included —none being intentionally omitted. These were divided into eight divisions, the first four relating to pure mathe- matics, and the last four to applied mathematics. To avoid the waste of questions that would ensue from the examiners having to represent all the subjects in the papers in each year, they proposed that before the first day of December preceding the examination the names of the candidates and of the divisions and subjects in which they desired to be examined should be forwarded to the Registrary of the University. The examiners would thus be made acquainted with the subjects which the candidates had studied, and would be able to frame their questions accordingly. Changes were also proposed with respect to the candidates who were admissible, and to the form of the final list. By the existing regulations only wranglers were allowed to present themselves for examination in Part IJI., and the list was arranged in three divisions; there was no separation into c/asses, because, as only wranglers were admissible, it was con- sidered that all the candidates were first-class men from the beginning. The new proposals were, that the restric- tion which admits only wranglers should be removed, and that the candidates should be divided into three classes, each class being subdivided into as many divisions as the examiners in each year thought proper. In previous schemes the endeavour of the Board had been to frame regulations that would tempt the students to specialise their reading. A few years had made so great a differ- ence that, with a view to prevent undue specialisation, the Board now inserted a regulation to the effect that proficiency in subjects taken from more than one of the divisions should be requisite in order that a candidate might be placed in the first class. The Report containing these proposals was confirmed by the Senate on May 27, and it is noteworthy that both this Report and its predecessor, in which the nomination of examiners was placed in the hands of the Board, were sanctioned without opposition of any kind. The latter of these Reports also made a few minor changes, the most important of which was the omission of the problem paper which had been still retained, from the old five days, in the scheme of 1882.1. The examination in Part II. had assumed such a character, that the kind of questions to which one would usually apply the name of problems was no longer in keeping with the contents of the other papers.” Under the new scheme, in which all the examiners were to be appointed by the Board with special reference to their collective fitness for conducting the examination in Part II., there was no further need for an Additional Examiner, and this office was, accordingly, discontinued.* Thus has the Mathematical Tripos been divided into two parts ; and thus has surely arisen in the University « Although the Board were unable to make any recommendation upon the subject, I may mention that the principle of prefixing to the final three days a preliminary day, ia which the subjects of examination should be those parts of higher pure mathematics which are needed in mathematical physics, found a considerable amount of favour on the Board. The proposal, how- ever, was found to be more difficult in execution than was anticipated (partly op account of the impossibility of forming a perfectly satisfactory schedule of su jects for this day), and was ultimately abandoned by most of its original supporters. = In the first examination in Part III., in 1883, the examiners set, as one of the question papers, a paper of essays; and their example was followed by the examiners in 1884, 1885, and 1886. These essay papers were intro- duced merely on the authority of the examiners, and not in consequence of any new regulation. Experience seems to show that the essay paper affords very little additional assistance in ascertaining the relative merits of the candidates. ‘lhe essays were, perhaps, more useful at first, when they were a novelty. 3 Unless the office should be revived at some future time, there will there- ore have been only one Additional Examiner for the final part of the ex- amination, viz. in 1886, the last occasion of the examination taking place in January. a mathematical examination of a higher type than has been known before, or could have existed under any system in which all the candidates for mathematical honours were required to be examined by the same papers throughout. For those who study mathematics for the sake of exact knowledge or mental discipline, and who propose to go forth into the world to follow pro- fessional or other careers, the first part secures all the old stimulus to industry, and gives to those who are suc- cessful the same stamp of intellectual distinction as before: such students are released at the end of their third year to enter upon the active duties of their lives, equipped with a sound understanding of the principles of the exact sciences, and with minds well trained to accurate habits in reasoning and in the acquisition of knowledge. To those whose attachment to our science lies deeper, and whose studies have carried them beyond its threshold, the second part, at the end of their fourth year, affords an opportunity of distinction of a higher kind, and one more suited to their tastes : no longer is the wise and thoughtful student hopelessly distanced in the Tripos race by his quick and ready rival. _ The wants of the candidate whose mathematical career closes with the last paper in Part I., and of the candidate whose mathematical life only begins from this moment, are equally provided for by the new scheme. The order of merit relates to an examination that can bear it. All the subjects included in Part I. are such as ought to be the common property of every one who has received a sound mathematical education ; and by the results of an examination in subjects which all the candidates should have read a list in order of merit can properly be formed. The specialist for the first time is set free to follow his own tastes, and give his whole heart and time to the branches of mathematics by which he is attracted. The University permits him to select any subjects he pleases from the whole range of pure and applied mathematics, and undertakes to examine him in them and award to him the credit he deserves for his attainments. A per- fectly free choice is given to him, subject only to the one condition that, in order to qualify himself for admission to the first class, he must not select all his subjects from a single division.+ But what to us as mathematicians is more than all, as bearing on the future of our science, is that now for the first time will it be possible in Cambridge for an able and earnest worker and teacher to interest and engage his pupils in his work, and found a school such as we are so familiar with in foreign Universities, where the presence of a great professor has been almost invariably marked by a succession of illustrious pupils—pupils worthy of their master, and worthy to carry on his work. Think of the school of arithmeticians founded by Gauss at Géttingen, and how impossible such a result would have been at Cambridge, dominated as she has been by the competition for places in the Tripos! Great as has been the value to the University of the order of merit—as a stimulus to industry, an encouragement to thoroughness in mathematical study, and a paramount influence in regulating elections to Fellowships at colleges where no independent examination existed—it has yet been in recent years a deadly enemy to the spread of research and the advance of our science. Throughout his whole career the student has had to devote himself unremittingly to the work for his Tripos, taking up a fresh subject each term, and often having to read two in one term. He could never pursue any subject far enough to reach the really interesting portions of it, or obtain complete 1 This condition would be complied with by the candidate’s showing pro- ficiency in one subject taken from one division and in one other subject taken from one other division. The intention of the Board was to discourage students from specialising too narrowly at too early a period. Some of the divisions (as, for example, the fourth, which contains only projective geo- metry and analytical geometry of curves and surfaces) are so restricted that it was considered undesirable that students should be allowed to confine themselves entirely to subjects chosen from a single division. . 1 Dec. 30, 1886] command over its methods: he was always occupied with something new, starting afresh and gaining familiarity with new principles, new processes, new modes of thought. Many of the higher lecturers in the University were necessarily neglected by the students: they could pay but scant attention to any subject which was not adequately represented in the Tripos, and even in the case of the subjects which were so represented they were tempted to pass lightly over those investigations, however important, which from their length and character were unsuitable for reproduction in an examination. Now, however, all this is history. When a good course of lectures upon any high subject is given in the University, those students who have attended the course will send in that subject as one on which they desire to be examined : it will, therefore, be properly represented by questions ; and the subject will become one that will be increasingly studied year by year. It will now be possible for any capable mathe- matician, by means of his lectures, to gather pupils round him who will bring his subject into prominence, and make it one of special study in the University.! It has been said that in mathematics we have in England generals without armies: the great men who are independent of circumstances have arisen among us, but where are the rank and file? It is my belief that the great obstacle to the existence of the rank and file has now been removed. ‘ Whatever else it may be, Part II. is at all events a “limiting form.” No wider choice of subjects could be given to the candidates; no greater freedom to the examiners. The schedule of subjects includes all mathe- matics: the examiners may issue any kind of list. By introducing numerous divisions into the classes they may make it approximate as closely as they please to an order of merit ; or, on the other hand, they may make it merely a class list. They are empowered to give to their list just such a form as they feel justified in doing by the results of the examination. In the appointment of examiners, also, the limiting form has been reached, al! four being nominated by the same University autho- rity, and holding office for one year only. With respect to Part I.,it may be that the ultimate form has not yet been reached. There are some who think that, as in some other Triposes, the students should have the option of becoming candidates at the end of their second year. It would seem, also, that the range of sub- jects is rather too restricted ; and, as may be inferred from what I have said near the beginning of my address, I should myself like to see the elementary portions of ellip- tic functions included in the schedule of Part I. Still, these are but minor points; and I think that the prin- ciple of subjecting all the candidates for mathematical honours to one and the same examination in compara- tively elementary subjects, and arranging the list in order of merit, meets with general approval. A few years ago, when the old Tripos was exerting its stifling influence upon the higher mathematical studies of the Universities, I felt disposed to welcome the abolition of the order of merit as the lesser of two evils; but now that the Tripos is divided, and that the mathematician has his own examination especially framed for him, I should be sorry to see a modified class list substituted for the order of merit in Part I. A severe competition for places has the great advantages of keeping the candidates closely employed, and extracting from them their best work. At present an immense amount of thoroughly good mathematical work is done in the University. We have received from our predeces- sors a system under which the principles of mathematics are efficiently taught, the powers of the students are * In the schedule for Part II. no subjects are ignored or favoured less than others, so that by the new scheme provision is made for the growth of any subject which may happen to take root. NATURE 201 exerted to the utmost, and upwards of a hundred persons each year receive a mathematical education which is in some respects unique. These are substantial advantages which should not lightly be jeopardised or exchanged for others that are problematical. Under any other system I think the quantity and the quality of the mathematical work done in the University would suffer. It should be remembered also that there is no subject in which the knowledge of a candidate can be so readily tested by examination as in mathematics, and that in no other subject can the results of an examination be expressed with such certainty and accuracy by an order of merit. I believe there are indeed but very few who have graduated in the Tripos who would set a slight value upon the advantage which their mathematical training has been to them throughout life; and on the other hand I think that it has been an indirect benefit to our science that among those who have won distinction in public and pro- fessional life there have always been some—and those not the least influential or eminent—who have passed through an extensive and thorough course of mathematical study, and to whom our world of symbols is no ¢erra zncogutta. The fact that our results, unlike the conquests of astro- nomy and other branches of applied mathematics, can only be expressed by means of a language of their own, requiring years of study, imposes of necessity such narrow limitations upon the numbers of our audience that we cannot be insensible to the advantages of any system by which the power of understanding and appreciating the beauties of our science is extended to others external to our own ranks. Under the new scheme these advantages are still retained; and, difficult as is the problem of com- bining a mathematical course for the many with the technical requirements of the few, I believe that a satis- factory solution has rewarded the efforts of the last twenty years. I believe that the University of Cambridge will become a great centre of mathematical research and a home of the exact sciences, and that it will be found that these objects have been attained without any sacrifice of the general efficiency of the training received by the bulk of the candidates for mathematical honours. On taking a survey of the history of the Tripos during the last half century, perhaps the feature that stands out most strongly is the part played by the subjects of electricity and magnetism —their half-recognised existence before 1848, their exclusion until 1873, and the effects which followed their restoration in that year. It was the extension of the dominion of mathematics over these great and growing branches of physical science that broke down the old system. Electricity and magnetism be- came too important to be excluded; but when included the examination in its old form was too heavily weighted to exist. The year 1877-75, in which the syndicate of 1877 was endeavouring to frame a scheme that should relieve the strain of the excessive competition without sacrificing the order of merit, was perhaps the most eventful period in the whole history of the examination : it then became evident that it was impossible to retain the existing system even in a modified form, and that a complete re- organisation of some kind was inevitable. Although the frequent changes in the last few years have been pro- ductive of some inconvenience, | think it is fortunate that the syndicate was so reluctant to propoze any sweeping changes, and that the present scheme has come into existence as it has done—not as the work of any influential legislator, but as the form which the examination has of itself assumed under the pressure of the actual forces at work in the University. The order of merit for the whole examination was not given up till it was clearly shown that its retention was an impossi- bility ; and, on the other hand, Part IJ. has grown up by a process of regular development, and been moulded into 202 NEAT ORE its present form by those most interested in pro- moting the higher mathematical studies of the Uni- versity. Special reference also should be made to the “three days.” It will be remembered that this preliminary por- tion of the examination was the principal feature of the scheme which came into operation in 1848. Both the subjects and the methods of solution that may be em- ployed are defined by a schedule, and only those who satisfy the examiners by their performances in these three days are admitted to the subsequent parts of the examination. It is very singular that an arrangement devised so long ago should not only still continue in force, but even be regarded by some as the most thoroughly satisfactory portion of the whole system. The framers of this scheme and schedule might well have been proud of the lasting character of their work if they could have known that it would outlive two sets of University statutes, and, amidst changes on every side, remain unchanged for forty years. The early history of the Tripos and its gradual develop- ment into an examination by written answers, and finally by printed papers also, are especially interesting in these days, when the merits of the examination system are so highly appreciated, and its adoption is so universal. The Senate House at Cambridge is the cradle of the modern form of examination in England. In connection with the Tripos there is one matter of so much importance that I cannot pass over it entirely with- out mention. I mean the influence of the system of private tuition. I believe that while there is an order of merit it will always be a great assistance to the majority of the candidates to read with a private tutor. Mathe- matics is a difficult science ; and when a considerable range of subjects has to be traversed in a compara- tively short time, and the knowledge of the candidate has to be finally tested by an examination such as Part I. of the Tripos, it cannot fail to be a great advantage to him to have his difficulties explained, his path smoothed, and his skill in working out problems developed, by an expe- rienced private tutor specially interested in his individual welfare. The system of private tuition has been objected to from two points of view: (1) because it is unsatisfac- tory that the instruction which is valued most highly by the student should be received from his private tutor instead of from college lecturers or University profes- sors ; and (2) because the student who has followed im- plicitly, during his whole undergraduate career, the minute directions of one man with regard to his reading, is placed after his degree, when he is deprived of his guide, in a very unfavourable position for pursuing further his mathe- matical studies. The first objection does not concern us here ; my own feeling is, as I have just said, that, when- ever an order of merit exists and the competition for places is keen, the services of private tutors will neces- sarily be called into requisition. The second objection is one which is of far more importance to our science. There can be no question that, brilliant and eminent as have been the greatest of the private tutors at Cambridge, one result of the system has been that many of the ablest students have been left after graduation not only without any knowledge of the way to follow up the study of the subjects of which they had learned the elements, but even without any taste or inclination to do so. The private tutor’s manuscript and verbal instruction had super- seded all need of referring to the original memoirs, and the nascent wrangler knew nothing of the great world of mathematical literature or of the modes of reaching it. On the other hand, it is only fair to say that the amount of mathematical knowledge acquired by the best pupils from their private tutors in the course of their under- graduate career was really wonderful ; and that till quite recently neither the University nor the colleges offered [Dec. 30, 1886 any inducement to the mathematical student to continue his reading after the Tripos. The fact that the student’s horizon should have been bounded by the Tripos, and that his training should have been directed with the view to giving him skill in working out questions rather than to developing his taste for the science he was studying, was principally the fault of the system as a whole; but it was certainly intensified by the complete subjection of the pupil to the course of reading placed before him by the private tutor. A student whose interests and aspirations had been at least held in check, and perhaps entirely stifled, throughout his whole undergraduate career, was generally too subdued or helpless to be able to make use of his freedom when the examination was over. Under the new scheme the private tutor still occupies in the main his old position with respect to Part L, although, of course, the higher places in this examination have much less significance than before. With respect to Part II. it is quite different. No attempt is made by private tutors to teach these higher subjects, which, both from their character and extent, are clearly unsuited for private tuition; and the students are compelled to rely upon the lectures delivered in the colleges and Uni- versity in their preparation for this final examination. Thus, in their fourth year they are brought into contact with the leading mathematicians in Cambridge; and when the examination sets them free to pursue their own studies or researches, they start on their new career fresh from the best teaching which the University affords, Although the subject of my address is the Mathemati- cal Tripos, it may be regarded as still falling within my province to refer to other changes that have taken place in the University for the purpose of encouraging original mathematical work. Fourteen years ago Trinity College invited mathematical candidates for Fellowships to send in, before the examination, dissertations upon any sub- jects of their own selection. It was announced that these dissertations, if possessed of decided merit, would be taken into account in the Fellowship election, together with the results of the Fellowship examination. Not only have these dissertations been of the greatest value in guiding the choice of the electors, but many of them have been important contributions to mathematical litera- ture.' The example of Trinity College has been re- cently followed by St. John’s College and King’s College. The Smith’s Prizes,which for a great number of years had been awarded by a special examination, are now awarded annually for mathematical dissertations, the candidates being free to select their own subjects. This new scheme passed the Senate on October 25, 1883, and the first award of the prizes under it was made in 1885. Powerful induce- ments are, therefore, now held out by the University and some of the colleges for the best students to devote them- selves to original worx. The importance to our science of these direct incentives to research cannot be over- estimated. They come into operation as soon as the stimulus of the examination is removed, and, instead of resting upon their laurels, the ablest mathematicians of the year are induced to concentrate their powers upon a’ single subject, just at the time when they are undaunted by any amount of hard work, when their stock of general mathematical knowledge is freshly acquired, and when their minds are flexible, vigorous, and free from care. It is indeed strange to look back upon the changes of the last few years, and to contrast the encouragement now t Among the Trinity dissertations which have subsequently been printed, I may mention the late Mr. R. C. Rowe’s “Memoir on Abel’s Theorem ”’ (Piil. Trans., 1881), Mr. Forsyth’s ‘Memoir on the Theta Functions” (Phil. Trans., 1882), Mr. Homersham Cox’s ‘‘ Application of Quaternions and Grassmann’s Ausdehnungslehre to different kinds of Uniform Space”’ (Camb. Trans., 1882), Mr. Gallop’s “ Distribution of Electricity on the Cir- cular Disc and Spherical Bowl” (Quart. Math Journ., 1886), and Mr. R. Lachlan’s ‘‘ Systems of Circles and Spheres ” (PArl. Tvans., 1886). | } Dec, 30, 1836] given to mathematical research with the indifference, or even worse, of twenty years ago. I cannot close my address without saying a few words upon our Society. We were founded in 1865, and so to- day we attain our majority. I think we can safely say that we have steadily and uniformly kept to our single pur- pose of promoting the advance of mathematics. We have published seventeen volumes of Proceedings, and every paper we have printed has been subjected to a rigorous examination by two referees. We already have a history to look back upon: familiar presences among us—De | Morgan, Clerk Maxwell, Clifford, Henry J. S. Smith, Spottiswoode—have passed away ; and for most of us this very room is full of associations with those whom we shall see no more. I should like before concluding to formally express our gratitude to our two Secretaries, Mr. Morgan Jenkins and Mr. Robert Tucker, who have served us so faithfully almost from our foundation, and to whom the successful development of our Society has been largely due. I will not utter any aspirations with regard to our future ; we shall never be a great Society in numbers, but we can continue to do what we have done, and to spare no effort to encourage the advance of mathematical science. THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES HE results of the scientific investigations made under the directions of the Comité International des Poids et Mesures at their Bureau at Sévres during the past year are stated in vol. v. of their “ Travaux et Mémoires,” recently published (Gauthier-Villars, Paris, 1886) under the authority of the Director of the Bureau. This volume contains the following papers :—“ Note sur l’étallonage des sous-divisions d’une régle, sur l’étude des erreurs progressives d’une vis micrométrique, et sur,le calibrage des thermométres,” by Dr. O. J. Broch; “ Etudes ther- mométriques,” by M. Ch. Ed. Guillaume ; “ Etudes sur la balance,” by Dr. M. Thiesen ; “Sur quelques analyses chimiques faites pour le Bureau International,” by M. Tornée. The two latter memoirs, however, are published under the responsibility of their authors. In the method of calculating the errors of the subdivi- sions of a standard measure of length, or of calibrating a thermometer, Dr. Broch has followed the celebrated astronomer P. A. Hansen; but he has endeavoured to render Hansen’s method more simple; and he has abbreviated it and reduced the number of observations, without increasing the probable error of the results ob- tained. Convenient tables of equations are given for the more ready application of Hansen’s formula, and also examples of an abbreviated method for calculating the several lengths of the decimetres, centimetres, and milli- metres on a subdivided standard metre. The second part of this Note deals with the progressive errors of the micrometer-screw. As each interval to be measured on a linear standard is contained within two lines, we have to pass by successive turns of the micro-. meter-screw from one line tothe other. Each line in turn is bisected by means of cross or of parallel webs ; and not only do the personal errors of bisection have, of course, to be allowed for, but even small errors in the micro- meter-screw itself have to be corrected. Examples of such corrections are given in this note. In considering the progressive errors of micrometer-screws, we are not sure that Dr. Broch has sufficiently, however, investigated the variation in the amounts of such errors owing to the wear of the screw. In the third part of the note is given an explanation ¥ Under the old system, the Cambridge graduate who devoted himself to mathematical research possessed one advantage over his Continental col- leagues in the wider range of his general mathem itical knowledge. Although Part I. is considerably more restricted than the Tripos of 1848-72, this advantage is still retained to a substantial extent. NATURE 203 of an abbreviated method of calibrating graduated glass tubes or thermometer-stems, and of applying corrections to the calibrated lines. The method of interpolation by differences is also discussed and simplified. Dr. Guillaume, in his “ Etudes thermométriques,” con- tinues the thermometric work which was begun by Dr. Benoit, and by Pernet at this Bureau. It is required of all standard thermometers verified at the Bureau, that they should carry the fundamental points 0° and 100° C. ; that they should have a total length of as much as 70 centimetres, the diameter of the stem varying from 3°5 to 5°5 millimetres ; and that each division should be nearly 5 millimetres in length. ‘The testing of the thermometers includes the three distinct operations :— (1) Division and calibration. (2) Determination of the coefficient of pressure (when the thermometer is placed alternately in a vertical and in a horizontal position). (3) Determination of the fundamental points and of the mean value of each degree. It is with these operations, as well as with the actual verification of certain standard thermometers at the Bureau since the year 1883, that Dr. Guillaume now deals. The paper is an interesting one, and all the ob- servations are printed in the fullest detail. Particularly in that part of this paper which discusses the variations in the readings of thermometers by time and circum- stance, there is much to be learnt. Of late, attention has been given, especially in Ger- many, to the kind of glass best adapted for thermometers, the zero-points of thermometers made of some kinds of glass, being found less likely to alter by age like ordinary thermometers. A careful analysis made by M. Tornée of the glass used for the bulbs of two of Tonnelot’s thermometers used at the Bureau, gave the following results :— Hard glass Plate glass Silica ... ag 71°52 60°68 Sulphuric acid 072 0°37 Chlorine traces — Peroxide of iron 0°22 — Lime 14°55 5°44 Soda 10°81 10°50 Potash ... 0°37 6°55 Magnesia Zs sie traces traces Protoxide of manganese traces — Oxide of lead ... —_— 15°12 Alumina ine ane 3. a —_— — Alumina, with traces of iron and manganese ... ea — 0°87 The analyses of the stems of the thermometers showed somewhat different results. ‘ The memoir by Dr. Thiesen, “ Etudes sur la balance,” continues the excellent work on the construction and use of the balance which was originally begun at the Bureau by M. Marek. In the “Théorie générale de Véquilibre statique de la balance,” and in the “Calcul d2 Péquilibre de la balance,” Dr. Thiesen has discussed the conditions which affect the equilibrity of a balance, and also has investigated the effects of outside influences during weighings, as those arising from currents of air and from changes in the condition of the air ; and from electrical disturbances, magnetic and radiometric. A good balance may be relied on to o’oo1 mgr. in the com- parison of two standard kilogramme weights, but outside influences increase the probable error to + 07004 mgr. The labours of the Bureau have been particularly de- voted to the perfecting of existing methods, and they have resulted in the attainment of far higher accuracy in weighing and measuring than was thought to be possible, or necessary, even ten years ago. We trust that the labours of the Comité may soon be crowned by the com- pletion of the international metric standards of length and weight, for which all their present investigations are preparatory. 204 NOTES Mr. C. L. Grigspacu, lately geologist to the Afghan Boundary Commission, and deputy superintendent of the Geo- logical Survey of India, has been appointed by the Viceroy to officiate as superintendent. THE annual meeting of the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching will be held on Friday, January 14, 1887 (11.30 a.m.) at University College, Gower Street. At the afternoon meeting (2 p.m.) the following papers will be read :— “On the Teaching of Modern Geometry,” Rey. G. Richardson ; ‘The Modern Treatment of Maxima and Minima,” Rey. J. J. Milne; and on “‘ Geometry from an Artist’s Point of View,” G. A. Storey, A.R.A. The meetings are open to all who are interested in the objects of the Association. Our readers will be interested to hear that at the meeting of the British Association recently held in Birmingham, a move- ment was originated in the Committee of Section D (Biology) having for its object an application to Government for a small grant out of the Civil List to Mr. Thomas Bolton of Birming- ham, whose important services to science as a naturalist and microscopist have long been well known and appreciated. A memorial setting forth Mr. Bolton’s claims was prepared by Mr. W. R. Hughes, late President of the Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, and was signed by Sir J. W. Dawson, the President of the British Association, and by a large number of eminent men of science. It also received the signature of the Mayor of Birmingham. The memorial was recently presented to Lord Salisbury as First Lord of the Treasury, who has recommended that Her Majesty grant Mr. Bolton a Civil List pension of 50/. per annum. THE finest of all Japanese botanical bools is the Honzo Dsufu. It is also from a scientific point of view the most valu- able, inasmuch as it contains excellent coloured figures of no less than 1500 species of Japanese plants, of many of which there are no other published representations. Franchet and Savatier, in their ‘‘Enumeratio plantarum in Japonia sponte nascentium,” quote throughout the copy in their possession, which was not, however, quite complete. It is in ninety-six volumes, or rather tivraisons, and is rare even in Japan. It was prefaced in 1828, but only the first six /¢vvadsons have ever been printed, and the rest only exists in hand-made copies. It has long been desired to obtain a copy for the library of the Royal Gardens, Kew, and this wish has at length been gratified by the kind liberality of Mr. Tokutaro Ito, grandson of the well-known Japanese botanist, Keisuke Ito. Mr. Ito is now studying botany at the University of Cambridge, and lately communicated a revision of Japanese Berberidacee to the Linnean Society, of which he has recently been elected a Fellow. The Kew copy of the Honzo Dsufu is probably the finest to be obtained in Japan. It came from the library of Senator Tanaka (himself a distinguished botanist), who, with extraordinary generosity, placed it at the disposal of Mr. Ito for presentation to Kew. In the Avnalen of the Vienna Natural History Museum, Herr von Pelzeln and Ir. von Lorenz have just published the first of a series of articles on the types of birds contained in that Museum. This cannot fail to be of the greatest use to students, who often require to know the present resting-place of typical specimens. Following the Cuvierian arrangement as adapted by Gray in his ‘‘ Hand-list of Birds,” the authors present, as a first instalment, a list of the types of the Accipitres and Tenui- rostres. The chief interest naturally centres round the species procured by Johann Natterer in Brazil, for nothing more wonderful is known in the history of ornithology than the way in which Natterer’s collections, made in the early part of the present century, still remain the basis of our knowledge of the ornithology of that country, and, notwithstanding the subse- WA TURE [Dec. 30, 1886 quent efforts of travellers, there are numbers of Brazilian species obtained by Natterer alone, and unrepresented in any Museum except that of Vienna. Curiously enough, too, the Vienna Museum also possesses several of Latham’s and Shaw’s types, founded on the specimens in the Leverian collection, and pur- chased in 1806. The value of a type was not understood in England so long ago as 1806, and the specimens were allowed to leave the country, to find a home in Austria. Such would scarcely be permitted now, under the enlightened management of our authorities at the Natural History Museum at South Kensington, who are doubtless mindful of the disgrace attaching to the British Museum in former years, when that institution allowed the whole of the Gould collection of Australian birds, with its 300 types, to go for tooo/. to America, where it now lies, scarcely heeded, in the Museum of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Let us hope that the Gouldian types are better looked after in the Philadelphia Museum than soe of the types of Du Chaillu’s Gaboon species, which are no longer forthcoming, to the no small embarrassment of ornitho- logical students. PrRoF. MENZBIER has recently published, in the Bwd/etin of the Society of Naturalists of Moscow, an account of the birds collected by Mr. Zaroudnoi, a Russian naturalist, who has been exploring the oasis of Akhal-Tekkeé, the Kara-Kum dese:t, and the adjacent mountains, in Central Asia. The want of funds appears to have crippled the efforts of the traveller to a great extent, but he managed to procure 184 different species of birds, though his observations were confined to the summer months and early autumn. Mr. Zaroudnoi found several rare species nesting, and besides his own observations there are some inter- esting scientific notes from Prof. Menzbier’s pen. We are informed that the traveller has recently prosecuted a further expedition into Khorasan and Northern Afghanistan, the results of which may be expected to be of considerable importance to zoologists. THE Ax, which is the journal of the American Ornithologists’ Union, and answers to our English //7s, has just completed its third volume, under the able editorship of Mr. J. A. Allen, who is the President of the American Ornithologists’ Union. The present volume abounds in interesting memoirs, and fully maintains the high standard of the journal. The Union now numbers 46 active members, 112 associate members, 26 foreign members, and 59 corresponding members. The Committees on the Migration and Geographical Distribution of North American Birds and for the Protection of North American Birds have both done excellent service during the past twelve- month. Mr. G. H. Hinssy, of Hobart Town, has forwarded us a useful list of the birds of Tasmania : 178 species are found in the island, but the author is apparently unaware that several Tas- manian birds to which he gives the same scientific name as the Australian species are considered by recent writers to be peculiar to Tasmania itself. A RECENT issue of the Japan Weekly Mail contains a report of the Japan Educational Society, an association founded to bring together persons interested in education, to assist in its diffusion, and to improve and advance education in the country. Besides general and ordinary meetings in furtherance of the objects of the Society, members are frequently sent to various localities at the request of local educational institutes for the purpose of delivering addresses or lectures. Thirty-three num- bers of the memoirs have been published, the total number printed being 100,000. In addition, books under the title “Hints to Educators ” were published, and 7000 copies printed. The number of members is 3000, and a prince of the Imperial House is President. Dec. 30, 1886] UNDER the title of a ‘‘ Descriptive List of Native Plants of South Australia recommended for Cultivation,” Mr. J. G. Otto Tepper, F.L.S., has reprinted in pamphlet form some notes that apparently appeared periodically in Adelaide. As a reason for publishing the list Mr. Tepper says :—‘‘ At the rate South Australia and its sister colonies are progressing in civilisation, the time can easily be foreseen when for long distances from any centre of population not a mark would be discoverable where any one could view the native vegetation in its natural state. Owing to the very local distribution of many Australian herbs, shrubs, and trees, there is even the possibility that they may be entirely extirpated, caused by ruthless and ill-judged clearing, depasturing of domestic animals, choking by introduced weeds, and the diminution of the moisture in the soil by the first two causes. Few attempts are made to cultivate any, so far as we know, though a few (for example Aezzedya monophylla) have already found their way to the favour of gardeners, who, perhaps, do not even know that these plants are indigenous.” The list consists of a number of plants belonging to very dif- ferent natural orders and of very different characters, such as herbs, trees, shrubs, &c., as may be instanced by species of Mesembryanthemum, Viola, Acacia melanoxylon, &c., &c. To each plant its habit and size are given, a short description of the leaves and flowers, time of flowering, and nature of locality where found. The descriptions, however, are by no means equal in point of detail, some being considerably longer than others. To some of the plants the natural orders are stated, while to others no mention whatever is made. No references are made to the uses of the plants, and no kind of arrangement of genera has been adopted, either scientifically, alphabetically, or in any other way. The list may be of use to those for whom it has been written, but it would have been more valuable if some arrangement had been adopted by which any given plant could have been found without wading through the whole nine- teen pages. MR. STEVENS, the Queensland naturalist whose visit to the Veddas of Ceylon we have already mentioned, addressed a recent meeting of the Asiatic Society of Ceylon on this little- known people. He found the time at his disposal on his first visit too short to investigate satisfactorily the problem of their origin, but he intends going amongst them for another six months on his approaching return from India. He has offered to live with them for a year or two if such a long absence from his other duties can be arranged. He regards the popular notion in Ceylon of the Veddas as a cruel, vindictive, suspicious people as wholly erroneous. He found them truthful, hospitable, and honest, but they exhibit a marked aversion to Singhalese and Tamils. They are very peaceful, and hence a European can travel amongst them in perfect safety and freedom. They have a language of their own which the Singhalese do not understand; and of which he collected a considerable number of words for examination by Oriental scholars. They are expert archers, and can send an arrow completely through a wild animal. Myr. Stevens would prefer to face a rifle in the hands of an experienced person at fifty yards’ distance rather than a Vedda armed with his bow. They have no idea of boiling anything ; they use the fire-drill, and they appear to have had sufficient knowledge of working in metals to supply themselves with weapons. He questions whether there are 500 Veddas in all Ceylon, so that soon it will be difficult to find a real one. Hence he urges the great importance to science of a thorough study now of their language and habits. Demonology is, he thinks, an incorrect term to apply to their religion ; it is, rather, ‘‘ Kapuism.” They do not believe in the existence of any injurious or malevolent spirits. the whole of a Vedda encampment make a propitiation ; it is not worship, but simply a propitiation to the eight or nine gods of their pantheon. They divide themselves into eight clans, NATURE Once a year | 205 which rank in a kind of social gradation, depending, in some instances, apparently on their traditional origin. He obtained skulls of re; resentatives of seven of these clans. Throughout the address, Mr, Stevens constantly insisted on the tentative nature of his investigations sofar. His facts, ‘‘ or, rather, sup- posed facts,” are entirely unverified. They require assortment and further examination, and he urges societies and students in Ceylon to undertake the work. It is greatly to be hoped that Mr. Stevens himself may be able to carry out his project of residing amongst the Veddas for a prolonged period, and study- ing them from the inside, and, in a certain degree, as one of themselves. One of his facts requires no verification, viz. that he can live and travel amongst them with safety, and that he has the capacity for making friends of them. M. DE QUATREFAGES, at a recent meeting of the Geographi- eal Society of Paris, advanced the theory with regard to the migration of peoples at a remote period of antiquity, which, at a subsequent meeting, was discussed and approved by M. H. Chevalier. The theory is that these migrations were due essen- tially to the gradual increase of cold in the northern regions, which forced the inhabitants to wander to the south in search of amore temperate climate. M. Chevalier quoted certain pas- sages from the Zend Avesta, which, he argued, corroborated this theory. A PROSPECTUS has been issued by the Council of the ‘* Loch- buie Marine Institute’ on the Isle of Mull, recently established under the auspices of the National Fish Culture Association, setting forth their objects. One of these is to incubate herring- ova to re-stock such locations in Scotland as have been depleted of that fish through the action of fishermen in exhausting the supply under the belief that they were general instead of local. Meteorological and other observations are also to be carried out under the direction of Mr. Anderson Smith. Dr. Foret sends us the following list of recent earthquakes in Switzerland :—December 16, 16h. om., at Sarnen (Unter- walden) ; 22, oh. 3m., 4h. 20m., and 5h. 30m., at Pontresina (Grisons), all Greenwich time. WE have referred on several occasions to the extraordinary number of rats which emerge from various parts of the building when the late Exhibitions at South Kensington have closed and the supply of food is cut off. This year their number has been larger than ever, and shortly after the termination of the late Colonial and Indian Exhibition the rats, desperate with hunger, invaded every part. During the summer nothing would induce them to enter traps, whereas now they rush in as fast as they are set, and not until they have devoured the bait do they seem to realise the fact that they are prisoners, when they seek deliver- ance in their usual wild fashion. During last week their cravings for food culminated in a fierce onslaught upon one another, which was evidenced by the piteous cries of those being devoured. Their method of seizing their victim is to suddenly make a raid upon one weaker or smaller than themselves, and after over- powering it by numbers, they tear it in pieces. At the present time there cannot be found a single young rat in the building. So far this is satisfactory, as the large numbers bred during the summer will thus become exterminated. AT present the city of Worcester possesses a public free library and natural history museum in one building, and a Government school of art in another. It is proposed to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee by establishing an institution to be called the Victoria Institute in a central position in the city, in which the existing library, museum, and school of art will be placed, and to unite with them in the same building a school of science and an art gallery. The cost is estimated at 18,000/., of which the Corporation have voted 7000/., and the old site and other sources of income will leave only about 5000/. to be raised by 206 public subscription. already been raised. A considerable portion of this amount has A LATE issue of the Batavia Dagé/ad contains a report of a paper read by Dr. Cornelissen, of the Java Medical Service, before the Society for the Advancement of Medical Science of Java, on his researches in Acheen, in Sumatra, into the causes of the dreaded disease dev-beri, known as kakke in Japan—a species of elephantiasis, Dr. Cornelissen comes to the unex- pected conclusion that it is infectious, and is propagated by bacilli. He accordingly recommends a thorough system of dis- infection in hospitals and troop-ships where patients suffering from this malady have been kept. The theory has caused much excitement in Java and the neighbourinr regions where the disease prevails, for it has not hitherto been suspecte1 that it was infectious. Dr, Cornelissen’s theory, however, does not appear to be generally accepted in Java and the Straits Settle- ments, In the current number (27) of Excursions et Reconnaissances of Saigon, M. Aymonier brings to a conclusion his notes on Annam, the particular province dealt with being Khanh-Hoa. The most interesting part of the paper is the sketch of the so- called savages, or Mois, inhabiting the mountains of the province. These papers have now been running through many numbers of the periodical, and are encyclopzedic in their nature. M. Aymonier is, beyond question, the greatest living authority on Cochin China generally, and he undertook prolonged journeys into various parts of the country with a view to perfecting his information for this series. His original intention was to explore the whole coast of Annam up to Tonquin, but the rebellion of 1885, which resulted in frightful muissacres of missionaries and native Christians, prevented him from carrying out this project. Accordingly in his ‘* Notes” he has been compelled to omit all reference to the ancient kingdom of Ciampa, as well as to a great part of Annam, and to confine himself to the two great southern provinces Binh Thuan and Khanh-Hoa, which stretch from Ciampa on the coast across to Cambodia. Capt. Réveillére, who has already twice navigated the Meikong rapids in a gun- boat, describes a voyage on that river in a steam-launch. The Meikong can scarcely be said to be a new river to geography, inasmuch as the greater part of its course was described with great minuteness in the work recounting the details of La Grée and Garnier’s expedition from Saigon along the Meikong to the Yangtsze, published ten or twelve years ago. Father Azemar describes the Stiengs, amongst whom he lived between 1861 and 1866, and gives a vocabulary of their languaze. The Stiengs form one of those wild tribes which inhabit the mountains between Cochin China and Tonquin on the east and Laos and Siam on the west. The writer thinks they have no ethnic affinity with the Mongol family, mainly basing his opinion on differences in language and manners. PERHAPS the most important point to be noticed about the Perthshire Society of Natural Science, the Proceedings of which for the past year we have received, is that the present method of publication has been abandoned. For six years past the Pyo- ceedings have, for the most part, been reprinted from the reports of the meetings which have appeared in a local newspaper. But the selection and arrangement of matter most suited to a news- paper were not always the best adapted for the Proceedings of a scientific Society. The Council have, therefore decided to commence a new series of Zyansa‘tions and Proceedings, which will be specially printed for the Society, under the supervision of a publishing Committee. An examination of the Proceedings now before us certainly reveals so much activity in many de- partments of research that the Council appear justified in this resolution. It is especially noticeable that the papers read refer, almost without exception, to local investigation NAT ORE [Dec. 30, 1886 —in our judgment the most valuable and instructive work in which the members of such a Society could systematically engage. Thus, we have some notes on a collection of nests and eggs presented by a local landowner ; a thorough descrip- tion, by several hands, of the natural history of Kinnoull Hill, under the heads of Introductory, Geology, Flowering Plants, Ferns, Mosses and Fungi, Insects, Mollusca, and Vertebrates, and many others of the same kind. Dr. Buchanan White’s address this year, as last, urges the improvement of the museu », with a view to securing more space for the exhibition of the collections. | He dwells on the value of a properly selected and arranged museum as an educational medium for the members of the Society, and, quoting the words we used last year in regard to this subject, that a local museum, to be of the fullest value, should be made as complete as possible, he explains what degree of completion he expects such a museum to attain, WE have received the Proceedings of the Holmesdale Natural History Club, with its home at Reigate, for 1884 and 1885. The papers are of a very general kind, ranging from the con- tinuity of protoplasm to the wild animals of South Africa, and from mahogany to the Yellowstone National Park. Students will probably turn with most interest to two papers by Mr. W. H. Beeby on recent additions to the flora of Surrey, Mr. Tyndall’s meteorological notes for the two years, and Mr, Cros- field’s paper on the geographical distribution of wild plants in the British Isles, THE Town Council of Bombay has unanimously resolved that the municipality must bear its share, with the Government and other public bodies, in the expenses of the establishment of a technical school, and a sum of 5000 rupees was voted for the purpose at a late meeting. The scheme is one drawn up by Dr. Cooke, Principal of the Poona College of Science, and ex- plained by him to the Council. The skilled artisans, he said, turned out by the school would be a benefit to the country and to the municipality alike. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include an Indian Rhinoceros (RAznoceros unicornis é ) from India, presented by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar ; a Tiger (Felis tégris 8) from India, presented by the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta; a Chanting Hawk (MJelierax musicus) from South Africa, a Red-throated Diver (Colymbus septentrionalis), European, presented by Lord Lilford, F.Z.S. ; a Short-eared Owl (Asio brachyotus), British, presented by the Rev. Hubert D. Astley, F.Z.S.; ten Moorish Geckos (Zurentola maurt- tanica) from the borders of the Mediterranean, presented by Mr. J. C. Warburg; three Zebus (Los indicus $ 6 $) from India, a Montagu’s Harrier (Circus cineraceus), European, deposited. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THE Specrroscoric MeTHOD OF DETERMINING THE DIs- TANCE OF A DouBLE STAR.—Mr. A. A. Rambaut, in a paper communicated to the Royal Irish Academy on May 24> dis- cusses at some length the possibility of determining the distance of a double star by measures of the relative velocities of the components in the line of sight by means of the spectroscope. Of course, as soon as Dr. Huggins had demonstrated that it was practicable to measure the rate of approach or recession of a star, it was seen that it would be at least theoretically possible to determine the distance of a star by this method, but Mr. Ram- baut does not merely repeat the suggestion, but examines the conditions of the problem that he may ascertain what chance there is of putting it into successful operation. His first step is to find the value of MV for the satellite star of any binary system, Tl being the parallax in seconds of arc, and V the velocity of motion in the line of sight expressed in miles per second. The resulting formula is— Dec. 30, 1886] nv fg la? Jt = e’ sin (p — A) sin y _ h PrNt— & cos? o : where ¢ denotes the angle between the tangent and major axis, A denotes the angle between the line of nodes and major axis, y denotes the angle between the plane of orbit and tangent plane to sphere, f denotes period in years, 7 denotes mean motion of earth in miles. This equation therefore gives a relation between TI and 7 depending only on the period and the angular elements of the orbit, so that if either M or Y can be measured the other may at once be determined. If 4 be greater than unity, then either 7 must exceed ten miles per second, or II one-tenth of a second of are. If, then, the spectroscope show the lines in the spectra of both stars to be absolutely coincident, it follows that the parallax must exceed o’"1, and the star will repay investigation. But if a measurable displacement be noticed, V can be determined, and the parallax will follow at once. So that ‘‘all double stars for which & is at any time greater than unity may be said to be within measurable distance either by the spectroscopic or the trigonometrical method.” If, however, # be less than unity, the star may still chance to be within a mea urable distance, for V may be small either from the small linear dimensions of the orbit or the length of the period ; but if & be smaller than unity, and V be large, then we shall at once know, ‘‘ with a certainty which the mere failure to measure its parallax trigonometrically could never reach, that the star is at an inconceivable distance from the solar system.” Mr. Rambaut next proceeds to deter- mine & for some 39 stars, the elements of whose orbits he takes for the most part from Houzeau’s ‘‘ Vade Mecum.” In the case of five only doesit exceed unity, viz., a Centauri 6°023, Sirius 5°400, 70? Ophiuchi 1°270, 7 Cassiopeize 1°247, and y Coronz Australis 1°224. Of these the parallax has already been determined for all but the last named. This star, the components of the pair being of nearly equal magnitude, would be well adapted for examination by the spectroscopic method if one of the new giant telescopes were employed, and since & = 1°224, had it been examined in 1880 either the velocity in the line of sight would have been found to ex- ceed 12 miles per second, or the parallax toexceedo”"1. Sincea star fainter than the fifth and a half magnitude would be beyond the reach of even the most powerful instrument to successfully measure its movement in the line of sight, the field of inquiry is practically confined to a Centauri, and the following three stars for all of which & is fairly large though less than unity: & Urs Majoris 0895, y Virginis 0°624, and ¢ Herculis 0605. The result of Mr. Rambaut’s inquiry is therefore to show that but little practical use can be made of the suggested combination of the two methods in the case of double stars. NAMES OF MINor PLANETS.—The following minor planets have recently received names :—No. 254, Augusta; No. 255, Oppavia ; No. 257, Silesia; No. 260, Huberta; and No. 261, Prymno. _ _CoMET FINLAY (1886 ¢).—Dr. J. Holetschek gives (As¢. Nach., No. 2763) the following elements and ephemeris for this object, which, though now diminishing somewhat in brightness, becoming well placed for observation in northern latitudes :— T = 1886 November 22°48418. ® = 315 21 o's } 2 = 52 45 43:27 Mean Eq. 18860. a pe or log g = 9'997122 log a = 0'533468 log e = 9°850744 Ephemeris for Berlin Midnight Period = 6°31 years. 1887 R.A. Decl. log x log A Bright- i eres ° i ness Jam. © 234917 1 2738S. 0°0565 979245 2°3 4 o 858 1 237N. 00670 9'9343 2°1 8 © 28 10 3 .45'°0 00779 + 9'9461 =1°9 12 04652 5 599N. 00889 9°9598 17 The brightness at the time of discovery is taken as unity. CoMEeT BARNARD (1886 /).—The following ephemeris for Berlin midnight is in continuation of that given in NATURE for December 9 (p. 134) :— NATURE 207 1887 R.A. Decl. log x log A Bright- As Se é ; ness Jan. 0 19 3232 4 52N. 9°8652 01478 10'5 5 19 5352 1 13°5N. 9°8935 0°1845 78 IO 2011 46 | 20°%S. 9°9243 0'2177 5°8 The brightness at the time of discovery is taken as unity. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1887 JANUARY 2-8 (OR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed. ) At Greenwich on January 2 Sun rises, 8h. 8m.; souths, 12h. 4m. 14'9s.; sets, 16h. Im. ; decl. on meridian, 22° 55’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 22h. 49m, Moon (at First Quarter) rises, 1th. 56m.; souths, 18h. 12m. ; sets, oh. 38m.* ; decl. on meridian, 2° 25’ N. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h. m. Tels fare m. ‘ ” Mercury 6 41 10 39 14 37 22 38S. Venus ... 8 41 12 36 16 31 23 59. Mars 9 34 13 52 18 10 19 35 S. At eN oes 2 LOM ear) 12 22 Ir LLSe Satu...) ss16"35201-.8 0140 8 45 21 49 N. * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting that of the following morning. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding angles from ver- Jan Star Mag. Disap. Reap. texto eht for inverted image h. m. h. m oO a Aare © jaceth Alpe 20) 200s 21633 87 348 Gee.) ja and Qo aes 7h 20) eS! 2400. ASnZO8 Owes) U7e Latina neues (0 TOM SOM.) LOM ses S35 9NS64: 6... 6! Tauri . 44 OWA et 21) ee OOE205 Gite Oa DanctimneeccA dein TOUS Ame 2O/5)5 47 316 6) .. BsAt@. 1301 BR) Gon PAE PR Gog PPT) ce Tithe 10) Ome. Ss) Raunt. =... 6 ... 22) 19 nearapproach) 27) —— 7... Aldebaran Te ee) ON Dyan) Tah selOSe2se, 7.) LIE Lauric.. 54 ... 19 51 nearapproach 340 — Fae LTS) Vauree wire OMe 20) 53) <2: 2200! ecm O5EZOL Jan. h. 2... 20 ... Sun at least distance from the Earth. Saturn, January 2.—Outer major axis of outer ring = 464; outer minor axis of outer ring = 18”°5 ; southern surface visible. Variable Stars Star R.A. Decl. hm. ys h. m. U Cephei ONK2°3 SL LO) Nees ane 2 On 93/772 ” 6, 23 43 ™ A Tauri SUS4iAensl2 LOMNE ss.) 55) 155. 212: 772 S Cancri Sig7e5 eelO2OUNe a. 59) Ss) 240) 772 U Hydre ... TONG2i01 1248/9. <6 55, 55 M RUGrateriste-seeeLONSSION a0 A919. 5-055) | 0) m SilGONe | an coo WO | Beoien O ZEINIE we aye Mu W Virginis ... TNO MEE NASI Sa en ay 125 4 One 5 Libra TAR SAO) CSN U4 Os ws. 95 Gs LONAL t7 9 09 31 33% U Corone ... ES) Ugt6i-.32) 40N re eh ee U Ophiuchi... 17 10°38... 1 20N.... 5, 4 418 and at intervals of 20 8 ie W Cygni ... 21 31°8... 44 52. N.... Jan. 4, 5 Gephel 922). 25°0: 2.57) SON. <-- cy58 45 e2ONNOlIs M signifies maximum ; # minimum. Meteor-Showers The principal shower of the week is that of the Quadrantids, maximum January 2, radiant R.A. 228°, Decl. 53 N. Other showers are as follows:—From the borders of Gemini and Cancer, R.A. 119°, Decl. 16° N. ; near @ Urs Majoris, R.A. 140°, Decl. 57° N. 3 near ¢ Bootis, R.A. 220°, Decl. Downs 208 NOTES FROM THE OTAGO UNIVERSITY MUSEUM IX.—On the Nomenclature of the Brain and its Cavities JN working at the brain of the lower Vertebrata, the incon- venience of the received terminology of the cerebral cavities became so manifest, that I adopted the plan? of distinguishing each cavity by the simple expedient of placing before the syllable cele (koiAos, kotAla) the prefix used for the corresponding division of the brain in the systematic nomenclature adopted in Quain’s “Anatomy.” Thus, the entire cavity of the mid-brain of fishes, for which the usual names ‘‘ aqueduct of Sylvius ” or ‘‘iter a tertio ad quartum ventriculum ” were unsuitable, became the mesocale or cavity of the mesencephalon, the ‘lateral ventri- cles,” the frosocales or cavities of the prosencephala, and so on. A similar but more thorough-going reform had been pre- viously and independently proposed by Burt Wilder (Scéence, ii., 1881, pp. 122 and 133), and adopted in Wilder and Gage’s ‘‘Ana- tomical Technology ” (New York, 1882). Prof. Wilder was good enough to write to me on the subject, and, after some correspondence had passed between us, he published an article * giving a full account of the nomenclature he p-oposed to adopt, and stating that certain of his terms (e.g. #euvocale for the entire cavity of the cerebro-spinal axis, and evcephalocele for the entire system of brain-cavities) had been proposed by me. IMA TORE [ Dec. 30, 1886 The chief features in Wilder’s nomenclature are the fol- lowing :— (a) The adoption of diencephalon in preference to the more cumbrous ¢halamencephalon as the systematic name of the *tween-brain (Zwischenhirn). The former term is given as a synonym by Allen Thomson (Quain’s ‘‘ Anatomy,” ninth edition, vol. ii. p. $28), and is used by Rolleston in ‘‘ Forms of Animal Life.” In correspondence with this, the third ventricl becomes the diacale (thalamocele, mihi). (4) The adoption of Quain’s name of efencephalon for the cerebellum (Hinterhirn), and of melencephalon for the medulla oblongata (Wachkhirn). Huxley’s term, myelencephalon, for the latter division, is rendered inconvenient, to say the least, from the fact that it is used by Owen to designate the entire cerebro- spinal axis. The fourth ventricle is called the metacele (mvelocele, mihi), and the cerebellar ventricle the efice/e (metacele, mihi). (c) The word prosencephalon is used in the same sense as by Quain, ze. as including the whole of the fore-brain proper (Vorderhirn). Both Owen and Huxley, on the other hand, use this term as synonymous with cerebral hemisphere, ¢.e. speak of paired prosencephala. In correspondence with this, the entire cavity of the fore-brain is called the frosocale, and the lateral ventricles themselves Arvoceles (prosocales, mihi). “pala (d) The unpaired cerebral rudiment of the embryo is distin- guished as the protocerebrum. —— meter, prosthien dien. mesen. epren for.M. prosen Fic. 1.—Diagrams showing three chief stages in the development of the nervous system. C A, the xeuvon is divided into »zyelox and enceShalon, the latter being again divided into the three primary vesicles, protencephalon, deuterencephalon, and tritencephalon. Similarly, the neuroca/le, or general cavity of the neuron, is divided into wzveloce@le and encephalocele, and the latter, again, into proto-, dextero-, and ¢rito-celes. 3, the brain now consists of five encephalomeres, the frosthi-, di-, mes-, ep-, and met-encephala, containing respectively the prosthio-, dia- meso-, efi-, and meta-celes. c,d, the brain has assumed its permanent form, and is shown in € in vertical, in p in horizontal section The prosthiencephalon has sent out paired prosencephala, a small unpaired portion, the dasicerebrum (6.cbr), being left, the latter being bounded in front by the lamina terminalis (Zamz. term). Each prosencephalon has further given rise to a xhinencephalon. Similarly, the prosthioccele now consists of unpaired ax/@ and of paired Jroso and rhino-cales ( prs.ce, rh.ce), the former communicating with the aula by the foramina of Monro, or porte (/or.W.). The diaccele is continued above into the conarium (cox), below into the infundibulum (¢/) with the hypophysis (2y/). The mesencephalon consists of ar unpaired ventral basi-opticus (b.opt), and of paired optencephala ; its cavity of a median 7ter, and of paired offoceles, which communicate with the iter by the Ay/e. The epencephalon is divided into a dorsal portion, the cerebellum, or epencephalon proper, and a ventral division, the dasi-cerebellum (b.cbl), containing a cavity, the at»7vm (at), which communicates with the epiccele proper, or cavity of the cerebellum, by the os¢zu (ost). The metencephalon and metaccele (#et.c@) have undergone but little alteration. (e) The unpaired portion of the fore-brain, left by the budding-off of the cerebral hemispheres, is not specially named, but its cavity is termed the azv/a. This is a large and distinct cavity in some sharks (e.g. Scymnus, Fig. 2), but in the higher forms becomes the Y-shaped passage between the third and the lateral ventricles. This passage is sometimes spoken of as the “foramen of Monro,” but the latter term is more correctly applied to the aperture between each of its anterior limbs and the corresponding lateral ventricle: this aperture Wilder calls the porta. (/) The specialised cavities in the optic lobes of Amphibia and Sauropsida are called oftoceles, the name z¢ery (abbreviation of ‘‘ iter a tertio ad quartum ventriculum ”) being retained for the * “Notes on the Anatomy and:Embryology of Scymnus lichia,”’ Trans. N.Z. Inst. xv. (1882), p. 222; “A Course of Instruction in Zootomy,”’ London, 1884 * “Encephalic Nomenclature,” Mex York Medical Fournal, xli. (1885), Pp. 325 and 354. unpaired portion of the mesocele or entire cavity of the mid- brain. The iter communicates with each optoccele by a small aperture, the Ay/a. No name is given to the ventral portion of the mesencephalon after formation of the optic lobes, z.e. the part usually known by the awkward plural designation crwra cere drt. (g) The ventral portion of the epencephalon, the fibres of which become the pons Varolii in mammals, is called the fv@- oblongata, the word fost-oblongata being used as a synonym for metencephalon or medulla oblongata in the restricted sense. (Z) The entire cerebro-spinal axis is called the xeuron, its cavity the zeurocele. 4 (2) The name exzephalocele is applied to the entire system of brain-cavities, or to the single cavity of the undivided embryonic encephalon. (4) The name myelocele is applied to the central canal of the myelon. This cavity is also distinguished into a lumbar dilatation, the xomdocale (sinus rhomboidalis) and a contracted portion, the syringocale. Dec. 30, 1886] NATURE 209 This scheme I propose to modify in certain particulars. For the sake of clearness I give diagrams (Fig. 1) showing three im- portant stages in the development of the brain, as well as draw- ings of the brain of Scymnus lichia (Fig. 2). The latter shows with such diagrammatic clearness the typical structure of the _ Vertebrate encephalon that I now always use it as a starting- point for the study of that organ in my lectures. (a) I propose to follow Wilder in his use of the words neuron and neuroccele, encephalon and encephaloccele, myelon and myeloccele (Fig. 1, A). The words syringoccele and rhomboccele (wi nen Y Fic. 2.—Five views of the brain of Scymnus lichia (nat. size). (vel.int) and tela vasculosa (¢e/.vasc) on the right side. entire brain from the left side. ©, longitudinal vertical section. pT is eed ca B, the same, with the cavities opened from above. The letters have the same significance as in appear to me unnecessary: I prefer to say that in some Verte- brates (e.g. birds) the lumbar region of the myeloccele is dilated into a sinus rhomboidalis. (4) The three primary cerebral vesicles may be called respect- ively the protencephalon, deuterencephalon, and trit-ncephalon ; their cavities the profocele, dewtlerocale, and (primary) ¢ritocele (Fig. 1, A). (c) In what may be called the sub-primary stage of segmenta- tion, the anterior, or first, and the posterior, or third, cerebral vesicles have each divided into two parts, the brain thus consisting of a, dorsal view of the brain, entire, save for the removal of the velum interpositum c, the entire brain from below. _, the Fig. 1, except em, hematosac (saccus vasculosus); ved.izt, velum interpositum ; Ze/.vasc, tela vasculosa ; and 77-2, cerebral nerves. five encephalomeres, which I propose to call respectively the prosthiencephalon (= prosencephalon of Quain, Vorderhirn) and diencephalon (= thalamencephalon), derived from the prot- encephalon ; #zesencepha/on (identical with the deuterencephalon), epencephalon, and metencephalon, formed by the constriction of the primitive tritencephalon. The cavities of these five brain- segments will be the prosthio-, dia-, meso-, efi-, and meta-cales (Fig. 1, B). (d) In the next stage of differentiation of the fore-brain, the prosthiencephalon gives rise dorsally to the two cerebral hemi- spheres : I propose to follow Owen and Huxley in calling them the prosencephala (Fig. 1, c and D; Fig. 2, A—E, frosen) ; their cavities, or lateral ventricles, being named /rosocales (prs.ce). The median portion of the prosthiencephalon, after separation of the prosencephala, may be called the bast- cerebrum (b.cbr.); its cavity, the awa, is Y-shaped, communi- cating by its unpaired posterior limb with the diaccele, by its paired anterior limbs with the prosocceles through the foramina of Monro (for. ), or porte, The two prosencephala may be spoken of collectively by the old name, cerebrum, which, as Pye-Smith remarks, ‘‘ ought to be strictly limited to the hemi- spheres with the corpus callosum, corpora striata, and fornix. . t Suggestions on some Points of Anatomical Nomenclatur ”’ Your. of Anat. and Phys., xii. (1878), p. 154. 210 Nel TORE [Dec. 30, 1886 From each prosencephalon is budded off an olfactory lobe or rhinencephalon, containing a cavity, the 7/zzocw/e, and usually divisible into a stem-like portion, or cvs, and a dilated extremity, or dudb, (e) The mesencephalon becomes differentiated dorsally into the paired optic lobes, or oftencephala, the cavities of which, or optoceles, are frequeatly clearly distinguishable from the remain- ing median portion of the mesoccele, or z¢er, with which they communicate by small apertures, the y/e. In many fishes, however, although the optic lobes are well formed, the mesoccele shows no distinction into iter and optocceles (cf. Fig 2, B and E). The unpaired ventral portion of the mid-brain, which in the lower forms shows no differentiation, into crura cerebi may be distinguished as the dasz-ofticus.+ (7) In the epencephalon the dorsal region grows out into the cerebellum, or epencephalon proper, its ventral region, or dasi- cerebellum (pree-oblongata, Wilder), being usually quite indistin- guishable from the metencephalon, but becoming marked off in the Mammalia by the development of the pons. The anterior portion of the fourth ventricle of the adult, ze. the portion corre- sponding to the basi-cerebellum, is of course epencephalic and not metencephalic, and may be distinguished as the a/riwm (Fig. 1, Cand D; Fig. 2, &): it communicates, in Selachians, with the epiccele proper, or cerebellar ventricle, by a small aper- ture, the ost7wm (Fig. 2, B and E, os?.).? It will be noticed that a mixture of Latin and Greek names occurs in the above scheme. This has been adopted so as to interfere as little as possible with the names in common use and with those proposed by Wilder. The Latin names, moreover, are introduced with a certain consistency ; e.g. the basi-cerebrum is the median unpaired portion of the protencephalon, the basi- opticus of the mesencephalon, and the basi-cerebellum of the epencephalon ; similarly, the cavities of these basal regions are respectively the aula, the iter, and the atrium, the main “ventricles” being all distinguished by names of Greek origin. The advantages claimed for the proposed nomenclature are the following :— (a) Names are given to important structures which have hitherto been designated by more or less lengthy phrases, ¢.c. basi-cerebrum, aula, mesoccele, &c. (6) The systematic brain-nomenclature of Quain is brought up to date by introducing changes rendered desirable by the pro- gress of animal morphology. (c) The cavities of the brain are distinguished by systematic names which have an evident connection with those of the encephalomeres themselves, instead of by names which have no relation either with the regions of the brain in which the cavities occur, or with one another. (¢) The description of the nervous system of the lower Chor- data is simplified. For instance, in Amphioxus, one may say that the neuron shows no distinction externally into encephalon and myelon, but that the neuroccele is dilated anteriorly into a small encephaloccele. While agreeing with Prof. Wilder in the advisability of making the changes proposed above in the nomenclature of the central hervous system, I differ from him in failing to see the necessity, or, indeed, the desirability, of making all binomial names mono- mial. Such names, for instance, as anterior commissure, corpus callosum, lamina terminalis, which are not misleading, and which do not require to be connected with homologous parts by a consistent nomenclature, may very well be left alone ; although, if one could start a cwizio, I quite admit that the substitutes proposed by Wilder might be preferable. In any case, how- ever, his name fsewdocele is thoroughly deserving of adoption as a substitute for the misleading appellation, ‘‘ fifth ventricle.” Prof. Wilder's suggestion that eceshalon should be Anglicised into excephal is worthy of consideration, especially as the word ought to be written excephalos, and it would be an advantage to get rid of the incorrect neuter termination. I have adopted the abbreviated form in the following table, which shows at a glance the nature of the proposed scheme of nomenclature. The * © Critics will no doubt object to using an adjective as a substantive, but how far this is admissible is entirely a matter of usage,’”” &c. (Pye-Smith, lec. cit., p. 174, note). * Cerebellum is one of the few names in the older brain-nomenclature which presents no ambiguity, so that the only reason for giving it a Greek synonym is the logical satisfaction of having a similar set of names for all the great divisions of the brain. Strictly speaking, the word epencephalon, being synonymous with cevededlar segment, ought not to be used for the cerebellum itself, and kyferencephalon might be used instead, with hyperocele for cerebellar ventricle. names of the various divisions of the nervous system are printed in capitals, those of the corresponding cavities in italics, = oN a oI = z 8 2 -) ns) = 2 o Q 8 5 a iad Sates & a 2 a ea eS n ees . The occurrence of a blown-out shot in localities where only small proportions of fire-damp exist in the air in the pre- sence of “even comparatively slightly inflammahle or actually non-inflammable, but very fine, dry, and porous dusts may give rise to explosions the flame from which may reach to distant localities, where either gas accumulations or deposits of inflammable coal-dust may be inflamed, and may extend the disastrous results to other regions.” This has the appearance of conceding all that is asked, but when read in the light of the first quotation it leaves the matter in considerable doubt. Indeed, it was stated at the inquest on Altofts explosion that the proprietors of that colliery had not gathered from the Commissioners’ Report that they were running any risk of an explosion, such as the one that happened ; and at the inquest on Elemore explosion, which has been ad- journed until the 18th inst., Mr. Lishman, the manager, gave utterance to similar sentiments. Be this as it may, it is obvious that legislative measures ought to be adopted without further delay, with the object of rendering the recurrence of coal-dust explosions impossible for the future. In providing against them it must also Le recollected that a local explosion of fire-damp, such as the one which originated Mardy explosion, produces exactly the same result as a blown-out shot fired under the most favourable conditions imaginable. Cardiff, January 5 W. GALLowAy The Cambridge Cholera Fungus IN your issue of December 23 (p. 171) appears a letter from Dr. E. Klein, in which that gentleman attempts to show that the micro-organisms found by Dr. Graham Brown, Mr. Sher- rington, and myself in the substance of the mucous membrane of the small intestine in cases of Cholera asiatica are nothing more than ‘‘common mould (probably aspergillus),’’ which has grown on and into the tissue during the process of hardening. We were and are, however, perfectly well acquainted with the fact that imperfectly preserved animal tissues are liable to be invaded by various forms of fungi, and took, therefore, precau- tions which we believe to be ample to prevent such contamina- tion of our material. Moreover, the presence of the micro- organisms in certain parts of the tissues only, their absence in others or on the surface of the specimens, the fact that their presence in the part is accompanied by anatomical changes which could not have taken place during the process of harden- ing, and, most of all, the characters of the micro-organisms themselves, render such an hypothesis as that brought forward by Dr. Klein absolutely unacceptable. It is unnecessary for me to answer all the arguments ad- vanced by Dr. Klein in support of his views on this subject. They prove nothing more than that fungi grow on and in animal tissues which are not adequately preserved—a fact which no one will doubt. That, on the other hand, the micro-organisms found by us are of this nature is a matter which neither Dr. Klein nor any other person who is unacquainted with the facts is in a position to decide. Since a short preliminary account only of the work done by Dr. Graham Brown, Mr. Sherrington, and myself, on the pathology of cholera has as yet been published, Dr. Klein has not before him the facts on which alone a decision of any value is possible. CHARLES Roy Pathological Laboratory, New Museums, Cambridge December 30, 1886 NATURE 222 ae) An Error in Maxwell’s ‘‘ Electricity and Magnetism” THE criticism of Mr. McConnel upon Maxwell’s derivation of the inductive action of currents from the principle cf energy is perfectly correct. It is inconsistent with the experimental facts appealed to by Mr. McConnel and Mr. Maxwell’s own treatment of the field as the seat of electro-kinetic energy. In the excellent treatise of Messrs. Mascart and Joubert, a similar misleading appeal is made to Helmholtz’s proof, and I have little doubt that Maxwell has correctly stated it. I should be inclined to think that the existence of the energy of the field was not distinctly present to Helmholtz’s mind. Maxwell, as is well known, by an ingenious application of Lagrange’s equations of motion, proves that, in the case of two currents, this electro-kinetic energy 7, is given by the equation— Te = Lay + Miyiy + Loi), “COS € dsds' taken round both circuits, and Z, where AZ = | | a and Z, are similar expressions for the separate circuits. I believe, though I dare not trespass upon your space to give the reasoning 77 extenso, that this result may be obtained some- what more simply and without the use of the Lagrangean equa- tions, a treatment which has the disadvantage of assuming the electric co-ordinates y, and y,, the currents being j, and y,. Then the equation of energy becomes aTe dln Ay, + Agig = — + —— + Ry? + Rai”, dt dt aly aM where 77, is material kinetic energy, and —— = 27,-— dt dt supposing the circuits rigid. Therefore Ajty + Axis d a d Si f —(Lyz, + Miz) + Ryey l + 2,4 —(Lot, + Mi,) + Ryzy p , la ( at reducing to Mr. McConnel’s equation, when the currents are constant. In the case of two circuits thus moving in connection with their batteries we may infer that 4, and 4, must be such func- tions of z, andz,, and the coefficients of configuration, that, when the suffixes are interchanged in the expression for 4,, that for 4, must result, and wice versd. If this be so, then the aforesaid equation necessitates the separate equations — d A, = —(Lyh, + Mis) + Ry 5 dt d Ay == (Lely + May) + Rete. dt Or Maxwell’s equations are obtained without the use of Lagrange. Henry W. WATSON Berkeswell Rectory, near Coventry The Manipulation of Glass containing Lead IN a note on this subject in NaTuRE (Dec. 16, p. 150), Mr. H. G. Madan has made a suggestion which is likely to be very valuable to those who require to manipulate ‘‘combustion- tubing” before the blow-pipe. But, in proposing the employ- ment of oxygen in place of air to produce flames for heating glass containing lead, Mr. Madan introduces a refinement which is unnecessary ; for lead-glass may be quite as easily manipu- lated in flames produced by plain air and gas as soda-glass itself. The pointed flame should be employed for small objects, and the oxidising brush-flame in the case of larger objects. By the oxidising brush-flame, however, I do not mean the brush- flame as ordinarily employed, but one to which the air is supplied liberally through an air-tube without any contraction at its end, and at a steady pressure from a good blower ; care being taken, on the other hand, not to introduce such an excess of air as to reduce the temperature of the flame. In his note, Mr. Madan quotes me assaying, in the ‘“‘ Methods of Glass-blowing,”’ that the reduction of lead-glass may be prevented or remedied by holding the glass a little in front of the visible fame, with the comment that there is hardly enough heat in that region to do all that is required in the manipulation 224 of the glass. I hope he will excuse me if I point out that in this he hardly does me justice ; for, although words in the above sense are to be found on p. 18, they occur only towards the end of the preliminary treatment of the subject, attention is at once called to the objections to the method, and they are followed by a full account (with references to diagrams) of the method of adjusting the supplies of air and gas so as to produce flames within which \ead-glass may be sufficiently heated without reduction. I have ventured to trespass on your space to this extent, because, for various reasons, I have come to the conclusion that lead-glass is distinctly the best glass for beginners to work with, and therefore I am anxious to correct the widespread and mistaken idea that its manipulation is very difficult, and requires special appliances. W. A. SHENSTONE Clifton, December 28 Pyrometers and Fusion-Points I READ with much interest the letter from Naples of Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis, and beg to offer a few suggestions in answer to his inquiries. I have done much work with pyro- meters, and for my purposes have used Siemens’s water pyro- meter with satisfaction. It occurs to me, however, that the pyrometer most suitable for the volcanic lava investigations proposed by Dr. Johnston- Lavis would be either Siemens’s electrical pyrometer, or the one recently introduced by Messrs. Murries and Co., 45, West Nile Street, Glasgow. It would seem that, with the latter, observa- tions can be readily taken at a considerable distance from the pyrometer, so that the pyrometer stem might possibly be lowered into the crater, and readings of the internal temperatures taken at various depths, and possibly of the contained lava also. With regard to the fusing points of various substances, refer- ence may be made to the recent careful researches on this subject of Dr. Thomas Carnelley and Prof. W. C. Williams. THos. ANDREWS Wortley Iron Works, near Sheffield, January 4, 1887. Electricity and Clocks THE exact combination about which Mr. Wilson inquires is already in existence: it can be seen at 2, Garfield Buildings, Gray’s Inn Road, in the Jensen electric bell factory. The arrangement used by Mr. Jensen—and it seems to me preferable to that suggested by Mr. Gardner—is to cause the hammer of the small clock to make electric contact in the circuit [of the distant large bell as it rises in preparation for striking the blow upon its own small bell. With a rubbing contact the action is perfectly certain. SILvANusS P. THOMPSON City and Guilds Technical College, Finsbury Barnard’s Comet ON December 25, about 6h., with a binocular field-glass, power about 4, I noticed a third tail to this comet between the other two. It was extremely faint, but 6° long, reaching to 11 Aquilz, The principal tail was reduced to 10° in length, and was far more conspicuous than this shorter, though much broader, tail. The shortest tail, though actually much brighter than this latter, was very indistinct with these field-glasses, being best seen with the telescope, power 20, whereas the middle tail was not distinctly visible therewith, although it showed an evident dark space immediately preceding the principal tail. With the naked eye I could see the long tail only. The head was about as bright as 5 Aquilee. T. W. BACKHOUSE Sunderland, December 29, 1886 Meteor I HAVE just seen a very beautiful meteor about the size of Sirius. The local time was within a minute or two of half-past 10. It started out between Pollux and the star-cluster in Cancer, and fell rather slowly in the direction of Regulus, going out before it reached that star. It had a trail, which vanished with it. The sky had just cleared after a thunderstorm, Sidmouth, December 28 inl. EDs LAT ORE [¥an, ©, 1887 Red Sunsets and New Zealand Eruptions NeEw ZEALAND eruptions have not the projectile force to cause red sunsets. Singularly, the very same current of ideas expressed by Prof. Newcomb in Nature, vol. xxxiv. p. 340, occurred to the writer, when in Australian waters the June previous, on the deck of the P. and O, steamer Ballaarat, off the Great Bight, on noticing a peculiarly red northerly sunset. The newspapers at King George’s Sound were full of accounts of the magnitude of the eruption of Tarawera, and it must be the fine dust from New Zealand that has passed overhead. The atmosphere of Australia, it may be mentioned, is one of the clearest, ‘‘exceptionally free,” as Prof. Newcomb puts it, ‘‘from vapours or other attenuated matter,” and in which volcanic dust would tell immediately. This suggestion disappeared at once on getting to the actual site of the New Zealand eruption, only six weeks after it had occurred, and on seeing the limited area covered with mud—a mere nothing compared with the vast stretch of country in the North Island passed through. As there was not a trace of its effects till within eight miles of the foot of Tarawera, it was simply ridiculous to suppose that any of the dust had invaded the higher atmosphere. Besides this, the boundary of the cloud of atmospheric dis- turbance was distinctly seen, and the altitude placed by none of the spectators to be above 12,000 feet. The explosion at Tarawera appears to have been merely one of superheated steam. It was different in the case of Krakatdo, where the initial force had much more of the character of an explosion of nitroglycerine than of high-pressure steam, as the matter was stated to have been projected at least 40,000 feet into the air. The magnitude of the New Zealand eruptioa could only be felt after getting well within the diameter of sixteen miles on which the mud fell, plastering hill and dale, evenly, of a dull gray, eighteen inches thick, Exterior to this it possessed none, and the distant results evidently were infinitesimal. The writer also saw the ‘‘ green sun” from the south of India, where it lasted for days, and has no doubt that this phenomenon was due to the dust from Krakatdo, such an appearance having never been even faintly approached, before or since, from ordin- ary natural causes, and more impressive, because unaccounted for, than a total eclipse of the sun. India, November 26, 1886 A. T. FRASER THEODOR VON OPPOLZER HEODOR VON OPPOLZER, one of the most eminent of modern astronomers, died at Vienna on December 26, 1886. He was the only son of Johannes von Oppolzer, the famous pathologist of Vienna, and was born on October 26, 1841. In accordance with the wish of his father, he studied medicine, and took his doctor’s degree in 1863. From early youth he had shown great interest in astronomy, and, soon after taking his degree, he caused an observatory to be built at his own expense, j and resolved to devote himself wholly to his favourite science. In 1866 he began to lecture at the University of Vienna, on theoretical astronomy, and he was soon promoted to the position of full Professor in his depart- ment. In 1870 he was asked by his Government to take charge of the operations for determining the length of a degree in Austria, and to this task he applied himself with so much energy that all the necessary observations were by and by completed, although his results have not yet been published. Oppolzer distinguished himself in all departments of astronomical science. One of the most important of his writings was his “ Lehrbuch zur Bahnbestimmung der Kometen und Planeten,” a work which has already be- come classical. He had hoped to place the theory of the moon on a new basis, but his labours in connection with this subject were not finished at the time of his death. On his death-bed he corrected the last proof-sheets of his “ Canon der Finsternisse,” in which he calculates all the eclipses of the sun and moon which have taken place, or which have yet to take place, between the years B.C. 1500 and A.D. 2000. ' Fan. 6, 1887 NATURE 225 His services to science were recognised by all the great learned Societies, and he was a Foreign Member of the Royal Astronomical Society of London. He was a man of a singularly noble personal character, and his death is deeply regretted by a wide circle of friends. THE COLONIAL AND INDIAN EXHIBITION ( ANADA.—This section of the Exhibition will be remembered chiefly for its agricultural machinery in motion, its fur, and agricultural trophies, and its large collection of furniture. The collection of fruits in the agricultural trophy has probably never before been equalled either in number, variety, or perfection of preservation, the colours of the several fruits being extremely well preserved in various solutions, such as dilute sulphurous acid for the lighter coloured fruits or salicylic acid for the darker ones. Besides these, however, there were numer- ous exhibits which, though less imposing to the general visitor, were of considerable interest, such, for instance, as the collection of timbers, and manufactures therefrom, photographs of American timber-trees, &c. The enormous sizes of many of the American Coniferze were well illus- trated by magnificent planks of such woods as the Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga Douglasit), some sixteen feet high and about ten feet in diameter, large slabs of hemlock spruce (Tsuga canadensis), also enormous logs of black walnut (Juglans nigra), and many others. Perhaps the most compact and interesting collection of timbers, however, was that from New Brunswick, where the woods were arranged so as to form a kind of design, the lower or basal portion being formed of trunks of trees, with their barks remaining, about three feet high, over this were arranged sections of the wood in frames composed of the young branches with the bark on ; and above these, again, panels of the same wood as shown below, cut longi- tudinally and with a cross section at the base, both polished to show the grain or figure, and on the panel of each wood was painted a very good representation of a spray or branch of the plant itself. Each specimen was properly named, so that the whole thing was very com- plete. The series of photographs before alluded to are correct representations of the tree flora, each photograph being framed with the wood of the tree illustrated. The general use of the bark and wood of the cedar of British Columbia (Thuja gigantea), for useful and ornamental articles, was well shown in the exhibits of mats, native head-dresses, masks cut from the solid wood and grotesquely painted, spoons, whistles. f7vjz.—Though the space occupied by these islands was but small, the exhibits were of an interesting character, including a fine set of native timbers, for the most part scientifically named, and including some large blocks of Fijian sandalwood (Savtaluim yas), roots of the kava (Piper methysticum), which is generally used in the Society and South Sea Islands in the preparation of an intoxicating beverage by chewing the root, ejecting the saliva into large bowls, and then fermenting it ; or by pounding the root between two stones, then putting it into a bowl, pouring water upon it, kneading it, and afterwards strain- ing it. The taste is said to be like that of soap-suds, but a liking for it is easily acquired, and it is said to quench the thirst better than any other beverage. A spirit pre- pared from it in Germany was sold in the Exhibition under the name of yagona or kava schnaps. This spirit, which is something of the nature of a liqueur, is described as having medicinal properties, and is recommended for its remarkable soothing and stimulant effects, restoring faded energies and exhausted nerve-power. Cocoa-nut fibre and oil of course form large staples of produce in Fiji, and were fully represented in the Exhibition, as well as dilo nuts and oil (Calophyllum inophyllum). Some excellent samples of sugar, grown and manufactured in | the islands, and tea, also grown and prepared in Fiji, as well as many other products, were shown in quantity. Great credit is due to the Executive Commissioner, the Hon. J. E. Mason, for making the resources of his colony known by the ‘distribution of small samples, during the period the Exhibition was open, to any one having a real interest in their development. Victorta.—Besides the splendid collection of water- colour drawings of Australian plants exhibited on the north side of the Court, the fine series of Victorian woods, the golden arch, and the native encampments, all of which attracted a considerable amount of attention, the pro- ducts of the genus Eucalyptus in the shape of oils and resins, exhibited by Mr. Joseph Bosisto, M.P., and Presi- dent of the Commission, were amongst the most interest- ing and important. Samples of the oil of Hucalyptus amy gdalina, rectified and non-rectified, were shown. This is the best quality of eucalyptus oil, and the oil for the preparation of which Mr. Bosisto’s firm has become noted. A sample of the essential oil of eucalyptus of commerce was also shown, and described as being ob- tained from the allied varieties of &. amygdalina, but not from the true species. So many varieties of this species are known that it is difficult for bushmen who collect the leaves to distinguish those of the true species from its congeners, forming, as they often do, a compact jungle or bush growing in close proximity to each other. The oil is rubefacient, antiseptic, disinfectant, and a de- odorant of great power. The essential oil of Aucalyptus globulus, the blue gum-tree of Victoria, having tonic, stimulant, and antiseptic properties, as well as those of E. oleosa, E. dumosa, E. citriodora, E. goniocalyx, E. obligua, &c., were also shown. A sample of eucalyptol from £. amygdalina and LE. globulus is described in the Catalogue as “a homologue of camphor, and appears to be two steps higher in the series. Its vapour, mixed with air, is agreeable when inhaled, and is employed as a therapeutic agent in bronchial and diphtheritic affections.” Amongst resins were those of the red gum of Victoria (EZ. rostrata), described as a thoroughly soluble and _deli- cate mucilaginous astringent, and Z. ves¢nzfera, Australian kino. Fine samples of the resin of the Australian grass- tree (Nanthorrhea hastilis) were also shown. This is obtainable in large quantities; it is of a deep amber colour, soluble in spirit, and is used for staining wood to imitate cedar and oak, and is also used in this country in French polish to deepen the colour of light mahogany and other woods. New South Wales.—Minerals, wools, timber, and furniture made of the timber, were the principal objects exhibited. None of the woods called for any special re- mark except, perhaps, a small collection either known or considered to be adapted for wood-engraving, and these specimens were of little or no value in themselves, being badly selected, and in many cases much split or cracked. The collection was more valuable as giving a clue to the source of the woods considered suitable for engraving purposes than for any qualities of their own. Among the woods so exhibited were Backhousia myrtifolia, Hymeno- sporum flavum, Xanthoxylum brachyanthum, Acacta Cunninghami, Duboisia myoporotdes, Dysoxylon Frasert- anum, Gmelina Leichhardtiit, Hemtcyclia australasica, Weitnmannia rubtfolia, Eugenia myrtifolia, Pentaceras australis, and others. Amongst fibres and fibrous barks was the bark of the small-leaved nettle-tree (Lafortea photiniphylla), also a fishing-net, cordage, and a dilly bag made from the fibre by the aborigines of the northern coast districts. The collection from New Guinea ex- hibited in this Court was of considerable interest. The utilisation of the bony seed shells of Pangzium edule for decorating the skin drums is one not seen by us before. The seeds produce a rattling sound when shaken similar to those of Zhevetia neretfolia, which are used for like purposes in British Guiana. 226 NATURE [Fan. 6, 1887 South Australia.—The centre of attraction here was ‘undoubtedly the scene on the Murray River wherein the habits of the aborigines were depicted. Wool figured largely, and the applications of emus’ eggs for a great variety of purposes were fully illustrated. A good collec- tion of small specimens of the woods of the colony was shown, as well as a collection of fruits and seeds. Western Australia.—A fine collection of the timbers of the colony was exhibited in this Court, and outside near the basin adjoining. The principal woods shown were jarrah (Zucalyptus marginata), and karri (EZ. diversicolor). Of the former, one of the principal at- tractions in the Court was a log, some seven feet long, over four feet in diameter, and weighing nearly five tons, carefully polished on one end to show the cross section, ‘and in the middle to show the longitudinal structure. The wood has a very fine deep red colour, and “ for the dura- bility of its timber,” Baron Mueller says, “is unsurpassed by any kind of tree in any portion of the globe.” When carefully selected and dried, it is proof against the attack of teredo, termites, or any other wood-borers. It is consequently in great demand for jetties, piles, rail- way-sleepers, fence posts, and all kinds of underground work, as well as for planking and frames of ships. This fine block of wood, and a fine slab or counter-top of figured jarrah and other West Australian woods, have been presented to the Museum of the Royal Gardens, Kew. Amongst the plants exhibited as being used for tea by the natives were the following :—The leaves and flowers of Verticordia pennigera, known, it is stated, to the settlers in the earlier days of the colony, and used medicinally. The taste is said to be similar to Chinese tea. Another kind of native tea proved upon examination to be furnished by Kunzea Muelleri. Queensland.—Cf vegetable products exhibited from this colony the collection of woods was the most note- worthy, not only for the number of species, but for the care shown in their selection and preparation. The two enormous trunks of cedar (Cedrela Toona), each some fifteen feet high, and one with a girth of twenty feet five inches, will as long be remembered for their majestic size by those interested in tree growth as the number and brilliancy of the opals will be remembered by those interested in gems. lew Zealand.—Next to the collection of birds and minerals, the timbers of New Zealand held a prominent place, and the furniture made from the most important and beautiful woods, such as mottled kauri (Dammara australis), and totara (Podocarpus totara) was well illus- trated. The beauty of these woods is so great that it is remarkable they should still remain comparatively unknown amongst cabinet-makers in this country. Cafe of Good Hope.—The centre of attraction in this Court was undoubtedly the diamonds and diamond-polish- ing. Of the vegetable products a collection of native medicinal plants was shown, and their uses were well described in the catalogue of Cape exhibits, and for the most part are to be found also in Pappe’s Flore Capensis Medica Prodromus. There was also a very fine collection of well-seasoned and polished wood slabs, amongst them being Outeniqua yellow-wood (Podocarpus elongatus), an extremely valuable, fine-grained wood of a light yellow colour, useful for furniture, planks, flooring- boards, beams, &c. One slab of this fine wood—which was almost entirely hidden during the Exhibition by a counter being built over it, and measures about twenty feet long by five feet in diameter—has been presented to the Kew Museum, together with a fine set of other Cape woods, many of which might become useful in this country were they better known, notably the stinkwood or laurel wood (Oreodaphne bullata), a dark-coloured wood much resembling walnut in appearance, but heavier and considerably stronger, so that it has been recom- is very highly prized for nearly every kind of work con- nected with building and cabinet-making, being little inferior if not equal to teak in strength and durability. Natal.—Raw vegetable products largely predominated in this Court. Sugar, maize, tea, and tobacco were the principal staples. The cultivationand manufacture of tea is anew industry for Natal, and the result is that an article of very good quality has been produced, Natal tea having been on sale during the period of the Exhibition and well spoken of, so that there seems every probability of a future trade in this article with Natal Amongst tanning materials we noticed the root, both entire and broken, of the Elands Bontjis (Elephantorhis2 Burchelliz), which has attracted some attention of late as a valuable tanning material. Preserved native fruits, such as granadilla (Passiflora maliformis), papaw (Carica Papaya), amatun- gulu (Carissa grandiflora), and others, were exhibited, as well as a variety of hard woods, many of which were without scientific names, West African Settlements.—Under this head was in- cluded the Gold Coast, Lagos, Gambia, and Sierra Leone. The exhibits consisted largely of raw products of both the vegetable and animal kingdoms, together with some native manufactures, such as textiles from indigenous palm fibre or grasses, carvings in wood, &c. Oil seeds were shown in variety as well as in bulk, and notable amongst them were the kernels of lacs guineensis, malukeh seeds (Polygala rarifolia), which only occasionally finds its. way to this country, physic nuts (Jatropha Curcas), benni- seed (Sesamum zndicum), and others as well known. Some very large balls of rubber were exhibited from Sierra Leone, and some fine masses of a kind of gum copal from the Gold Coast. : : Ceylon.—Vegetable products abounded in this Court. On the walls were exhibited no less than 362 specimens of native vegetable drugs, got together by the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya. A very fine series of planks of the principal useful or ornamental timbers were exhibited, amongst them being tamarind, satinwood, ebony, calamander, and nedun (Pericopsis mooniana). The most attractive of the Ceylon woods is certainly calamander, but this is said to be now extremely scarce, and as it is of slow growth, the supply is very limited. Satinwood trees are common “in the northern, eastern, and north-western forests, but the proportion of these which yield ‘ flowered satinwood’ is very small, and this description of wood is therefore comparatively high in price.” Notwithstanding this scarcity of “ flowered satinwood,” several of the show-cases which contained the exhibits of tea, cardamoms, &c., and some of the barrels containing coffee, were of flowered satinwood. The Ceylon collection on the whole was one of particular interest. India.—The extent of space occupied by our Indian Empire, and the varied and interesting character of the exhibits, will long te remembered. The contents of the art courts do not come within our notice, but there was sufficient material in the Economic Court for an extended notice. Space, however, will not allow us to say more than a few words on the unrivalled collection of the raw products of India—such a collection, indeed, as in all probability was never brought together at one time before. In such a collection it would be impossible to individual- ise any of the exhibits—those most striking, such as the bamboo bridge, will remain fresh in the memory—but it is in such details as the individual contents of the several shops that the interest of the economic botanist lies. To obtain any idea of the contents and value of the Indian Economic Court, we must refer our readers to the recently- issued “ Special Catalogue of Exhibits,” a large portion of which has been compiled by Dr. Watt, who had charge of the Economic Court during the Exhibition. This catalogue is a valuable and interesting record of one of mended quite recently for gun-stocks. In the colony it | the most important sections of the whole Exhibition. Fan. 6, 1887 | We cannot close these notes without saying a word in commendation of the excellence of most of the catalogues, especially those of Ceylon and the Cape of Good Hope. JoHN R. JACKSON Museum, Royal Gardens, Kew IPECACUANHA CULTIVATION IN INDIA “THE following note is from a letter which I have received from Mr. Gammie, who has charge of the cinchona plantations of the Bengal Government at Dar- jeeling. The facts are of considerable biological interest, as showing that amongst closely connected forms, which can scarcely be distinguished by palpable morphological differences, there may yet be unobvious constitutional distinctions which in the struggle for existence may de- termine the survival and ultimate dominance of some one form in particular. The facts are also perhaps interesting in another way. To any one who will be at the pains to turn up vol. vii. of NATURE, p. 6, it will be amusing to see the sequel which the chance of circumstance has brought to one branch of a long-burnt-out controversy. W. T. THISELTON DYER Royal Gardens, Kew, December 13 “T don’t think I ever told you the final results from ur ipecacuanha-growing experiments, but do so now. “Our original stock of plants came from Kew and Edinburgh—the great majority from Edinburgh. The few plants from Kew differed a good deal in appearance from the Edinburgh lot, which, again, differed greatly from each other. All the Kew plants were of one sort, which we named, from the start, the Kew variety. It was rougher in the leaf than the Edinburgh sorts, and not so strong- growing while under glass. “ After we had satisfied ourselves that we could make nothing of ipecacuanha, from a commercial point of view, we put all the plants out in the open, under shade, and let them take their chance. By this time we had all the sorts mixed up together ; and as we had originally at least ten Edinburgh plants for each one of the Kew sort, and the Edinburgh lot had, besides, been much the stronger growers under glass, the Kew plants formed less than 5 per cent. of the whole. But very soon the Edinburgh sorts began to disappear, until, in the course of a year or two, there was not a single plant of one of the Edinburgh varieties alive, whilst almost every plant of the Kew variety lived. Of it, at the present moment, we have a good stock, and in one place, at 1400 feet elevation, under the shade of living trees, we have plants, which were put out many years ago, in the most perfect health, but un- fortunately their growth has been so slow as to render the prospect of any profitable return from them almost hopeless. Still it strikes me that, in places geographically better situated for ipecacuanha-growing than Sikkim, this particular variety may succeed, although other sorts may have failed. Probably our ipecacuanha experiments may prove another instance of the folly of giving up the cultivation of new crops as hopeless until the most exhaustive experiments have been carried out. It may be that there are even hardier varieties of ipecacuanha than the ‘ Kew variety’ to be found.” SUNSPOT OBSERVATIONS IN HUNGARY} HE Observatory, of which the first volume of Publi- cations is now before us, was founded by Cardinal Haynald in 1878 in connection with the archiepiscopal gymnasium at Kalocsa in Hungary. Preliminary geodetic operations, of special importance as supplying an inde- 1 “Berichte yon dem Erzbischéflich-Haynaldschen Observatorium zu ae in Ungarn.” Von Carl Braun, S. J. (Miinster i. W. : Aschendorff, 1886. NALORE 207 pendently determined point of reference for the Hungarian survey, with the examination and adaptation of instru- ments, cost much time and labour ; so that only a frag- mentary part of the energy of the establishment has hitherto been available for purely astronomical work. The Director, however, Dr. C. Braun, has wisely embraced the rule of concentration which governs most successful campaigns, and is hence enabled to present, in lieu of a multitude of scattered and perhaps useless observations, the connected results of four years’ solar study, unpre- tending in aim, but thoroughly well executed, and deve- loped with much clearness and not a little originality. The time, it is true, has somewhat gone by for visual solar work of the kind here described; and Dr. Braun, like all other astronomers, is getting ready his camera. Still, it is well worth while to consider what has been learned—even at a somewhat disproportionate cost of labour—by graphical delineation pursued through fifty consecutive solar rotations. The instrument employed was the smaller of two excel- lent Merz refractors possessed by the Kalocsa Observa- tory. It is of four Paris inches aperture, is equatorially mounted, and appears to possess uncommonly fine defini- tion. To its eye-end was fitted an apparatus invented and constructed by Dr. Braun himself, by means of which an image of the sun 22 centimetres in diameter was projected, after total reflection from a right-angled prism, upon a sheet of drawing-paper. In this way nearly 5000 drawings of spots were executed during the years 1880 to 1884. For their reduction two expeditious methods—one graphical, the other computative—were devised ; and the resulting heliographical latitudes are rendered strictly comparable with those derived by English observers, through the application of a small correction due to a difference in the adopted elements of the solar rotation. Now that sunspot observations have become cosmo- politan, it seems indeed a pity that there should not be unanimity on this point among astronomers. Dr. Braun conforms, however, to the solar prime-meridian chosen at Greenwich, so that the longitudes given in his maps practically coincide with Greenwich longitudes. i The highest grade of accuracy was not aimed at in these observations. Their object was the collection of materials for studying the processes of spot-formation and the relation of spots to prominences, with side- glances towards a possible, but every year less and less probable, transit of “Vulcan.” The determination of the solar rotational elements, or of the minute changes of latitude of spots, was left to observers provided with the means of executing refined micrometrical measurements. Nor was the estimation of maculated area attempted. Yet with all these limitations, much of interest remains to be gathered from the paper before us. The results are portrayed in fifty maps, each represent- ing the aspect of the sun’s surface between the parallels of 40° north and south, during one synodical rotation. The indication of the solar meridians which on successive days were central at mean mid-day (Kalocsa time) renders it easy to trace the fluctuating appearance of the actual visible disk throughout each period. The maps further contain two long sinusoid curves—one denoting the heliographical latitude of that point on each meridian of which the position-angle on the east limb was 90", the other showing the latitude of the points similarly situated on the west limb. Hence the position-angle of any given spot as it traversed either edge of the sun can at once be deduced—a datum obviously much facilitating inquiries into the connection of spots with prominences. To each map corresponds a table, in which, besides the heliographical position of each spot, something of its history and peculiarities is set forth—the number of times it was observed, the epochs of its appearance and disap- pearance, with a general description of its size and shape. Especial interest attaches to a table in which Dr. Braun 228 NATURE [ Yan. 6, 1887 has separately collected particulars of sixty-one spots, held, with more or less of probability, to have presented themselves afresh after making the circuit of the sun, and hence to be available as guides to the period and law of its rotation. From these data he constructed a curve (Plate XVI. Fig. 2) showing the variations in the rate of spot-displacement with varying latitude, the perfect sym- metry of which on either side of the sun’s equator testifies to the absence of any systematic difference in this respect between the hemispheres. From the curve were derived three distinct formule of the solar rotation, all fitting perfectly with the observations within the parallels of 30°, but diverging widely in their results for high latitudes. For example, No. I. gives for the region close to either pole a period of just 33 days; No. III. of a little over 40; No. Il. of 55°8 days. From Carrington’s formula, Dr. Braun deduces a polar period of 30°86 days ; Faye’s implies one of 32; SpGrer’s actually reverses the direc- tion of change beyond the spot-zones, indicating a recovery of velocity towards the far north and south, and a period, in latitude 90°, of no more than 25'1 days—about the same which prevails in parallels of 10°. It may be worth remarking, as at least a coincidence, that almost precisely this rate of motion was inferred by Father Secchi (very doubtfully, it is true) from observations of relatively stable prominences near the pole. Nevertheless, a survey of the discrepancies tabulated by our author can hardly fail to inspire a profound distrust of empirical formule, and still more of the risky process termed “ extrapolation.” The swiftest-moving spot noted by the Kalocsa observers was situated 1° 20’ north of the equator; its estimated daily displacement of 868’ bringing about the completion of its circuit in 24°88 days. The most sluggish was in south latitude 29° 38’, and gave a period of 26°5 days. As might have been expected, considerable irregularities are apparent ; yet not more than might reasonably be set down to uncertainties of observation. A much higher degree of accuracy must, however, be reached before the mean rate of motion proper to each parallel can be at all satisfactorily ascertained. This mean rate is itself, in Sporer’s view, subject to cyclical change ; and his observa tions during the years 1861-1871, as compared with Carrington’s during seven preceding years, disclosed per- sistent differences not easily accounted for. Dr. Braun’s results, on the other hand, agree quite as well as could be expected with those of the English observer. A further complication is introduced by what may be called the individual caprices of spots. Each spot has probably a velocity of transport peculiar to itself, depending upon the circumstances of its origin; this velocity is certainly subject to accelerations connected with the processes of its development. These accelerations (for the change of motion is always in a forward direction) are shown, in Prof. Sporer’s recent communication to the Physical | Society of Berlin, to be very considerable; they are beyond question highly significant ; yet they emphasise our disadvantage in being compelled to rely upon such unstable phenomena for all our knowledge regarding that most important datum—the rate of the sun’s revolution on its axis. The Kalocsa solar observations were made at a critical period. They cover the whole of the prolonged maximum which culminated near the close of 1883, and disclose or confirm very satisfactorily some of its characteristics. Dr. Braun has depicted in a remarkable curve the progressive changes in the mean latitude of the spot- zones during the years 1880-84. Their continuous ap- proach to the equator at once strikes the eye; but superposed upon the line of uniform descent is a series of minor oscillations with a period of about a year, and an amplitude of fully 2°, which seem too regular and strongly- marked to be the mere effect of accident. This feature is quite novel and deserves attention. The general rule that the long series of spots comprised within each cycle break out first in high latitudes, and become extinct close to the equator, was first observed by Carrington, and may now be regarded as fully established. Ordinarily, the maximum occurs when the mean latitude of the zones is 16° or 18°, the energy of the disturbance diminishing as they close further in. But the retarded character of the recent crisis was significantly attested by the fact that it did not reach its height until the closing in had proceeded much further than usual. In 1882, when the maximum was due, the average latitude of spots was (from Dr. Braun’s curve) about 16°; whereas, at the close of 1883, when the maximum actually occurred, it was no more than 11°. It would seem as if the punctual and duly prepared completion of the outburst had been frustrated, and its stored-up energy spent upon an abnormal protraction of the maximum. It might even be said that the perturbation thus indi- cated affected chiefly, or solely, the southern hemisphere of the sun. Although the respective sum-totals of spots observed at Kalocsa north and south of the equator eventually almost exactly balanced each other, large tem- porary discrepancies were manifest. The northern hemi- sphere displayed in 1880 an excess of activity, still more conspicuous in the ensuing year. Southern spots, on the contrary, outnumbered northern in 1882 to the extent of 8 per cent., and in 1883 in the proportion of nine to five. Dr. Braun adds the remark that each hemisphere would almost seem to have completed its cycle of change inde- pendently of the other, the northern maximum having occurred late in 1881, while the southern was postponed for two further years. The cause of perturbation should, in this view, be localised in the southern hemisphere. A. M. CLERKE NOTES On November Io last, an important meeting of intercolonial delegates was held at the rooms of the Royal Society, Sydney, for the purpose of forming an Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. There were delegates from all the principal scientific Societies of Australia, and they seem to have had no difficulty in arriving at a decision on the questions they had met to discuss. On the motion of the chairman, Mr. Russell, it was agreed that an association of the scientific Societies of Australasia should be formed under the name of ‘¢ The Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science.”’ It was also resolved that the rules of the British Association should be adopted, and that the first meeting of the Australasian Association should be held in Sydney in the first week ‘of September 1888. This date was fixed because it will be the hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the colony of New South Wales. Mr. H. N. RrIpLey, of the British Museum, intends to.make an expedition to the island of Fernando Noronha for the purpose of investigating its natural history. The funds for the expedition have been supplied by the Royal Society, and Mr, Ridley hopes to be able to start at the end of cebruary. The marine flora and fauna were collected by the Challenger Expedition, but owing to the fact that the island is a Brazilian penal settlement, no naturalists have hitherto been permitted to make collections therein. The Trustees of the British Museum have obtained from the Emperor of Brazil the necessary permission for Mr. Ridley’s exploration of the island, which, from what little is known of it, and from its geographical position, promises to be of exceptional interest from a natural history point of view. Tue death is announced, at Victoria, British Columbia, of Dr. \V. F. Tolmie. Dr. Tolmie’s name has been favourably known to ethnologists for many years in connection with his | researches respecting the Indian tribes of British Columbia and Fan. 6, 1887] neighbouring parts of the Pacific coast, where he has been almost continuously resident since 1833. Dr. Tolmie was a native of Inverness, but in 1832 accepted an appointment as medical officer to the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Van- couver on the Columbia River, and subsequently became a chief factor in the Company’s service. Information supplied by him to Mr. George Gibbs and other ethnologists has appeared in various publications, In 1884 he published, in conjunction with Dr. G. M, Dawson, a nearly complete series of short vocabularies of the principal languages spoken in British Columbia. He has had for many years a larger work in contemplation on the tradi- tions and folk-lore of the same tribes, but the materials for it were not complete at the time of his death. CHARLES SHALER SMITH, the distinguished engineer, died at his home in St. Louis, Mo., on December 19, 1886, He had been suffering from the effects of a fall, which resulted in serious injuries. From the first his case was considered very grave, but his great vital powers enabled him to keep up for two years. Mr. CLEMENT WRAGGE, late of Ben Nevis Observatory, and now of Adelaide, is to be appointed Meteorologist to the Government of Queensland. YESTERDAY Prof. A. W. Reinold, F.R.S., delivered at John Street, Adelphi (the Society of Arts), the first of the usual short course of lectures adapted for a juvenile audience. The subject was ‘‘Soap Bubbles.” The second lecture will be given on January 12. THE lectures founded by Sir Thomas Gresham will be read to the public gratuitously on the following days, at Gresham College, Basinghall Street, in the subjoined order, beginning each evening at 6 o’clock:—Rhetoric (Mr. J. E. Nixon), January 18, 19, 20, and 21; law (Dr. Abdy), January 25, 26, 27, and 28; geometry (Dean Cowie), February 1, 2, 3, and 4; physic (Dr. Symes-Thompson), February 8, 9, 10, and 11, divinity (Dean Burgon), February 15, 16, 17, and 18; astro- nomy (the Rey. E. Ledger), February 21, 22, 24, and 25; and music (Dr. H. Wylde), March 1, 2, 3, and 4. THE complaint is frequently heard that natural science does not get adequately encouraged in Oxford. Six weeks ago a notice was issued by Queen’s College that an examination would be held on March 1, 1887, for the purpose of filling up various Scholarships and Exhibitions, including one Scholarship for mathematics and another for natural science. This notice was inserted in various newspapers, of which copies were sent to upwards of a hundred schools in England. The result is that one candidate has signified his intention of offering himself for examination in natural science. No doubt there will be at least ten candidates for the vacancy in mathematics, and twenty for each vacancy in classics. This certainly does not show a demand for natural science scholar-hips in excess of the supply. On December 9 the Council of the College of Surgeons adopted, and ordered to be entered on the minutes, a report from the Committee, recommending that the Committee’s powers should be enlarged, with a view to the extension of the museum and the library, and the addition of work-rooms. It was also recommended that the Committee should receive power to take other improvements into consideration, and to inquire to what extent an increase of the staff would be rendered necessary by the proposed changes. The improvements, it is believed, would be paid for out of the Erasmus Wilson legacy. The scheme is likely to meet with some opposition, and before finally deciding on a matter of so much importance the Council would do well, as the British Medical Journal suggests, to submit its plans to the Fellows. NATURE 229 WE regret to notice that objection is being made in Hong Kong to the expense of publishing in the official gazette the Monthly Weather Reports of the Observatory there. These tables, which have frequently been noticed in these columns, contain the usual statistics of evaporation, radiation, the relative humidity and tension of aqueous vapour, the classification of clouds, and other meteorological details. The local critics say that these are of no practical value ; but they surely forget that similar tables are published by every Observatory in the world. The Tokio and Siccawei establishments, to select two which are nearest to Hong Kong, publish periodically the same meteoro- logical statistics, and it is therefore sincerely to be hoped that Dr. Doberck will be permitted to pursue his arduous and useful labours. The colony handsomely voted a sufficient sum for an Observatory a few years ago without question, and the work which it has since done is appreciated in Europe. Only a few weeks since we printed a paper by Dr. Doberck on the typhoons of the China seas, which was essentially and directly practical, for it told the mariner of the various classes of these storms, their direction, and course, and the time at which they are most prevalent. It further explained how vessels caught in these typhoons may best minimise or escape altogether from their evil effects. All this information, the value of which for the protection of life and property, can be appreciated nowhere better than in Hong Kong, with its enormous shipping trade, is obtained only by the careful and sedulous collection and collation of statistics. The physical position of Hong Kong renders its Observatory one of considerable importance in meteorological science, and it is the duty of the colonial Government to see that the institution is not allowed to decline from the high standard which it has already attained. THE ideas of some Americans as to the education of women seem to be very far ahead of those which still prevail in this country. At Northampton, near Amherst, an observatory is being built by the Trustees of Smith College for young women. Mr. David P. Todd, Director of the Amherst College Observa- tory, has lately devoted much time to the plans for the construc- tion and equipment of this building, taking care that it shall be thoroughly fitted for the purposes of collegiate instruction, and that it shall contain ample facilities for research. A Society for the promotion of the higher education of women has been founded in Japan, under the presidentship of the Prime Minister, and with the support of various influential foreign and Japanese gentlemen. Besides regular courses of instruction which will be provided, special courses of afternoon lectures will be delivered by the professors of the University. The whole institution will be under the control of a foreign lady principal, assisted by two or more foreign lady teachers. Although female education in Japan has already reached an advanced stage, this appears to be the first attempt to provide for the higher education of women, as understood in European countries. THE late Mr. Greenleaf, the Boston hermit, left the whole of his fortune—probably amounting to five hundred thousand dollars —to Harvard College. The conditions imposed by him are said to be not unreasonable, but it would have been better, as Sczence urges, if he had imposed no conditions whatever. Wealthy men who think of bequeathing money to learned institutions appar- ently find it hard to realise that the authorities of those institu- tions are likely to be the most competent judges of the way in which the money should be spent. The needs of Harvard College were certainly not so well known to Mr. Greenleaf as to its President and Faculty. THE other day Science commented on the fact that advertise- ments calling for applications for vacant Chairs in leading educa- 230 tional institutions are often inserted in educational and literary journals in England. This is never done in the United States. There were no fewer than forty applications for a recent vacancy in a prominent American college, and if the appointment had been advertised, the number would no doubt have been very much larger. Scéence is of opinion that American colleges lose nothing by declining to follow the English example in this matter, since in the case of every important college ‘‘ the presi- dent and trustees keep their eyes continually open, and when a vacancy occurs they are pretty sure to know who is the best man for the place, or, in any event, they have made up unconsciously a short list from which the selection is to be made,” A distinct advantage of the American p!an is that governing bodies are not troubled with the importunities of persons who wish to be appointed to positions for which they are wholly unsuited. THE Wagner Free Institute of Science, Philadelphia, has issued a valuable report, by Mr. Angelo Heilprin, on his explora- tions on the west coast of Florida and in the Okeechobee Wilderness. Mr. Heilprin is of opinion that the whole State of Florida belongs exclusively to the Tertiary and post-Tertiary periods of geological time, and consequently, as a defined geo- graphical area, represents the youngest portion of the United States. There is not, he thinks, a particle of evidence support- ing the coral theory of the growth of the peninsula. Sedimen- tation and deposition along this portion of the American coast appear to have been practically unbroken or continuous, as is indicated by the gradational union of the different formations, and the absence of broad or distinct lines of faunal separation, The elevation of the peninsula, especially in its more southern parts, seems to have been effected very gradually, judging from the perfect preservation of most of the later fossils, and the normal positions—z.e., the positions they occupied when living—which many of the species still maintain. There is evidence that before its final elevation a large part of the peninsula was for a considerable period in the condition of a submerged flat or plain, the shallows covering which were most favourably situated for the development of a profuse animal life, and permitted of the accumulation of reef-structures and of vast oyster and scallop banks. The present submerged plain or plateau to the west of the peninsula may be taken to represent this condition. Fresh-water streams, and consequently dry land, existed in the more southern part of the peninsula during the Pliocene period, as is proved by the inter-association of marine and fluviatile mollusks in the deposits of the Caloosahatchie. Mr. Heilprin holds that the doctrine of evolution receives positive and most striking confirmation in Florida, because the modern fauna of the coast is indisputably a derivative, through successive eyolu- tionary changes, of the pre-existing faunas of the Pliocene and Miocene periods of the same region ; and the immediate ancestors of many of the living forms, but slightly differing in specific characters, can be determined among the Pliocene fossils of the Caloosahatchie. He is also convinced that man’s great antiquity on the peninsula is established beyond a doubt, and he suggests that the fossilised remains found on Sarasota Bay, now wholly | converted into limonite, may represent the most ancient belong- ings of man that have ever been discovered. AN interesting paper on the sub-genus Cylinder (Montfort) of Conus, contributed by Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill, M.A., F.L.S., to the tenth volume of the third series of Memoirs of the Manches- ter Literary and Philosophical Society, has been reprinted. Mr. Melvill has much to say about the Conus gloria maris. This exquisite shell is ‘* prominent among all its kindred for beauty of shape and excellence of pattern ;” and ‘‘the reticulations are so fine as to defy the skill of the lithographer.” The land of its nativity is Jacna, island of Bohol, Philippines, where the late Mr. Hugh Cuming found two examples, one very juvenile, NATURE [ Yan. 6, 1887 scarcely more than an inch in length. Mr. Cuming tried hard to find other specimens, employing all the available natives in dredging expeditions ; but his efforts were unsuccessful. It is said that the original very circumscribed locality has been annihilated by an earthquake, and Mr, Melvill thinks that this is not improbable. Only twelve specimens are known to exist. Five are in this country, and one of them is in Mr. Melvill’s collection at Prestwich. Another—perhaps the finest specimen known—is in the collection which belonged to the late Mrs. De Burgh, and three are in the British Museum collection at South Kensington. A good example was bought by Mr. Lovell Reeve in 1865 for the Melbourne Museum. WE have received a ‘‘ List of the Macro-Lepidoptera of East Sussex,” compiled by Mr. J. H. A. Jenner, F.E.S., Lewes. It is reprinted from the Proceedings of the Eastbourne Natural History Society. East Sussex, according to Mr. Jenner, is probably one of the richest, in number of species, in the country. This he attributes to the southern latitude of the district and its varied characteristics—its downs, marshes, extensive woods and forests, and its sea-coast. Some parts of East Sussex have been well worked by entomologists, especially near the larger towns, but little is known of some of the outlying districts. AMONG the numerous forms of fungus which live upon higher plants (many of which are so detrimental to their hosts) are some, it is now believed, which live with these on terms of mutual assistance. Frank found that the young root points of some of our forest trees, as the beech and the oak, are covered with a coating of fungus (probably belonging to the truffle or allied family), which seems to help in the nutrition of those trees. Another interesting case is that of fungi which live with orchids, and whose mode of propagation has lately been esta- blished by Herr Wahrlich (Botanische Zettung). The fungus appears in the outer cells of the root tissue in the form of yellow bladder-like balls (of the nature of Aazstorta or suckers) sur- rounded by numerous filaments. It works no perceptible harm to the plant, but on the contrary it is thought that, especially in the case of orchids which live on the humus of woods, the fungus probably transforms the humus matters into such as are more easily utilised by the orchid, thus doing it a physiological service, The fungi observed by Herr Wahrlich belong to the family of Pyrenomycetes, and the genus Wectria. THE amount of free carbonic acid in the ground has been lately shown by Prof. Wollny (we learn from Waturforscher) to depend, on the one hand, on the factors of decomposition of organic substances (heat, moisture, porosity), as affected by the physical nature of the ground and its covering; on the other hand, on the resistance which the ground presents, according to its mechanical state, to the escape of the gas. Ground-air seems to have most carbonic acid when the ground is at a slope of about 20°. Slopes facing south have most carbonic acid ; those facing north, least, though the difference is not great, as the two principal factors, heat and moisture, largely counteract each other. In drought, ground facing north has more carbonic acid. With equal quantities of organic matter there is more carbonic acid, the more finely granular the ground; and such ground hinders movement of the gas downwards as well as into the atmosphere. The air in ground shaded by living plants has considerably less carbonic acid than that in bare ground, and in the latter it has less (in dry years, not in wet) than in ground covered by dead parts of plants. In lecturing upon the ‘‘Denizens of the Aqueous Kingdom ” on Friday last at the Royal Aquarium, Mr. August Carter referred to deformities that exist among fish. In 1885 and 1886 he had examined many thousands of trout and salmon fry at South Kensington on their emerging from the ova, and found Fan. 6, 1887] one case of deformity in every thousand, and one case of monstrosity, such as twin and dual-headed fish, in every four thousand. From observations he had made at the South Ken- sington Aquarium and elsewhere, the lecturer concluded that certain fish, such as the carp and perch, have the power of com- municating with one another. Wuitst collecting fish ova from the River Colne for the hatchery at the Delaford Fish Culture Establishment, the water- bailiffs found an ‘‘ egg-bound ” trout, that is, one that had died through being unable to extrude its eggs. It was brought to Mr, W. Oldham Chambers, who on examination found the ova to be thoroughly healthy, although the fish, judging from its decomposed state, must have been dead about three weeks. He at once obtained a milter, and succeeded in impregnating the ova, which appear to be quite healthy and capable of incubation. The spawning season has been greatly retarded by the extreme severity of the weather. WE have received the first number of the Cycling Budget, the editors of which undertake to keep cyclists ‘‘ thoroughly well posted in every imaginable topic which may be of service to them.” There are to be careful analytical descriptions of every new or modified type of machine as it comes into the market. The Budget advocates the building of a club-house for cyclists in London. In America, it appears, there are magnificent club-houses for ‘‘ the votaries of the pastime.” DurInG the year ended October 31, 1886, the total quantity of steel and ingot iron made from phosphoric pig was 1,313,631 tons, of which 927,284 tons were ingot iron containing under *I7 per cent. of carbon. As compared with the make of the previous twelve months, there was an increase of about 368,314 tons. The total quantity produced represents about 394,000 tons of slag, containing from 30 to 35 per cent. of phosphate of lime. Most of the basic slag made in Germany is finely ground, and used in place of superphosphates. M. ALFRED MARCHE, who has already been despatched on more than one scientific mission to distant regions on behalf of the French Ministry of Public Instruction, Jeft Marseilles on the 19th ult., on a similar errand, for the Marianne Islands. M. THOoUAR’S expedition to solve the question of the naviga- bility of the Tilcomayo, and its suitability as a trade route between Bolivia and the eastern parts of South America, has had to be postponed so far as the upper waters are concerned, owing to the refusal of the Bolivian Government at present to supply its share of the funds for the undertaking. Writing, how- ever, from Suere on Octo'er 22, M. Thouar reports that the Bolivians have confided to him a mission of exploration in the same regions. He is to cross the Bolivian Chaco and survey it, with a view to discovering a land route for trade, and also to make a scientific investigation of the territory on the right bank of the Paraguay, directing especial attention to its capacity for cultivation and to the methods by which immigration should be encouraged. M. Thouar was to start on this mission about November 18. THE Annuaire pour [An 1887, issued by the Bureau des Longitudes, Paris, contains mu-h astronomical and other scien- tific information, arranged in a convenient form. The work is carefully edited, and has been considerably enlarged, by M. Loewy, one of the members of the Bureau. THE current number of the Memorie della Societd degli Spet- troscopisti Italiani contains a good portrait of the late Alessandro Dorno, with a brief sketch of his career. Dorno was born at Asli on February 13, 1825. He had scarcely taken his degree at the University of Turin in 1848 when he was appointed Pro- fessor of Mechanics at the Military Academy there. In 1865 he was made Professor of Astronomy at the University of Turin | NATURE 234 and Director of the Observatory. Many papers by him appearect in the Transactions of the Turin Academy of Sciences, and he was a frequent contributor to the various scientific journals. In 1874 he took part in the scientific expedition to India for the observation of the transit of Venus. He died at the Villa di Borgo, San Pietro, near Turin, on August 19, 1886. WE have received Parts 16-20 of the ‘‘ Landerkunde’ des Erdteils Europa,” which is being issued at Leipzig and Prague. This admirable work is edited by Dr. A. Kirchhoff, who has se- cured the co-operation of many eminent geographers. There are numerous illustrations, all of which are carefully executed. We print to-day an abstract of an excellent paper on ‘‘ The Use and Equipment of Engineering Laboratories,” by Prof. A. B. W. Kennedy, M.Inst.C.E., read at the ordinary meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers on Tuesday, December 21, 1886. WITH regard to the postscript to his letter on ‘‘ Electricity and Clocks,” in our last number (December 30, 1886, p. 198), Mr. Henry Dent Gardner writes to us that it is the weak spring. not the hammer, which should be kept away from a banking. Tue additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens duriag the past week include two Green Lizards (Lacerta viridis), a Slow-worm (dxguts fragilis), European, presented by Mr. R- M. J. Teil; a Yellow-footed Rock-Kanzaroo (fetvogale xan- thopus), born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THE ANDROMEDES, NOVEMBER 27, 1886.—P. F. Denza, writing in Cosmos under date December 2, gives the results of the watch maintained on the night of November 27 last at seven observatories distributed over the Italian peninsula. All the reports alike agree in showing that there was no repetition of the shower of 1885, the number of meteors observed being no greater than on an ordinary night, and of these the majority radiated from Perseus and Taurus, only very few from the radiant of the Andromedes. It follows, therefore, from these observations and those of 1873 and 1885, that the meteoric cloud giving rise to the shower is of comparatively small extent, but very dense. This fact tends to confirm the theory of the recent formation of the stream and of its origination in the dis- integration of Biela’s comet. The interval, thirteen years, between 1872 and 1885, corresponds to two revolutions of the comet ; but the earth was in quite a different part of its orbit at the date of the intermediate return, and therefore no shower was. witnessed. THE REDUCTION OF THE POSITIONS OF CLOSE POLAR STARS FROM ONE EPOCH TO ANOTHER.—A paper containing a catalogue of 130 Polar stars for the epoch 1875'0, resulting from all the available observations made between 1860 and 1885, and reduce. to the system of the Catalogue of Publication xiv. of the Astronomische Ge-ellschaft, has been communicated to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences by Prof. W. A. Rogers and Miss Anna Winlock. The first section of this work, giving an investigation of the methods of reducing the positions of close Polar stars from one epoch to another, has been published in the Memoirs of the Academy, vol. xi. part 4, No. 5. And Prof. Rogers chivalrously appends a note to the effect that his connection with the work is limited to the methods of discussion adopted, and to an examination of the numerical results obtained ; and that beyond this all the work in the preparation of the paper has been done by Miss Winlock, who is entitled to all the credit therefor. By the laborious process of actual com- putation, taking the instance of Groombridge 1119—a star situated within 1° of the Pole, it is shown that it is impossible to obtain an exact agreement between the values of the precessional motion computed by Taylor’s theorem and the corresponding values com- puted from the rigorous trigonometrical formulz, in the case of such a star, when the time exceeds forty years. But it is also shown that the time at which the values derived from the deve- lopment by Taylor’s theorem begin to deviate from those derived. from the rigorous formule may be extended many years by means of a secondary series, which represents the residuals 232 between the exact co-ordinates and those obtained with any assumed limit to the terms of the series. The application of this principle to the case of Groombridge 1119 is explained, and the formule formed for reducing the stellar co-ordinates to any date between 1875 and 1955, and also between 1875 and 1755. The results obtained by Miss Winlock will doubtless be very useful to astronomers discussing the positions of close Polar stars. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1887 JANUARY 9-15 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.) At Greenwich on January 9 Sun rises, 8h. 6m, ; souths, 12h. 7m. 20°2s. ; sets, 16h. gm. ; decl. on meridian, 22° 6’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 23h. 24m. Moon (Full) rises, 4h. 11m. ; souths, oh, 9m.*; sets, 8h. 3m.* ; decl. on meridian, 18° 44’ N. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h. m. h. m. . m, be Mercury ... 7 4 Io 55 14 46 23 45S. Venus ... 8 42 12 46 16 50 2I 45 S. Mars 9 19 13 47 18 15 18 4S. upiters-ci--- ee 7 OLS 2 II 57 Ir 28S. Saturn... elo) Ges Oo uLO 8 15 21 55N. _ * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the south- ing and setting each that of the following morning. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding Jan Star Mag. Disap. Reap, 9neles torn ver. inverted image h. m. h, m. a ° Oise b eA G-1249255---) Odie LON (Os-5. LO) AON LOO tz FOr ya GERNOT MOMs eon Ole) LET OR Ir... 54Cancri... ... 64... 8 6 nearapproach 205 — G2eee elo eeOnis me ON ORT OnE S 54 340 P20 e=A SPCONIS = eae wOn Fee CUED ee 2 Tb Olan S38 aC 7iL DZ perl PUGCOIS ee Mctsh4 lest 23)02 0) ee, ONO Tae MOT LOO 13 ... 49 Leonis... ... 6 I 29 near approach 320 — + Occurs on the following morning. Jan. h. 9 5... Venus at greatest distance from the Sun. 9 14... Saturn in opposition to the Sun, Variable Stars Star RA Decl. NE yan See h. m. U Cephei ee) (0) 52:38. VOL LOIN. seen) en. lyers| 2aey7 IMS Ces ee oe SOR bm SPINS cho on Lh es R Persei eer tehicases ope pas cto op. aes} M A Tauri 3/5404) 2... D2 -rOUNe apn 20h) 20 Raley 33 12; '23) 56% WeMonocerotise... 7) 25°44... 9133 Saeeaa ens m V Cancri ab 15 eSte Ly) SOuNGe as tO} M Wavircinisms.. 9 srge2O2 EN i e4 81S ie yy LT 5 2 Onn? ZYVirginis ... --.. 14 473... 12 46'S. . eas M 6 Libre 509 ore We VIR) ins tL Shy >, 10,19 15 m WeCoronce es es. 115) 135032) 4 Ne ee senenst 23) 6m RSD raconiswe) ues) eLO! 3240107 OUNG .) sen TO! m U Ophiuchi... 710%) a2. (1) 2ONN. eee nt) nO mtb, WARNar2 and at intervals of 20 8 Avleyreeren ce) se L584 500i 331A No ...Jans Q)123 TOs. » 13, 4 of R Lyre SO ADOT ERED GLU) ctw CIRC SHIN IS Sy Unk ud te MM S Delphini! ==" =. 20 '37ome tOmueNeeen ee, | 04) m RgVulpeculee Vi'205974'e eR ean ee ro) m BiCepher 20:2 2225 0857) SO Net esses 23 One M signifies maximum ; 7z minimum ; 7, secondary minimum, GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES __ THE latest news from Dr. Oscar Lenz is of much interest. Three letters have been received from him, the latest dated June last from Kasonge, a large Arab town, three days south-east from Nyangwe, on the Upper Congo. NATURE Dr. Lenz, it will be | [F¥an. 6, 1887 remembered, went out for the purpose of reaching Dr. Junker and Emin Bey. The latest rumours state that he has been compelled to abandon this object, and may therefore be soon heard of at Zanzibar. Dr. Lenz, in canoes furnished by the famous Tippoo Tip, journeyed up the Congo from Stanley Falls, taking fifty days by the way. This, however, included frequent stoppages. He found great changes had taken place since Mr. Stanley made his memorable voyage down the river ten years ago. ‘Then there were few Arabs to be seen beyond Nyangwe, and the river over a great part of its length was peopled by natives, between whose villages the expedition had to run the gauntlet. Now Dr. Lenz finds the whole country practically in the hands of Arab and Zanzibari slavers and traders. The natives in many places have retired into the recesses of the forest, and large Arab settlements have taken their place at several points along the river. There is a constant traffic up and down the river between Nyangwe, or rather Kasonge, and Stanley Falls. Immense rice-fields occupy the swampy and unhealthy areas round these Arab settlements, and all round Nyangwe and Kasonge the country is covered with rice, and plantations of bananas and other fruits. Nyangwe is no longer the important centre it was in the days of Livingstone. It is an irregular collection of Arab settlements, covering a con- siderable area. Kasonge, three days’ journey off further up the river, is, on the other hand, a large town, with broad streets and many well-built houses. This is the head-quarters of Tippoo Tip and other Arab traders, who have their agents for their ivory in Muscat and India. It is evident that we have here a great and increasing intrusion of a foreign element among the native population. In some cases the natives are on friendly terms with the Arabs, and in other cases hostile. At any rate the result will in the end be a very serious modification of the population over a great area of Central Africa, and a marked change in the face of the country by the introduction of rice and other exotic cultures. MM. BoNVALOT AND Capus, the French travellers in Central Asia, lately turned back by the Emir of Afghanistan, write to the French Geographical Society, giving some account of their recent journeys. They refer especially to the country be- tween Teheran and Meshed, which they traversed in April last, and which, as they say, is so much frequented that no one thinks it worth while to observe its special features. They found it much cut up by broad rivers with pebbly beds, and irrigation canals which nourish the rare oases along the base of the Elburz Range. ‘The travellers found themselves almost always in the steppe region, on the edge of an immense basin, the bottom of which is the ‘* Khevir” or great salt desert. It is incrusted on the surface with a great quantity of saline crystals, especially soda and magnesia, which often spoil the water and render cultivation impossible. ‘The flora, the fauna, and the geology are those of the steppe, and MM. Bonvalot and Capus make out that the region forms a geographical unit with Central Asia. Not a tree, not a bush even, unless a few garden fruit-trees, with wil- lows and poplars along the canals, relieve the monotony of the country. From the bridge of Saugil to the Thian-Shan, going from west to east, sucha thing as a forest is unknown. HERR QUEDENFELDT, in a paper in the last number of the Verhandlungen of the Berlin Geographical Society, on a recent journey in Morocco, mentions a fact of some geographical interest. For more than two years a commission of three or four Spanish staff officers, with a colonel as chief, has been stationed at Tetuan, and have quite publicly been carrying out a topo- graphical survey. They have in this way already surveyed a considerable part of the Garb region, as far as Tangier, Arsila, Laraish, Alkasar, and even Fez. In the December Petermann, Count Pfeil describes j his journeys of exploration last year in the Ulanga and Ussagora regions, witha map. But the article which will attract most interest now—a melancholy interest in some respects—is the preliminary report of the late Dr. Fischer, on the expedition for discovering Dr. Junker; this, too, is accompanied by a map. Dr. Emil Jung continues his essay on the effect of the last Indian famine on the movements of the population, basing the discussion on the official census. A special part of the AMittheilungen has been issued, containing an elaborate and systematic index of the contents of the periodical for the ten years 1875-84, including ten annual volumes and cight supplementary volumes. By an ingenious system of colouring, a glance at the maps of the various continents shows Fan. 6, 1887] NATURE 233 that special maps have been published with the magazine during that period, what the scale of each is, at what part of the publication it is to be found, and whether the map is topo- graphical, physical, geological, or statistical, These maps, with their variously-coloured lines, show, too, in a moment, what are the regions of the earth which have most engaged attention during the last ten years. In Europe the Balkan peninsula is covered with lines, in Asia the khanates, the Pamir, Tibet, and South-Western China, while the number of lines in Central Africa north and south of the equator form a veritable laby- rinth. A rough idea of the work of every traveller in the last ten years could be formed from this outline map alone, as the name and occasionally the date are added in each case. The index and the maps give a bird’s-eye view of the work of this famous geographical publication better than anything else can do, and we are glad to know that it begins a new decade full of youthful life and vigour, and with the prospect of a career of as much usefulness in the future as in the past. Herr NIEDERLEIN, of Buenos Ayres, has been appointed Naturalist and Geographer to the Argentine-Brazilian Boundary Commission, on behalf of the Argentine Government, and he left in October last for the verdezvous of the Commission at Misiones. He has been engaged for sixteen months in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, working out the results of a previous journey, especially his surveys on the Uruguay and Parana Rivers and their main tributaries ; these, however, did not rest on any astronomical observations, a defect which he hopes to remedy in the present journey. A careful geodetic survey of the frontier districts will be made, and a map of these and of the province of Corrientes will be published next year. TASMANIAN FISHERIES ‘THE Report for 1885 of Mr. Saville Kent, Superintendent and Inspector of Fisheries to the Tasmanian Government, contains a good deal that is of scientific as well as economic interest, as will be seen from the following extracts :-— (1) Zhe Oyster Fisheries.—It affords me much gratification to inform you that considerable success has attended the experi- ments made in the direction of breeding oysters on the Govern- ment reserves and in private fisheries, upon the system advocated and explained in my last year’s Report. This system consisted chiefly of laying ‘‘ collectors,” constructed of thin planks or split palings coated with cement, over the breeding oysters placed upon the beds. At the Government reserve at Little Oyster Cove, on a private bed at Great Oyster Cove, and on one at the Prosser’s River on the East Coast, a considerable quantity of brood or spat has adhered to the collectors laid down, giving the greatest encouragement for a yet more substantial and commer- cially remunerative return resulting from the following out of the system upon a sufficiently extensive scale. The operations so far conducted have been furthermore productive of much valuable information concerning the breeding habits of the oysters of this colony that may be hereafter utilised in their artificial culture, Thus, last summer none of the collectors were placed on the beds until November, which is generally accepted, as is May in England, as representing the earliest month in which the spat or brood is liberated. From the size of the brood deposited on the collectors, as also by an examination from time to time of the parent oysters, it was, however, made evident that the greater portion of the spat had been already emitted before the collectors were placed over them. This circumstance indicates the desir- ability, in future years, of having at least a considerable portion of the collectors in position by the commencement of September. It is of interest to observe that the larger portion of the spat deposited, at both the Government reserve at Little Oyster Cove and on the private bed in the adjacent bay, was derived from the New Zealand oysters, thus demonstrating that that variety is suitable for acclimatisation in Tasmanian waters. Another important circumstance to be recorded of the Oyster Cove reserve is the fact that the spat thus obtained was attached exclusively to the cemented collectors, and in no case to the shells of the parent oysters or to the rocks, cultch, or other natural objects to which they customarily adhere ; this fact of itself affords practical evidence of the efficacy of these collectors for the purpose for which they have been devised. At the Government reserve at Spring Bay the collectors ordered were not supplied sufficiently early to intercept the fall of spat. At the same time the fall which took place, both in the reserve and also upon the public and private oyster-beds throughout the Spring Bay district, has been a very abundant one, the young brood adhering plentifully to the parent shells, mussels, cultch, stakes, and any other objects that afforded them a suitable fulcrum for attachment. With a continuance of this past season’s rate of increase, and provided a sufficient amount of breeding stock is maintained on the reserves and private beds, it should not take many years for this locality to regain its original prominent position with relation to the oyster trade. At the present time the recovery of this district has advanced to such an extent that there has been no difficulty experienced in obtaining from it during the present season a stock of about 50,000 breeding oysters for laying down upon various private beds and the Government reserves. From the third Government reserve, established at the West Arm on the Tamar estuary, no sub- stantial results have as. yet been obtained, it having been found impossible to complete it and stock it with oysters in time to obtain last summer’s fall of spat. A fourth oyster reserve is in process of formation at Little Swanport ; and it is proposed, with the funds available for the purpose during the current year, to establish similar Government reserves in the following neigh- bourhoods, z.e. the Carlton River, Taranna, and Southport in the southern district ; and at George’s Bay, Port Sorell, and other favourable localities to be yet selected, on the north-eastern and northern coast-lines. I am gratified to be able to report to you that there are already substantial prospects of accomplishing one of the most important objects of the establishment of the Government oyster reserves. At the time of their inauguration it was antici- pated and intended that these reserves, in addition to fulfilling the part of nurseries for the propagation of oysters and the replenishment of the surrounding waters, should likewise con- stitute central stations for the assistance and encouragement of private enterprise in a similar direction, and by whose aid, if developed upon an extensive scale, the restoration of the oyster fisheries of this colony on a thoroughly substantial commercial basis would be greatly accelerated. One private bed with breeding oysters is already established in the vicinity of the Government reserve at Little Oyster Cove, one at Spring Bay, and another at the Prosser’s River. Encouraged by the success of these undertakings, applications have been or are about to be made for the leasing of three more suitable areas for the same purpose at Spring Bay, for the same number at Great and Little Oyster Cove, and for others in the neighbourhood of Little Swanport, and at Port Sorell on the north coast. The important operations connected with oyster-culture in course of progress at the newly inaugurated Fisheries Establish- ment at Battery Point are recorded under the following heading. (2) Fisheries Establishment, Batlery Point.—Since the date of my last Report, and in accordance with the recommendations therein made, suitable premises, including a residence, have been selected and are now rented by the Government at Battery Point for the development and maintenance of a Fishery Establishment. To this site the marine hatchery originally erected at Gore Street has been transported, and re-erected with various additions. The premises occupied include a sea frontage of about three hundred feet, allowing the location of the hatchery so close to the water’s edge that the salt water necessary for the mainten- ance of a constant circulation through the tanks is pumped direct from the sea. The mechanical arrangements are at the same time so disposed that in the event of a storm or flood rendering the outside water temporarily unfit for circulation, the intake pipe can be disconnected, and the water circulated independently from a small reservoir beneath the building. The great advan- tages derived from the transport of the marine hatchery to its present site, next to the means now afforded for obtaining an unlimited supply of pure sea-water, are the facilities it has provided for constructing in connection therewith tidal ponds for the culture of oysters and marine tish generally upon the adjacent shore. For this purpose an area of about one acre has been inclosed with stakes wired together after the manner adopted for the fencing off of the Government oyster reserves, and within this inclosure two such ponds have been already constructed. In consequence of the circumstance that at ordinary ebb tide the water recedes from a large portion, and at spring tides from almost the entire extent of this inclosed area, the plan has been adopted of excavating these ponds for a foot or two below lowest tide-level, so that under any circumstances they contain an abun- dant supply of water. The nature of the ground upon the 34 foreshore inclosed has proved to be well adapted for the con- struction of these ponds, as immediately beneath a thin super- ficial covering of sand it is composed of pebbles and tenacious clay so firmly amalgamated as to almost resemble concrete ; any excavations made in this bed are consequently thoroughly water-tight. In the preparation of this site for the required purpose, it was found desirable to divert the course of that portion of the Sandy Bay Rivulet which formerly at low tide flowed over the area now occupied by the ponds. This has been accomplished by further excavating the main channel of the stream straight out to sea, and away from the area inclosed, and by interposing between the two a barrier or groin of rocks and tree-trunks, which has had the desired effect of accumulating along its course a natural sand-bank which effectually shuts off the water of the creek. One of the ponds constructed in the inclosure, measuring sixty feet long by thirty wide, is situated imme- diately beneath the hatchery, and serves as a reservoir for the constant supply of the tanks. This pond, being fenced round with wire netting, is further utilised for the storage and culture of a variety of edible fish in addition to oysters, With each ebb and flow of the tide the water in this pond is more or less com- pletely renewed, and the fish under these conditions are found to thrive remarkably. A list of the edible species of fish that have ‘been cultivated in the pond and tanks since the establishment of the fishery at Battery Point—that is, between the months of February and July 1886—is herewith annexed. 1. Native Salmon (47rifis salar). 2. Sea Carp (Chlodactylus allforti). 3. Black and Silver Perch (Chzlodactylus macroplerus), 4. Magpie Perch (Chzlodactylus gibbosus). 5. Real Trumpeter (Latris hecateia). 6. Silver Bastard Trumpeter (Laév7s forster?). 7. Rock Gurnet (Sebastes percoides), 8. Flathead (Platycephalus bassensis). Tasmanian Whiting (Sz//ago ciliata). Snotgall Trevally (Veptonemus brama). 11. Sea Mullet (4gonostoma forsteri). 12. Rock Cod (Pseudophycis barbatus). 13. Tasmanian Ling (Genypterus blacodes). 14. Flounder (Xhombsolea monopus). In both the ponds and tanks of the Fisheries Establishment the chief attention is at present being given to the culture of oysters. There is already upon the premises a stock of some eight or ten thousand oysters of different varieties, and in all stages of growth, which stock it is proposed to yet further increase in anticipation of the approaching spatting-season. The varieties include the irregular-shaped Rock Oyster (Ostrea angulata) from New South Wales; the smooth variety of O. edulis from New Zealand, and many modifications of the indigenous type of the same species. The majority of these oysters have now been acclimatised in the tanks and ponds for the last three or four months, in which space of time it is gratifying to have to record that all of them have thriven and considerably increased the size of their shells. This is par- ticularly noticeable of the New South Wales species, which it is anticipated from this experience it will be found possible to establish and propagate in these waters. The experiment now in course of trial, as to whether they will be able to withstand the severity of the Tasmanian winter months, will be an import- ant factor in this question. The series under cultivation includes, in addition to the stock of adult oysters for breeding purposes, samples of brood raised last summer at Little Oyster Cove and other Government reserves. Among the useful functions accom- plished by the Oyster-Culture Department of the Fisheries Establishment at Battery Point may be mentioned the 7é/e it fulfils of an accessible model for the advantage of those who, in increasing numbers, are taking up oyster-culture as a private enterprise, and who can there obtain information and instructions as to the best methods upon which to conduct their operations. It is also of much value as a central station, at which practical experiments can be made with the view of solving the many vexed problems that present themselves to the pioneers of this industry, and of discovering newer and more profitable methods of cultivating and breeding this mollusk. Already among eminent American and European oyster-culturists it is main- tained that the secret of obtaining a far larger percentage of the brood produced by the parent oyster than has hitherto been accomplished is to be solved through the medium of tidal ponds and tanks, wherein the oysters will be supplied with all the equirements necessary for their healthy growth and develop- NATURE [ Fan. 6, 1887 ment, and wherein at the same time suitable provision is made for the retention of the produced spat. Tentative experiments having this object in view are now in course of progress under scientific direction in all of the more important oyster-growing communities, and it is hopefully anticipated that some material assistance towards the solution of this important question may be | forthcoming from this newly-established practical branch of the Fisheries Department of this colony. ; ‘ Among the more important points to which my attentio has been recently directed and advice solicited is the widely recognised desirability of discovering some method for cultivating oysters in localities in all respects suitable for their growth, with the exception that the labour involved in keeping them constantly clear from sedimentary deposits, or from sinking beneath a too yielding bottom, is too costly for their profitable culture. Experiments made with the view of surmounting this diffi- culty have resulted in the invention of a species of frame or cradle composed of wood and strong galvanised wire netting, measuring 6 feet long and 3 feet wide, upon which the oysters are placed, and raised to a height of from 9 to Io inches off the ground, This description of frame so completely answers the purpose for which it was devised that they are being supplied to all of the Government reserves, and are recommended for the use of private growers. Each frame of the dimensions above quoted, which are found to be most portable, conveniently carries as many as 500 adult oysters, so that for a well-stocked bed of, say, 10,000 oysters, a score of them will be sufficient. Having the stock placed on frames of this description, a vast amount of labour usually bestowed in keeping the beds clean and the oysters free from sediment can be dispensed with. In place of the tedious process of dredging the bed through and raising the oysters a few at a time, to be cleaned and re-deposited on the cleared ground, each frame, with its contents, can be raised to the surface, a few shakes suffice to get rid of the sedi- ment that may have accumulated upon them, and they may again be lowered to their place. This object may indeed be accomplished in many instances without raising the frames to the surface, it being sufficient merely to tilt the frame to and fro a few times, as it lies on the bottom, with the aid of a boat-hook, such agitations effectually getting rid of all the sedimentary matter. Wire handles for raising the frames to the surface of the water, with the aid of a boat-hook, should be attached. Further advantages are attached to this frame-system of oyster-culture, since not only can the frames and their contents be raised to the surface at all times to be cleaned and. manipulated, but it affords facilities, hitherto unprovided, of keeping an accurate estimate of the amount of stock placed upon the beds, and of watching, from time to time, the progress it is making in development. The form of spat collector that can be most advantageously utilised in conjunction with these oyster-frames is the one figured and described in my last Report under the title of the ‘‘single pale” collector, consisting, as its name implies, of a single split paling 4 feet long by 8 or 9 inches wide, having its under surface coated with cement and a brick attached at either end to retain it in the desired position. The experience gained by the past season has demonstrated this to be the most economic and productive form of collector, no alteration in its construction being suggested, with the exception that, by placing a single wire loop or handle in the centre instead of one at each end, as hitherto, their portability, both in and out of the water, is greatly increased. The adaptability of these paling collectors for use in conjunction with the newly-invented frames is very obvious, and their size is such as to allow of their being placed over the oysters in either a single or in two or more transverse rows. It is anticipated that the oysters placed upon the frames will of them- selves constitute very efficient spat-collectors, their under surfaces, exposed through the meshes of the wire netting, being kept free from slime and sediment, and raised to a height above the ground favourable for the adherence of the spat. Empty shells or cultch similarly placed on frames in the vicinity of the breeding stock are also likely to prove favourable fulcra for the brood to adhere to. A remaining direction in which the oyster culture department of the Fisheries Establishment at Battery Point is found to be of great assistance in the operations now in course of progress relates to its value as a central depot for the reception and temporary storing of the stock brought from a distance for distribution among other reserves. ' The frames are raised to the surface of the water by blocks and cord attached to a tripod; where the boat is sufficiently large to carry a mast, the same apparatus may be more conveniently worked from a small derrick affixed to the mast. Fan. 6, 1887] THE FORMS OF SEEDLINGS: THE CAUSES TO WHICH THEY ARE DUE? SiR JOHN LUBBOCK commenced the lecture with some general remarks on the innumerable types of foliage among mature plants and the causes to which we might refer their various forms, the breadth of some and narrowness of others, the differences of position, the differences of length in conifers, &c. He said that these considerations had led him to study the cotyledon: or first leaves of seedlings. | Cotyledons do not pre- sent such extreme differences as leaves; nevertheless, they afford a very wide range. Some are broad, some narrow, some are long, some short, some are stalked, some sessile, some lobed, some even bifid or trifid. At first sight these differences seem interminable, and it might appear hopeless to attempt to ex- plain them. Sir John Lubbock, however, pointed out, as re- gards many species, taking especially the commonest plants, such as the familiar mustard and cress, the beech, sycamore, pink, chickweed, &c., the conditions of their formation and growth, and it is beautiful to see the various reasons to which the differences are due, gradually unfolding themselves ; the same result being sometimes brought about by very different circumstances—emargination of the cotyledons, for instance, being due to at least six different causes. He mentioned one curious peculiarity in the seedling of a species allied to our common mistletoe. It is a parasitic species, and its fruit, like that of the mistletoe, is somewhat viscid, so that it adheres to any plant on which it falls. But, even if it reaches the plant on which it grows, it may light on an unsuitable position—say, for instance, a leaf. What then happens? The radicle elongates for about an inch, and then develops on its tip a flattened disk, which applies itself to the plant. If the situation be suitable, there it grows; if not, the radicle straightens itself, tears the berry from the spot where it is lying, curves itself, and then brings the berry down on to a new spot. The radicle then de- taches itself, curves in its turn, and thus finds a new point of attachment. We are assured that this has been seen to happen several times in succession, and that the young plant thus seems enabled to select a suitable situation. The form of the cotyledons, or seed-leaves, depends greatly on that of the seeds, long narrow seeds naturally, in most in- stances, producing embryos with narrow cotyledons. The cases, however, which can be so simply accounted for are compara- tively few. Many plants with narrow cotyledons have flattened and orbicular seeds. In such species, however, the cotyledons lie transyersely to the seed. An interesting case is afforded by the pink family, where the pink itself has broad cotyledons, while the chickweed has narrow ones. In both cases the seeds are flattened and orbicular, but in the pink the seed is dorsally compressed, and the cotyledons lie in the broad axis of the seed ; while in the chickweed the seed is laterally flattened, and the cotyledons lie transversely to the seed. Another very interesting case which he gave is that of the genus Galium, to which the common “‘cleavers”’ of our hedges belongs. Here also we find some species with narrow, some with broad, cotyledons ; but the contrast seems to be due to a very different cause. Galiuwm aparine has broad, Galium sac- charatum narrow, cotyledons. So far as the form of the seed is concerned, there is no reason why the cotyledons should not be much broader than they are. The explanation may perhaps be found in the structure of the pericarp, which is thick, tough, and corky. It is very impervious to water, and may be advan- tageous to the embryo by resisting the attacks of drought and of insects, and perhaps even, if the seed be swallowed by a bird, by protecting it from being digested. It does not split open, and is too tough to be torn by the embryo. The cotyledons, therefore, if they had widened as they might otherwise have done, would have found it impossible to emerge from the seed. They evade the difficulty, however, by remaining narrow. On the other hand, in Ga/ium aparine the pericarp is much thinner, and the embryo is able to tear it open. In this case, therefore, the cotyledons can safely widen without endangering their exit from the seed. The thick corky covering of Galium sacchar- atum is, doubtless, much more impervious to water than the comparatively thin test of Galiwm aparine. The latter species is a native of our own isles, while Galium saccharatwm inhabits Algiers, the hotter parts of France, &c. May not then, perhaps, he suggested, the thick corky envelope be adapted to enable it 1 Lecture at the Royal Institution, May 21, 1886, by Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., M.R.I. NATURE _an orange) to take a more or less triangular form. 239 to withstand the heat and drought. In this genus, as in many other plants, the embryo occupies only a part of the seed, being surrounded by a store of food or ‘‘ perisperm.” In many cases the embryo occupies the whole seed, and the cotyledons must, therefore, in large seeds, either be thrown into various folds, as in the beech, or be thick and fleshy, as in the bean or oak. The rea-ons for their numerous differences open up an inexhaustible variety of interesting questions. Sir John gave a great number of examples, which were rendered clearer by means of numerous diagrams of seeds and seedlings. In conclusion, he said it might be asked whether the embryo conformed to the seed, or the seed to the embryo, and showed that, at least as regards certain species, the former was the case ; while the shape of the seed, again, might be shown to be in- fluenced by considerations connected with the construction of the fruit. In reply to this he compared the seedlings of the sycamore and of the oak. In the sycamore, the seed is more or less an oblate spheroid, and the cotyledons, which are long and ribbon-like, being rolled up into a ball, fit it closely, the inner cotyledon being generally somewhat shorter than the others. On the other hand, the nuts of the beech are triangular. An arrangement like that of the sycamore would therefore be utterly un uitable, as it would necessarily leave great gaps. The cotyledons, however, are folded up somewhat like a fan, but with more complication, and in such a manner that they fit beautifully into the triangular nut. Can we, however, he said, carry the argument one stage further? Why should the seed of the sycamore be globular, and that of the beech triangular? Is it clear that the cotyledons are constituted so as to suit the seed? May it not be that it is the seed which is adapted to the cotyledons? In answer to this, we must examine the fruit, and we shall find that in both cases the cavity of the fruit is approxi- mately spherical. That of the sycamore, however, is compara- tively small, and contains one seed, which more or less exactly conforms to the cavity in which it lies. In the beech, on the contrary, the fruit is at least twice the diameter, and contains from two to four nuts, which consequently, in order to occupy the space, are compelled (to give a familiar illustration, like the pips of ‘Thus then, he said in conclusion, in these cases, starting with the form of the fruit, we see that it governs that of the seed, and that the seed again determines that of the cotyledons. But, though the cotyledons often follow the form of the seed, this is not inva- riably the case. Other circumstances, as I have attempted to show, must also be taken into consideration, and we can throw much light on the varied forms which seedlings assume. I fear you may consider that I have occupied your time by a multiplicity of details, and I wish I could hope to have made those little plants half as interesting to you as they have made themselves to me ; but, at any rate, I may plead that without minute, careful, and loving study, we cannot hope in science to arrive at a safe and satisfactory generalisation. The lecture was accompanied not only by numerous diagrams, but by specimens, kindly lent by the authorities of Kew, and by some practical illustrations. ON THE USE AND EQUIPMENT OF ENGINEERING LABORATORIES At the ordinary meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers, on Tuesday, December 21, 1886, Mr. Edward Woods, President, in the chair, the paper read was on ‘‘ The Use and Equipment of Engineering Laboratories,” by Prof. Alex. B. W. Kennedy, M.Inst.C.E. The author believed that it was essential for a yourg engineer to obtain his practical training, in the ordinary sense of the expression, in a workshop. But the practical training of a workshop was incomplete even on its own ground, and there appeared to be plenty of room for practical teaching such as might fairly fall within the scope of a scientific institution, and which should at the same time supplement and complete workshop experience without overlapping it. In an ordinary pupilage a young engineer did not have much oppor- tunity of studying such things as the physical properties of the iron and steel with which he had to deal, nor the strength of tho:e materials, nor the efficiency of the machines he used, nor tbe relative economy of the different types of engines, nor the evaporative power of boilers, He required such experience as might help him to determine for him- self, or at least to see for himself how other people had 2360 determined, all the principal engineering constants, from the tenacity of wrought-iron to the calorific value of coal, or the efficiency of a steam-engine, or the accuracy of an indi- cator-spring, or the discharge-coefficient of an orifice. He thought that this kind of practical experience could be gained best in an Engineering Laboratory, in connection with some institution where technical instruction was given. He claimed that, in the matter of engineering laboratories, as a branch of technical education, England had really taken the lead, instead of being, as was too often the case in such matters, in the rear. After distinguishing between laboratories whose chief function was original investigation or research, and those whose main object was the practical education of young engineers, and after giving an outline of the method of work which he had adopted, he went on to enumerate the principal subjects upon which experiments in an engineering laboratory might be carried out, summarising them thus :—(r1) Elasticity and the strength of materials ; (2) the economy, efficiency, and general working of prime movers, and especially of the steam-engine and _ boiler ; (3) friction ; (4) the accuracy of the apparatus commonly used for experimentation, such as springs, indicators, dynamometers, gauges of various kinds, &c. ; (5) the discharge over weirs and through orifices, and hydraulic experiments in general ; (6) the theory of structures; (7) the form and efficiency of cutting- tools ; (8) the efficiency of machines, especially of machine- tools and of transmission-gearing ; (9) the action and efficiency of pumps and valves ; (10) the resistance of vessels and of pro- pellers, and experiments in general connected with both. The paper dealt mainly with the three first subjects, the others receiving brief mention only. In discussing the best form of testing-machine for laboratory purposes the author described specially the Werder machine, used by Bauschinger and largely elsewhere in engineering laboratories on the Continent, the vertical machine of Mr. J. H. Wicksteed, and the horizontal machine of Messrs. Greenwood and Batley, on Mr. Kirkaldy’s principle, used by himself. In- cidentally he described a number of other testing-machines, including the Emery machine at the United States Arsenal at Watertown, Fairbanks’ machine, and others. The three machines first named were compared in some detail in respect to their accuracy, mode of applying load, methods of making observations, adaptability for varied experiments, simplicity, and accessibility, and the comparative advantages and dis- advantages of each were discussed, the author preferring, on the whole, the Greenwood type. The method of testing employed by the author, with pump, accumulator, and Davy motor, was then described and illustrated, Different apparatus for the measurement of minute extensions, compressions, &c., occurring below the limit of elasticity, were next discussed, the instruments specially mentioned being those of Prof. Unwin, Prof. Bauschinger, Mr. Stromeyer, and the author, as representing micrometric, optical, and mechanical exaggeration of strains. Automatic test-recording apparatus was next dealt with, Prof. Unwin’s, Mr. Wicksteed’s, Mr. Ashcroft’s, and the author’s diagramming machines being men- tioned and illustrated. Automatic diagramming apparatus for elastic strains was next discussed. The paper contained /ac- stmiles of various diagrams, both ordinary and elastic. In con- cluding this section of the paper, brief references were made to machines for transverse tests, torsional tests, shearing tests, cement and wire tests, secular experiments, experiments on repeated loads, &c. In discussing the design of an experimental engine for labora- tory purposes, the author first enumerated the principal con- ditions under which such an engine should be capable of working, summarising them thus :—(1) Condensing or non- condensing ; (2) simple or compound; (3) compound, with cranks at various angles; (4) with the greatest possible variation of steam-pressure ; (5) with the greatest possible variation of cut-off and other points in the steam distribution ; (6) with the greatest possible variation of brake-power; (7) with considerable variation in speed; (8) with or without throttling; (9) with or without jackets, and with vary- ing conditions as to their use ; (10) with variation of clearance- spaces; (11) with variation of receiver-volume; (12) with or without arrangements for intermediate heating ; (13) with varia- tion in the reciprocating masses. He then enumerated the principal quantities which had to be measured during an engine- test, making remarks upon each important point in passing. A list was given of the principal experimental engines in existence, NATURE, [ Fan. 6, 1887 including those in London, Birmingham, Leeds, Munich, and Liége. This section was concluded by a description of the arrangement of an experimental boiler. Under the head of friction-experiments, the principal points were summarised upon which experiments were required, in order that anything like a complete theory of friction in machines might be worked out. ‘hese included the variations of velocity, intensity of pressure, extent of contact, temperature, lubricant, method of lubrication, and nature of rubbing material. Fric- tion-measuring machines, used or proposed by Prof. Thurston, Prof. R. H. Smith, Mr. Tower, and himself, were briefly described. The paper concluded with a few remarks on laboratory experiments connected with hydraulic work, the theory of structures, the form and efficiency of cutting-tools, the efficiency of machines and of transmissions, the action and efficiency of pumps and valves, and the resistance of vessels and propellers. In an appendix there were added :—(a) Forms used by the author for conducting engine-trials. (+) Notes on the principal engineering laboratories in Europe and in America, with brief accounts of the chief apparatus used in each. BIRDS’ NESTS AND EGGS1 THE philosophy of birds’ nests and eggs involves questions far too profound to be settled in an hour’s lecture. The extreme partisans of one school regard birds as organic auto- mata. They take a Calvinistic view of bird-life: they assume that the hedge-sparrow lays a blue egg because, under the stern law of protective selection, every hedge-sparrow’s egg that was not blue was tried in the high court of Evolution, under the clause relative to the survival of the fittest, and condemned, a hungry magpie or crow being the executioner. The extreme partisans of the other school take an entirely opposite view. They regard the little hedge-sparrow, not only as a free agent, but as a highly intelligent one, who lays blue eggs because the inherited experience of many generations has convinced her that, everything considered, blue is the most suitable colour for eggs. Perhaps the first generalisation that the egg-collector is likely to make is the fact that birds that breed in holes lay white eggs. The sand-martin and the kingfisher, which lay their eggs at the end of a long burrow in a bank, as well as the owl and the woodpecker, which breed in holes in trees, all lay white eggs. The fact of the eggs being white, and consequently very con- spicuous, may have been the cause, the effect being that only those kingfishers which bred in holes survived in the struggle for existence against the marauding magpie. But the converse argument is equally intelligible. The fact that kingfishers breed in holes may have been the cause, and the whiteness of the eggs the effect ; for why should Nature, who is generally so econo- mical, waste her colouring-matter on an egg which, being incubated in the dark, can never be seen? The fact that many petrels and most puffins, which breed in holes, have traces of spots on their eggs, whilst their relations the auks and the gulls, who lay their eggs in open nests, nearly all lay highly-coloured eggs, suggests the theory that the former birds have compara- tively recently adopted the habit of breeding in holes, and that consequently the colour being no longer of use is gradually fading away. Hence, we assume that the colour of the egg is probably the effect of the nature of the locality in which it is laid. The second generalisation which the egg-collector is likely to make is the fact that so many of these birds which breed in holes are gorgeously coloured, such as kingnshers, parrots, bee-eaters, &e. The question naturally arises, Why is it so? The advo- cates of protective selection reply, Because their gay plumage made them so conspicuous as they sat upon their nests, that those that did not breed in holes became the victims of the devouring hawk, exactly as the conspicuous white eggs were eaten by the marauding magpie. But the advocates of sexual selection say that all birds are equally vain, and wear as fine clothes as Nature will let them, and that the kingfisher is able to dress as gorgeously as he does because he is prudent enough to breed in a hole safe from the prying eyes of the devouring hawk. The fact that many birds, such as the sand-martin and ™ Abstract of a lecture delivered by Mr. H. Seebohm at the London Institution on December 20, 1586. a Fan. 6, 1887] NATURE 237 the dipper, which breed in holes, are not gorgeously coloured, while others, such as the pheasants and the humming-birds, are gorgeously coloured, but do not breed in holes, is evidence, as far as it goes, that the gorgeous colour of the bird is not the effect of its breeding in a hole, though the white colour of the egg probably is. It must be admitted, however, that the latter cases are not parallel. Whilst the hen kingfishers and bee- eaters are as gorgeous as their mates, the hen pheasants and the hen humming-birds are plainly, not to say shabbily, dressed. If birds be as vain as the advocates of sexual selection deem them, it must be a source of deep mortification to a hen humming-bird to have to pass through life as a foil to her rainbow-hued mate. Whilst the kingfisher relies for the safety of its eggs upon the concealed situation of its nest, the humming-bird depends upon the unobtrusiveness of the plumage of the sitting hen. A very large number of birds, such as the grouse, the merlin, most gulls and terns, and all sandpipers and plovers rely for the safety of their eggs upon the similarity of their colour to the ground on which they are placed. It may be an open question whether these birds select a site for their breeding-ground to match the colour of the eggs, or whether they have gradually changed the colour of their eggs to match the ground on which they breed ; but, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it is perhaps fair to assume, as in the previously mentioned cases, that the position of the nest is the cause, and the colour of the egg the effect. Many birds make their nests in lofty trees, or on the ledges of precipitous cliffs. Of these, the eagles, vultures, and crows are conspicuous examples. They are, for the most part, too power- ful to be afraid of the marauding magpie, and only fear the attacks of beasts of prey, amongst which they doubtless classify the human race. They rely for the safety of their eggs on the inaccessible positions of the nest. Many of them also belong to a still larger group of birds who rely for the safety of their eggs upon their own ability, either singly, in pairs, or in colonies, to defend them against all aggressors. Few colonies of birds are more interesting than those of herons, cormorants, and their respective allies. These birds lay white or nearly white eggs. Nature, with her customary thrift, has lavished no colour upon them because, apparently, it would have been wasted effort to do so ; but the eggs of the guillemot are a remarkable exception to this rule. Few eggs are more gorgeously coloured, and no eggs exhibit such a variety of colour. It is impossible to sup- pose that protective selection can have produced colours so conspicuous on the white ledges of the chalk cliffs ; and sexual selection must have been equally powerless. It would be too ludicrous a suggestion to suppose that a cock guillemot fell in love with a plain-coloured hen because he remembered that last season she laid a gay-coloured egg. It cannot be accident that causes the guillemot’s eggs to be so handsome and so varied. In the case of birds breeding in holes secure from the prying eyes of the marauding magpie, no colour is wasted where it is not wanted. The more deeply Nature is studied, the more certain seems to be the conclusion that all her endless variety is the result of evolution. It seems also to be more and more certain that natural selection is not the cause of evolution, but only its guide. Variation is the cause of evolution, but the cause of variation is unknown. It seems to be a mistake to call variation spon- taneous, fortuitous, or accidental, than which expressions no adjectives less accurate or more misleading could be found. The Athenian philosophers displayed a less unscientific attitude of mind towards the Unknown when they built an altar in its honour. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS American Fournal of Science, December 1886.—On the crystallisation of native copper, by Edward S. Dana. This elaborate memoir, which is illustrated with four plates figuring fifty-four varieties of native copper crystalline forms, is based chiefly on the fine collection of over sixty specimens from Lake Superior, belonging to Mr, Clarence S. Bement, of Philadel- phia, supplemented by reference to the cabinets of Yale College Museum and Prof, G, J. Brush. The planes here determined are disposed in the three groups of tetrahexahedrons, trisoctahedrons, and hexoctahedrons, and include several new to the species. The paper also comprises an historical summary from the studies of Haily and Mohs (1822) to the recent contributions of W. G. Brown.—On the trap and sandstone in the gorge of the Farm- ington River at Tariffville, Connecticut, by W. North Rice. The trap and sandstone of this locality are here specially studied with a view to the general elucidation of the history of these formations in the Connecticut Valley. The author's researches confirm the con- clusion already arrived at by Prof. W. M. Davis, that some of the sheets of trap intercalated among the sandstones and asso- ciated rocks are contemporaneous, and others intrusive. —Com- parative studies upon the glaciation of North America, Great Britain, and Ireland, by Prof. H. Carvill Lewis. This is an abstract of a paper by the author, read at the Birmingham meet- ing of the British Association last September. Its object is to show that the glacial deposits of the British Isles, like those of America, may be best interpreted by considering them with reference to a series of great terminal moraines, which both define confluent lobes of ice, and often mark the line separating the glaciated from the non-glaciated areas.—On certain fossiliferous limestones of Columbia County, New York, and their relation to the Hudson River shales and the Taconic system, by J. P. Bishop. The author describes some new fossils recently discovered in a metamorphic limestone occur- ring in the Chatham and Ghent districts on the western border of the Taconic slates of Columbia county, and tending to throw further light on the age of the Taconic formation. His inyesti- gations are still in progress, but from the facts so far deter- mined, he considers that the fossils are of Trenton age, suggesting a synclinal having the Trenton limestone outcropping on both sides, and with the eastern edge pushed over westward. —Crystallised vanadinite from Arizona and New Mexico, by S. L. Penfield. The specimens here described and figured belong partly to the collection of the late Prof. B. Silliman, partly to that of Prof. Geo. J. Brush. Those from Pinal County, Arizona, are specially interesting, being of a deep red colour, and usually showing the very simple combinations already de- scribed by L. H. Blake.—The viscosity of steel and its relations to temper, by C. Barus and V. Strouhal. Having during the course of their former researches expressed the belief that the qualities of retaining magnetism exhibited by steel would pro- bably stand in relation to the viscous properties of the metals, the authors here make a first search for such a relation, For several reasons their investigations are limited to torsional vis- cosity, and a new and very sensitive differential method is par- tially developed for the study of this property, with incidental reference to the viscosity of iron and glass. The results of the method as applied to steel are further compared with the known behaviour of permanent linear magnets tempered under like conditions.—Some remarks upon the journey of André Michaux to the high mountains of Carolina in December 1788, in a letter addressed to Prof. Asa Gray, by C. S. Sargent. Michaux’s chief object was to secure living specimens of JZag- nolia cordata, and the locality explored by him appears to have been the highland region of North and South Carolina about the head waters of the Savannah River. The author has recently visited the same district for the purpose of re-discovering the same plant where Michaux was thought to have found it, but he searched for it in vain, and he concludes that Michaux’s J/ag- nolia cordata, as known in gardens, must be regarded as a rare and local variety of AZ. acuminata.—Note on the age of the Swedish Paradoxides beds, by S. W. Ford. It is argued on several grounds that these beds, or at any rate those above the division characterised by Paradoxides kjerulf, are of the age of the Menevian group. Even this species should probably be referred to the same group, so that the strata containiny it may be regarded as constituting a legitimate portion of the Swedish Paradoxides measures. Rivista Scientifico-Industriale, November 1886.—On the de- velopment of atmospheric electricity which accompanies the condensation of aqueous vapour to rain or snow caused by a lowering of the temperature, by Prof. Luigi Palmieri. Those physicists who still doubt the reality of this phenomenon are re- commended to conduct their researches with the Bohnenberger electroscope, as perfected by the author.—On the electric con- ductibility of vapours and gases, by Prof. Constantino Rovelli. Some experiments are described, fully confirming the important conclusions recently announced by Prof. Luvini regarding the non-conducting property of aqueous vapour.—On the pairing- season of frogs and toads in the Venetian district, by Dr. Ales- sandro P. Ninni. This period is shown to be determined by the atmospheric conditions, being advanced or retarded according to the mildness or severity of the weather in spring. 238 SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES LONDON Royal Society, November 18.—‘‘ On the Specific Heats of Minerals.” By J. Joly, B.E., Trinity College, Dublin. Com- municated by Prof. Fitzgerald, F.R.S. A number of experiments—carried out by the method of con- densation—are tabulated in this paper, on minerals whose specific heats have not previously been determined as well as on some mineral substances previously dealt with by Kopp, Reg- nault, &c. The observation of specific heat is suggested as of value in determinative mineralogy. It is, with some exceptions, nearly constant for the same chemical composition, and calculable from an assumed chemical constitution, not alone in the case of simple compounds, but in the case, often, of the more complicated sili- cates, &c. No difficulty is introduced into its determination by conditions of aggregation such as looseness, &c. The method by weighing in air and steam admits of its value being very simply determined, and, if great accuracy be not required, very rapidly. The experiments made by the writer show that there is a small variation in the specific heats of minerals of the same species, accompanying slight differences in translucency, lustre, perfec- tion of crystalline form, the tendency being for the specific heat to be a minimum in the most perfect crystals. There is, further, in some cases, a variation of quite different order accom- panying pronounced differences in physical appearance, as from the transparent aquamarine to the clouded beryl, sapphire to corundum, &c. ; so that a distinct and definite value exists for each variety, unaccounted for by any probable variation in chemical composition. It appears, also, that this kind of variation obtains in the case of the isometric sulphides, pyrite, galenite, sphalerite, and in such degrees as admit of the several values being stated in numerical proportion from one substance to another. Thus, using the initial letters for the observed values, it is found that— Pit Pott St $25 and, if the orthorhombic disulphide of iron, marcasite, be in- cluded, the proportion Sys Sars SEP y esas ey eS obtains very closely. The observations of other observers are included in these ratios, the existence of which, if further borne out, suggest as an explanation the existence of variations of structure of definite character affecting, in a definite way, the freedom of the atom. From this point of view, the case of marcasite would be that in which such variation proved adequate to determine a special symmetry for the aggregate. December 9.— ‘‘ Note to a Paper on the Geometrical Con- struction of the Cell of the Honey-Bee” (Proc. R.S., No. 240, p. 253, 1886). By Prof. H. Hennessy. The author found in the foregoing paper that a side of one of the lozenges terminating the cell was three times the difference between two parallel edges of the hexagonal prism, and from this result he constructed one of the lozenges by erecting a per- pendicular at one-third of its length from one end, and from this end, with radius equal to the side, he inflected a second side of the lozenge, which gave the whole figure and also the six tra- peziums forming the prism. With a compass and ruler the whole figure can be thus easily constructed. The author further proves that the triangular pyramid which terminates the bee’s cell may be inscribed in a sphere whose diameter is three times one of the edges of the pyramid. More- over, this sphere contains within it as much of the hexagonal prism as may be measured by twice the side of a lozenge on the prism’s shorter edge. These results, together with the extremely simple mode given by the author for constructing the figure, divest the problem of the complex character which it was some- times supposed to have, and they may also assist in explaining the action of the bees in moulding the cells of the honeycomb to their observed shapes. “‘The Intra-ovarian Egg of some Osseous Fishes.” By Robert Scharff, Ph.D., B.Sc. Communicated by Prof. McIntosh, F.R.S. December 16,—‘‘On the Changes in the Proteids in the Seed which accompany Germination.” By J. R. Green. The author described experiments proving the existence in germinating seeds of a ferment resembling the proteolytic fer- ment of the pancreas. This exists in the resting seeds in the NATLTORE [ Fan. 6, 1887 condition of a mesostate or zymogen, and is, on the starting of the germinative process, transformed into the active ferment. He traced the changes which it brings about in the reserve proteids of the seed, and showed that, while they passed through the stage of peptone, the nitrogen was carried to the growing points in the condition of a crystalline amide, such as leucin, asparagin, &c. Zoological Society, December 21, 1886.—Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. Howard Saunders, F.Z.S., exhibited and made remarks on a specimen of a hybrid between the Tufted Duck and the Pochard, bred in Lancashire in 1886.—Mr. J. Bland Sutton, F.Z.S., read a paper on atavism, being a critical and analytical study on this subject. —Dr. von Lendenfeld read a paper on the classification and systematic position of the Sponges. This was based on the recent researches on the Hexactinellida, Vetractinellida, and Monaxonida of the Challenger Expedition, and on his own investigations on the rich Australian Sponge-fauna, particularly of the groups Calcarea, Chalinidz, and Horny Sponges. A complete system of Sponges was proposed, and worked out down to the families and sub-families, and all the principal genera were mentioned. An approximately complete list of the literature of Sponges (comprising the titles of 1446 papers), a “key” to the determination of the 46 families, and a discussion of the systematic position of the Sponges were also contained in the paper.—Prof. Ray Lankester communicated a paper by Dr. A. Gibbs Bourne, of the Presidency College, Madras, on Indian earthworms, containing an account of the earthworms collected and observed by the author during excursions to the Nilgiris and Shevaroy Hills. Upwards of twenty new species were described. Geological Society, December 15, 1886.—Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—John Usher and Joseph Tertius Wood were elected Fellows of the Society.—The fol- lowing communications were read :—Notes on Mummudites elegans, Sow., and other English Nummulites, by Prof. T. Rupert Jones, F.R.S. The author finds, in the ‘‘ Sowerby Collection,” now in the British Museum, the original specimens on which Sowerby founded his Mummularia elegans (1826, ‘*Min. Conch.” vol. vi. p. 76). These are partly specimens from that part of the bed ‘‘No. 29” of Prof. Prestwich’s section of Alum Bay (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. ii. (1846), p. 257, pl. ix. fig. 1), which is known to be the lowest of the Barton series ; and partly some ina stone said to be from Emsworth, in Hampshire. The former are the same as those named Vummu- lites planulata, var. Pyestwichiana, by Rupert Jones in 1852; and the latter are WV. Alanulata, Lamarck (1804), and probably foreign. Thus WV. elegans has priority over Prestwichiana ; and as this last was determined by De la Harpe to bea variety of N. wemmelensis, Van den Broeck and De la Harpe, this variety should be var. e/egans. The author thinks that, on broad zoological principles, iV. planulata might still be regarded as the species; but, in view of the careful differentiation worked out by De la Harpe, he accepts the ‘‘specific” standing of “© wemmelensis” as useful among Vummutites ; but ‘* Prestwich- Zana” has to give way to ‘“‘e/egans” for the peculiar ‘‘ Barton” variety. A bibliographical history of the long-misunderstood NV. elegans, Sowerby, descriptions of this form and of WV. vario- aria (Lam.), notes on JV. /evigata (Brug.), and an acccount of their range in England, complete the paper.—On the dentition and affinities of the Selachian genus Pyychodus, Agassiz, by A. Smith Woodward, F.G.S. The genus P/ychodus, owing to the detached condition in which the teeth are usually found, has hitherto been imperfectly understood. Agassiz referred it to the Cestraciontidze, on account of a supposed resemblance in the arrangement of the teeth, and Owen’s researches on their micro- scopic structure served to confirm this view. On the other hand, several writers have pointed out characters tending to show affinity between P4ychodus and Rhynchobatus. More recently, however, Prof. Cope and the author had shown that the sup- posed affinities between Péychodus and the Cestraciontide were only apparent, and in the present paper additional evidence was brought forward. The author proceeded to describe several specimens of P. decurrens in the British Museum, and in the collection of Mr. H. Willett, of Brighton, one of the latter, especially, containing, what had been previously entirely un- known, the dentition in part of both jaws. These specimens showed that each jaw contained six or seven longitudinal rows of teeth on each side of the median row, and that the genus must eh ee SO Fan. 6, 1887 | NATURE 2G he referred to the true Rays, and not to the Cestraciont sharks, though the precise family to which Ptychodus belongs was more difficult to determine. On the whole the writer was disposed to assign it a place either amongst the Myliobatidz or in their neighbourhood. The microscopic structure of the teeth was shown to be insufficient, by itself, to show their affinities. —On a molar of a Pliocene type of Aguus, from Nubia, by R. Lydekker, B.A., F.G.S. A small collection of Mammalian remains from near Wadi Halfa had recently been placed in the author's hands ; some of the bones were mineralised similarly to those of the Upper Pliocene of the Val d’Arno, or the Lower Pleistocene of the Narbadda valley. Amongst others, the most interesting is a right upper cheek-tooth of Zguus but little worn. It evidently does not belong to any of the late Pleistocene or recent species of the genus, but to the more generalised group com- prising Z. sivalensis, &c.; though, bearing in mind the im- possibility of distinguishing many of the existing species of the genus by their teeth alone, its absolute sp-cific identity is not asserted. We may infer, then, that the ossiferous beds of Wadi Halfa are not improbably of Pliocene age, since this group of horses, both in Europe, Algeria, and India, had totally dis- appeared after the period of the forest-bed. Moreover, it is of interest, in view of previously expressed opinion, to find in the Tertiary of Nubia axspecies of this primitive group of Zguus, which is apparently more nearly allied to the Siwalil than to the European species. Royal Microscopical Society, December 8, 1886.—Rev. Dr. Dallinger, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Mr. J. Mayall, Jun., called attention to a microscope, exhibited and made by Mr. Hilger after the designs of Sir A. Campbell, for measuring with great accuracy the divisions ruled upon a diffraction-plate. A special feature was the application of electricity, so that, by means of a weak battery and a galvanometer, it could be arranged that a contact should be made when passing every line, such contact being shown instantly by a deflection of the gal- vanometer-needle. In this way, end-measurements could be made with great accuracy.—Mr. Mayall also exhibited and de- scribed a new form of heliostat (made by Mr. Hilger) for use in solar photomicrography. The pencil of sunlight reflected from the first mirror could, by means of the second, be directed in any desired direction, affording to the worker the very great advantage of being able to place his microscope and camera in any position he pleased.—Mr. F. R. Cheshire exhibited and described an improved form of inoculating needle for use in connection with Bacterium culture-tubes. It was mounted in a wooden handle having a square ferrule which prevented it from rolling when placed upon an unlevel surface ; in this was in- serted a piece of silver tube, at the end of which was the plati- num wire. A circular disk of silver was fixed on the tube, which, when placed in the flame of a lamp, rapidly became hot, and communicated the heat to the needle, while the small size of the tube enabled it to be introduced into the culture-tube more easily than the glass rod usually employed.—Prof. Bell called attention to some specimens exhibited of Zenza nana, the smallest of the human tape-worms, originally found by Bilharz in Egypt in r850. Though extremely rare, it had the great advantage, to the physiologist at least (though not perhaps to the patient), of being found in considerable numbers. Inthe present instance the worms had been found in quantities in the duodenum of a girl aged seven years, at Bellegarde. The largest specimen met with was only 15 millimetres long.—Mr. J. D. Hardy called attention to a paper, by Dr. O. Zacharias, in which it was stated that Rotifers could never be revived after desiccation. He thought a protest should be entered against this, as it was within his knowledge that revivification had taken place over and over again. He had frequently tried the experi- ment, and had found that, when the dried mud was moistened, the Rotifers constantly revived. Prof. Stewart pointed out that a good deal must turn on what was meant by ‘‘ desiccation.” It was exceedingly difficult, under ordinary circumstances,to produce a condition of complete desiccation, and it was therefore very probable that in all cases of revivification there was sufficient moisture retained to preserve life. Prof. Bell said this explana- tion had usually been accepted as the real one when this subject perennially came to the front. The most curious part of Dr. Zacharias’s paper, however, was that he did not in any way attempt to criticise the observations of his predecessors on the facts, but simply declared them to be fables, not inquiring at all into the conditions under which the revivals took place, so as to ascertain whether or not they were desiccated in the same sense in which his objects were when dried up ina granite basin. A discussion ensued, in which the President, Mr. Crisp, Mr. Michael, and Mr. Lewis joined.—Colonel O'Hara's note on the dissimilarity of appearances of crystals of blood as examined by him, and the illustrations in text-books, was read.—Mr. P. H. Gosse’s paper, on twenty-four new species of Rotifera, was read, and two plates, drawn by Mr. Gosse in illustration, were handed round for inspection. Anthropological Institute, December t4.—Francis Galton, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The election of Mr. J. A. Otonba Payne, of Lagos, as an Ordinary Member, and of Dr. W. J. Hoffmann 2s a Corresponding Member, was announced. —Dr. E. B. Tylor read a paper by the Rev. G. Brown on Papuans and Polynesians, in which Mr. Brown contended that, notwithstanding physical differences, the similarity of their languages and customs prove the Papuans and the inhabitants of all the Pacific Islands have a common origin.—The following papers were also read :—Notes on songs and song-makers of some Australian tribes, by A. W. Howitt, F.G.S.—Music of the Australian aborigines, by G. W. Torrance, Mus.D.—On the aborigines of Western Australia, by R. H. Bland. Paris Academy of Sciences, December 27, 1886.—M. Jurien de la Graviére, President, in the chair.—The proceedings were opened with an eloquent allocution by the President on the progress and triumphs of science during the past year, with a touching allusion to the loss sustained by the Academy in the death of its distinguished members, MM. Tulasne, de Saint- Venant, Laguerre, and Paul Bert.—The allocution was followed by the announcement of the prizes awarded during the year to the successful competitors in the various branches of the physical and natural sciences :—Prix du Budget (Mathematics), Edouard Goursat ; Prix Francoeur (Geometry), Emile Barbier; Extra- ordinary Prize of 6000 francs (Navigation), Capt. G. Fleuriais 4ooo0 francs, Capt. de Bernardieres 2000 francs ; Prix Montyon, 2500 francs (Mechanics), M. Rozé; Prix Plumey (Naval En- gineering), M. de Bussy; Prix Poncelet (Mathematics), Emile Picard ; Prix Lalande (Astronomy), M. O. Backlund; Prix Damoiseau (Astronomy), M. Souillart, and to M. Obrecht tooo francs; Prix Walz (Astronomy), M. Bigourdan ;- Prix Bordin (Optics), M. R. Radau ; Prix Montyon (Vital and Social Statistics), M. Victor Turquan, with honourable mention of Dr. Mireur, Cazin, and Socquet ; Prix Jecker (Chemistry), divided equally between MM. Colson and Oechsner de Coninck ; Prix Vaillant (Geology), the members of the French Mission to Andalusia, MM. Michel Lévy, Bertrand, Barrois, Offret, Kilian, and Bergeron, and 1000 francs to M. de Montesson ; Prix Barbier (Botany), M. Eugéne Collin; Prix Desmazieres (Botany), MM. H. van Heurck and A. Grunow ; Prix de la Fons Meélicocq (Botany), divided equally between MM. Gaston Bon- nier, G. de Layens, and E. G. Camus ; Prix Montagne (Botany), Dr. Quélet; Prix Thore (Entomology), M. Peragallo; Prix Montyon (Medicine), Drs. Léon Colin, Dejerine and Landouzy, and Oré, 2500 francs each, besides honourable mention with 1500 francs to MM. Cadéac and Malet, Masse, and Ollivier ; Prix Bréant (Medicine), Dr. Duflocq 2000 francs, M. Ad. Guérard 1500 francs, and M. Thoinot 1500 francs ; Prix Godard (Sur- gery), M. Bazy; Prix Lallemand (Surgery), M. W. Vignal ; Prix Montyon (Experimental Physiology), M. Grehant, with honourable mention of M. Assaky ; Prix Gay (Physical Geo- graphy), M. Ph. Hatt; Prix Montyon (Unhealthy Industries), MM. Appert Brothers, and M. Kolb 2500 francs; Prix Tre- mont (Magnetism), M. Moureaux ; Prix Gegner, M. Valson ; Prix Delalande-Guérineau (Terrestrial Physics), M. Hyades ; Prix Jean Reynaud (Therapeutics), M. Pasteur; Prix Ponti (Aérial Navigation), MM. Renard and Krebs; Prix Marquise de Laplace, M. E. A. Brisse.—Prizes proposed for the year 1887 :—Francceur, 1000 francs, discoveries or works useful to the progress of pure and applied mathematics ; Extraordinary Prize of 6000 francs, works tending to increase the efficiency of the French nayal forces; Poncelet, 2000 francs, for the most useful work for the advancement of the pure and applied mathe- matical sciences; Montyon, 700 francs, mechanics; Plumey, 2500 francs, improvement of steam-engines, or any other inven- tion contributing most to the progress of steam navigation ; Four- neyron, 500 francs, theoretical and practical study of the progress made in aérial navigation since 1880 ; Lalande, 540 francs, Valz, 460 francs, and’ Damoiseau and Janssen, gold medals, works con- tributing to the advancement of astronomy ; Grand Prize of the 240 NATURE | Fan. 6, 1887 Mathematical Sciences, 3000 francs, researches on the elasticity of one or more crystallised bodies from the experimental and theoretical standpoints ; L. Lacaze, 10,000 francs each, to the authors of the best work on physics, chemistry, and physiology ; Montyon, 500 francs, vital statistics ; Jecker, 10,000 francs, organic chemistry; Delesse, 1400 francs, to the author of a treatise on the geological or mineralogical sciences ; Barbier, 2000 francs, for any valuable discovery in surgery, medicine, pharmaceutics, or botany, in connection with therapeutics ; Desmaziéres, 1600 francs, for the most useful work on the whole or any section of cryptogamy; Thore, 200 francs, awarded alternately for works on the cellular cryptogams of Europe, and for researches on the habits and anatomy of any European entomological species; Montagne, 1000 and 500 francs, to the authors of important works on anatomy, physio- logy, the development or description of the lower cryptogams ; Grand Prize of the Physical Sciences, 3000 francs, researches on the phenomena of phosphorescence in animals; Bordin, 3000 francs, for a comparative study of the African, South Asiatic, and Australasian freshwater fauna; Bordin, 3000 franc:, for a com- parative study of the auditory apparatus in the warm-blooded vertebrates, mammals, and birds; Savigny, 975 francs, for young zoological travellers; Montyon, 750 francs, medicine and surgery ; Bréant, 100,000 francs, to the discoverer of an effi- cacious remedy against Asiatic cholera ; Godard, 1000 francs, anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the genito-urinary organs ; Serres, 7500 francs, general embryology, especially as applied to physiology and medicine ; Chaussier, 2500 francs, for import- ant works on forensic and practical medicine ; Lallemand, 1800 francs, for works relating to the nervous system in the widest sense of the term; Montyon, 750 francs, experimental physio- logy ; Gay, 2500 francs, distribution of heat on the surface of the globe; Montyon, unhealthy industries; Trémont, 1100 francs, for any naturalist, physicist, artist, or mechanician needing assistance in the accomplishment of any undertaking useful to France; Gegner, 4000 francs, in aid of any savant distinguished by serious pursuits undertaken for the purpose of advancing the positive sciences ; Petit D’Ormoy, 10,000 francs, pure and applied mathematics, and the natural sciences ; Laplace, a complete edition of the works of Laplace, for the first student leaving the Ecole Polytechnique. General conditions: the Academy retains all memoirs, the authors being at liberty to ob- tain copies from the Secretary. Competitors must send in their papers by June 1, accompanied by a brief summary of the part containing the discovery on which they desire the judgment of the Academy. No one can claim the title of Laureate of the Academy unless awarded a prize. Honourable mention or any other formal recognition of merit does not justify the assumption of this title. STOCKHOLM Society of Natural Science, September 18.—Prof. Witt- rock gave an account of the gypsies, chiefly in relation to Hungary, which country he had recently visited with a view to studying its various nationalities —Dr. Skéuberg exhibited abnormal specimens of various plants he had found in Sweden last sum- mer, viz. Phleum pratense, Listera ovata, Linaria cymbalaria, Typha angustifolia, and 7. latifolia.—Herr Berggren exhibited a specimen, in spirits, of Myctalis parasitica, which had grown on another fungus, Russula adusta, whilst the latter was still quite fresh. The former fungus, he said, was also at times attacked by a smaller parasitic one, imparting to it a kind of coating. —Herr Meves exhibited a specimen of Oriolus gulbula, shot last May, a bird very rarely found in Sweden. Entomological Society, September 25.—Prof. Chr. Auri- villius gave an interesting account of his studies, last summer, of the habits of various species of Hymenoptera. He specially referred to one, Odynerus muralis, which he had found when boring holes in red-painted wooden walls, at the bottom of which it deposited its larvee, protecting the latter against attack by making partitions of clay at iatervals, and by putting a prop at the end, which it carefully covered with tiny bits of red paint, whereby these holes were almost impossible to detect.—Dr. Lampa described his observations of the remarkable keenness of the olfactory organs of the males of Bombyx quercus, L., whereby they were enabled to discern the females, even when far off. In one instance a female had been discovered by a male, although access to the former, which was in a cage, could only be gained through a balcony and room beyond.—Dr. Adlerz referred to an unusual case of hermaphroditism in an ant, whose left half was formed like a male, and the right like a female. CHRISTIANIA Society of Sciences, October 1.—The following papers were presented :—Der Ursprung der Etrusker durch zwei lem- nische Inschriften erlautert, by Prof. Sophus Bugge.—Fresh contributions to our knowledge of the extension of the tube plants in Norway, by Prof. A. Blytt.—On variations in climate in the course of time (see NATURE, vol. xxxiv. pp. 220 and 239), by the same.—Ueber die Entwickelungsgeschichte der Pollenkorner des Angiospermen, by Dr. N. Wille.—Fresh con- tributions to our knowledge of the extension of lichen in Nor- way, by Herr B. Kaalaas.—Dr. G. Storm read a paper on voyages to countries north and north-west of Iceland, maintain- ing that the priests who, in 1285, discovered ‘‘ Nya Land” (New Land) did not reach Newfoundland, but the south-eastern part of Greenland, and that the island discovered in 1194, ‘* Sval- barde,” was Jan Mayen. He further believed that the old Norsemen knew of other Arctic countries north of Russia and Norway. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED Annual Report of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Canada, new series, vol. i.; A. R. C. Selwyn (Dawson Bros., Montreal).—Negretti and Zambra’s Encyclopedic Catalogue.—Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society, Session 1885-86 (M’Farlane and Erskine, Edinburgh).—Den Norske Nordhaus-Expedition, 1876-78, XVJ. Zoologi, Mollusca, II.: H. Friele (Grondahl, Christiania).—Transactions of the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, vol. vii. 1885-86 (Stanford).—Zeitschrift fiir Wissen- schaftliche Zoologie, xliv. Hand, 4 Heft (Engelman, Leipzig).—Geological Survey of Alabama—On the Warrior Coal-Field: H. McCalley (Mont- gomery).—Year-book of Photography, 1887 (Piper and Carter).—Anuario de la Oficina Central Meteorolojica de Chile, 3er Cuaderno, Mayoi Junio.— Fourth Annual Report of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. CONTENTS PAGE Sciencevand|the Jubilee! yen :en nissan mC] Historical Geology. By Prof. A.H. Green... . 218 Photographs and Descriptions of Wild Animals . 220 Our Book Shelf :— Bert’s ‘‘ First Year of Scientific Knowledge” .. . 221 Bouinais and Paulus’s ‘‘ La France en Indo-Chine” 221 Feilden’s ‘‘ My African Home” ........ 221 Letters to the Editor :— The Coal-Dust Theory—W,. Galloway ..... 222 The Cambridge Cholera Fungus.—Charles Roy 223 An Error in Maxwell’s “Electricity and Magnetism.” Rev, Hlenty VWV.0VWiatSOn) ie ces. let cine eee The Manipulation of Glass containing Lead.—Prof. WV; AL (Shenstone aie ges tunes) aes Pyrometers and Fusion-Points.—Thos. Andrews . 224 Electricity and Clocks.—Prof, Silvanus P. Thomp- \) UE i Corot Ou a b Govan a oo | 22 Barnard’s Comet.—T. W. Backhouse .. 224 Meteor: — Jes EL. a) in) on nite! ole Neha omic Loma! Red Sunsets and New Zealand Eruptions.—Lieut.- GolonelyAN a. Hraser oR Ee soem onan 224 Theodor von Oppolzer 2 i oy cel wine ok l+ ol olen The Colonial and Indian Exhibition. By John R, Jacksons.) c-iuciosules nec seul ipsa el) (ole ee ee Ipecacuanha Cultivation in India. By W. T. Thiselton Dyer, C.M.G., F.R.S. . Mediined. a. | 22% Sunspot Observations in Hungary. By A. M. IGlerkersiie sosicn eis cous Servis) ie, vo) oe, rvatoire. — Nothing is added unless it can be utilised for teaching ; sometimes orders are given for models to be made, and sometimes objects are purchased. When anything is offered as a gift, it is not accepted unless one of the professors will state that it is really required. . The collection is not in any way a Patent Museum. Formerly certain models of patented inventions were exhibited there, but this is no longer done. (To be continued.) NOTES THE meetings held yesterday at St. James’s Palace and the Mansion House, to which we have not time to refer at length this week, indicate that from the Prince of Wales downwards all Interested in the proposed memorial are willing to allow the necessity of making the Institute one on a broad scientific basis. An admirable speech by Prof. Huxley at the Mansion House, following that of the Prince of Wales at the first meeting, shows that there is now no chance of the importance and of the necessity of collecting and arranging nowledge being over- looked. FRENCH geologists have cause to regret the blow which their science has received in the premature death of the well-known geologist of Lyons, C. F. Fontannes, on December 29, at the age of forty-eight. He is best known by his important monograph on the ‘‘ Stratigraphy and Palzontology of the Tertiary Deposits of the Basin of the Rhone ”—a work of laborious research and of great value from the minuteness and accuracy of its details. He established a claim on the gratitude of geologists by the infinite pains he took in the organisation and working of the Inter- a Fan. 13, 1887] national Geological Congress, the success of which has been in large measure due to his active help. His pleasant smile and cheery way of smoothing over personal friction will long be remembered by those who witnessed them at the meetings of the Congress. Sir FRANCIS BoLTON died at Bournemouth on Wednesday, the 5th inst. He was born in 1831, and entered the army at the age of twenty-six. For some time he served on the staff as Deputy-Assistant Quartermaster-General, and in 1881 he retired with the rank of colonel. He was the inventor of the system of telegraphic and visual signalling which was introduced into the army and navy in 1863, and for these services and other improvements and inventions in regard to warlike material he received in 1883 the honour of knighthood. In 1870 he founded the Society of Telegraph-Engineers and Electricians. LAsT year some of the leading statisticians of Europe com- bined to form a new Society, the International Statistical Institute. If we may judge from its aims, as set forth in the first article of its statutes, the Institute is likely to do work which will be of the highest service to Governments. It proposes to foster the progress of administrative and scientific statistics : “*(1) by introducing as much as possible uniformity of method and classification and of handling statistical material, in order to make the results obtained in different countries comparable ; (2) by calling the attention of Governments to those questions which require to be solved by statistical observation, and requesting from them information on subjects which have not yet been treated statistically, or have been only insufficiently treated ; (3) by creating international publications intended to establish permanent relations among statisticians of all countries ; (4) by striving, through its publications, and, if possible, by public instruction and other means, to promote the spread of sound ideas as to statistics, and to interest Governments and peoples in the investigation of the phenomera of society.” The Institute intended to have held its first general meeting in Rome in September last, but was compelled by the spread of cholera in Italy to abandon its design. It has now decided to hold its first meeting in Rome in Easter week of this year, from April 12 to 16. Nearly fifty members have expressed their intention of being present, and it is expected that the attendance will be considerably larger. The Italian Government deserves the greatest credit for the generous and enlightened manner in which it is support- ing the Institute. It allows Prof. Boris, the Director-General of the Statistics of the Kingdom of Italy, to act as Secretary, and in this capacity to use the services of his official staff. With the sanction of the Italian Parliament, it has granted a sum equal to 600/, to aid the Institute in printing its publications, and another sum of 40o/. has been contributed to the expenses of the approaching meeting. Moreover, it has been arranged that for the benefit of members who attend the meeting the fares on the public railways to and from Rome shall be reduced by one-half. Signor Grimaldi, the Italian Minister of Commerce, is trying to induce other Governments to act in a similar spirit, and it may be hoped that his efforts will not be wholly un- successful. Own Saturday evening last, Sir John Lubbock delivered, at Toynbee Hall, a lecture on ‘‘ Savages,” the first of a new course. He pointed out that modern savages do not in all respects reproduce the condition of our ancestors in early times. Even the Australians hold now a system of complex rules and stringent customs, which have grown up gradually, and cannot have existed originally. From the study of modern savages, however, we may gaina fairly correct idea of man as he existed in ancient times, and of the stages through which our civilisation has been evolved. The lecturer gave a remarkably NATURE 255 vivid and interesting account of some of the leading facts known about the customs, beliefs, and institutions of savage races. On Friday evening last the Drapers’ Company set an admir- able example to other City Companies by entertaining at its Hall in Throgmorton Street the students associated with the Whitechapel centres of the University Extension Scheme. The classes connected with this Scheme at Toynbee Hall are attended by no fewer than 631 students, who receive instruction in phy- siology, astronomy, history, and English literature. The fee for a course of twelve lectures is one shilling. THE presidential address delivered at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in June last by Dr. Burt G. Wilder has been reprinted from the Yournal of Nervous and Mental Disease. In this address Dr. Wilder discusses the ques- tion as to the need of some improvement in the nomenclature of the brain. He is convinced that the current nomenclature is to a large extent an obstacle rather than an aid to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge concerning a complex organ ; and, with regard to the encephalic cavities in particular, he holds that it would be better for the student if the incongruous and misleading gwasi-descriptive terms, /7st, second, third, fourth, and fifth ventricle, could be displaced by totally meaningless, but easily remembered, Chinese mono- syllables, like pran, pren, prin, pron,and prun. Dr. Wilder has obtained an alphabetical list of nearly all the names which have been applied tothe parts of the central nervous system, and, allow- ing for some omissions and duplicates, the numbers are as fol- lows :—Latin, 2600; English, 1300; German, 2400 ; French, 1800 ; Italian and Spani-h, 909 ; total, 9000. The number of parts designated by these names is considerably less than 500, REFERRING to the death of Sir W. W. Heughes, which took place near London on New Year's Day, the Colonies and India mentions that practically he initiated the Adelaide University by contributing 20,090/. in 1872 for the endowment of two pro- fessorships. He also contributed largely to the expedition under Colonel Warburton for the exploration of the interior of the Australian continent. He received the honour of knighthood in 1880, M. JANSSEN, the Director of the Meudon Observatory, who has been nominated Vice-President of the Paris Academy of Sciences for 1887, will be President in 1888, according to the constant rule. Tr is said that M. Chevreul will resign his membership of the Academy of Sciences, and will return to his native place to spend the last years of his life in retirement. He has already sent in his resignation of the Directorship of the Museum. One of the last letters written by M. Paul Bert was read at the meeting of the French Academy of Sciences on the 3rd inst. In this letter M. Bert complained of the darkness in the town of Hanoi at night. Gas was too dear, and he had tried the use of petroleum. This, however, was a barbarous expedient, and he was anxious to know whether it would not be possible for him to make the Red River, which flows past Hanoi, produce the required illumination. ‘‘ Would the expense be great?” he wrote. ‘Only think, if we succeeded we should be ahead of England and Japan!” ‘‘ Answer,” he added, ‘‘and answer quickly ; my days are numbered.” The Academy decided that the letter should be preserved among its archives. A LARGE number of French scientific Societies are anxious that a building should be erected in Paris for their common use. A circular on the subject has been issued. The lead in the matter is being taken by the Geographical Society. A coop deal of canvassing has been going on recently in Paris, in the Sorbonne, the Medical School, and the Academy 256 NATURE [ Fan. 13, 1887 of Sciences, for professorships and seats in the Institute -of France. Many superannuated professors have been removed, in consequence of the enforcement of a recent law; others have died. Inthe Medical School, Prof. Sappey’s place has been given to M. Farabeuf, a distinguished anatomist, although en- tirely devoid of philosophical tendencies, Prof. Gavarret, whose well-known researches, conducted many years ago with Audral, have been of the utmost importance for the physiology of respiration, has seen his place filled by M. Gariel, who has been his assistant for a long time. Prof. Peter has taken the place of M. Hardy, in the Professorship of Clinical Medicine. He is an obstinate opponent of M. Pasteur’s theories, but, never- theless, a good physician, well trained, and skilled in his part of science, Prof, Pagot, the well-known [’rofessor of Obstetrics, resigned his appointment on the day of his seventieth anniver- sary, and it is likely that M. Pinard will be his successor, M. Pinard is an able obstetrician, a good teacher, an original worker, and is much liked by students and professors. The vacancy caused at the Sorbonne by the death of Milne-Edwards has been filled by the appointment of M. Yves Delage, who has been for a short time Professor of Zoology in Caen, M. Yves Delage, although a very young man, has done a good deal of excellent personal work. His principal investigations bear upon the circulatory system of Crustacea, the life-history and anatomy of Sacculina, a parasitic Crustacean, and the ana- tomy of the whale. In the Academy of Sciences, M. Sappey was elected soon after his removal from the Medical School. His personal work has been good, and bears upon human ana- tomy, upon the anatomy of the lymphatic vessels, of the air- reservoirs of birds, and many other points of comparative ana- tomy. M. Ranvier, the able histologist of the Collége de France, will very likely be elected to the seat of Ch. Robin. One of the competitors for Paul Bert’s seat is M. Ch. Rochet, the physiologist, and editor of the Revue S-centifique. A VERY good little guide to the most picturesque streets and buildings in the capital of Egypt, by Major E. T. Plunkett, R.E., has just been published. It is entitled ‘* Walks in Cairo.” Major Plunkett’s object is to call attention to ‘sights ” which have hitherto been neglected by the writers of guide-books, —out-of-the-way mosques, in which the most graceful Arabesque forms may be found, with choice bits of marble mosaic and fine specimens of cabinet-work, and street corners made picturesque by minarets, overhanging stories, and windows of lace-like lattice-work. If any visitor is in doubt whether he would or would not enjoy the ‘* Walks” described, he is advised to try one of them, and if he finds that uninteresting to try no more. ON July 28 last, Miss Eleanor A. Ormerod, F.E.S., Consult- ing Entomologist to the Royal Agricultural Society, received from Reyvell’s Hall, Hertford, specimens of injured barley, which on examination precisely corresponded with the condition caused by attack of the Cecidomyia destructor, commonly known as the Hessian fly. A paper setting forth the results of her observations, with the opinions of high authorities in England and America, was read at the Entomological Society of London on December 1 last. An abstract of this paper will be found in the Entomologist ior January. In the January Zoo/ogist there is a very good representation of the Greater Horse-shoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrum-equinum). It illustrates an article on ‘‘ Horse-shoe Bats” by the editor, who remarks that as few really good figures of bats are acces- sible, those in Bell’s work being almost too small to be of much use, it is very desirable that no opportunity should be lost of obtaining correct drawings of the rarer species whenever they can be procured alive or in a fresh condition, so as to secure an accurate delineation of the natural features before they become distorted or shrunk in the process of drying. The plate which he offers as a first contribution to such a series is from a living specimen obtained by the Rey. H. A. Macpherson in South Devon in August last. This specimen weighed little more than half an ounce the day after death. SEVERAL Arctic species of birds, which do not breed in England or Ireland, breed in Scotland. This fact is explained by Mr. Henry Seebohm in an article in the January Zoo/ogist. Most, if not all, of the species in question breed in July, and, roughly speaking, they draw the line a few degrees below 60° F. They do not breed in any locality where the mean temperature for July is as high as 60°, the reason probably having relation to the supply of food. Now, in a map of the world, in Keith Johnston’s ‘‘ Physical Atlas,” giving the mean temperature for July in various parts of the earth, the isothermal line of 59° is drawn. This line separates England and Ireland from Scotland, passes north of the Gulf of Bothnia, through the town of Archangel, extends nearly straight across Russia and Western Siberia, but, east of the valley of the Yenesei, again rises until it almost reaches the coast near the delta of the Lena, Farther east in Siberia it plunges south again, much more rapidly than it rose in Western Europe, and, passing south of Kamchatka, it embraces the Kurile Islands in the latitude of the Pyrenees. This line is almost exactly parallel with what is known of the southern breeding-ranges of the various Arctic birds under con- sideration. It is not, therefore, surprising that these birds should breed in Scotland ; and there is no reason, Mr. Seebohm concludes, for attempting to explain by any other causes than the ascertained climatic cause, the interesting fact that British ornithologists are able to study the breeding habits of so many species which their Continental fellow-students can only observe by travelling 500 miles or more farther north. THE Journal of the Society of Arts prints an interesting letter from Mr. T. F. Peppe, on the cultivation of the so-called wild silks of India. Mr. Peppe points out that in many parts of India the jungle consists of the plants on which the tussur worm feeds, and that the supply of labour is practically unlimited. At present the work is carried on only by a few tribes who have been accus- tomed to it from time immemorial ; but nearly all the aboriginal tribes of India might be available, if their services were in demand. The chief obstacle to the rapid development of the industry is the difficulty of procuring seed-cocoons, which have to be sought for in the wild state in the jungles. This difficulty, however, Mr. Peppe thinks, will be gradually overcome, since in every cultivated tract there are always a few cocoons which escape detection and collection, and which add to the number of wild cocoons found in the next brood. The industry is _pre- carious, but there are several crops in the season, and if one fails the others may succeed. Mr. Peppe has cultivated tussur for three years, yet he is not prepared to say how many broods are possible in a year. Each brood so overlaps the succeeding one, that it is very difficult to distinguish one brood from an other. A couRSE of five lectures on ‘* Molecular Forces” will be delivered by Prof. A. W. Riicker, M.A., F.R.S., at the Royal Institution, beginning on Thursday, the 29th inst. The remain- ing lectures will be delivered on the 27th inst., and on February 3, 10, and 17. Messrs. W. WESLEY AND SON haye issued the seventy-ninth number of their ‘‘ Natural History and Scientific Book Circular.” The most important part of the Catalogue appears under the heading ‘‘ Ornithology.” WE have received the ‘‘ Year-book of Photography and the Topographic News Almanac for 1887,” edited by Mr. Thomas Bolas, F.C.S It contains, besides a calendar for the year and lists of photographic societies, a large number of notes and ro. er Fan. 13, 1887] NATURE 257 articles likely to be interesting and useful both to beginners in photography and to advanced practitioners. THE Severn Fishery Board has issued an Almanac for the _ year 1887, which is intended to show the law as to fishing in the Severn fishery district, and to indicate to water-bailiffs, fisher- men, and others interested in fishing, what they may look for in different months of the year. The information on which the statements in the Almanac are based was collected by the Board’s officers. THE seventh volume of the Transactions of the Sanitary Insti- tute of Great Britain, 1885-86, presents a full report of the pro- ceedings of the Congress of the Institute held at Leicester from September 22 to 26, 1385. The papers read at the Congress were divided into three sections—(1) Sanitary Science and Pre- ventive Medicine; (2) Engineering and Architecture; (3) Chemistry, Meteorology, and Geology. Mr. John F. J. Sykes, Honorary Secretary for the first section, recommends that a special day, or part of a day, should be devoted to the considera- tion of domestic sanitation and ambulance. In both of these subjects ladies take great interest, and Mr. Sykes is of opinion that his suggestion, if adopted, would add immensely to the suc- cess of future Congresses. THE amount of the rainfall at Ben Nevis Observatory during 1886 was 107°85 inches, the greatest monthly fall being 14°57 inches in November, and the least 2°84 inches in February. In 1885 the annual rainfall was (see vol. xxxiii. p. 347) 145750 inches, the largest monthly fall being 24°33 inches, and the least 4°97 inches, the rainfall of 1886 being thus very much less. WE understand that complaints have been made to the Fishery Board for Scotland that steam-vessels have been recently prosecuting beam-trawling overnight in the waters closed by the Board’s by-law against this mode of fishing. Some time since the Board instituted legal proceedings against parties who had infringed the by-law, some of whom were fined, and they also posted placards at the different harbours and creeks in the prescribed waters giving notice of the terms of the by-law, and it was hoped that the illegal practice would have been thereafter discontinued. The Board’s cruiser Vigidant has done what she could to protect these waters, but owing to her being a sailing-vessel she cannot do this so effectively as a vessel with steam power. In the circumstances the Board have instructed H.M.S. Facka/, at present cruising on the west coast, at once to proceed to the east coast and protect the inclosed areas there, as well as to take a general superintendence of the fisheries. The prescribed waters include the Firth of Forth, St. Andrews Bay, and Aberdeen Bay. The present Fackal is a new, powerfui, and swift vessel, and is provided with the electric light, which will enable her to sight vessels at a con- siderable distance on dark nights. The Board’s cruiser Vigzlant will at once proceed to the west coast and take up fishery duty there, assisted by H.M.C. Dazsy tender. THE Report of the Swiss Commission for the Reform of Gymunasial Instruction has just been issued. The Commission recommend that the teaching of Latin shall begin in the fifth class, and shall be continued, for five hours weekly, up to the highest class ; that instruction in Greek shall depend upon the expressed desire of parents or guardians, and shall begin in the fourth class ; and that all scholars who do not learn Greek shall learn either English or Italian. Two spare hours gained by pupils in English or Italian are to be spent in the study of natural science and mathematics. Mr. Epson, the electrician, of New York, is reported to be seriously ill. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include two Barn Owls (Strix flammea) from South Africa, presented by Mr. E. Hume; a Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), British, presented by Mr. W. S. Rawlinson ; two Eyed Lizards (Lacerta ocellata), European, de- posited ; four Bramblings (Fvingilla montifringilla), British, purchased, OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THE S1x INNER SATELLITES OF SATURN.—Appendix I. to the yolume of Washington Observations for 1883 contains an important memoir by Prof. Asaph Hall on the orbits of the six inner satellites of Saturn. Of these, the two innermost have been known to us about 100 years, but the other four for more than 200. Owing, however, to the difficulty of making accurate observations of them, their orbits were but rough approximations until the publication of Bessel’s work on the orbit of Titan, which appeared in vols. ix. and xi, of the Astronomische Nach- vichten, and from which that value of the mass of Saturn was derived which has been generally used up to the present time in computing the perturbations produced by this planet. Bessel likewise commenced, but did not live to complete, a memoir on the ‘‘ Theorie des Saturns Systems,” of which Prof. Hall justly remarks that it ‘‘is still the most comprehensive investigation we haye of the differential equations of this system, and of the various forms of the perturbative function arising from the figure of the planet, the ring, the action of the satellites on each other, and the action of the sun.” M. Tisserand has shown, however, in a short but important paper, ‘‘ Sur le mouyement des absides des satellites de Saturne et sur la détermination de la masse de l'anneau,” that Bessel’s determination of the mass of the ring from the motion of the line of apsides of the orbit of Titan was seriously in error, since he neglected the influence of the figure of the planet. We were, therefore, ignorant of the true value of the mass of the ring, but if the inner satellites moved in orbits which were decidedly eccentric, so that the motions of the lines of apsides could be accurately deter- mined, the mass of the ring and figure of the planet could be deduced. It was therefore a matter of great interest to determine these orbits as accurately as possible; and Prof. Hall therefore undertook the observation of those satellites with the great refractor of the Naval Observatory, Washington. The observations of Titan, given in Prof. Hall’s paper, were made at Washington during the eleven years, 1874 (in which year Prof. Newcomb observed the satellite) to 1884. During the years 1875, 1876, and 1877, Prof. Hall observed differences of R.A. and declination of Saturn and Titan at the same time and in the same manner as he observed Iapetus, to which satellite he found the method well adapted. Rhea, Dione, and Tethys were observed by Prof. Newcomb in 1874 and by Prof. Hall in 1875, whilst for Mimas and Enceladus observations extending over the years from 1874 to 1879 have been used. In the reduction of the observations of Rhea, Dione, and Tethys, the observed places have been compared with places computed from the elements for these satellites given by Dr. W. Meyer, of Geneva, and corrections to his elements are deduced therefrom. The corrected orbits show in each case a practically insensible eccen- tricity, and the observations of Mimas and Enceladus also can be satisfied within the limits of their probable errors by circular elements. Prof. Hall, however, draws attention to the fact that for the three innermost satellites the eccentricity of the orbit, and consequently the position of the line of apsides, cannot be determined with any certainty from the observations at his disposal. Some more accurate method of observation than that of the filar micrometer should be adopted ; possibly observing the conjunctions of the satellites with the ends of the ring, the Cassinian division, and with the sides of the ball, might prove more efficient. A heliometer, if one existed of sufficient aperture, would probably furnish the most satisfactory means of all. The orbits of the five inner satellites being thus sensibly circular, any consideration of the motions of their lines of apsides is placed out of the question. These five satellites also appear to moye in the plane of the ring. It is therefore easy to furnish tables of their motions, and Prof. Hall supplies them for the period 1875-1950, together with the elements of the ring, at the close of his paper. For the mass of Saturn, from the motions of Titan, Rhea, Dione, and Tethys, he finds the reciprocal to be 3478°7 £110. The best previous determinations have been 258 NATURE [ Fan. 13, 1887 as follows :—Bessel 3501°6, Leverrier 3529'6, Meyer 3487°45, and Prof, Hall, from the motion of Iapetus, 3481°3 + 0°54. Prof. Hall carefully searched for additional satellites moving in the remarkable gaps between Rhea and Titan, and Hyperion and Iapetus, but without result. STELLAR PARALLAX.—The second Appendix to the Wash” ington Observations for 1883, contains a second memoir by Prof: Asaph Hall, not less interesting and valuable than the above- It will be remembered that Prof. Hall published a volume in 1882, containing determinations of the parallaxes of Vega and 61 Cygni from observations made by himself with the great 26-inch refractor at the Washington Observatory. Prof. Peters, of Clinton, U.S.A., has since pointed out to Prof. Hall that the temperature correction to his observations had been applied with the wrong sign. Prof. Hall has therefore now reduced his observa- tions afresh, and given a new solution of the equations of condition. For 61 Cygni, Prof. Hall now finds a parallax of o’'270 + o’or01 from 101 observations extending from October 24, 1880, to January 26, 1886. This value is notably smaller than he ob- tained before, viz. 0’*4783, or than most other investigators have deduced. Thus Sir R. S. Ball had found 0’'4756, Auwers o’'°564, and Struve, Woldstedt, and others values closely according. Prof. Hall appears, however, satished with his results, and it should be remembered that Dr. C. A. F. Peters obtained o'’"349 for his absolute value of the parallax, the others being only relative parallaxes. Prof. Hall’s value for Vega is also rather small, viz. + 0”°134 + 0°0055 from 128 observations, but agrees very much better with other modern determinations ; Briinnow in 1869 from the same comparison-star, but by measures of distance and position, and not of differences of declination only, having obtained + = 0212 £00098. Prof. Hall also attacked the parallax of two other stars, 6 (Bode) Cygni, the parallax of which has recently been determined at Dunsink, being one, and the curious star 40 (0) Eridani the other. For the former he finds a negative value, whereas Sir R. S. Ball gave m= + 0/'422+0"'054, but only as a ‘“‘merely provi- sional” value. The parallax obtained for 40 Eridani, 7 = + 07°223 + 00202 is in fairly close agreement with Dr. Gill’s, viz. m= 0166. In the early part of this important paper Prof. Hall gives a full discussion, in his usual thorough and painstaking manner, of the value of a revolution of the micrometer-screw employed in the observations. * ASTRONOMICAL PRIZES OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. The Paris Académie des Sciences have decreed the Lalande Prize to M. O. Backlund for his labours on the motion of Encke’s comet; the Valz Prize to M. Bigourdan for his re- searches on personality in the observation of double stars ; and the Damoiseau Prize, for the revision of the theory of the satellites of Jupiter, to M. Souillart, with an excouragement to M. Obrecht of a thousand francs from the Damoiseau fund. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1887 /ANUARY 16-22 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed. ) At Greenwich on January 16 Sun rises, 8h. Im. ; souths, 12h. 9m. 58°8s.; sets, 16h. 19m. ; decl. on meridian, 20° 56’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, oh. 2m. Moon (at Last Quarter) rises, 23h. 47m.*; souths, 5h. 41m. ; sets, 11h. 24m. ; decl. on meridian, 4° 14’ S. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian m. h., m h. m. a) Mercurys iss 70123 11,13 15, 3 23 55S. Vientistercwipts tac) 35 12 55 17 II 19 54.5. Mars iene ase uA: 13 42 18 20 16 245. Nuupiter sees ela 2 Suite ROR 7 ELy gl II 42S. Retitinitcas ” Bop MGM e%) “doo eh SH GPa 22.) TEN. * Indicates that the rising is that of the preceding evening and the setting that of the following morning. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding angles from ver- Jan. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. texto right for inverted image h. m. h. m. 0 a 16 ... 65 Virginis 6 (aa es Be 61 193 16 ... 66 Virginis ... 6 Z2TASy wae) Si 44 221 EOMeCcMVOTSIOS | as. 5 7 44 8 35 44 318 to do the like in Tibet. Jan. h. 16 21 Mars at least distance from the Sun. Leo. 8} Jupiter in conjunction with and: 3° 40’ south of the Moon. 17 4 Mercury at greatest distance from the Sun. Variable Stars Star RA Decl. Be i Ss h. m. U Cephei ©. 52°3)..2 81 16: No2). Jan. 16,23) 82a }, Leri22 Mor Algolios wae If hydrate of chloral were mixed with an alkaline solution, then was chloroform formed in the shape of a white precipitate. This reaction occurred with all alkaline solutions, only the time varied according to the alkali. While, however, chemical reactions usually ensued in the whole mass of the reacting substances, it was here observed that, when the process of mixture was effected in a test-glass, the uppermost layer remained clear, no turbidity and precipitate formation occurring in it. This layer, which the speaker named the “dead space” (‘‘ todter Raum”), was bounded on the upper side by the meniscus of the fluid, and on the lower side by a sharp boundary, having, apparently, a curve opposed to the meniscus. In the capillary space between two glass plates, the dead space displayed itself in very beautiful formation, In horizontal capillary tubes the dead space came into shape at both ends, and in very short capillaries the reaction failed en- tirely. If from the dead space a little clear fluid were with- drawn and warmed, then did the reaction set in. This showed that in the dead space both fluids were contained, and that it | was only their chemical action that was prevented. The dead space showed itself in drops at the edge of the curve. In the capillary space between two menisci was found an external ring, and the middle clear, while reaction occurred only in a small ring. If tubes were closed by a meinbrane above and below, and filled with the mixture of hydrate of chloral and alkali, then did the dead space appear both at the top and the-bottom, The same phenomenon presented itself likewise in animal mem- branes—for example, in a rabbit’s bladder or in an intestine. On the other hand, the dead space was observed neither in a gutta- percha alembic nor in a similar shaped glass retort. The speaker also discussed many other sorts of phenomena in respect of the dead space, both with the fluids already named and with other fluids, demonstrating a large part of them by experiments. In conclusion, he set up the hypothesis that, in the experiments referred to, the chemical reaction was hindered by phenomena of surface-tension, a matter which should be further investigated by additional experiments. A lengthy discussion followed this paper.—Dr. Weinstein then reported on a publication of the Normal Standard of Weights and Measures Commission, «Construction and Repeated Trial of the Principal Standards and the Control Standards” (‘‘ Die Herstellung und Wieder- kehrende Priifung der Hauptnormalen und der Controll- normalen”’). He brought out that in this publication the idea of weight was officially defined by a mass, the unit of which, the kilogramme, was equal to a cubic decimetre of distilled water at 4° C. The trial of the normal metre of platinum resulted in the establishment of its inyaria- bility. The kilogramme of platinum was likewise unchanged, while , on the other hand, the control standard-kilogramme showed a slight increase of weight through oxidation, The examination of the dry measures resulted in showing a consider- able diminution of volume, a fact which would have to be ascribed to elastic and thermal afier-effects in the material that had been employed for the standard dry measures. Physiological Society, November 26, 1886.—Prof. du Bois-Reymond in the chair.—A fter the re-election of the President and Council, in accordance with the statutes of the Society, and the disposal of several business motions, Prof. Falk communicated acase taken from his forensic practice, which was not without physiological interest. A boy was run over by a heavy van and in a few minutes died. A fost-mortem showed a gaping rupture of the thyroid and of the cricoid cartilage, the entrance of blood into the air-passages—causing death by suffocation—and into the digestive organs. It was, now, a remarkable and physiologically interesting fact that the blood had penetrated not only into the stomach, but into the small intestine, and that, as far as the neighbourhood of the ccecum. Seeing that the abdominal organs were perfectly intact, and the intestines even to a high degree anemic, the blood must have proceeded from the stomach, and that during the brief time of the agony ; for peristaltic movements appeared indeed after death, but in no case in the stomach, and the‘passage of the contents of the stomach into the intestine was never observed after death had set in. The speaker had, on the other hand, observed very violent NATURE (Fan. 13, 1887 swallowing movements as well as increased peristaltic move- ment in the intestine and stomach in men, and especially in his experiments with animals during the agony of suffocation. In the discussion following, Prof. Zuntz corroborated the fact of the appearance of increased peristaltic movements, and of the abnor sally far advance into the intestine of the contents of the stomach during death by suffocation, citing, as he did, some earlier experiments he had not yet published. By way of testing the assertion proceeding from the laboratory of Prof. Ludwig, that acid chyme was normally found in the small intestine of animals, he had instituted experiments in which very soon after death he opened the abdomen of animals, and by a ligature isolated the small intestine from the stomach ; he then in every case found the contents of the intestine neutral or alkaline. If on the other hand he poisoned the animals, as in the case of Ludwig’s experiments, with curare, then were the contents of the intestine acid. The cause of that, however, was that the animals had died from suffocation, and that the asphyctic blood had induced a lively peristaltic movement of the smooth intes- tinal muscles not paralysed by curare, and so, therefore, an ab- normally rapid propulsion of the contents of the stomach into the small intestine. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED Mind, January (Williams and Norgate).—The Cruise of the Marchesa to Kamchatka and New Guinea, 2 vols: F. H. H. Guillemard (J. Murray).— Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for the Year 1885, vol. iii. (Montreal).—Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, January (Williams and Norgate).—Elements of Harmony and Counterpoint: F. Davenport (Longmans).—Bees and Bee-keeping, vol. i., parts 11, 12, 13; vol. ii., parts 1, 2, 3, 4: F. R. Cheshire (Gill).—Journal of the Chemical Society for January, and Supplementary Number (Van Voorst).—Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society, third series, No. 3 (Blackwood).—Le Mesure du Métre: W. de Fonvielle (Hachette, Paris).—Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 1886, No. 12 (Leipzig).—Beiblatter zu den Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 1886, No. 11 (Leipzig).—Text-book of British Fungi: W. D. Hay (Sonnenschein),—Hand-book of Practical Botany : Strasburger and Hillhouse (Sonnenschein), —Historical Basis of Modern Europe: A. Weir (Sonnenschein).—The Primula: Report on the Primula Conference (Mac- millan).—Resa till Grénland : Nils O. Holst.—Proprieta Industriale (Roma). —Beitrage zur Statistik der Blitzschlage in Deutschland: Dr. G. Hellmann (Berlin).—History and Biology of Pear-Blight: J. C. Arthur.—An Address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science: T. C. Chamberlin (Salem).—Jahresbericht Am., 25 Mai, 18386, dem Comite der Nicolai-Hauptsernwarte (St. Petersburg).—Grundziige einer Theorie der Kosmischen Atmosphiren: W. Schlemiiller (Prag).—Ueber die Allege- meine Beugungsfigur in Fernrohren: H. Struve (St. Petersburg). CONTENTS PAGE Sciencerandjthenubilee ils a7 eens 241 Marine Engineering . . . PRS en 2S An ArcticiProvince® ~ "3 f= <)> ie) w came down nearly per- pendicularly. The temperature was 32°°6, and the air completely saturated with moisture, Before the storm the temperature was 34°1. Snow had been falling with a slight thaw from 10 a.m., the snowflakes being small. Suddenly, at 12h. 12m. p.m. they became 24 inches in length ;1 at 12h. 14m. they had increased to 22 inches; and one flake that was caught measured 24 inches by 24 inches, and was 3, of an inch thick. At 12h. 16m. the flakes had increased in size to 3} inches (and several measured were 4 inches across, and there were several larger ones not near enough to be caught); at 12h. 19m. they were somewhat less, and at 12h. 20m. though large, were not gigantic. For- tunately I was measuring and weighing snow at the time, with two assistants, and had a number of flat circular glasses kept cold ready for the purpose of catching crystals, and for measur- ing the snow that fell upon these glasses. Asis usual when very large flakes are falling, there were many of smaller size, though when the flakes were from 24 to 34 inches, the majority of the next size were about 2 inches, and the very large flakes would be within 12 inches of each other. A dozen of these large flakes were caught, each on a separate piece of glass, measured and removed under cover, my two assistants giving valuable aid. Of three of these flakes one yielded 14 drops of water, a second 15, and a third 16 drops ; and these were not the largest flakes seen.2 The water from seven flakes weighed a quarter of an ounce within 2 or 3 grains. The weight of ten varied from 13 to 16 grains each ; most of the flakes were about a third longer than broad, one flake that was 34 inches long by 24 broad was esti- mated (before it touched the glass) to be 14 inch thick, when flattened by the force of its descent it was } of an inch thick. The flakes were not a mass of broken pieces, but were com- posed mainly of perfect crystals, and there must have been hundreds of these crystals in each flake ; they were clinging to- gether at every conceivable angle, though a much larger per- centage were more horizontal than vertical. A terrestrial radia- tion thermometer, buried a fifth of an inch within this snow, marked a temperature of 32°°4. The snow which fell during the last six minutes of this great storm was just under one-fifth of an inch in depth, and yielded ‘030 of an inch of water, falling at the rate of 1 inch of water in three hours and twenty minutes (yielding 1 inch of water from 6 inches of snow). There was a great snowstorm here on December 27, 1886, which varied considerably in places near to each other, ¢.e.— Amount of rain Depth of Melted snow and snow snow alone Inches Shirenewton Hall 1°55 7 0'97 Dennil Hill 1'07 5 o'71 Wirewoods Green ate 0°86 3 0'42 Piercefield Park Bs 0°96 4 — Chepstow (The Mount) o'70 — — The drifts above here are very great, and a large number of men are still engaged in cutting through them. The following measurements will show the number of inches I The breadth was less than the length, and the thickness less than th breadth; more or less flattened, and curled over on the edges | 2 Besides these drops, the wetted glass shall count fr two more drops. NATURE [ Yan. 20, 1887 of snow required to yield an inch of water from observations taken here :— U886, yaauaey 3, snow 2 inches, melted ‘063 (?.¢. 33 inches for 1 inch of water); March 1, snow 7 inches, melted “800 (z.¢. 9 hice for 1 inch of water); December 26, snow 7 inches, melted *967 (z.e. 7 inches for 1 inch of water). 1887, January 4, snow 3} inches, melted *379 (z.e. 8% inches for 1 inch of water) ; January 7, + inch, melted ‘030 (2.e. 6 inches for I inch of water). The damage done on December 26 was unusually great, the snow being very heavy, as much as 5 lbs. weight on a square foot of a cedar-branch ; this, when moved by the wind, caused much PreU ene: Fanuary 8 Chepstow and at Itton the snowflakes were 2 2 2 I —Since sending my note yesterday I find that at larger than anyone | had before seen, so that probably the storm had an extended area ; at all e¥ents it was 5 miles broad. The present storm is a very similar one to that recorded by myself in Yee) 1838, except that the largest flakes in 1838 did not exceed 2 inches. In that storm the largest flakes fell more rapidly and more perpendicularly. I then pointed out that large snowflakes were produced by two upper currents driving the flakes together ; and afterwards, by the largest falling with increased velocity and more perpendicularly : they were thus able still more to augment their dimensions by adding smaller ones to their bulk. This was well seen on January 7, when an estimate was made as to the velocity and angle of their descent. Not only were a number seen to be added as they fell upon them, but it was thought thatismall flakes when near to the Shape and size of snowflake. (T them. The flakes were, however, large whilst at a considerable distance from the ground Several flakes were sketched before they began to melt, and one of the sketches is sent as an illustration. The glasses were at a temperature of freezing, and therefore it was some time before the snow melted, and not thoroughly so until they had been 5 minutes in a hot-house. Fanuary 13.—The snowflakes folded over on the edges, boat- like, and this curling over caused the thick look observed. There was a slight zigzag in their downward course of some 2° or 3°. This storm passed over Chepstow, Itton, and Monmouth in this county ; Wirewoods Green, Tidenham, and Dennil Hill, all in Gloucestershire, and Bath: in all of these places the flakes are spoken of as the largest ever seen. One correspondent at Chepstow reports them as larger than the hailstones in the storm of May 1848, which were larger than hens’ and broke the shop windows, and destroyed the glass hot-houses near Chepstow. E. J. Lowe Shirenewton Hall, near Chepstow large ones were attracte.l to 5° og: “Es, of Auroras THE account, in NATURE for December 16 (p. 159), of a bright cloud ‘‘emitting brilliant rays of light,” that suddenly appeared at Hamar, in Norway, on the n ght of November 3, recalls the fact that on November 2 there was at Lyons, New York, an aurora which at one time during the evening consisted entirely of detached Juminous clouds, as was noted in NATURE for November 18 (p. 54). It is stated that on November 4 one of the finest auroras of the year was visible at Throndhjem, Norway. M. A. VEEDER Lyons, N.Y., January 3 A Solar Halo IN the weather report issued on Friday evening, the r4th inst., a solar halo is recorded as ‘‘ observed in Jersey during the day.” nere were more of asomewhat similar form to this than the more circular ones, though there were very many more circular and less indented.) | Between noon and 12.30 I observed a very complete and well- defined halo, of radius about 7/8, in this neighbourhood. It was not perceptibly tinted, but the duskiness of the interior, as compared with the clear sky exterior to the luminous ring, was more pronounced than I ever remember to have noticed it on other occasions—so much as to suggest comparison with the ‘‘curtain” of the aurora: ‘‘Solem quis dicere falsum audeat !” J. J. WALKER Hampstead; N Wes fennery 15 THE NATION. AL SCIENCE COLLECTIONS} Il. EVERTING to this country, the “ Patent Museum,” now under the charge of the Science and Art De- partment, is a collection of a peculiar nature ; and in order to explain its origin, and the objects it was intended to serve, we may make some extracts from the Report of a Select Committee of the House of Commons, appointed in 1864, to inquire as to the most suitable arrangements to be made respecting the Patent Office, Library, and Museum. The Committee said :— The second point to which your Committee directed their attention was that of the Patent Museum, having regard especially to its formation, its present state, its relation to the Patent Office and Library, and the nature of its contents, so as to render it practically useful. Your Committee found that the Patent Museum was formed by Mr. Woodcroft, the Superintendent of Specifi- cations, by the request of the Commissioners of Patents, and that it consists of models and machines belonging partly to the Commissioners of Patents, partly to the Commissioners of the Exhibition of 1851, and partly to Mr. Woodcroft himself, and various private persons. * Continued from p. 254 Fan. 20, 1887 | | This collection has been exhibited since 1857 in the iron building at South Kensington. Your Committee are of opinion that the term Patent Museum (which is generally applied to this collection) tends to give an erroneous impression as to its character and object. Various suggestions have been made by witnesses re- specting the nature of a Museum connected with the mechanical arts, which may be summed up as follows :— (a) That it should illustrate the history of those arts by a collection of original machines from an early period to the present time. (6) That it should exhibit all known inventions respect- ing machinery and manufactures. (c) That it should show the present state of all machin- ery and manufactures. (dz) Some of the witnesses suggested that the collection should be restricted to the machinery and manufactures of the United Kingdom ; whilst others proposed that it should be extended to those of foreign countries. (e) Some, again, proposed that the collection should contain all the objects of each class, whilst others pro- posed that a’selection only of the most important objects should be exhibited. (f) There was no less diversity of opinion respecting the primary purpose for which any collection or exhibition should be made ; some of the witnesses considered that it should be for the purpose of conveying instruction in the mechanical arts, either in a cursory way to people who might visit the Museum, or to students in mechanics, or to persons desirous of applying themselves to the dis- covery of improvements in machinery and manufactures. (g) Other witnesses deemed the Museum chiefly desir- able for the information of persons intending to take out or purchase patents, in aid of the information afforded by booxs and specifications, to assist them in ascertaining whether the contemplated patent would be valid as a new invention. (2) On the other hand, two witnesses, Mr. Carpmael and Mr. Johnson, gave it as their opinion that for all purposes of the patent law a museum of models would be practically valueless. Your Committee are of opinion that any special collec- tion of patented inventions made for the purpose of evidence, illustration, or record of patent rights is not so connected with a general museum of mechanical inven- tions as to render the neighbourhood of such a museum to a patent office and library, or law courts, necessary. It appears to your Committee that the chief purpose of a general museum is to illustrate and explain the com- mencement, progress, and present position of the most important branches of mechanical invention ; to show the chief steps by which the most remarkable machines have reached their present degree of excellence; to convey interesting and useful information, and to stimulate invention. In forming an illustrative collection of inventions it would be necessary to adopt the principle of selection. This, however, does not appear to your Committee to be an insuperable objection, especially as no one proposed to substitute models for specifications, which for all the purposes of administering the patent law would still have to be consulted, and bear the stamp of authority. Such a collection should contain a selection of models of moderate size, which should illustrate different depart- ments of inventions, and also a selection of models of current patented inventions. The Patent Collection, although it was placed in premises belonging to the South Kensington Museum, remained in the hands of the Commissioners of Patents until January 1, 1884, when, by the “ Patents, Designs, and Trade Marks Act, 1883,” 46 and 47 Vict. c. 57, it was transferred to the Science and Art Department. ] NATURE 273 The title “ Patent Museum” was never accurate ; the collection might with greater propriety have been called the “ Woodcroft Museum,” from the name of the gentle- man, formerly Clerk to the Commissioners of Patents, who originated the formation of it. It contains objects illustrating steps in the history of mechanical inventions, and contrivances of importance and interest, without regard to whether they have been patented or not. Among these, for example, are the earliest locomotive and stationary steam-engines ; the first engine used in steam navigation ; the first reaping-machine ; Arkwright’s original spinning-machinery ; all Sir Charles Wheat- stone’s original apparatus, showing a complete history of the various steps by which he perfected electric tele- graphy ; many of Edison’s original electrical inventions ; some old clocks dating from 1325; and other objects of similar interest. Inventions embodied in future patents may be added to this Museum, pursuant to Sections 41 and 42 of the Patent Act above mentioned. These sections enact as follows ;:— (41) The control and management of the existing Patent Museum and its contents shall, from and after the commencement of this Act, be transferred to, and vested in, the Department of Science and Art, subject to such directions as Her Majesty in Council may see fit to give. (42) The Department of Science and Art may at any time require a patentee to furnish them with a model of his invention, on payment to the patentee of the cost of the manufacture of the model; the amount to be settled in case of dispute by the Board of Trade. We do not consider it to be feasible to combine a com- plete museum of patented inventions with a methodical collection of objects illustrating practical science, and we infer from the language of Parliament in the provisions just quoted that this is the view taken in the recent Patent Act, which enables, but does not oblige, the De- partment of Science and Art to acquire specimens of patented inventions. 26. We conceive that it will be useful for the curators of all the collections to bear in mind that their primary and indispensable scope is to provide apparatus and specimens for the instruction given in the Normal College of Science, and for the teaching of science generally throughout the United Kingdom. Cases may doubtless arise where the acquisition or reception of other objects may be expedient, in the interest of science or of the arts; but in these cases, in order to prevent the unnecessary occupation of space, we recommend that due regard be had to existing public collections elsewhere, so as not unnecessarily to duplicate the provision for illustrating science. 27. Referring now to the space required, we adept the following figures given by the Reports of the different Committees, adding some estimates for the future where they have not been stated :— Estimated Space increas? of required Space now space re- at the required quiredin end of ten years ten years Sq. ft. Sq. ft. Sq. ft. Various science collections ... 37,009 3,000 40,000 Naval models - 10,500 10,00) 20,500 Building construction ... 15,000 10,009 25,000 Bushvculfure) <2. se Volumes by dividing the engine-diagram area by 1°6, and multi- plying this quotient by ;°5. This ;%; is the ratio between the compressor-diagram and that of the central station engine which drives it, the mechanical inefficiency of this central plant being taken as j4. The results are most clearly shown in tabular form. Table of Efficiencies of Transmission of Power by Air compressed to 45 pounds per square inch i Efficienc Ratio of expansion 14 ore No loss of initial pressure No clearance Back pressure I‘I atmos. Initial pressure 3°8 atmos. = I 2 2 "45 35 Swaeres 9 ac07, No clearance Back pressure 1°I atmos. No loss of initial pressure Clearance 3, vol. of cyl. > °39 Back’pressure 1°1 atmos. \ Initial pressure 3°8 atmos Clearance 31; vol. of cyl. Back pressure 1°I atmos. The last two sections of this table comprise the limits of practicable results. The highest efficiency shown is 60 per cent. This could only be obtained by avoiding abso- lutely all loss of pressure between compressors and air- "54 64 69 "50 57 “60 “36 ‘47 “54 57 BiG. 4. engine. This can hardly be accomplished even if the engine be situated close to the central works. It need hardly be pointed out that the expansion will not usually be carried so far as to bring the working pressure to near equality with the back pressure ; in fact, to do so is decidedly very bad practice, and does not lead to economy in the brake- power, especially when depreciation and interest on first cost of the engine is taken into account. With good management, from 30 to 50 per cent. efficiency may be expected. In a paper read by Mr. Sturgeon before the British Association last summer, he gives a table of calculated efficiencies ranging from ‘32 to ‘84. These calculations include allowances of 2 per cent. for valve-resistance and leakage past compressor-piston ; 13 per cent. for leakage, friction, and wire-drawing in the pipes; and 8 per cent. for clearance and back pressure in the consumer’s engine. Except the last, these allowances are much more liberal than those that have been made in calculating the above table. On the same basis as ours have been made, Mr. Sturgeon’s calculations would have given considerably higher figures than the above "32 to 84. But the higher figures in Mr. Sturgeon’s table are obtained by supposing that the consumer heats the air by a gas-stove, before passing it into his engine, up to temperatures from 212° F. to 320 F. How the resulting figures can be in any sense 280 NATURE [| Han. 20, 1887 called “efficiencies” it is difficult to understand. The consumer is supposed to supply a large extra amount of power at his own cost by burning gas to heat the air, and it seems an extremely evident misuse of the word “efficiency ” to apply it to the ratio of the diagram so got to the diagram of the central station engine. By a little more liberal burning of gas, the efficiency obtained by this method could quite easily be made higher than unity. On the same principle we might calculate the efficiency of a steam-engine by taking the ratio of the indicator- card from the steam cylinder to that taken from the feed- pump that supplies water to the boiler, and thus obtain an efficiency of, let us say, 50,000 per cent. This is a veducitio ad absurdum of the method of calculation which is perfectly legitimate and logical. RegEIE SS: THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE CA°CILIANS ie a paper on the structure and affinities of the Amphiumide, published in the newly-issued part of the Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (vol. xxiii, No. 123), Prof. Cope has put forward some views as to the position of the Cecilians or Apodous Batrachians in the Systema Nature, which are worthy of careful consideration. The Czecilians, Prof. Cope observes, are generally regarded as representing a distinct order of the Batrachian class, which bears the name “ Apoda,” or “ Gymnophiona.” The definition of this order given by Mr. Boulenger in his recently published Catalogue of the specimens of these animals in the British Museum is: “No limbs; tail rudimentary ; males with an intro- mittent copulatory organ; adapted for burrowing.” Of these definitions Prof. Cope maintains that not one is of ordinal value. ‘‘ The tail in some Cecilians is distinct. The intromittent copulatory organ in such species as Dermophis mexicanus, Gymnophis proximus, and Herpete ochrocephala is not a special organ, but merely the everted cloaca. The hard papilla observed by Gunther in Ichthyophis glutinosus are wanting in the above-men- tioned species, and the protrusion of the cloaca is per- formed by two special muscles.” As regards the absence of limbs in the Cecilians, Prof. Cope points out that the extremely rudimentary character of these organs in Amphiuma is well known, and that their non-existence has no greater claim to be considered as of ordinal value in the Batrachians than in the adjoin- ing class of Reptiles, where it is in some cases not even a “family ” character. Looking to these facts, Prof. Cope proposes to unite the Cecilians with the Urodele Batrachians, and to class them only as a family, “ Ceeciliidae,” connected with the more typical forms of the group through the Amphiumide. Messrs. Sarasin, who have recently published a most interesting account of their observations on the develop- ment of a species of Czecilian in Ceylon,! seem to have come to nearly the same conclusions as to the correct systematic position of this group of Batrachians. NOTES THE Prince of Wales has requested the President of the Royal Society to join the Committee appointed to advise on the organisa- tion of the proposed Imperial Institute. WE have referred elsewhere to some of the possible results of the meetings held last week in favour of the Imperial Institute. Some very striking features which have been developed in con- nection with this movement during the last week are, first of all, the considerable desire which has been evinced to enrich various localities with some Jubilee memorial, and, again, the wisdom “Ueber die Entwicklungsgeschichte von Epicrinm glutinosum,” Arb. Zool, Inst. Wiirzburg, vii. p. 292 (1885). generally displayed in selecting worthy local objects, such as museums, improved science schools, and the like. All this of course is admirable and entirely to be applauded, but believing as we do that there is a possibility of the Imperial Institute, if properly conducted, doing more good for the future development of science and commerce in Greater Britain than any other single organisation can possibly effect, we hope that it will not be starved in favour of merely local objects. We hear that the women of England have already subscribed a noble sum. This no doubt Her Majesty will hand over to the Institute, if it is organised so as to command the confidence and respect of the various leaders of opinion in this country and in the colonies. Many of our readers will attach much importance to Colonel Donnelly’s letter, which appears in another column. A large increase in the number of students anxious to enter the Normal School of Science and Royal School of Mines was of course to be expected, and we are glad that this influx has induced the de- partment to take steps to increase the accommodation, and at the same time to insist upon one of the best possible forms of entrance examination; a strict inquiry, namely, into the educational history of each candidate for admission. THE Norwegian Government has presented a Bill to the Storthing for fixing a standard time for the whole of Norway, The standard time proposed is Greenwich time f/ss one hour. Mr. W. BaLpwin SPENCER, Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, has been appointed to the Chair of Biology in the University of Melbourne, and will leave England in about three weeks. Mr. Spencer distinguished himself lately by his important memoir on the pineal eye in lizards. A NUMBER of eminent men of science have addressed a memorial to the President, Vice-Presidents, and Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, suggesting that the legacy bequeathed to the College by the late Sir Erasmus Wilson might with advantage be devoted to the establishment of an institution having for its object ‘‘ physiological and patho- logical research.” It is pointed out that the want of such an institution in England has long been felt, and more especially of late, when we have had to look to Berlin for information respect- ing tubercle, and to Paris for experiments on the prevention of hydrophobia. That the Government will do anything in the matter no one is so sanguine as to believe; and it is hardly more probable that the want will ever be supplied by public subscription. There is, therefore, much to be said for the pre- sent proposal, and the authorities of the College of Surgeons will, no doubt, give it due attention. It seems strange that in London there should be nothing like the splendid laboratories which exist not only in the capital cities of Europe, but in com- paratively small German towns, such as Bonn, Strasburg, and Leipzig. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, Liverpool, has reason to congratulate itself on having some remarkably generous and enlightened friends. On Tuesday last it was announced at a meeting of the College Council that Mr. Thomas Harrison, shipowner, of Liverpool, had endowed the Chair of Engineering with 10,0007. Only a few weeks ago Sir Andrew Walker, also a citizen of Liverpool, gave 15,000/. to build Engineering Laboratories. ON Thursday last the honorary freedom of the City of London was conferred upon Mr. H. M. Stanley, in recognition of his services as a traveller and explorer in Africa, The presentation was made at a special meeting of the Court of Common Council in the new council chamber at the Guildhall. The City Cham- berlain, in making the presentation, referred to ‘‘the remark- able development of journalistic enterprise during the Victorian era,” observing that Mr. Stanley was the first member of ‘‘ the ; ' PI / ATL yD cae tea would stimulate him to further exertions. Fan. 20, 1887] NATORE 281 class of special travelling and war correspondents” whom the City had enrolled amongits freemen. Mr. Stanley was evidently much pleased by the honour done to him, and declared that it After luncheon at the Mansion House, he spoke of the various routes which have been proposed for the expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha. Mr. ALFRED RussEL WALLACE lately delivered, at Boston, U.S.A., a course of ‘* Lowell Lectures.” He proposes to make a Western tour, in the course of which he will lecture on, among other subjects, ‘‘ The Darwinian Theory: What it is, and How it is Demonstrated,” ‘‘ The Origin and Use of the Colours of Plants,” “*The Permanence of Oceans, and the Relations of Islands and Continents,” and ‘‘ The Biological History of Continental Islands, Recent and Ancient.” Mr. Wallace is thought by the Americans to be a more effective speaker than most of the eminent Englishmen who have lectured in the United States. THE Indian Survey Staff seems to be considerably under- manned. The Government of the Straits Settlements recently | applied to the Government of India for an experienced officer to advise them on the way of placing the system of survey in the |! colony on a satisfactory footing. As no qualified officer on the former establishment was available, Mr. J. B. N. Hennessey, now on the retired list, was offered the duty, but as he declined it the Straits Settlements Government had to be told that the | Government of India could render ‘no assistance on a work so necessary to the development of the colonial resources, and likely to be of so much service to science. A MOVEMENT is on foot at Gothenburg for the founding of a free University in that city. A large sum of money has already been subscribed. THE results of the new censuses of France and Germany show a marked falling-off in the rate of increase. In the case of France the rate of increase was low enough before ; now it threatens to stop altogether, and in many departments there has been a con- siderable decrease. The addition to the population in five years has only been 213,857, bringing the total up to 37,885,905. This is equal to an annual rate of only ‘I per cent. per annum. Germany is not quite so bad, but the rate of increase between 1870 and 1880 was abnormally high. The population: by the latest returns is 46,844,926 as compared with 45,234,061 five years before ; giving an annual rate of increase of ‘71 per cent. per annum in 1880-85, as compared with 1°14 per cent. per annum in the previous five years. Tue Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab has proposed to the Government of India the establishment of a University at Allahabad, and has furnished a scheme for such an institution in the capital of his province. AT the afternoon sitting of the Association for the Improve- ment of Geometrical Teaching, held at University College, on the 14th inst., the President (R. B. Hayward, F.R.S.) in the chair, the Rev. G. Richardson, of Winchester College, read : a paper on the teaching of modern geometry, in which he indi- cated the lines which, in his opinion, a Syllabus on the subject should follow. The draft, which covered an extent of ground too great, we think, for ordinary school-teaching, did not consist of a bare enumeration of the subjects of sections and chapters, but was rendered very interesting by the quaint humour which lightened up and pervaded the whole. The Rev. J. J. Milne read a short note on a part of the above subject, which had been omitted by the previous speaker, viz. the modern treatment of maxima and minima; his strong point was the light to be derived from symmetry in the search for cases of maximum and minimum. Mr. G. A. Storey, A.R.A, read a paper on ‘‘ Geometry from thejArtist’s Point of View.” In this thewriter introduced Euclid and Apelles in converse, and showed the agreement which exists between the purely geometrical method and perspective. The paper was illustrated by numerous drawings of triangles, squares, and cubes. A brief discussion of the several papers followed, and then Mr. E. M. Langley com- municated a very simple proof of Feuerbach’s theorem (that the nine-point circle touches the in- and ex-circles of the triangle). We may return to the consideration of one or more of the above papers when they have been printed in the Association’s Report. Upwards of twenty new members were elected. WE have received a hand-book entitled ‘‘ Through the British Empire in Ten Minutes with C. E. Howard Vincent, Esq., C.B., M.P.” It is intended to accompany a wall-map on which Mr. Vincent has brought together a large amount of use- ful information about the British Possessions. In his hand-book he glances at the leading characteristics of each of the great groups into which the Empire beyond the seas is divided. A STATE weather-service for Pennyslvania is to be formed at Philadelphia by the Franklin Institute. The State Legis- lature will be petitioned for an appropriation of 3000 dollars for instruments and publications, and it seems to be assumed that so reasonable a request will be readily granted. Tue Americans also have a Society for Psychical Research. The Society proposes to issue the next number of its Proceedings as soon as sufficient material can be collected. Apparently it is not quite so easy to get startling evidence of the “‘ psychical” kind in the New World as in the Old. DESCRIBING in an American medical journal the influence of the recent earthquake shocks in Charleston upon the health of the inhabitants, Dr. F. Peyre Porcher, of that city, says that | . . . . many persons experienced decidedly electrical disturbances, which were repeated upon the successive recurrence of the shocks. These disturbances were generally accompanied by tingling, pricking sensations, like ‘‘ needles and pins,” affecting the lower extremities. One gentleman was completely relieved of his rheumatism; another, who for months was nervous, depressed, and entirely unable to attend to business, regained his former activity and energy. AN interesting sketch of the great Serpent Mound in Ohio is given in Science by Mr. W. H. Holmes. It is in the northern part of Adams County, somewhat remote from frequented routes of travel. The entire body of the serpent and the peculiar fea- tures of the enlarged portion are all distinctly traceable, and leave no doubt in the mind, Mr. Holmes thinks, as to their artificial character. He is decidedly of opinion that the work should be classed among the products of the religion of the aboriginal races. J. H. Srewarr Lockuart, of Hong Kong, has addressed, on behalf of the Folk-Lore Society of England, an appeal in the English and Chinese languages, through the press, to students throughout China to co-operate in investigating the folk-lore of that country. He points out that no attempt has been made to deal with this subject as a whole, the work done so far being for the most part of a local character. He now pro- poses to obtain collections of the lore peculiar to different parts of the empire and its dependencies. Each collection, he goes on, while in itself highly instructive, will be chiefly important as forming a link in the chain of facts from which a general account of the folk-lore of China may be deduced. The Chinese version of the appeal is intended for circulation amongst natives, who, ** experience shows, evince a great interest in the subject when once they comprehend its aims and objects.” Competent scholars are scattered over the greater part of China, and, as Mr. J. 282 Mr. Lockhart says: ‘‘If willing helpers can be found to assist in the work of collection, the success of the scheme is assured. Failure can only result from want of co-operation and support.” IN a paper entitled ‘‘ Thirty-six Hours’ Hunting among the Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera of Middlesex,” reprinted from the ¥ournal of Microscopy and Natural Science, Mr. Sydney T. Klein has some interesting notes on the best meth ids of captur- ing Lepidoptera. He has found it very useful to take advantage of ‘the attractiveness of the ladies among the Lepidoptera gentry.” To those who have not had experience, or have not persevered in, this art, he says, the result is truly marvellous, and will sound very much like a fairy tale. The good taste possessed by the males of Lepidoptera is shown to the greatest perfection among the Bombycidz. On several occasions, when on botanical excursions in Hertfordshire, Mr. Klein has taken with him a female of Bombyx guercus, or other Bombycidz, fresh from the pupa; and, in a wooded country, provided the sun was hot and a gentle breeze blowing, he was certain of having, within ten minutes, a dozen of the opposite sex flying round him, and from time to time even settling on his shoulders or hands. On one occasion, after remaining, as an experiment, for some time on the same spot, he counted over forty of these large moths within fifty yards. NEGOTIATIONS are being carried on in Denmark for the holding of a Fisheries Exhibition in Copenhagen next year. AN enthusiastic fish-culturist is trying to introduce scaleless fiskes into English fresh waters. In a lecture on Fish, lately delivered at Worcester, and now published, Dr, Francis Day; C.1.E., expresses his belief that they will prove worthless for sport, almost, if not entirely, useless as food, and dangerous to handle on account of the spines with which they are protected. These fishes delight to eat other forms of fish-life. ‘‘I ob- tained,” says Dr. Day, ‘fa specimen of a common Indian cat- fish at Madras, which I placed in an aquarium that contained some carp. It rushed at one of my poor little fishes, and, before I could interfere, seized it by the middle of its back and shook it until it was dead, asa dog kills a rat.” AT the monthly meeting of the Council of the Sanitary Assur- ance Association on January 10, the Sanitary Registration of Buildings Bill was re-considered. A report on the draft Bill was submitted, with several clauses re-drawn. The Bill was further amended, and ordered to be printed for final considera- tion at the next meeting of the Council. It is proposed that the new Bill shall b2 compulsory with rezard to schools, hotels, asylums, hospitals, and lodging-houses, and Clause 6 has been made much more stringent in the matter of qualification of persons entitled to give sanitary certificates. BARON VON MUELLER, who retains the office of Government Botanist to the colony of Victoria, is about to issue a series of plates with descriptions of the acacias (wattles) of Australia. The work will be similar to the ‘‘ Eucalyptographia,’”’ probably the best and most useful of his publications. For diagnostic purposes he makes use of two characters hitherto overlooked, viz. the number of divisions in the pollen-mass and the position of the seed. The retirement of Baron von Mueller from the direction of the Botanic Garden, some few years since, his enabled him to devote more attention to scientific botany and its applications to practical purposes. Dr. GILEs, who was attached as scientific member to the Chitral-Kafirstan Mission, is now stated to be in Calcutta, en- gaged in writing a report on the geology of that region. Capt. PEAcocKE, R.E., is said to be preparing a report, with sketches, of his experiences with the Afghan Boundary Commission. NATURE | 1845, and at Madras between 1851 and 1855, which were men- [ Fan. 20, 1887 On Thursday evening last the Society of Telegraph-Engineers and Electricians held the first general meeting of the session of 1887. Sir Charles T. Bright, the new President, delivered an address on the history of the electric telegraph. Speaking of the progress which has been made since the property of the Telegraph Companies was bought by the State, he said that in | 1870, when the transfer was completed, there were 48,378 miles of land wires, and 1622 miles of cable wires (irrespective of railway wires), connecting together 2488 telegraph stations. Now the Post Office has 153,153 miles of wire (including sub- marine wires) in communication with 5097 offices. In addition, the railway companies have 70,000 miles of wire, making a total of 223,153 miles. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week inclule a Red-fronted Lemur (Lemur rujfifrons $ from Madagascar, a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalandi ¢ ) from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Pawelzig ; a Patas Monkey (Cercopithecus patas @) from West Africa, presented by Mr. George Ellis; a Common Oiter (Zutra vulgaris), British, purchased. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN NEW VARIABLES IN CyGNus.—A new variable of the Algol type (D.M. + 34°, No. 4181, R.A., 1887°0,; 20h. 47m. — 32'5s., Decl. 34° 13’ 595 N.), has been discovered by Dr. Gould. Its period is about three days in length, and it varies from 7°I mag. to 7°99 mag. A minimum occurred at about toh, 19m. G.M.T. on January 17. This discovery raises the number of stars of the type to eight, the other seven being Algol, period 2°49d.; A Tauri, 3°95d.; S Cancri, 9°48d. ; 5 Libre, 2°32d.; U Corone, 3°45d.; U Cephei (D.M. 819,” No. 25), 2°49d.; and U Ophiuchi (DM + 1°, No. 3408), 0'839d. Mr. S. C. Chandler, Jun., in a note in Gould’s Astronomical Journal, No. 148, calls attention to a new short-period variable very close to the above. This star (Lalande 40983, R.A., 1875'0, 20h. 38m. 30°2s. ; Decl. 35° 8’ 24”°6 N.) varies from 6°3 m. to 7°6 m. in a little over fourteen days, the increase occupying about four days, the decrease ten days, with a halt in the latter about midway of its course. Mr. Chandler gives for first elements of the star, 1886 October 3°60 G.M.T. + 14%-04 E. New Minor PLANEr.—Prof. C. H. F. Peters, at Clinton, discovered a new minor planet on December 22. This will be No. 264, and the forty-sixth discovered by Prof. Peters. A New METHop FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE CONSTANT OF ABERRATION.—In the Comptes rendus, tome civ. No. 1, M. Loewy explains how the principle of his method of determining the amount of astronomical refrac- tion (NATURE, vol. xxxiii. p. 303) can be applied to the determination of aberration also, By means of the two re- flecting surfaces forming the double mirror placed in front of the object-glass of an equatorial, the images of two stars situated in different parts of the sky appear, in the field of view, side by side; their angular distance is then to be measured in a known direction, To obtain the amount of aber- ration it is, of course, necessary to measure a properly chosen pair of stars at successive epochs. The first observation is to be made when the stars are at the same height above the horizon, and the second, after a certain interval, under similar conditions. The comparison of the two measures will give a multiple value of the aberration which is independent of instrumental errors. By a proper choice of the angle of the double mirror employed, of pairs of stars selected for measurement, and of the circum- stances of observation, M. Lcewy contends that, by attention to the details which he specifies, a more accurate value of the constant of aberration can be obtained by his method in an | interval of three months than could be deduced by the methods hitherto in vogue, liable as these are to systematic error. Ture Mapras OsseRVATORY.—In his Report for the year : 1885, Mr. Pogson states that the volume of telegraphic longi- tude determinations in India, and the two volumes of hourly magnetical observations made at Singapore between 1841 and i pe ; Fan. 20, 1887 | tioned as ready for issue in the last Report, were distributed in 1885. Mr. Pogson’s attention was chiefly directed, during the year, to the necessary preliminary investigations for the publica- _ tion of the meridian-circle observations from 1862 to the present time. The formation of the star ledgers and the deduced catalogues of mean positions for each year were completed for the years 1862, 1863, and partly for 1864, which will form the first of the eight volumes about to be published. The star ledgers for the next three years—1865-67—are also in progress, for the second volume of the series. Except for time observa- tions and determinations of positions of a few comparison stars for equatorial observations, the meridian-circle will be little used until the publication of its past results is accomplished. Only 352 complete positions of stars were determined in 1885, making 52,074 during the past twenty-four years. A few o!servations of minor planets were made with the equatorials during the year. We are glad to find that there is at length a prospect of the publication of the Madras meridian observations, the long delay in which has been a serious blot on the fair fame of the Observatory. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1887 /ANUARY 23-29 JERS the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.) At Greenwich on January 23 Sun rises, 7h. 54m. ; souths, 12h. 12m. 4°4s. ; sets, 16h. 30m. ; decl. on meridian, 19° 27’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, oh. 41m. Moon (New, January 24) rises, 7h. 14m. ; souths, th. gom. ; sets, 16h. gm. ; decl. on meridian, 18° 13/ S. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h. m. h. m. h. m. Roo Mercury) |... 738 ... 11 34 ... 15 30 733}, {ois MENUS wot 10.34 <. 13° 4. wo 17 34 17 34S. Mars S40) cr G36 .5. 18123 14 36S. Mpteuere Ten! .. §O2 6.) Te 4) ... TL 54'S. Saturn. ... I4 59 23 6 Wprlehs een, 1, MORNE * Indicates that the setting is that of the following morning. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding angles from ver- Jan. Star Mag. Disap. Reap. ‘tes to Tighbfor inverted image A : h. m. h. m. 5 a 28 ... 4 Ceti e510) TO) TOs) 20) 03) en. 070) 200 Bahco CITE ee Le) 19 42 ... 20 26 196 281 Variable Stars Star R.A. Decl. Ae h m U Cephei ... 16 .. Jan. 26, 22 21 m A Tauri 5 24, 20 33 m ¢ Geminorum . 20 44 20s OlOn77 BRCANCKIy son, nis 19 26 5. BR R Virginis .., ... I q 73 fN aeerE ss) 8205 MW Woevireinis .. ... 13) 220 Or eins a a ge M 5 Libree 14 54°9 SER Ate ee mez US. 28) 972 sg lp PEE PEGoroncem tc Lo ulosOm C2 Nc... 55) (275, LO) el 92 U Ophiuchi... WLOLOm tee Tn2OUN mcg a) 2578 SO. V2 and at intervals of 20 8 R Scuti 00 18 41°4 GROSS sea lies 25 m” B Lyre... 6 tei ZIG) cna Sip ING cee A toes PO 4 5 Cephei see ZZ ZO Ohee IG MGOUNG ees oy) 1255) le (On m2 M signifies maximum ; 7 minimum. Meteor-Showers On January 28 a radiant near 6 Corone Borealis is in evi- dence. The meteors from this radiant are very swift, R.A. 236°, Decl. 25° N. Another radiant giving very swift meteors lies near o Leonis, R.A. 168°, Decl. 7° N. GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES Ir is all but certain that Mr. Stanley will lead the Emin Pasha Relief Exploration by the Congo route. He will cer- tainly go to Zanzibar, prepared to follow whatever route circum- stances may indicate as likely to prove the most successful. At NATURE 283 Port Said he will meet with Dr. Junker, who may give him information of critical importance. At all events, Mr. Stanley and his staff and the whole of the baggage will proceed, in the first instance, to Zanzibar. If a steamer is handy, the Expe- dition, after recruiting a caravan and laying in a store of suitable goods for trade by the way, will sail round the Cape to the Congo ; that at least is Mr. Stanley’s present intention. All the available steamers belonging to the King of the Belgians will be placed at his disposal, and probably by the begin- ning of May he will be at the limit of navigation and ready for his land journey eastwards to Lake Albert Nyanza ; if, indeed, he does not give the lake a wide berth west- wards and go direct to Wadelai. A camp as a base of operations will be established, as far as safe from the Congo, and left in charge of a trustworthy member of the staff. About fifty donkeys will be taken to carry the heavy baggage, and the caravan will consist of about 100 men, with a few Egyptian soldiers to maintain discipline. The staff consists of half-a-dozen carefully selected men, among whom are two able engineer officers, under whose care the interests of science will be attended to, Four or five carefully rated chronometers and other instruments are being taken, so that we may expect some good results. It is probable that Mr. Stanley will endeavour to solve the Albert Nyanza and the Wellé-Mobangi problem, as well as other obscure points in African hydrography, on his return journey. It is tobe hoped that Emin Pasha will not think of coming away, as Dr. Junker states he wishes to do; but if he does, then no doubt Mr. Stanley will be able to make arrangements to carry on the work which Emin has begun so well. Mr. Stanley leaves England to-morrow, and the good wishes of all will go with him. He is confident of being able to reach Emin Pasha by July 1, and possibly may be back in Europe about Christmas ; in that case, we fear, he could not do much exploring work. Dr. Lenz has at last arrived at Zanzibar, having taken less than eighteen months to cross the African continent from the mouth of the Congo. A fortnight ago we gave some account of his journey up the Congo from Stanley Falls to Nyangwe and Kasonge ; it will be interesting to know what route he followed after leaving the Upper Congo. It will be remembered that Dr. Lenz went out eighteen months ago for the purpose, if pos- sible, of reaching Emin Pasha and Dr. Junker. From Zanzibar the late Dr. Fischer started through Masai Land on a similar errand. In both cases the object has not been accomplished, and no wonder, now that we know the real facts. Much good work, however, has been done by both men. Dr. Lenz is a man of scientific training and experience in African travelling, and there can be no doubt that the results of his just completed journey will be a gain to science. It is possible that Mr. Stanley may meet with Dr. Lenz on his way to Zanzibar; and ifso may obtain some information that will be of service on his great expedition. Tue Rey. Thomas Brydges, a missionary in Tierra del Fuego, in the large island of Onisin, among the Ona and the Yagbons, mentions a curious circumstance with reference to the people, illustrating the influence of environment on the acquirement of habits. Between men and women there is a fair subdivision of labour. Among other things, the men make and fit up the canoes, but the women are the rowers. The result is that the women are good swimmers, but the men cannot swim at all. The reason is that often on the coast there is not a single tree to which to fasten the canoes. The women, therefore, after landing their husbands, have to row the canoes to a spot where sea-weed has been massed together, in order to moor the canoes thereon ; after which operation they are compelled to swim back. So, also, when the canoe is wanted, the woman has to swim out for it and row back for her husband. THE current number of the AZitthéi/ungen of the Geographical Society of Vienna (Band xxix. No. 10) has a large map of the rsute from Ango-Ango to Leopoldville, made by Herr Baumann, of the Austrian Congo Expedition, with accompanying remarks, and a comparison with other recent maps of the same part of the river. There is an interesting note by Herr Baumann on the numerical systems of the Why or Wai Negroes and of the Mandingoes. The former, although they have a writing of their own—the Mandingoes use Arab letters—have no expression in their language for 100, and use the English, while the Mandin- goes, Bantus, and other tribes can count with ease up to 1000. Herr Baumann also writes on the region around Stanley Falls, 284 and its inhabitants. The two remaining papers are mainly geological, one being on the geography of Persia, by Dr. Tietze, the other the conclusion of Dr. Diener’s paper on the hypso- metry of Central Syria, EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE IN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES PROF. G, F. FITZGERALD, as Vice-President of the Dublin University Experimental Science Association, delivered an address at'the opening meeting, held on November 23 in the Museum Buildings of Trinity College, under the pre- sidency of the Rev. the Provost, on ‘Experimental Science in Schools and Universities.” Prof. Fitzgerald, at the outset of his address, dealt with the history of Universities, and showed how they gave such pre- ponderance to book as against experimental knowledge. > That had led, the Professor continued, to a dual system of education —the professional and the commercial. That gap between the classes was much to be lamented, and necessitated, from a political point of view, the desirability of having all classes edu- cated in the same institutions. The commercial classes would not, however, enter the Universities at present, because they required to be taught useful subjects, and they would not learn the Latin and Greek now required in our Universities. From the political side of the question, he thought, they had got these results—that they must be content to have useful subjects tanght in their schools and Universities if the schools and Universities were to be used by the large body in the country who were will- ing and able to pay for it. What they must have, if possible, wa; a single school and college system for all classes of the com- munity who were able to spend the first twenty years or so of their life in education, and they ought to have a system that was complete, a training which gave both those who could not afford to go on the whole length up to twenty years, and which ought to be able to train those who desired to go on for the higher culture. Returning to the education side of the question, he insisted that almost the whole importance was as to how the subject was taught. He thought the use of the Latin Grammar had been reduced to a very good system, but he thought it was perfectly evident from the course that things were taking and the reasonableness of things, that they must teach their youth some knowledge of science. People who felt responsi- bility in the matter were being more and more convinced that it was not right for them to allow their children to grow up ignorant of the laws of the world in which they live. Others made answer to that that they left those laws of the world to the doctors. But how were they to know under what circumstances it was well to consult a specialist ? It was very necessary for us to have a knowledge when we required to consult a doctor. Hundreds of people were killed by ignorance of the fact that dirt was the cause of disease. That was a very elementary sub- ject. Nevertheless, people were dying every day from ignorance of that very fact; and, unless they were taught to believe in the fact that there were laws of Nature, they would not believe that dirt was the cause of disease, because they saw some people living in dirt and yet not the victims of disease. He thought that time for teaching science must be found for these two reasons—~it was necessary that our youth should learn the laws of the world in which they live, and that they also should learn how to discover those laws. Unless our people were taught the laws under which plants and animals were best grown, the people of other countries would rival them in the manufacture of butter and beef, and the result would be that our people must starve. Another advantage of such training was to prevent superstition such as that of the people of Spain, who preferred the use of charms as a safeguard against cholera to the cleansing of their wells. All the ‘classes of the country required this training—they would die without it, so they must have it. Having shown that the cultivation of Latin and Greek was originally with the view of acquiring the information contained in the ancient books in those languages, the Pro- fessor combated the five reasons formulated by the German professoriate as to why they thought that the cultivation of Latin and Greek was so important, observing, with regard to the fourth reason—that these languages were the best varied exercise in thinking—that if the connection between words and ideas was a thing that must be taught in every system of educa- tion, his impression was that( nat would bea great deal better NATURE [Fan. 20, 1887 attained by describing accurately and thinking out the conse- quences of physical experiment. In choosing the sciences that they should teach, there were three conditions that should be fulfilled. First of all, the sciences chosen ought to be within the grasp of children, because it was highly important that the science begun with childhood should be continued on in the University days ; secondly, it ought not to require any expensive apparatus, because schools and people who trained children could not be expected to buy elaborate apparatus, and children could not be expected to work with them satisfactorily ; and, thirdly, he thought the sciences should be chosen so as to be concerned with a large number of the laws of the world in which we live. There were two large branches of science which in- cluded nearly all the laws of the world, namely, the physical and the biological; and, therefore, he thought it would be desirable to choose two sciences—one on the physical and one on the biological side, so that children might learn some- thing about the laws of living things, and something about the laws of physical things. He therefore suggested chemistry and botany, and he thought the whole weight of their efforts should be devoted to trying to get the children in schools to learn the elements of chemistry and the elements of botany, for there were no other two sciences the elements of which were almost similar, and at the same time there were no other two sciences that led up to a greater number of the laws of life, nor that gave a wider and more extended view of the laws of the world in which we live. The objections to the present system of teach- ing a knowledge of experimental science was that it almost entirely concentrated the person’s attention upon pheno- mena instead of upon reasoning. Therefore, in choosing their system of teaching, all their weight ought to be thrown into making sure that their plan had the effect of making the child learn to think a good deal. An- other thing they had to consider was the enormous time that children were made to remain in school without being engaged in anything except mischief. He thought a child should nit spend more than four hours a day at literary work. Well, that occupied but a small part of a child’s day ; and one of the great advantages of having experimental subjects introduced into school teaching would be that they were subjects at which a child could work without experiencing very much fatigue. He could not help calling attention to the flagrant abuse of the teaching of experimental science in Irish schools. Experimental science in Irish schools was very nearly the same as snakes in Iceland. Having pointed out the fallacy of an examination—as exemplified in the Intermediate Education system—that was satisfied with a reading of the musical signs unwedded toa knowledge of the sounds they represented, the Professor said it would be an enormous advantage if the Intermediate Commis- sioners could be induced to keep up a peripatetic system of periodical examinations that would insist upon practical know- ledge. That, however, should not interfere with the giving of papers also. After observing that it was at the present time impossible to carry out a proper examination in laboratory work, and stating that he considered it would be very desirable that the actual work in the laboratory and analyses in practical sub- jects should count towards the University prizes, Mr. Fitzgerald said he considered that the present system of analysis was not very satisfactory, and he urged the introduction of a system that would teach chemistry practically. Though that might be harder to teach than Latin and Greek, it would not be so if they had a system worked out and teachers to promote it, and it would have the inestimable advantage that, in addition to training the child to think—which he thought it would do equally well with Latin and Greek—it would teach him the laws of things, and how to see and learn the laws of things. It would also teach the child to use language to express real ideas, and not merely phrases. They would also learn a good deal more of the laws of language from a modern language that they learned with the grain than they would by learning an ancient language against the grain. He thought that literature and history were co-ordinate with science, and they certainly ought to be a large part of education. Literature and history were grievously neglected in the present day—practically they had no place, and that was substantially because Latin and Greek were supposed to be a literary education. One of the reasons was that those subjects were hard to examine in, but there was an easy way out of that difficulty in Universities. They need not examine, but they could require attendance at lectures—attend- ance on good lecturers; and the student would pick up more eee SS ne Aaa Fan. 20, 1887 | NATURE 285 culture and would be cbtaining a better literary education from hearing a good lecturer and being inspired by his enthusiasm than he would get by learning off one of Shakespeare’s plays, and answering it at an examination. Those two aspects of education, the literary and scientific, were often put in opposition, just as the freedom of the individual and the power of the State to control the individual were very often set up in opposition to one another ; but he did not think any one would believe that that opposition really arose, for the freest States were those in which the power of the State was the strongest. In conclusion, he would say that we must equip our youth for the battle of life physically and ethically. The present is a great crisis in Irish education. There is danger of science schools starting, and all the evils of dual education. There are a large body who like Latin and Greek, because they exclude literature and history. These are to be fought tooth and nail. There are those who would sacrifice the rising generation on an altar of so-called culture to starve and die, with their only comfort that they can describe their agony in well-expressed phrases. There are those who would grind all soul out of mankind in a mill of manual labour, constructed on scientific principles. All those are to be guarded against. We must have literature and history. We must have knowledge of the laws of the world in which we have to work. We can have both if we will but work out a reason- able system of education, instead of pretending that the lop-sided corpse that occupies our schools and Universities is a well- developed, symmetrical giant. a ABORIGINAL ART IN CALIFORNIA AND QUEEN CHARLOTTE’S ISLAND IX the fourth volume, recently issued, of the Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences there is a valuable article by Dr. W. J. Hoffman on ‘‘ Aboriginal Art in Cali- fornia and Queen Charlotte’s Island.” In the summer of 1884 Dr. Hoffman visited the Pacific coast for the purpose of con- tinuing his researches on primitive art, and he was fortunate enough to find a number of localities in which there are painted and ‘‘ etched” records, of considerable interest, made by Indians belonging to tribes now unknown. These records occur in groups. One group, the first described by Dr. Hoffman, is in the neighbourhood of Santa Barbara. The best preserved paintings in this series are in a cavity which measures about twenty feet wide and eight feet high. The rock consists of gray sandstone, but the ceiling and back portion of the cave have a yellowish appearance. The colours employed were red ochre, white, and bluish black. Some of the paintings Dr. Hoffman takes to be representations of gaudily-coloured blankets. In several instances a grotesque human figure is drawn over or in front of what seems to be a blanket, as if the latter were intended as a body blanket or serape. In the Azuza caiion, about thirty miles north-east of Los Angeles, Dr. Hoffman examined a second series of painted records. Rudely sketched human figures are represented a: pointing in certain directions, and the intention evidently was that they should serve as guides to travelling parties. For instance, the left arm of a figure on a white granitic boulder points towards the north-east. The precipitous walls of the caiion make egress in that direction impossible, but two hundred yards further on the cafion makes a sharp turn towards the north- east, and in rounding the point of land to the right the traveller comes to another boulder, on which are numerous faint drawings of various kinds. This boulder is on the line of an old trail leading from the country of the Chemehueyi, on the north of the mountains, down to the valley settlements of San Gabriel and Los Angeles. A third series of records was found in the southern part of Owens Valley, California, between the White Mountains on the east and the Benton Range on the west. They are “etched,” not painted. The most common characters in this group are circles, either plain, nucleated, bisected, concentric, or spectacle-shaped, by pairs or threes, with various forms of interior ornamentation. This group resembles. etchings in the Canary Islands so closely that the illustrations given by Dr. Hoffman serve for both localities. On one of his plates he presents a number of circles with ornamented interiors, from a simple bisection to the stellate and cruciform varieties. Similar circles bearing cross-lines occur at Grevinge, Zeeland ; and other forms resembling some at Owens Valley are found at Slieve-na-Calliagh, Grange, and Dowth, in Ireland. The spectacle-shaped variety resembles the mysterious symbol on some Scottish monuments which has given rise to so much vague speculation. The reversed Z, however, is wanting in the Californian examples. Of the various outlines of the human form presented by Mr. Wallace from Brazil, and referred to more recently by Prof. Richard Andree in ‘‘ Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche,” a considerable number are almost identical with etchings in the Owens Valley series. Many of the characters in these three Californian groups are similar to, and some are indistinguishable from, those made by the Moki and other tribes of the Shoshonian linguistic stock. Further research on the same Jines may, therefore, enable anthropologists to determine the former geographical area of the Shoshonian family, as has already been done in the case of the Algonkian tribes. In the neighbourhood of Los Angeles Dr. Hoffman obtained a portion of an old Indian gravestone. On this slab there are incised characters which seem to represent a whale-hunt, and no doubt they were intended to denote the occupation of the person to whose memory the tablet was erected. Honour is done to the dead in a similar manner by the Innuit of Alaska and by the Ojibwa. Among the Innuit, the posts erected for men usually bear rude drawings of weapons and animals ; those for women have representations of household utensils and implements. On Ojibwa gravestones, as Mr. Schoolcraft has noted, the totem of the deceased is drawn in an inverted position. Dr. Hoffman offers some interesting remarks on the subject of tattooing. In former times, in the vicinity of Los Angeles, every chief caused the tattooed marks upon his face to be reproduced upon trees or poles which indicated the boundaries of his land ; and as these marks were well known to neighbouring chiefs, they were a sufficient warning that trespassers would be punished. A custom akin to this prevails in Australia, where the tattooed designs upon the face of a native are often engraved upon the bark of trees near his grave. Among many of the tribes west of the Mississippi there are still numbers of persons who bear tattoo marks upon the chin, the cheeks, and even upon other parts of the body, but the marks seldom occur in any forms other than narrow lines, except among the Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte’s Island, where the art of tattooing has reached a higher degree of development than on the mainland. The Haidas tattoo upon the back, breast, fore-arms, thighs, and the legs below the knees ; and women submit to the operation as well as men. The characters are totemic, and represent either animate or mytholozic beings. They are usually drawn in out- line, with interior decorative lines, red being sometimes intro- duced to form what is supposed to be a pleasant contrast. The ceremonies at which the tattooing is done are held in the autumn, and extend over a period of several weeks. Among the figures generally adopted are the thunder-bird, raven, bear, skulpin, and squid. A former Factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company told Dr, Hoffman that when he first went to the country occupied by the Haida Indians he saw no tattooing upon the bodies of the older members of the tribe ; and he contends that they have learned the art from natives of some of the South Pacific Islands, which they occasionally visit as traders. The Haidas display considerable skill as carvers in wood and slate. Totem posts are often placed before the council-houses, and more frequently before private dwellings. When the posts are the property of some individual, the personal totemic sign is carved at the top. Other animate and grotesque figures follow in rapid succession down to the base, so that unless one is familiar with the mythology and folk-lore of the tribe the subject would be utterly unintelligible. On one post to which Dr. Hoffman refers there are only seven pronounced carvings, but they relate to three distinct myths. On household vessels, the handles of wooden spoons, and other objects, the Haidas often carve the head of a human being in the act of eating a toad. Sometimes the toad is placed at ashort distance below the mouth. The idea is that in the wooded country there is an evil spirit who has great power of committing evil by means of poison extracted from the toad. The Indians are not willing to acknowledge the common belief in this mystic being, even when they are aware that the inquirer is in possession of the main facts. UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE OxrorpD.—The long-expected reform of the examination system which makes it unnecessary for men reading mathematics and natural science to pass any examinations of a non-scientific 286 NATURE [ Yan. 20, 1887 character after cominz into residence has at last been accom- plished. The arrangement, which coms into force with the beginning of this year, is that candidates for degrees in mathe- matics and natural science take up responsions (orsom? equivalent examination at school) like other people, but by passing in one extra subject they are excused the second classical examination, in preparing for which they used to waste a good part of their first year of residence. The extra subjects from which candidates may choose include Greek, Latin, French, and German authors, Bacon’s ‘‘Novum Organum,” and the elem2nts of lozic. This alteration wil! be an uadoubted benefit to science men, for, as the new examination involves no preliminary residence and occurs four times a year, they can proceed at once to take up the subject which they have chosen for their final schools. The following courses of lectures and practical classes are announced for this term :— Prof. Pritchard is to lecture at the Observatory on ‘‘ Planetary Theory” and on ‘‘ Astronomical Instruments and Methods,” and offers practical instruction. Prof. Bartholomew Price lectures at the Museum on ‘‘ Optics.” At the Clarendon Laboratory Prof. Clifton continues his course on ‘‘ Electricity,” and Mr. Walker lectures on ‘‘ Double Refraction treated Mathematically.” The practical work remains in the hands of the Professor, Mr. Walker, and Mr. Selby. Sir John Conroy, who has undertaken Mr. H. B. Dixon’s work at Balliol and Trinity, lectures on ‘‘ Ele nentary Electricity.” In the Chemical department Prof. O lling will lecture on the “€Benzoic Compounds”’; Mr. Fischer and Mr. Watts continue tieir systematic courses on ‘‘ Inorganic” and ‘* Organic Chem- istry ” respectively. Mr. C. J. Baker and Mr. Marsh assist in the laboratory teaching. In Mr. Vernon Harcourt’s laboratory at Christ Church and in the Balliol Laboratory the usual work is to be carried on. The arrangements in the department of Morphology have been somewhat disturbed by the appointment of Mr. Baldwin Spencer to the Biology Professorship at Melbourne. Prof. Moseley is to lecture on the ‘Comparative Anatomy of the Vertebrata,” and is to have Mr. G. C. Bourne as Assistant Lecturer and Demonstrator. M-:. Barclay Taonp3oa lectures on the ‘‘ Osteolozy ani Distribution of the Ichthyopsida.” In the new Physiological Laboratory, Prof. Burdon Sanderso1 lectures on the ‘‘ Physiolozy of the Nervous System,” Mr. Dixey on ‘‘Histolozy,” and Mr. Buckmaster gives an elementary course of Physiology for the n»wly-orzanised prelininary exa- mination. Practical instruction is given in Physiology by Mr. ‘Gotch, in Histolozy by Mr. Dixey, and in Physiological Chemistry by Mr. Haldane. Quite a number of men are b2zinninz to read for the new Medical School. The dissecting-room is under the charge of Mr. Arthur Thomson, who lectures on the ‘* Digestive System.” Prof. Prestwich is to lecture chiefly on ‘‘ Ternary and Quaternary Geolozy,” including the Glacial period and questions relating to the antiquity of man. Prof. Westwood lectures on the ‘* Arthropoda.” ; At the Botanic Garden, Prof. Bayley Balfour lectures on “‘Vegetable Morphology and Physiolozy,” and has both ele- mentary and advanced instruction in practical Botany. The Pitt-Rivers Anthropological Collection is now so far arranged that the formal opening will probably take place this term. All the cases on the ground floor of the new building have been arranged by Mr. Balfour. Dr, Tylor is to lecture on the ‘‘ Development of Arts”’ a; illustrated by the collection. Next week the annual examination for a Radcliffe Travelling Fellowship begins. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS Bulletins de la Société d Anthropologie de Paris, tome 9eme, 3eme fascic. 1886.—On the relations between the organs of touch and smell, by Dr. Fauyelle. In this paper the author considers the proposition advanced by M. Pozzi that the attitude of an animal is always in accord with the exercise of its pre- dominant organ of sense. On this assumption the biped station would be the consequence of the predominance of vision over smell, and the attitude of quadrupeds the result of the relatively higher development of their sense of smell. In refutation of this view the writer argues that the relations between the organs of sight and smell in bipeds and quadrupeds are the result, rather than the cause, of their different stations, while he shows that wheyever in the animal series the organs of sight would seem to haye lost their importance in proportion to the development of the sense of smell the latter is aided by delicate organs of touch situated on those parts of the body which form its anterior side when moving forward. Thus in the vertebrates all the organs of the senses are situated at the cephalic extremity of the body.—On a woman with a tail. The case, reported by M. Melikoff, was observed by Dr. Eliséeff, of St. Petersburg, author of an interesting work on men with tails. According to the statement of the woman, who suffered great pain from her caudal appendage, a similar abnormality had been observed in several female members of her family, in all of whom it had appeared between the ages of 12 and 17 years. Dr. Eliséeff refers this formation to embryogenic causes, such as an arrest of development in the fcetus, and observes that such cases are more frequent in males than in females, the latter, according to him, presenting a much more advanced corporeal development than men.—A case of double uterus, by Dr. Landowski.—On short-tailed dogs, by M. Duval.—Observations on the crania of several insane subjects, by M. Manouvrier.—On the weight of Gambetta’s brain, by M. Duval. This paper, and the discussion to which it gave rise, are especially interesting from the new light which they throw on the assumed relations between the large volume of the brain and intellectual capacity, the weight of Gambetta’s being only 1160 grammes, or, according to M. Daval, 1246 after making all possible allowance for accidental diminution by faulty methods of preparation, while the mean for persons not gifted with more than ordinary intelligence is 1360 grammes.—On a new variation of the ossa wormiana, by M. Manouvrier.—A case of pilosity in a young Laotian girl, by Dr. Fauvelle.—On acclimatisation in reference to French colonisation, by Dr. Fauvelle.—On the anthropological character- istics of the Indo-Chinese peoples, by Dr. Maurel.—On the origin of the bronze and tin of prehistoric times, by Mme. Clémence Royer. The writer believes that Europe supplied the sources whence bronze implements were fabricated by early man, while M. Mortillet considers that both the material and the production of the weapons, ornaments, and other objects of this kind which belong to prehistoric times must be referred to In lia and the Far East.—Enumeration of the megalithic remains of Niévre, by Dr. Jacquinot. The number of such remains in the whole of France, as certified by official inquiry, amounts to 6310, of which thirty-five belong to Niévre. Among these special in- terest attaches to the horizontal slabs of Saint Agnan, which Dr. Jacquinot considers to have been altars for human sacrifices. —Summary of the answers given by New Caledonians to the interrogatories of the Society of Sociology and Ethnography, by M. Moncelon. These answers supply interesting materials for the ethnographic study of these races, and show the importance of following a definite plan in pursuing such inquiries.x— Anthropological observations of the Khmer tribes of Cambodia, by Dr. Maurel. The writer, who supplies numerous anthropo- metric measurements, believes that these peoples belong to the Mongolian group. —Meteorological observations made at the Brera Observatory, Rendiconti del Reale Istituto Lombard», November 11, 1886. . Milan, during the months of August and September. | November 25 —Results of the experiments carried out at the experimental farm of the Royal Milanese School of Agriculture against the mildew of the grape-vine, by Prof. Gaetano Cantoni. Of the various methods of treatment here described, the prepara- tion of a sulphate of copper dissolved in water in the proportion of three per thousand is shown to be the most etficacious. The analysis of the wines obtained from crops so treated shows that they usually contain a scarcely appreciable quantity of the copper. Bulletin de 0 Academie des Sciences de St. Petersbourg, tome xxi. No, 2.—Report ona memoir by M. Harzer ona special case | of the problem of the three bodies, by O. Backlund. It is con- | sidered a most valuable work, being the first attempt to apply the method of Prof. Gyldén.—New transcription of the Castrén’s Koibal dictionary and Koibal poetry, made by M. Katanoff (who is himself of Sagai origin), from the Abakan, with a preface by W. Radloff.—Photometric researches on the diffusion of light, by O. Chwolson, being numerical data of new experiments mathematically treated. —Hydrological researches, xlv. to xlvii., by C. Schmidt. —Chemical analyses of water from lakes in North- west Mongolia and in North Tibet.—On a differential equation, by B. Ichmenetzky. Fan. 20, 1887] SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES LONDON Royal Society, November 25, 1886.—‘‘ On the Dynamical Theory of the Tides of Long Period.” By G. H. Darwin, LL.D., F.R.S., Fellow of Trinity College, and Plumian Professor in the University of Cambridge. Laplace sought to show that, as regards the oscillations of long period, called by him ‘of the first species,” friction would suffice to make the ocean assume at each instant its form of equilibrium. His conclusion is no doubt true, but the question remains as to what amount of friction is to be regarded as suffic ing to produce the result, and whether oceanic tidal friction can aa great enough to have the effect which he supposes it to ave. In oscillations of the class under consideration, the water moves for half a period north, and then for half a period south. Now in systems where the resistances are proportional to _ velocity, it is usual to specify the resistance by a modulus of decay, namely, that period in which a velocity is reduced by friction to 1 + 2°783 of its initial value; and the friction contemplated by Laplace is such that the modulus of decay is short compared with the semi-period of oscillation. The quickest of the tides of long period is the fortnightly tide, hence, for the applicability of Laplace’s conclusion, the modulus of decay must be short compared with a week. Now it seems practically certain that the friction of the ocean bed _ would not much affect the velocity of a slow ocean current in a day or two. Hence we cannot accept Laplace’s hypothesis as to : the effect of friction. This paper then gives a solution of the equation of motion when friction is entirely neglected. The method is indicated in a footnote to a paper by Sir William Thomson (Pizlosophical Magazine, 1875, vol. 50, p. 280), but has never been worked out before. » It appears in the result that with an ocean 1200 fathoms deep, covering the whole globe, the fortnightly tide has about 1/7th of its equilibrium value at the pole, and nearly a half at the equator. If the ocean be four times as deep we get analogous results, and it appears that with such oceans as we have to deal with the tide of long period is certainly less than half its equilibrium result. In Thomson and Tait’s ‘‘ Natural Philosophy” (edition of _ 1883) a comparison is made of the observed tides of long period _ with the equilibrium theory, } This investigation was undertaken in the belief of the cor- rectness of Laplace’s view as to the tides of long period, and was intended to evaluate the effective rigidity of the earth’s mass. The present result shows that it is not possible to attain any estimate of the earth’s rigidity in this way, but as the tides of _ long period are distinctly sensible, we may accept the investiga- tion in the “‘ Natural Philosophy” as generally confirmatory of Thomson’s view as to the great effective rigidity of the whole earth’s mass. There is one tide, however, of long period of which Laplace’s argument from friction must hold true. In consequence of the regression of the nodes of the moon’s orbit there is a minute tide _ with a period of nearly nineteen years, and in this case friction must be far more important than inertia. Unfortunately this tide is very minute, and as is shown in a Report for 1886 to the British Association on the tides, it is entirely masked by oscillations of sea-level produced by meteorological or other causes. Thus it does not seem likely that it will ever be possible to evaluate the effective rigidity of the earth’s mass by means of tidal observations E December 9.—‘‘ Note on a New Form of Direct-Vision Spectroscope.” By G. D. Liveing, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of Chemistry, and J. Dewar, M.A., F.R.S., University of Cambridge. December 16, 1886.—‘‘ Preliminary Account of the Observa- tions of the Eclipse of the Sun at Grenada in August 1886.” By Captain Darwin, R.E. Communicated by Lord Rayleigh, Sec.R.S. The instruments allotted to me consisted of the coronagraph and the prismatic camera ; the two instrurents being mounted on the same equatorial stand. The photograph obtained with the prismatic camera shows NAT OLE ! wards joined in the discussion. 287 several images of the prominences, and it therefore gives every promise of yielding good results when measured and examined. The five- and ten-second photographs of the corona show signs of aslight vibration, but they will be useful for the inner part of the corona. As my main object was to obtain instantaneous photographs, these long-exposure plates had to be obtained by working the automatic shutter by hand ; it was this probably that caused the vibration. The instantaneous photographs of the corona when developed were complete blanks, proving that the exposure was too short. It should, however, be observed that this does not prove that the light of the corona was insufficient to cause an appreciable effect on the plate if combined with other light. More light energy is necessary to start photographic action than is required to produce a visible difference of shade when once the action is started. Many of the photographs taken during partial eclipse show what may be described as a false corona, that is, an increase of density near the sun and between the cusps, cr 2 front of the moon. In none of them can the moon be seen eclipsing the corona. The results, therefore, are adverse to the possibility of obtain- ing photographs of the corona in sunlight ; it is, however, I consider, by no means proved that the method is impossible. But at present I am inclined to consider that the result tends to show that a fractical method of obtaining photographic records of the corona during sunlight is not likely to be cbtained. The trial was not conclusive because the conditions were very unfavour- able. In order to reduce the air-glare to a minimum, so that the light of the corona shall not be overpowered, the following points must be observed :— (1) The air should be clear and dry. (2) The sun should be near the zenith. (3) The station should be at a considerable elevation above the sea. (4) The corona, if it does vary in intensity, should be at its maximum brightness. Now every one of these conditions was unfavourable. The air was saturated with moisture, the sky was of a hazy blue, the sun was low, the station was near the sea-level, and the corona, according to the general impression, was not so bright as on other occasions. I hope, however, to deal more fully with these considerations on another occasion. Mathematical Society, January 13.—Sir J. Cockle, F.R.S., President, in the chair.—Prof. G. B. Mathews was elected a Member.—The following communications were made :—Ccn- jugate ‘‘ Tucker” circles, by R. Tuck er.—On the incorrectness of the rules for contracting the processes of finding the square and cube roots of a number, by Prof. M. J. M. Hill.—On the com- plex angle, by J. J. Walker, F.R.S.—Shorter communications were also made by Messrs. Heppel, Macmahon, and S. Roberts, F.R.S., in the discussion of which several members took part. Victoria Institute, Jan. 3.—Dr. Wright read a paper describ- ing the Hittite monuments which he had examined in the East, and giving an account of the present position of the question as to the age and extent of the country of the Hittites. Many after- Thirty members and associates were elected, and it was announced that 100 had joined during the past year, making 1209 members the Institute’s strength. EDINBURGH Mathematical Society, January 14.—Mr. W. J. Mac- donald, Vice-President, in the chair.—Prof. Chrystal gave a paper on the generation of any curve asa roulette; and Mr. William Renton contributed some mnemonics for plane and spherical trigonometry. PaRIs Academy of Sciences, January ro.—M. Gosselin in the chair.—Note on the works of the late M. Oppolzer, Correspond- ing Member of the Section for Astronomy, by M. ‘Tisserand. In this obituary notice reference is made more especially to the eminent astronomer’s ‘‘ Traité des Orbites,” his determination of the orbits of the planets and many comets, and his theory of the movement of the moon.—On various phenomena presented by the artesian wells recently sunk in Algeria, by M. de Lesseps. The results are described of unusually successful operations undertaken in 1885 and last year in the region of the Shotts, where one well, yielding as much as 8000 litres per £ 288 NATURE [ Fan. 20, 1887 minute of pure water at a temperature of 25° C., has already developed a considerable lake 10 metres deep, by means of which from 500 to 600 hectares of waste land have been reclaimed, Similar results elsewhere give hope that large tracts now unin- habited, but which supported a numerous population in the time of the Romans, will soon be again brought under cultivation.— On the theory of algebraic forms with / variables, by M. R. Perrin. —On the action of the chloride of carbon on the anhydrous oxides, by M. Eug. Demarcay. Schiitzenberger having shown that the tetrachloride of carbon reacts readily on the sulphuric anhydride, forming phosgene and chloride of pyrosulphuryl, the author here describes some experiments he has carried out for the purpose of ascertaining whether the same substance reacts on the oxides, and whether this reaction might not be utilised in the laboratory for facilitating the preparation of the anhydrous chlorides.—On erythrite, by M. Albert Colson. This substance should yield successively by oxidation a monobasic and a bibasic acid, the latter being tartaric acid, according to Henninger’s formula. But no monobasic acid derived from erythrite has yet been described, nor has the transformation of this alcohol into tartaric acid ever given satis- factory results. The author here accordingly resumes the study of its oxidation, testing by the thermo-chemical process the formulas hitherto accepted for erythrite and tartaric acid. He also treats erythrite with the perbromide of phosphorus, obtain- ing a bromhydrine, C,H,Br,, fusible at 112° C., and identical with the tetrabromide of crotonylene, described by Henninger. —On the glycerinate of potassa, by M. de Forcrand. Having already determined the heat of formation of the glycerinate of soda, and of its ethylic combination, and the conditions under which these compounds have their origin, the author here sub- jects the glycerinate of potassa to a similar process with analogous results. —On the substances derived from erythrene, by MM. E. Grimaux and Ch. Cloez. The object of the experiments here described is to ascertain whether erythrene and the carburet of gas oils are really identical, as suppesed by Henninger. The result so far shows that the erythrene derived from the oils of compressed gas unites readily with hypochlorous acid, the pro- duct of the reaction being soluble in ether, alcohol, and water. —-On the artificial production of zincite and willemite, by M. Alex. Gorgeu. The methods by which the author reproduces zincite are based on the decomposition of several salts of zinc by heat alone, or aided by the vapour of water. It is merely an application of the process by which M. Debray has obtained crystals of glucine, magnesia, &c. Willemite, SiO,,2ZnO, he produces by a method based on the action of silica on a mixture of alkaline sulphate and sulphate of zinc. —Observations on fishes in- habiting very deep waters (second communication), by M. Léon Vaillant. The really characteristic types of this class of deep-sea faunaare referred to the sub-order of the Anacanthini, which yields a considerable number of species, living at great depths. There is almost a total absence of Pleuronectes, the solitary exception being P. megastoma, Donoy., tished up from a depth of 560 metres. A striking feature of this ichthyological fauna is its great uniformity, the same genera and even closely-allied species constantly reappearing and being evidently diffused over the widest ranges.—Researches on the mechanism of respiration in the Myriapods, by M. J. Chalande. Most zoologists suppose that the breathing process is the same in the Myriapods as in insects ; but the author's researches show conclusively that this hypothesis is absolutely erroneous. In them respiration is effected by the rhythmical movements of the dorsal vessel, the air also penetrating by diffusion to the most delicate trachese.— On the age of the Bauxite formation in the south-east of France, by M. L. Collot. This formation, which in the Ariége district occurs between the Coralline and Urgonian deposits, is referred to the successive geological epochs between the Lower Lias and the Urgonian.—On the partial results of the first two experi- ments made to determine the direction of the North Atlantic currents, by Prince Albert of Monaco. Of the 169 floats cast overboard 300 miles north-west of the Azores in 1885, fourteen have been recovered, showing a general south-easterly direction and a mean velocity of 3°83 miles per twenty-four hours, Of the 510 floated in 1886 much nearer to the French coast, nine have reappeared, showing nearly the same direction, with velocities of from 5°80 to 6°45 miles.—Coincidence of certain solar phenomena with the perturbations of terrestrial magnetism, by M. E. Marchand. A comparative study of the solar observations made at the Lyons Observatory in 1885-86 with the curves of the Mascart magnetic recorder shows that there exists a direct rela- tion between the terrestrial magnetic disturbances and the dis- placements of certain solar elements accompanying the spots and the faculze.—On the actual value of the magnetic elements at the Pare Saint-Maur Observatory, by M. Th. Moureaux.—Note on the recent minimum of the solar spots, by M. A. Riccd. This — minimum, which occurred between October and December, 1886, — was specially remarkable for its intensity, no spots or pores being at all visible twice for eleven days and once for eight days during that period.—Remarks on the geological chart of Lake Baikal and the surrounding district, by M. Venukoff. A careful study of this map, drawn to a scale of I : 420,000, shows that the Baikal basin is not a crevasse in the Jurassic beds, as had been supposed, nor a subsidence due to plutonic or volcanic causes, but that its formation dates from pre-Silurian times and is still in progress, BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED Practical Zoology: Marshall and Hurst (Smith, Elder).—The Garner, vol. i, (Bowers, Walworth).—Massachusetts Institute of Technology— Twenty-second Annual Catalogue of Officers and Students, and Pre- sident’s Report (Boston).—Folk-Lore and Provincial Names of British Birds : Rey. C. Swainson (Stock).—Flora of Leicestershire (Williams and Norgate).—Journal of the Franklin Institute, January.—Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, Parts 7, 8, 9 (Taylor, Leeds).—Precious Stones in Nature, Art, and Literature: S. M. Burnham (Triibner). — Health at Schools: Dr. C. Dukes (Cassell).—Deviation of the Compass in Iron Ships: W. H. Rosser (Imray).—Sonnets on Nature and Science: S. Jeffer- son (Unwin).—Logia of the Lord; Historical Jesus; Paul the Gnostic Opponent of Peter; Devil of Darkness : G. Massey.—Report of Kew Observatory Committee for the Year ending December 31, 1886 (Harrison). —Explication des Taches du Soleil: M. Delauney (Paris).—Elementary Ideas, Definitions, and Laws in Dynamics: E. H. Hall (Cambridge, Mass.).—Studien tiber das Molekular-volumen einiger Kérper: G. A. Hagemann (Friedlander, Berlin). CONTENTS PAGE The Imperial Institute 3 Se) cece eet The Blastoidea . 2 20. 257.) CSc, eee ee diea-Planting in'\Ceylon oi) 3) eee) yee aes Geometry’ (oie aus «5am os eye oy eal fe JNU A OL Canine suG oO 5 ooo a Our Book Shelf :— Phillips’s ‘Old or New Chemistry” ...... 270 Clifford’s| ““Lectures'and Essays”? = . ... .) « «seen Jeans’s ‘‘ Lives of the Electricians” 270 Letters to the Editor :— Normal School of Science and Royal School of Mines. —Colonel J. F. D: Donnelly, C:B: . . 3) aeeye The Cambridge Cholera Fungus.—Walter Gardiner 271 Snowstorm of January 7, 1887.—E. J. Lowe. (Jidzs- tale) ie ce ees ts. eet ok a ee Auroras:—Dri M. A. Veeder <9. > | 2a eee A‘SolarHalo:—J...J- Walker) 20s 272 The National Science Collections, II. ... + 6 ee Transmission of Power by Compressed Air. (///us- LH De ont SRM ea oe G5) bao 0. 6-8 275. The Classification of the Cecilians. ....... 280 NOLES! ay os) ijt epics ise) ete fee =) ee) alee eS Our Astronomical Column :— New? Variables) tin @yonts)< (2) sree) = ene 282 New! Minor Planet... <3 <<) 2.) fon Sun) oe A New Method for the Determination of the Con- stant of Aberration . < 59. © @ « (te) e) =) (ol tcinemmmnces The Madras\Observatory =) 3 i.) ) 4) snc Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 January 23-29: (im co love oe teeuies eee cna a Geographicaly Notes] --155 cite mia ec eo Experimental Science in Schools and Universities 284 Aboriginal Art in California and Queen Charlotte’s LES Ett RR OmeM erin: Gmebol Gd. ma tomo" GxAbtawo 66 285 University and Educational Intelligence . . ... 285 ScilentifichS rial siiseee-mi- rca mecn Meee Tess 286 Societies and, Academies). |. = <0). Sieur nene 287 Books and Pamphlets Received ......... 288 NATURE THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1887 SCIENTIFIC FEDERATION N an article on “ Science and the Jubilee” a week or two ago, we referred to the possibility that the Royal Society might feel it desirable to consider whether it was feasible to signalise the present year of Jubilee by any new departure. It so happens that quite independently of the proposed celebration a very appropriate extension of the Society’s usefulness to our colonies has been sug- gested and has already been accepted by one of the Australian colonies. This suggestion, and the action which the Royal Society has already taken upon the question submitted to it, really raises the whole question of the desirability of a scientific confederation of all English-speaking peoples. The suggestion to which we refer was made in Prof. Huxley’s Anniversary Address to the Royal Society little over a year ago, from which we ‘make the following extract :— “Since this Society was founded, English-speaking communities have been planted, and are increasing and multiplying, in all quarters of the globe,—to use a natural- ist’s phrase, their geographical distribution is ‘ world- wide.’ Wherever these communities have had time to develop, the instinct which led our forefathers to come together for the promotion of natural knowledge has worked in them and produced most notable results. The quantity and quality of the scientific work now being done in the United States moves us all to hearty admiration ; the Dominion of Canada, and our colonies in South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, show that they do not mean to be left behind in the race ; and the scientific activity of our countrymen in India needs no comment. “Whatever may be the practicability of political federa- tion for more or fewer of the rapidly-growing English- speaking peoples of the globe, some sort of scientific federation should surely be possible. Nothing is baser than scientific Chauvinism, but still blood is thicker than water; and I have often ventured to dream that the Royal Society might associate itself in some special way with all English-speaking men of science, that it might recognise their work in other ways than by the rare opportunities at present offered by election to our foreign Fellowship, or by the award of those medals which are open to everybody; and without imposing upon them the responsibilities of the ordinary Fellowship, while they must needs be deprived of a large part of its privileges. How far this aspiration of mine may be reciprocated by our scientific brethren in the United States and in our colonies I do not know. I make it public, on my own responsibility, for your and their consideration.” It would appear that the matter was at once considered by the Council of the Royal Society, because the next year (1886) Prof. Stokes, the present President, referred to the subject in the following words :— “Tn his Presidential Address last year, Prof. Huxley suggested the idea, I may say expressed the hope, that the Royal Society might associate itself in some special way with all English-speaking men of science; that it VOL. XXXv.— NO. 900 289 might recognise their work in other ways than those afforded by the rare opportunities of election to our foreign membership, or the award of those medals which are open to persons of all nationalities alike. This sugges- tion has been taken up by one of ourcolonies. We have received a letter from the Royal Society of Victoria, re- ferring to this passage in the address, and expressing a hope that, in some way, means might be found for esta- blishing some kind of connection between our own oldest scientific Society and those of the colonies. The Council have appointed a Committee to take this letter into consideration, and try if they could devise some suitable plan for carrying out the object sought. The Committee endeavoured at first toframe a scheme which should not be confined to the colonies and dependencies of the British Empire, but should embrace all English- speaking communities. But, closely connected as we are with the United States by blood and language, they are of course, politically, a foreign nation, and this fact threw difficulties in the way of framing at once a more ex- tended scheme, so that the Committee confined them- selves to the colonies and dependencies of our own country. leaving the wider object for some future endea- vour, should the country concerned seem to desire it. The scheme suggested was laid before the members of the present Council, but there was not an adequate oppor- tunity of discussing it, and it will of course come before the next Council. Should they approve of some such measures as those recommended by the Committee, they will doubtless assure themselves, in some way or other, that those measures are in accordance with the wishes of the Fellows at large before they are incorporated into the statutes.” What the Council of the Society has already done in the matter is of course unknown to us, as it has not yet been made public ; but it is unnecessary to point out the extreme fitness of some such action as this being taken this year, if it is to be taken at all. Undoubtedly the scheme foreshadowed by Prof. Huxley, if carried out in a proper way, may lead to a great many advantages. It is not unimportant that all the scientific organisations of Greater Britain should be welded into a homogeneous whole, so that, if at any time a common action should be necessary on any subject, the work could be done promptly and with the least strain. If any scientific organisation in a colony were affiliated with the Royal Society at home, there can be no doubt that it would be in a stronger position ; that its standard of scien- tific work would be raised ; that other kindred institutions would be more likely to be formed, on which a similar status might at some future time be conferred also. Such an organisation, too, would have a cachet conferred upon it, so that colonists would consider it a greater honour to belong to it, and would have a greater inducement to work for it, and to aid in all its efforts. We can imagine some possible criticisms of Prof. Huxley’s suggestions. For instance, it may be asked, Why should not Scotch and English and Irish organisa- tions be treated in the same way? We think there is a very good answer to this objection. Any member of any of the British Societies, by taking a little trouble, may obtain any of the privileges which the Royal Society might confer upon colonists. To a great many British (a) 290 INA LTO [| Fan. 27, 1887 Societies the publications of the Royal Society are sent gratuitously ; there is no difficulty in obtaining access either to the libraries or to the reading-rooms when the members are in London, for the reason that all necessary knowledge as to how these privileges are to be obtained is of course possessed by those at home, whereas the member of a colonial Society who finds himself in England is in avery different position. He may know nobody, he may not know even of the existence of the facilities afforded, and he may leave England without having been present at any meetings of the Society, and without the knowledge that almost anyone who chooses can attend them. We are glad then on these and on other grounds that the question has been raised, and we believe that great good may be accomplished by acting on Prof. Huxley’s suggestion. SUPERNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY By Edmund Gurney, Frederic (London :; Phantasms of the Living. W. H. Myers, and Frank Podmore. Triibner and Co., 1886.) NDER the title “ Phantasms of the Living,” three of the leading members of the Society for Psychi- cal Research have presented to the world at large, in two bulky volumes ‘running to upwards of 1400 pages, the evidence they have collected in support of the hypo- thesis of telergy and telepathy, or the influence of one mind on another, near or at a distance, without the inter- vention of the ordinary channels of sense. The division of labour, for such we may truly term it, seems to have been as follows: Mr. F. W. H. Myers writes an intro- duction and a concluding chapter on “A Suggested Mode of Psychical Interaction”; Mr. Edmund Gurney is responsible for the compilation of the body of the work, the presentation and criticism of the evidence; while in the collection of evidence and examination of witnesses Mr. Podmore “has borne so large a share, that his name could not possibly have been omitted from the title-page.” It is a matter of peculiar difficulty to do justice, in the space that NATURE can place at my disposal, to a work of such portentous bulk, one written in such obvious good faith, one on which the authors have bestowed so much time, labour, and thought, and yet one presenting views which no one who has learnt to believe in the parallelism or identity of neuroses and psychoses can accept without abjuring his scientific and philosophic faith. I hold it to be the duty of a reviewer not merely to air his own opinions, but to give his readers a sketch of the contents of the volumes before him. But how can one sketch in two or three columns so vast a mass of evidence, the chief value of which is, we are told, its cumulative nature? And if the reviewer owes it to his readers to present some sort of outline of the picture his author presents, he none the less owes it to himself, his author, and his journal, to endeavour to estimate the value of the original thus roughly outlined. Difficult as the task is, it must be faced. The evidential part of the work opens with a record of cases which form, it is held, an experimental basis for thought-transference. The following description is given by the Rev. H. M. Creery of experiments with his own daughters : “Each went out of the room in turn, while I and the others fixed on some object which the absent one was to name on returning to the room. We began by selecting the simplest objects in the room, then chose the names of _ towns, dates, cards out of a pack, &c. I have seen seventeen cards, chosen by myself, named right in suc- cession, without a mistake.” In similar experiments the investigating committee acted as agents. This excluded, in their opinion, the possibility of trickery. Tabulating the results thus ob- tained, they submitted them to Mr. F. Y. Edgeworth, who applied to them the calculus of probabilities, obtain-_ ing “a row of ¢hirty-four nines following a decimal point,” or practical certainty in favour of their being due’ either to collusion or to thought-transference. Details are given of experiments on the transference of tastes under conditions which, in the opinion of the authors, precluded the possibility of collusion or decep tion. The following are afew successive results :— Substances tasted Answers given Vinegar ... A sharp and nasty taste. Mustard ... Mustard. Sugar I still taste the hot taste of the mustard. Worcestershire sauce. Between eau-de-cologne beer. Horrible and bitter. Worcestershire sauce Port wine (quality not stated !) and Bitter aloes Instances of the localisation of pains are given. “The percipient being seated, blindfolded, and with her back to the rest of the party, all the other persons present in- flicted on themselves the same pain in the same part of the body. Those who took part in the collective agency — were three or more of the following: Mr. Malcolm Guthrie, Prof. Herdman, Dr. Hicks, Dr. Hyla Greves Mr. R. C. Johnson, F.R.A.S., Mr. Birchall, Miss Red mond, and, on one occasion, another lady. The per- cipient throughout was Miss Relf. In ten out of twenty cases the percipient localised the pain with great pre- cision ; in seven, the localisation was nearly exact; in two, no local impression was perceived ; and in one, the last, the answer was wholly wrong.” Facsimiles are given of pictures reproduced by thought- transference. In a continuous series of six—none of which can be said to have been complete failures—two were reproduced by the percipient with great fidelity; even the comparative failures are instructive from their par- tial success. The position of the agent, we are told, rendered it absolutely impossible that she should obtain a glimpse of the original. Such is some of the experimental evidence for thought- transference. Readers of NATURE will understand why this section of the authors’ work, giving results obtained under conditions within control, is noticed at greater length than can be devoted to other branches of the evidence. The next chapter deals with cases transitional between experimental thought-transference—in which both agent and percipient are voluntarily taking part with a definite idea ef certain results in view—and spontaneous telepathy, where neither has voluntarily or consciously formed an idea of any result whatever. These transitional cases are ea ae eS ——_ Mg == Fan. 27, 1887] NATURE 291 those in which the agent acts consciously and voluntarily, but the percipient is not consciously or voluntarily a party to the experiment. Of these cases, a single example must suffice. Two fellow-students of naval engineering at Portsmouth had been in the habit of making experiments in mesmerism. One, ere long, acquired mesmeric con- trol over the other, who was able to see, in the mesmeric trance, places in which he was interested, if he resolved to see them before he was hypnotised. One day he ex- pressed a wish to see a young lady living in Wandsworth. He was hypnotised ; and when he came round, he said he had seen her in the dining-room. A few days after- wards, the experiment was repeated. He saw, as he lay entranced, the young lady in a room with her little brother ; she fell back in her chair in a sort of faint. A letter was subsequently received from the young lady, dated the morning following the last experiment, be- ginning: “ Has anything happened to you?” and stating that “she could have declared she saw him looking at her” on two occasions, on the latter of which she was so frightened that she nearly fainted. ‘“ Luckily,” she adds, “only my brother was there, or it would have attracted attention.” Although there is some discrepancy as to the date of the first appearance, the second (January 18, 1886) is accordant. After the enumeration of fifteen or sixteen transitional cases, Mr. Gurney devotes a chapter to a general criticism of the evidence (to which is added an appendix on witch- craft), and then gives a chapter of specimens of the various types of spontaneous telepathy. For these types and their various sub-classes, the reader must be referred to the work itself. I must here again content myself with quoting a single case (which is both “reciprocal” and “ collective”) from among the 700 or so that are given. “On the evening of, I think, March 23, 1883,” writes a Mrs. Bettany, of Dulwich, “I was seized with an unac- countable anxiety about a neighbour. I tried to shake off the feeling, but I could not; and after a sleepless night, in which I constantly thought of her as dying, I decided to send a servant to the house to ask if all were well.” (This is confirmed by the servant.) ‘The answer I received was, ‘ Mrs. J. died last night.’ Her daughter afterwards told me that the mother had startled her by saying, ‘ Mrs. Bettany knows I shall die.’ ” Mrs. Bettany adds :—“ My cook, to whom I had _ not mentioned my presentiment, remarked to me on the same morning: ‘I have had such a horrible dream about Mrs. J., I think she must be going to die.’ She distinctly remembers that some one (she does not know wha, and I think never did) told her in her dream that Mrs. J. was dead.” (This is also confirmed by the cook.) Of somewhat analogous cases of phantasms, presenti- ments, or dreams occurring to one or more percipients at _or shortly after the death of the agent, there is a surpris- ing but wearisome abundance. So much for the evidence. The authors are fully alive to its liability to error. But they note that their “ some- what persistent and probing method of inquiry has usually repelled the sentimental or crazy wonder-mongers who hang about the outskirts of such a subject as this; while it has met with cordial response from an unex- pected number of persons who feel with reason that the very mystery which surrounds these incidents makes it additionally important that they should be recounted with sobriety and care.” We turn now to the theory ; and though Mr. Gurney tells us that the character of the present work is mainly evidential, there is no lack of theory scattered up and down throughout its multitudinous paragraphs. The authors, it need hardly be said, regard their hypothesis as strictly scientific. ‘We wish distinctly to say,” writes Mr. Myers, “that so far from aiming at any paradoxical reversion of established scientific conclusions, we con- ceive ourselves to be working (however imperfectly) in the main track of scientific discovery.” We must, however, carefully separate the views of Mr. Myers from those of Mr. Gurney. Both of them, of course, insist on the reality of experimental thought- transference and of spontaneous telepathy—the radical difference between which is well brought out. In the one an object or sensation kept steadily before the mind of the agent or agents is transmitted as such to the mind of the percipient ; in the other the case is different: not the death-swoon of the agent, but the image of the agent as dying is transmitted. And here it is that our authors begin to part company. Calling to mind the facts (or supposed facts) (1) that the dying man may have in inter- vals of consciousness a vivid mental picture of himself and his surroundings ; (2) that most of us have in the background of consciousness a tolerably well-developed conception of our own proper selves; (3) that there is some experimental evidence of collective telepathic in- fluence, so that the percipient may be jointly influenced by the dying man as principal agent, and by the bystanders at the death-bed as subsidiary agents—taking these, avow- edly or implicitly, into consideration, Mr. Gurney does not feel forced to go beyond the theory of thought-trans- ference. Notso Mr. Myers. He rises boldly into what looks uncommonly like spiritualism, and accepts clair- voyance, where the percipient “seems to visit scenes, or discern objects, without needing that those scenes or objects should form a part of the perception or memory of any known mind.” “ Correspondently with clairvoyant perception,” he says (the italics are his own), “¢here may be phantasmogenetic efficacy,’ which in plain English means that the percipient may visit in spirit scenes he has never visited in the flesh, and that his spirit may be visible as a phantasm to the human occupants of these scenes. And in support of his view he adduces such cases as that of the two students which I have summar- ised above. On the question of the physical aspect of the psychical phenomena, again, our authors do not agree. Mr. Gurney holds that “ mental facts are indissolubly linked with the very class of material facts that science can least penetrate—with the most complex sort of changes occurring in the most subtly-woven sort of matter—the molecular activities of brain-tissue.” And though he sub- sequently says: ‘‘ Not only, as with other delicate phe- nomena of life and thought, is the subjective side of the problem the only one that we can yet attempt to analyse: we do not even know where to look for the odjectzve side :” he rather advocates the limitation of the question for the present to the psychical aspect, than dismisses the physical as a piece of unwarrantable materialism. But Mr. Myers goes further: “The psychical element, I 292 NATURE [ Fan. 27, 1887 repeat, must henceforth almost inevitably be con- ceived as having relations which cannot be expressed in terms of matter.” And again: “J claim at least that any presumption which}science had esta- blished against the possibility of spiritual communion is now rebutted ; and that the materialist must admit that it is no longer an unsupported dream, but a serious scien- tific possibility, that, if any intelligences do in fact exist other than those of living men, influences from those intelligences may be conveyed to our own mind.” And now, in conclusion, what shall we say of these ponderous tomes? Shall we lightly dismiss the whole subject as a ‘‘pack of nonsense”? I do not think that this would be a wise or a scientific procedure. Speak- ing for myself, I must confess that, in my opinion, Mr. Myers’s views are not “on the main track” of the science of to-day, whatever relation they may hereafter be shown to bear to the science of the future. Speaking for myself again, I am ready to accept experimental thought-transference as a working hypothesis, that is to say, a guide to future research on the subject. It may be that any physical explanation we can at present offer is no nearer the truth than was the Ptolemaic hypothesis in astronomy, and yet such a working hypothesis may be valuable in the existing state of psychology. With regard to spontaneous telepathy, notwithstanding the large amount of evidence so care- fully collected and criticised, notwithstanding that I have first-hand evidence more convincing (to me) than anything recorded in these volumes, I prefer to credit the whole to a suspense account. The physical difficulties are enormous. We have to conceive the action of brain on brain across a whole hemisphere. Not that this must be pressed too far. There is much that is provisionally accepted by science (much anent ether, and atoms, and modes of molecular action) that I find it exceedingly hard to conceive. And perhaps the distant action of brain on brain is not harder for us to conceive than would be the transmission of luminiferous waves to beings in whom the visual sense was not as yet recognised, and who, hitherto only acquainted with auditory vibrations transmitted by the air, were called upon to believe that waves could be transmitted by the ether from distant stars, and could pass almost unchecked through thick masses of solid material. Still, though the mass of evidence is considerable, and though the physical difficulties must not be pressed tao far, 1 am not prepared fully to accept the doctrine of spontaneous telepathy. At thesametime, I hold that the evidence adduced by earnest workers is not to be met by easy and ignorant ridicule. I do not think that science is best served by those who are ever ready to throw the cold water of impossibility on the light of new ideas struggling into existence. lam, moreover, strongly of opinion that normal psycho- logy has much to learn from experiments on supernormal and abnormal “ subjects.” Beneath the threshold of con- sciousness there is a vast amount of sub-conscious and unconscious mental action. Of the multitudinous simul- taneous neuroses only the superficial film (so to speak) emerge into the light of consciousness as psychoses. The study from the psychological standpoint of the underlying hypopsychoses, as 1 have elsewhere suggested that they should be termed, is as important as it is difficult. If the result of such work as Messrs. Gurney, Myers, and Pod- more have entered upon aids in throwing light upon these hidden mysteries, which are none the less realities, of the human mind, their labour will, in my opinion, not have been in vain. C. LLoyD MORGAN ELEMENTARY RESULTS IN PURE MATHEMATICS A Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure Mathematics, &c. By G, S. Carr, M.A. Pp. xxxviii. +936 + 20 folding Plates of Figures. (London: Francis Hodgson, 1886.) N our last notice of this work (vol. xxxi. p. 100) we gave an account of Sections X., XI., and XII. The complete volume contains two additional sections. The first of these treats of plane co-ordinate geometry, under which heading we have systems of co- ordinates, analytical conics in Cartesian and trilinear co- ordinates (we miss the #z equations for the parabola and the corresponding equations for chords, &c.). In the latter division we have, amongst the particular conics considered, the triplicate-ratio and seven-point circles (or, as they are more usually styled, the Lemoine and Brocard circles). The account is carefully drawn up from original authorities, and will help to bring this latest development of the geometry of the circle and triangle more into notice. At present this and Dr. Casey’s books are the only source readily accessible to students. We are pro- mised another presentment of these circles shortly, but of this more anon. The concluding portion of this section is devoted to the theory of plane curves. Here we have, znter alia, inverse and pedal curves, roulettes, and the various forms of transcendental curves. Considerable space is taken up with linkages and link-works : here we have accounts of Kempe’s five-bar linkage, the six-bar inversor, the eight-bar double inversor, the quadruplane, the isoklinostat, the planimeter, and the pantograph (this Mr. Carr generally calls pentograph—evidently he has not consulted the “ English Cyclopzedia ”—and in one place only, pantograph). The concluding section is mainly taken up with solid co-ordinate geometry, the final articles being devoted to Guldin’s rules; moments and products of inertia, perimeters, areas, volumes, &c. Here we have the theorems which go by the names of Fagnani, Lam- bert, and Griffiths (not Griffith, as the ‘‘ Contents” and “Index” print the name; the text, § 6096, is right). We have in our former notices sufficiently indicated our opinion of the utility of such a book as this if tho- roughly trustworthy, and have suggested that a student should have this synopsis by his side when he is carefully going through his subject, that so he may be able to spot any slight inaccuracy in the text. We believe the book is singularly free from errors, but it would be absurd to suppose that there are not several which have escaped even the notice of the author, who has imposed upon him- self numerous guards for the prevention of such slips. For it must be remembered that this is no hastily-pre- pared work: it has occupied much of the writers time since 1866, when the #agnum opus was commenced. The author is to be heartily congratulated on the successful Fan. 27, 1887] NATURE 29 (os) termination of labours which must have occupied most if not all of his leisure time from other more regular work. But Mr. Carr has not confined his work to the limits of his previous title-pages : he has “supplemented ” it “ by an index to the papers on pure mathematics which are to be found in the principal Journals and Transactions of learned Societies, both English and foreign, of the present century.” Such indices have, in these busy times, great value for students in all branches of know- ledge, and this one is, we think, very accurate for a first edition. There are, however, some defects. On p. 720 occurs an historical note on the cycloid; no reference is made to the exhaustive treatise, on the cycloid and all forms of cycloidal curves, by Mr. Proctor (Longmans, 1878). in the like case of Cartesian ovals there is no account taken of Prof. Williamson’s paper on these curves in Hermathena (No. iv. p. 509 ; subsequently given in the author’s “ Differential Calculus”). For the length of an arc of an oval expressed by elliptic functions, Mr. Carr (p. 731) cites a paper by Mr. S. Roberts, F.R.S., in the London Mathematical Society’s Proceedings (vol. v. p. 6), but does not mention that Mr. Roberts (vol. vi. p. 200) subsequently found that he had been anticipated by Prof. Genocchi (1855, see “Il Cimento,” Turin). The name of Desargues, rightly given p. 917, is twice printed Desarques on p. 858. On pp. 913 and 935 we have “ polyzonal,” “zonal,” and “tetrazonal” : the author of the paper in question has “m” in place of “n” throughout. ‘“ Nicomaque” (p. 853), “ implexe” (p. 859), “pseudosfera” (p. 915), are easily traceable ; ‘“ coplana- tion” and “complanation” are also to be traced to the titles of the original papers. Cases of wrong spelling occur in the names of Hesse (p. 890), Kronecker (p. 890), Pliicker (p. 916), Rodrigues (p. 921), Lissajous (p. 900), and there are various forms of MacCullagh; but “ Tetra- tops” (p. 931) eludes us. These are trifling matters, and in the text in such parts of XIII. and XIV. as we have read we have not observed any errata of con- sequence. It would be a boon to students if Mr. Carr would issue this supplement in a separate form, and add to his exten- sive list of thirty-two periodicals references to the papers on pure mathematics which occur in the Phz/osophical Magazine, Lady's and Gentleman’s Diary, the Mathema- tician, “ Reprint from the Educational Times” (a limited selection here of general results and the occasional papers), and Matheszs. For instance, on the “15-girl” problem there is a good article in the Dzary, on the “chess- men” in the Philosophical Magazine. Mr. Carr will understand that our remarks are made in no captious spirit: we are very grateful for the trouble he has taken, and desire only that a second edition may be made even more valuable from its increased accuracy and stores of information than the present one is. He is to be congratulated on the arrangement of his text, the several different kinds of types which have been put at his disposal by the printers, and the excellent diagrams. It only remains to express the wish that what the author has done for one side of mathe- matics he may be encouraged to do for the other, z.e. for applied mathematics. COMMERCIAL ORGANIC ANALYSIS Commercial Organic Analysts. By Alfred H. Allen, F.I.C., F.C.S., &c. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Vol. II. Fixed Oils and Fats, Hydrocarbons, Phenols, &c. (London: J. and A. Churchill, 1886.) HIS work has been so much enlarged and so tho- roughly revised that it has become almost a new book, and certainly its value has been greatly en- hanced to all analysts and others interested in the special points discussed. These copious additions have rendered it necessary to divide the present edi- tion into three volumes, the first of which appeared some little while ago, whilst the third (on Aromatic Acids, Tannins, Colouring Matters, Cyanogen Compounds, Or- ganic Bases, Albumenoids, &c.), is now in course of pre- paration, and is promised shortly. Of the sections treated in the present volume it may be said generally that the author has collected together and systematically digested almost all the available information extant scattered about in text-books and numerous papers read before scientific Societies, and that he has largely contributed personally to the mass of information by means of experi- mental and observational work carried out in his own laboratory at the cost of much time and labour. More- over, he has sought and obtained the aid of several well- known chemists possessing special knowledge and skill in certain kinds of work, by whose assistance many of the more important articles have acquired an almost ex- haustive character. As a result, the treatise has become a most valuable hand-book and book of reference with respect to the class of matter coming within its scope ; and it may now be fairly said to be an essential item in the list of works requisite in the library of an analytical chemist. Amongst the numerous special points of research to which the author has devoted much personal attention, a notable one is the examination of various of the physical properties of fatty and oily matters with a view to their discrimination and identification, and more espe- cially the methods in use in the determination of their specific gravity. In order to avoid complications arising from differences in physical state—some being solid, others pasty, and-others fluid at the ordinary temperature—he recommends, as previously proposed by Estcourt, that comparisons should always be made at the temperature of boiling water, the melted fat or fluid oil being placed in a test-tube heated in a water-bath (of such construction that no steam escapes in the vicinity of the operator), and the indications of a Westphal’s hydrostatic balance noted when the plummet is immersed in the hot oil. The figures thus obtained on repetition of experiments show very little divergence ; and characteristic values are thus obtainable for certain kinds of fats, e.g. butter-fat when genuine. Owing to the fact that the Westphal balance as sold is constructed to give specific gravity indications at the ordinary temperature (é.e. that the plummet is adjusted so as to lose a particular weight, conveniently 5 or 10 grammes, when immersed in water at, say, Ts G-)s it is obvious that the numerical values obtained on im- mersion in hot material at close upon 100° C. represent neither the true densities at 100° of the substances (weights per cubic centimetre) nor the ratios between 294 ——— NATURE [ Han. 27, 1887 these densities and that of water at 100°, z.e. their specific gravities at Ioo’. But for any particular instrument, the different values obtained with different fatty matters exhibit the same differences as those obtained with any other instrument; whilst the indications of any two instruments are obviously comparable, provided that the mode of graduation and the coefficient of expansion of the plummet are the same ; which practically is the case ifa g/ass plummet be always used, as recommended. In a recent communication to the Avzzyst (January 18387, p. 18), the author suggests that the term “zzdicated plummet-gravity” should be employed to represent the apparent values obtained at such and such a temperature by means of the plummet-balance ; which is clearly pre- ferable to the use of either of the terms “ specific gravity ” or “density” in such cases. It may be noticed in passing that the “indicated plummet-gravities ” of fats and oils at 1oo or thereabouts by no means necessarily follow the same order as the so-called specific gravities obtained at lower temperatures, not only on account of difference of physical state, but also through the different rates of ex- pansion possessed by the various substances. Another point o1 which the author has worked with results of some interest is the determination of the amount of glycerol yielded by fats and oils on saponification. He concludes that there is no experimental basis for the suggestion put forth some time ago by Wanklyn and Fox that ¢seglycerides are present in such substances, these bodies yielding on saponification propionic (or other homologous) acid and water, instead of glycerol. Such a view is opposed not only to the author’s laboratory experience, but also to that of manufacturers, who frequently recover 7°5 to 8'o parts of glycerol per 100 of fatty matter, instead of less than 5 as stated by Wanklyn and Fox. Making allowance therefore for deficient saponification and loss of glycerol by evapora- tion during recovery, the theoretical amount of glycerol obtainable is satisfactorily accounted for, instead of being largely in excess of that actually produced. It is noticeable that, whilst the author obtained results reason- ably concordant with the permanganate process for the determination of the glycerol produced during saponifica- tion as compared with the other ordinary methods in many instances, this was not always the case, the former process sometimes yielding figures far in excess, indi- cating the presence of other substances besides glycerol capable of forming oxalic acid by treatment with per- manganate. An extreme case was afforded by linseed oil dried up to elastic skin, which gave 4°9 per cent. of impure glycerol directly isolated, and 15°5 per cent. by the permanganate process. The author considers that the usually received mole- cular weight of linoleic acid, generally represented as indicated by the formula C,,H.,0,, is incorrect, as the mean equivalent of the acids obtainable from linseed oil on saponification has been found by him to be con- siderably higher than that thus indicated. The formula CisH,,0, agrees better with his results, and moreover is not at all incompatible with the analytical data obtained by previous investigators, The analogo 1s determination of the mean molecular weight of the acids produced on saponification (by means of alcoholic potash and phenol- phthalein) of fatty, waxy, and oily matters, and of the fatty and resinous acids contained in soaps, is justly re- garded by the author as a valuable criterion in judging of the nature of such substances, especially when taken in conjunction with other data (e.g. in the case of butter-fat, the amount of volatile acids capable of being subsequently distilled off along with water, working under particular constant conditions as recommended by Reichert ; and the proportion between acids soluble and insoluble in water, &c.) ; and a large amount of experimental work has been done by him in connection with such valuations. He has also made an excellent digest of recent researches in connection with fats, oils, waxes, soaps, and analogous bodies. In connection with toilet-soaps, he regards the addition of sugar to produce transparency as “simply diluting the true soap-material as so much water would do, without communicating any comdensating property of value.” This is a very mild way of putting the case, the fact being that soaps containing sugar are liable to produce, in sensitive subjects, a great amount of irritation of the skin (in fact, a mild kind of “ grocer’s eczema,” traceable to the same cause), even though free from causticity and otherwise unobjectionable: and numerous persons are, to the reviewer’s knowledge, unable to use certain widely-advertised soaps, in consequence of the large admixture of sugar therein contained, although the composition would otherwise be quite uninjurious. The sections devoted respectively to hydrocarbons and phenols are equally comprehensive, including descriptions, necessarily in some cases somewhat brief, of the leading points in the petroleum, coal-tar, and shale-oil industries, and of the technical examination of the various products obtained on fractional distillation and subsequent further treatment of these and allied raw materials, e.g. wood-tar ; and the commercial examination of turpentines and resins, essential oils, camphors, and various miscellaneous sub- stances, such as cantharidin and cholesterin. In these, as in the previous section, the value of the various précis given of other observers’ work is frequently further en- hanced by the comparative experiments and examinations made in connection with different analytical methods, &c., by the author himself. Bone-tar, obtained as a by-product of the animal charcoal manufacture, is not described, probably on account of the limited uses to which, hitherto, it has been put; whilst, for similar reasons, but little is said of blast-furnace and coke-oven tars. C. R. ALDER WRIGHT OUR BOOK SHELF Practical Dynamo-Building for Amateurs. By Fred. W. Walker, M.E. (London: Iliffe and Son, 1886.) WOULD that all books for amateur guidance were written with as full a knowledge of proper principles as this unassuming little work. We are not saying that the machine which the author recommends amateurs to con- struct is the equal of the commercial dynamos of the current date. His field magnet cores are of cast iron, and not of the best form ; his armature might be improved by getting greater cross-section of iron intoit. But there is nothing wrongly done. All instructions about the essential details of proper insulation and testing of the work in progress are accurate and full; and an appendix on alternative constructions of field-magnets supplies in some | degree the deficiencies of the earlier text. Fan. 27, 1887 | Hana-book of Zoology, with Examples from Canadian Species, Recent and Fossil. By Sir J. William Dawson, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. Third Edition, revised and enlarged. (Montreal: Dawson Brothers, 1886.) IN this little work, the President of the British Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science has concentrated into some 300 pages a very fair account of the principal divisions of the animal kingdom. It is specially adapted for Canadian students, inasmuch as the examples of every group are selected, as far as possible, from species found within the limits of the Dominion. The fact of the volume having reached a third edition shows that Sir William Dawson’s plan and method have been appre- ciated. That the arrangement adopted is altogether un- exceptionable, and that all the most recent discoveries in zoological science are taken advantage of, we could not fairly say. For example, £ozoov is still treated of as if it were without doubt an organic structure; the unques- tionable affinity of the larval Ascidian to the Vertebrate embryo is but faintly alluded to; and the much-talked- about Perifatus—one of the most singular types of Arthropodal life—seems to have been altogether omitted from the list. Yet there is, in the main, an absence of the serious errors which are too often found in such manuals. The volume is well illustrated and well printed, and will, we have no doubt, be of much service as a text-book in Canadian schools of science. Theory of Magnetic Measurements. By Francis E. Nipher, A.M., Professor of Physics in Washington University, President of the St. Louis Academy of Science. (New York: D. Van Nostrand; London: Triibner and Co., 1886.) DURING the last twenty years there has been consider- able activity amongst observers on land and at sea in adding to our knowledge of the magnetism of the earth, and it is certainly desirable, if not necessary, that those busy workers, who are only acquainted with the practical use of the instruments employed, should know something of the theory of the magnetic measurements upon which they may be engaged. To those conducting magnetic surveys under English auspices, the article on Terrestrial Magnetism in the “ Admiralty Manual of Scientific Inquiry ” has proved a valuable aid in showing both what was required and the practical means of obtaining observations on land and sea, with the methods of calculating the results. The theory of the subject, however, is beyond the intended scope of the Manual. The magnetic survey of the United States has, during the period under consideration, been continuously carried on under the Government and private enterprise, and Prof. Nipher has been one of the diligent workers, as shown by his survey of Missouri, published in NATURE, (vol. xxiii. p. 583). In the book before us he com- bines some excellent practical information for those undertaking the observation of the three magnetic elements on land, with the theory of the several magnetic measurements thus made. A large portion of the book is necessarily occupied by the theory of the horizontal force magnetometer and its several parts. Here the reader will find some differences from the English notation. For instance, H is substituted for X when denoting the horizontal force, and I for K, as the moment of inertia of the deflecting magnet. A more important departure from the usual method of calculation - will be noticed in the omission of the coefficient of induc- tion », which has been so entirely rejected as not even to be discussed. The retention of this coefficient has already been challenged elsewhere, but the general support of European practice seems to forbid any change until its place in our formule has been proved unnecessary. In the concluding pages there is an article on the systems of NATURE 295 units adopted in magnetic measurements, and plates of the unifilar magnetometer and dip-circle generally used. The appendix is devoted to a discussion of the method of least squares in the reduction of observations, an article on graphic methods, with the aid of which so much may be done to shorten the labour of computation, and some tables giving the times of the elongation of Polaris with its corresponding azimuth for the years 1886-95, from which the true meridian may be readily deduced for declination-observations. These tables will probably be found convenient in latitudes between the northern tropic and the Arctic circle. The large domain of magnetic observations at sea is not touched upon, but intending observers on land should be pleased to possess a book of this kind, which might be included in their travelling equipment without fear of adding much to the weights to be carried. The Coming Deluge of Russian Petroleum. By C. Marvin. (London: R. Anderson and Co.) THIS pamphlet does not pretend to add to our limited knowledge of the origin of petroleum or of its connection with the Tertiary deposits and volcanic activity of the Caucasus. It is in reality an appeal to English enter- prise to direct its attention to at least the carrying trade of a district so rapidly growing in industrial importance. The enormous figures given (e.g. more than a million gallons a day from a single well) are enough, however, to stimulate scientific as well as Stock-Exchange inquiries, and the development of communications between Baku and the West is sure to be, sooner or later, fruitful in geo- logical results, Gre LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertak« to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected manu- scripts. No notice is taken of anonymous communications. [The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it is impossible otherwise to insure the appearance even of communications containing interesting and novel facts.) The Cambridge Cholera Fungus I HAVE read with great surprise Mr. Gardiner’s letter in your issue of January 20 (p. 271). We are there told that on recon- sideration Mr. Gardiner has now come to the conclusion that the organism which he saw in Prof. Roy’s preparations of the inte-tinal mucous membrane—which Prof. Roy took to be the more usual and typical form, and which Mr. Gardiner then thought to belong to the Chitridiaceee—is probably the particular phase in the life-history of Bacterium known as an involution form, z.e. ‘fathin and somewhat moniliform filament which at one end exhibited a distinct nodular swelling.” If Mr. Gardi- ner has studied the filaments of a growth of mould in animal tissues, he must have come across numbers of such forms, But granting for the sake of argument that what Mr. Gardiner saw in Prof. Roy’s specimens bears a resemblance to and is in reality an involution form of Bacterium, how about the branched threads figured in the Report by Messrs. Roy, Brown, and Sherrington in No. 247 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society, on p. 179? Each of these two figures introduced here, no doubt as typical representations of the organisms in the mucous membrane, sho’ s unmistakably BRANCHED mycelial threads of a true fungus. If what Mr. Gardiner has seen in Prof. Roy’s preparations is an ~ involution form of some Bacterium, then the branched threads figured in Messrs. Roy, Brown, and Sherrington’s Report are something else, unless somebody started the novel and extra- ordinary view that a Bacterium possesses branched mycelial threads like a true fungus. I should be glad to hear Mr. Gardiner’s opinion as to these branched mycelial threads figured on p. 179 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society, No. 247, in the Report by Messrs. Roy, Brown, and Sherrington. E. KLEIN 20906 The Coal-Dust Theory THOSE readers of NATURE who have followed the various phases of the coal-dust question will be interested to know that the following resolution was carried at the Conference of Miners, which concluded its sittings in Birmingham yesterday morning :— ““ This Conference, believing that recent explosions have de- monstrated that coal-dust is sufficient, without the presence of gas, to cause a serious explosion, is of opinion that a clause should be inserted in the new Mines Act, making it illegal to use blasting-powder, or other inflammable substance, in any part of the tram or trolly-way, unless the dust on the top, the bottom, and the sides of such tram or trolly-way has been properly damped or removed, for a distance of fifteen yards on each side of the hole in which the shot is to be fired.” This practical method of dealing with part of the difficulty will doubtless lead to the happiest results, if properly carried out. The use of dust-tight tubs, or mine-waggons, as a means of preventing the deposition of coal-dust in the first place, and thus avoiding the necessity for so many precautions in dealing with it afterwards, suggested itself to me while I was examining the scene of the explosion in the silkstone-pits at Altofts Col- liery. In order to fulfil the condition of being dust-tight, the mine-waggons would require to have no crevices of any kind through which dust could be shaken, and they would require to be so filled that no pieces of coal would roll over their sides on to the floor. This alternative method, which I propose to discuss at greater length elsewhere, showing practical results as far as they extend, might perhaps meet the case of those mines in which the use of water is objectionable, on account of its disintegrating effect upon the roof or floor. W. GALLOWAY Cardiff, January 15 Barnard’s Comet-at Perihelion In spite of the bad weather and the glare of twilight and moonlight, I have made a good number of observations and drawings of this comet; especially on December 16, 1886, the day of its passage at perihelion, and consequently of its shortest distance from the sun (nearly two-thirds of the distance of the earth from the sun). The head of the comet was a large, brilliant, star-like nucleus, surrounded with a splendid, globular chevelure. From this sprang two tails : the larger, directed towards the North Pole, was straight, or but a little convex to the east (on which side it was also a little thicker), ending in an extremely faint nebulosity nearly 10° from the head. The smaller tail was much shorter, and directed 50° to the west of the other. The colour of the comet was a beautiful light blue. The spectrum of the comet resulted from the ordinary three bands of the hydrocarbons; the green being the strongest, then the yellow, whilst the blue was the faintest. ‘The bands were crossed by the linear spectrum of the nucleus, continuous, but strongly reinforced on the bands, and extended very little beyond the limits of the bands themselves. Before the passage at perihelion the comet had the same form, but less developed ; the spectrum also was the same. On the morning of December 7 I followed the comet with the 10-inch refractor till twenty-five minutes before sunrise ; this proves the great brilliancy of the comet. A. Riccd Palermo Observatory, January 9 Magnetic Theory May I trespass upon your space to ask a questiun which I have never seen proposed, but which is so obvious that it must have occurred to many others in'erested in magnetic theory ? In a current field—with closed currents—we have the familiar equations— udxiyd2 , oc F= | | = &e., H= &e., JJ id r du av, dw ane dF dG , dH dv dy ads dx dy ds” V2F + 4nu = 0, &c. And if a, J, ¢ are the components of magnetic forcee— BaG edz dc ab = = 4ru = —— &e. ay a EG. a ia NATURE ! [Fan. 27, 1887 In a magnetised mass, 4, 3, C being components Be mag- netisation, if we take ie fee e es pee, Gekch as ; We have at all Soe Ad a magnetic force of the com- —, &e. dy’ If we introduce the vector whose components per unit volume, re ae ds ay’ per unit surface are 7B — mC over surfaces where 4, B, C pass discontinuously to zero, we get 7 = iL [eee &c. = H = &c. ponents a, 4, c, where a = a _ dz u, U, W, &c., where 4, 4, C are continuous and du au , dw dF dG adH au =O Se dx dy' di dx dy ds’ and all the equations of the current field are reproduced. Only the components a, 8, y, of the magnetic force at zzternal points, being derivable from the potential a= fife (4 _@B ae xdyde, ee al ie sat are ag ae with a, 4, c, as they - not satisfy the equa- . ae tions amie =4ru, &e. My question a what is the physical evidence in favour of the existence of 4, &, C anda, B, y? All we ae and can know, about a magnetised mass is derivable from observations of the external field. Everything, therefore, that we can know is satisfied by ex- pressing the state of the mass in terms of w, v, w, and regarding these quantities as the ordinary electric current components. So that a, 4, ¢ are components of force everywhere. ~ My meaning is that if the order of our investigations had been reversed, commencing with current phenomena and so passing on to magnetic, it seems almost certain that we should have attempted to explain the latter in terms of the former. Doubtless many of the observed facts of induced magnetism would present grave difficulties, but I do not think these diffi- culties would have driven us to the hypothesis of permanently polarised molecules, or that we should have derived any addi- tional help from such hypothesis. H. W. WATSON Berkeswell Rectory, Coventry Sounding a Crater, Fusion-Points, Pyrometers, and Seismometers I HAD expected to see some confirmation of the remarks that form the chief part of the letter on this subject by Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis in Nature of the 3oth ult. (p. 197), but as no one has taken up the matter yet, perhaps you will allow me, as for years the chief assistant of the late Robert Mallet, to say that it is quite true that elaborate apparatus was devised by him and made by different instrument-makers, with a view to ob- taining experimental imformation on the whole of the questions and more than those referred to by Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis. A preliminary report was presented by him to the British Association in 1863, in which the scope of his inquiry and nature of apparatus were mentioned, and other reports were written by him which I have not by me now. I am also able to say that the whole of the apparatus remained for years, through Prof. Guiscardi, in the University of Naples, and that Mallet wrote to him as to its disposition for the use of others, should occasion permit, just before his death. W. Worsy BEAUMONT Norwood Road, S.E. Folkestone Gault Mr. JOHN GRIFFITHS, of Folkestone, the well-known collector of Gault fossils, is without resources, and is perman- ently disabled by rheumatism, brought on by exposure in his daily labours, which have not only enriched the museums of Europe and the United States, but have formed the groundwork of the investigations into the zones and fossils of the Gault made by myself and fellow-workers—the Rey. Prof. Wiltshire, F.G.S., before my own endeavours, and those of Messrs. F. G. H. Price, F.G.S., and Starkie Gardner, F.G.S., since. Mr. F. G. H. Price, of Messrs. Child’s Bank, Temple Bar, W.C., has kindly undertaken to receive subscriptions. H.M. Geological Survey C, E. DE RANCE i i a ee Ty th ya Yan. 27, 1887] NATURE 297 : Wolves, Mares, and Foals WHEN in The Asturias in 1885, I was told of a very curious case of animal instinct, which may be worth recording. Wolves are by no means unfrequent in The Asturias, and often attack the young foals which are sent up te_pasturage with the mares in the mountains. The experienced danger seems to have begotten a precautionary instinct of a very intelligent kind. It is said that, on an alarm of wolves, the mares and foals congregate for mutual protection and common defence. The mares form them- selves into a sort of cordon, heads outwards, surrounding a space inclosing the young foals, and are ready for attacking with their fore-feet the wolves on their approach. My informant gave me a graphic account of such an attack, of which he was an eye-witness for nearly an hour, and described to me how the wolves circled round and round the defenders, first at some distance, then gradually approaching nearer and nearer, seeking an opening into the inclosure, till at. last they came within striking distance, and he saw one wolf rolled over dead by a blow from the fore-foot of one of the mares. The fore-foot is not commonly used for defence by any equine species ; but it is obvious that the more powerful hind-leg blow would be of little service against the spriog of a wolf from behind, without the directing eye to guide the stroke. What a long experience must this mutual protection have been the result of! We can scarcely understand it, without councils of war having been held, the dangers discussed, and signals for concerted action arranged; but now all this instinct may merely be the inheritance of the experience of former generations. Benthall, Kenley, Surrey, January 6 GEORGE MAW DEE “SUINAS LIE AT =e human history we know that for several thousand years the Sun has been giving heat and light to the earth as at present; possibly with some considerable fluctuations, and possibly with some not very small pro- gressive variation. The records of agriculture, and the natural history of plants and animals within the time of human history, abound with evidence that there has been no exceedingly great change in the intensity of the Sun’s heat and light within the last 3000 years ; but for all that, there may have been variations of quite as much as 5 or 10 per cent., as we may judge from considering that the inten- sity of the solar radiation to the earth is 63 per cent. greater in January than in July; and neither at the equator nor in the northern or southern hemispheres has this difference been discovered by experience or general observation of any kind. But as for the mere age of the Sun, irrespective of the question of uniformity, we have proof of something vastly more than 3000 years in geological history, with its irrefragable evidence of continuity of life on the earth in time past for tens of thousands, and probably for millions. of years. Here, then, we have a splendid subject for contempla- tion and research in natural philosophy, or physics, the science of dead matter. The sun, a mere piece of matter of the moderate dimensions which we know it to have, bounded all round by cold ether, has been doing work at the rate of four hundred and seventy-six thou- sand million million million horse-power for 3000 years, and at possibly more, and certainly not much less, than that for a few million years. How is this to be ex- plained? Natural philosophy cannot evade the question, and no physicist who is not engaged in trying to answer it can have any other justification than that his whole working time is occupied with work on some other subject or subjects of his province by which he has more hope of being able to advance science. I suppose I may assume that every person present knows as an established result of scientific inquiry that the sun is not a burning fire, and is merely a fluid mass cooling, with some little accession of fresh energy by meteors occasionally falling in, of very small account * Lecture on “‘ The Probable Origin, the Total Amount, and the Possible Duration, of the Sun’s Heat,”’ delivered by Sir William Thomson, F.R.S., at the Royal Institution, on Friday, the 2rst inst. in comparison with the whole energy of heat which he gives out from year to year. You are also per- fectly familiar with Helmholtz’s form of the meteoric theory, and accept it as having the highest degree of scientific probability that can be assigned to any assumption regarding actions of prehistoric times. You understand, then, that the essential principle of the explanation is this: at some period of time, long past, the sun’s initial heat was generated by the collision of pieces of matter gravitationally attracted together from distant space to build up his present mass ; and shrinkage due to cooling gives, through the work done by the mutual gravitation of all parts of the shrinking mass, the vast thermal capacity in virtue of which the cooling has been, and continues to be, so slow. I assume that you have not been misled by any of your teachers who may have told you, or by any of your books in which you may have read, that the sun is becoming hotter because a gaseous mass, shrinking because it is becoming colder, becomes hotter because it shrinks. An essential detail of Helmholtz’s theory of solar heat is that the sun must be fluid, because even though given at any moment hot enough from the surface to any depth, however great, inwards, to be brilliantly incandescent, the conduction of heat from within through solid matter of even the highest conducting quality known to us would not suffice to maintain the incandescence of the surface for more than a few hours, after which all would be darkness. Observation confirms this conclusion so far as the outward appearance of the sun is concerned, but does not suffice to disprove the idea which prevailed till thirty or forty years ago that the sun is a solid nucleus inclosed in a sheet of violently agitated flame. In reality, the matter of the outer shell of the sun, from which the heat is radiated outwards, must in cooling become denser, and so becoming unstable in its high position, must fall down, and hotter fluid from within must rush up to take its place. The tremendous currents thus continually pro- duced in this great mass of flaming fluid constitute the province of the newly-developed science of solar physics, which, with its marvellous instrument of research—the spectroscope—is yearly and daily giving us more and more knowledge of the actual motions of the different ingredients, and of the splendid and all-important result- ing phenomena. Now, to form some idea of the amount of the heat which is being continually carried up to the sun’s surface and radiated out into space, and of the dynamical rela- tions between it and the solar gravitation, let us first divide that prodigious number (476 X 107) of horse-power by the number (6°1 X 10'S) of square metres in the sun’s surface, and we find 78,000 horse-power as the mechanical value of the radiation per square metre. Imagine, then, the engines of eight ironclads applied to do all their avail- able work of, say, 10,000 horse-power each, in perpetuity . driving one small paddle in a fluid contained in a square metre vat. The same heat will be given out from the square metre surface of the fluid as is given out from every square metre of the sun’s surface. But now to pass from a practically impossible combina- tion of engines and a physically impossible paddle and fluid and containing vessel, towards a more practical com- bination of matter for producing the same effect: still keep the ideal vat and paddle and fluid, but place the vat on the surface of a cool, solid, homogeneous globe of the same size ("697 X 10° metres radius) as the sun, and of density (1°4) equal to the sun’s density. Instead of using steam-power, let the paddle be driven by a weight descend- ing in a pit excavated below the vat. As the simplest possible mechanism, take a long vertical shaft, with the paddle mounted on the top of it so as to turn horizontally Let the weight be a nut working on a screw-thread on the vertical shaft, with guides to prevent the nut from turning—the screw and the guides being all absolutely 298 NATURE frictionless. Let the pit be a metre square at its upper end, and let it be excavated quite down to the sun’s centre, everywhere of square horizontal section, and tapering uniformly to a point at the centre. Let the weight be simply the excavated matter of the sun’s mass, with merely a little clearance space between it and the four sides of the pit, and a kilometre or so cut off the lower pointed end to allow space for its descent. The mass of this weight is 326 X 10% tons. Its heaviness, three-quarters of the heaviness of an equal mass at the sun’s surface, is 244 X 10° tons solar surface-heaviness. Now a horse- power is 270 metre-tons, terrestrial surface-heaviness, per hour ; or 10 metre-tons, solar surface-heaviness, per hour. To do 78,000 horse-power, or 780,000 metre-tons, solar surface-heaviness, per hour, our weight must therefore descend at the rate of 1 metre in 313 hours, or about 28 metres per year. To advance another step, still through impracticable mechanism, towards the practical method by which the sun’s heat is produced, let the thread of the screw be of uniformly decreasing steepness from the surface down- wards, so that the velocity of the weight, as it is allowed to descend by the turning of the screw, shall be in simple proportion to distance from the sun’s centre. This will involve a uniform condensation of the material of the weight ; but a condensation so exceedingly small in the course even of tens of thousands of years, that, whatever be the supposed character, metal or stone, of the weight, the elastic reaction against the condensation will be utterly imperceptible in comparison with the gravitational forces with which we are concerned. The work done per metre of descent of the top end of the weight will be just four- fifths of what it was when the thread of the screw was uniform. Thus, to do the 78,000 horse-power of work, the top end of the weight must descend at the rate of 35 metres per year: or 70 kilometres, which is one one- hundredth per cent. (1/10,000) of the sun’s radius, per 2000 years. Now let the whole surface of our cool solid sun be divided into squares, for example as nearly as may be of I square metre area each, and let the whole mass of the sun be divided into long inverted pyramids or pointed rods, each 700,000 kilometres long, with their points meeting at the centre. Let each be mounted on a screw, as already described for the long tapering weight which we first considered ; and let the paddle at the top end of each screw-shaft revolve in a fluid, not now confined to a vat, but covering the whole surface of the sun to a depth of a few metres or kilometres. Arrange the viscosity of the fluid and the size of each paddle so as to let the paddle turn just so fast as to allow the top end of each pointed rod to descend at the rate of 35 metres per year. The whole fluid will, by the work which the paddles do in it, be made incandescent, and it will give out heat and light to just about the same amount as is actually done by the sun. Ifthe fluid be a few thousand kilometres deep over the paddles, it would be impossible, by any of the appliances of solar physics, to see the difference between our model mechanical sun and the true sun. Now, to do away with the last vestige of impracticable mechanism, in which the heavinesses of all parts of each long rod are supported on the thread of an ideal screw cut on a vertical shaft of ideal matter, absolutely hard and absolutely frictionless: first, go back a step to our supposition of just one such rod and screw working in a single pit excavated down to the centre of the sun, and let us suppose all the rest of the sun’s mass to be rigid and absolutely impervious to heat. Warm up the matter of the pyramidal rod to such a temperature that its mate- rial melts and experiences enough of Sir Humphrey Davy’s “repulsive motion” to keep it balanced as a fluid, without either sinking or rising from the position in which it was held by the thread of the screw. When the matter is thus held up without the screw, take away the screw [ Fan. 27, 1887 or let it melt in its place. We should thus havea pit from the.sun’s surface to his centre, of a square metre area at the surface, full of incandescent fluid, which we may sup- pose to be of the actual ingredients of the solar substance. This fluid, having at the first instant the temperature with which the paddle left it, would at the first instant continue radiating heat just as it did when the paddle was kept moving ; but it would quickly become much cooler at its surface, and to a distance of a few metres down. Con- vection-currents, with their irregular whirls, would carry the cooled fluid down from the surface, and bring up hotter fluid from below, but this mixing could not go on through a depth of very many metres to a sufficient degree to keep up anything approaching to the high tem- perature maintained by the paddle; and after a few hours or days, solidification would commence at the surface. If the solidified matter floats on the fluid at the same tem- perature below it, the crust would simply thicken as ice ona lake thickens in frosty weather; but if, as is more probable, solid matter, of such ingredients as the sun is composed of, sinks in the liquid when both are at the melting temperature of the substance, thin films of the upper crust would fall in, and continue falling in, until, for several metres downwards, the whole mass of mixed solid and fluid becomes stiff enough (like the stiffness of paste or of mortar) to prevent the frozen film from falling down from the surface.. The surface film would then quickly thicken, and in the course of a few hours or days become less than red-hot on its upper surface. The whole pit full of fluid would go on cooling with extreme slowness until, after possibly about a million million million years or so, it would be all at the same temperature as the space to which its upper end radiates. Now, let precisely what we have been considering be done for every one of our pyramidal rods, with, however, in the first place, thin partitions of matter impervious to heat separating every pit from its four surrounding neigh- bours. Precisely the same series of events as we have been considering will take place in every one of the its. a Suppose the whole complex mass to be rotating at the rate of once round in 25 days. Now at the instant when the paddle stops let all the partitions be annulled, so that there shall be perfect freedom for convection-currents to flow unresisted in any direction, except so far as resisted by the viscosity of the fluid, and leave the piece of matter, which we may now call the Sun, to himself. He will immediately begin showing all the phenomena known in solar physics. Of course the observer might have to wait a few years for sunspots, and a few quarter-centuries to discover periods of sunspots, but they would, I think I may say probably, all be there just as they are ; because I think we may feel that it is most probable that all these actions are due to the sun’s own mass and not to external influences of any kind. It is, however, quite possible, and indeed many who know most of the subject think it probable, that some of the chief phenomena due to sun- spots arise from influxes of meteoric matter circling round the sun. The energy of chemical combination is as nothing compared with the gravitational energy of shrink- age, to which the sun’s activity is almost wholly due, but chemical combinations and dissociations may, as urged by Lockyer, be thoroughly potent determining influences on some of the features of non-uniformity of the brightness in the grand phenomena of sunspots, hydrogen flames, and corona, which make the province of solar physics. But these are questions belonging to a very splendid branch of solar science with which we are not occupied this evening. What concerns us at present may be summarised in two propositions :— (1) Gigantic convection-currents throughout the sun’s liquid mass are continually maintained by fluid, slightly Fan, 27, 1887] NATURE 299 cooled by radiation, falling down from the surface, and hotter fluid rushing up to take its place. (2) The work done in any time by the mutual gravita- tion of all the parts of the fluid, as it shrinks in virtue of the lowering of its temperature, is but little less than (so little less than, that we may regard it as practically equal to’) the dynamical equivalent of the heat that is radiated from the sun in the same time. The rate of shrinkage corresponding to the present rate of solar radiation has been proved to us, by the consider- ation of our dynamical model, to be 35 metres on the radius per year, or one ten-thousandth of its own length on the radius per two thousand years. Hence, if the solar radiation has been about the same as at present for two hundred thousand years, his radius must have been greater by 1 per cent. two hundred thousand years ago than at present. If we wish to carry our calculations much farther back or forward than two hundred thousand years, we must reckon by differences of the reciprocal of the sun’s radius, and not by differences simply of the radius, to take into account the change of density (which, for example, would be 3 per cent. for 1 per cent. change of the radius). Thus the rule, easily worked out accord- ing to the principles illustrated by our mechanical model, is this :— Equal differences of the reciprocal of the radius corre- spond to equal quantities of heat radiated away from million of years to million of years. Take two examples :— (1) If in past time there has been as much as fifteen million times the heat radiated from the sun as is at present radiated out in one year, the solar radius must have been four times as great as at present. (2) If the sun’s effective thermal capacity can be main- tained by shrinkage till twenty million times the present year’s amount of heat is radiated away, the sun’s radius must be half what it is now. But it is to be remarxed that the density which this would imply, being 11°2 times the density of water, or just about the density of lead, is pro- bably too great to allow the free shrinkage as of a cooling gas to be still continued without obstruction through overcrowding of the molecules. It seems, therefore, most probable that we cannot for the future reckon on ~more of solar radiation than, if so much as, twenty million times the amount at present radiated out ina year. It is also to be remarked that the greatly diminished radiating surface, at a much lower temperature, would give out annually much less heat than the sun in his present con- ditien gives. The same considerations led Newcomb to the conclusion “that it is hardly likely that the sun can continue to give sufficient heat to support life on the earth (such life as we now are acquainted with, at least) for ten million years from the present time.” In all our calculations hitherto we have for simplicity taken the density as uniform throughout, and equal to the true mean density of the sun, being about 1°4 times the density of water, or about a fourth of the earth’s mean density. In reality the density in the upper parts of the sun’s mass must be something less than this, and some- thing considerably more than this in the central parts, because of the pressure in the interior increasing to some- thing enormously great at the centre. If we knew the distribution of interior density we could easily modify our calculations accordingly, but it does not seem probable that the correction could, with any probable assumption as to the greatness of the density throughout a consider- able proportion of the sun’s interior, add more than a few million years to the past of solar heat, and what could be added to the past must be taken from the future. In our calculations we have taken Pouillet’s number for the total activity of solar radiation, which practically * “Onthe Aze of the Sun’s Heat,” by Sir William Thomson (AM/acmit- fan's Magazine, March 1862); and Vhomson and Tait’s ‘‘ Natural Philo- sophy,” 2nd edition, vol. i. part ii., Appendix E. agrees with Herschel’s. Forbes! showed the necessity for correcting the mode of allowing for atmospheric absorp- tion used by his two predecessors in estimating the total amount of solar radiation, and he was thus led to a number 1°6 times theirs. Forty years later Langley,? in an excellently worked out consideration of the whole question of absorption by our atmosphere, of radiant heat of all wave-lengths, accepts and confirms Forbes’s reason- ing, and by fresh observations in very favourable circum- stances on Mount Whitney, 15,000 feet above the sea- level, finds a number a little greater still than Forbes (1'7, instead of Forbes’s 1°6, times Pouillet’s number). Thus Langley’s number expressing the quantity of heat radiated per second of time from each square centimetre of the sun’s surface corresponds to 133,000 horse-power per square metre, instead of the 78,000 horse-power which we have taken, and diminishes each of our times in the ratio of I to 177. Thus, instead of Helmholtz’s twenty million years, which was founded on Pouillet’s estimate, we have only twelve millons, and similarly with all our other time reckonings based on Pouillet’s results. In the circumstances, and taking fully into account all possibilities of greater density in the sun’s interior, and of greater or less activity of radiation in past ages, it would, I think, be exceedingly rash to assume as probable anything more than twenty million years of the sun’s light in the past history of the earth, or to reckon on more than five or six million years of sunlight for time to come. But now we come to the most interesting part of our subject—the early history of thesun. Five or ten million years ago he may have been about double his present diameter and an eighth of his present mean density, or 175 of the density of water; but we cannot, with any probability of argument or speculation, go on continu- ously much beyond that. We cannot, however, help asking the question, What was the condition of the sun’s matter before it came together and became hot? It may have been two cool solid masses, which collided with the velo- city due to their mutual gravitation; or, but with enor- mously less of probability, it may have been two masses colliding with velocities considerably greater than the velocities due to mutual gravitation. This last supposi- tion implies that, calling the two bodies A and B for brevity, the motion of the centre of inertia of B relatively to A, must, when the distances between them was great, have been directed with great exactness to pass through the centre of inertia of A; such great exactness that the rotational momentum after collision was of proper amount to let the sun have his present rotational period when shrunk to his present dimensions. This exceedingly exact aiming of the one body at the other, so to speak, is, on the dry theory of probability, exceedingly improbable. On the other hand, there is certainty that the two bodies A and B at rest in space if left to themselves, undisturbed by other bodies and only influenced by their mutual gravi- tation, shall collide with direct impact, and therefore with no motion of their centre of inertia, and no rotational momentum of the compound body after the collision. Thus we see that the dry probability of collision between two of a vast number of mutually attracting bodies widely scattered through space is much greater if the bodies be all given at rest, than if they be given moving in any random directions and with any-velocities considerable in comparison with the velocities which they would acquire in falling from rest into collision, In this connec- tion it is most interesting to know from stellar astronomy, aided so splendidly as it has recently been by the spec- troscope, that the relative motions of the visible stars and our sun are generally very small in comparison with the velocity (612 kilometres per second) a body would acquire 1 Edin. New Phil. Journal, xxxvi. 1844. 2 “On the Selective Absorption of Solar Energy,” American Fournal of Science, vol. xxv., March 1883. 300 NATURE [ Fan. 27, 1887 in falling into the sun, and are comparable with the moderate little velocity (29°5 kilometres per second) of the earth in her orbit round the sun. To fix the ideas, think of two cool solid globes, each of the sam2 mean density as the earth, and of half the sun’s diameter, given at rest, or nearly at rest, at a distance asunder equal to twice the earth’s distance from the sun. They will fall together and collide in half a year. The collision will last for a few hours, in the course of which they will be transformed into a violently agitated incandescent fluid mass, with about eighteen million (ac- cording to the Pouillet-Helmholtz reckoning, of twenty million) years’ heat ready made in it, and swelled out by this heat to possibly one and a half times, or two, or three, or four times, the sun’s present diameter. If instead of being at rest initially they had had a transverse relative velocity of 1°42 kilometres per second, they would just escape collision, and would revolve in equal ellipses in a period of one year round the centre of inertia, just grazing one another’s surfaces every time they come round to the nearest points of their orbits. If the initial transverse component of relative velocity be less than, but not much less than, 1°42 kilometres per second, there will be a violent grazing collision, and two bright suns, solid globes bathed in flaming fluid, will come into existence in the course of a few hours, and will com- mence revolving round their common centre of inertia in long elliptic orbits in a period of a little less than a year. The gvasz-tidal interaction will diminish the eccentricities of their orbits ; and if continued long enough will cause the two to revolve in circular orbits round their centre of inertia with a distance between their surfaces equal to 644 of the diameter of each. If the initial transverse component relative velocity of the two bodies were just 68 metres per second, the moment of momentum, the same before and after collision, would be just equal to that of the solar system, of which seventeen- eighteenths is Jupiter’s and one-eighteenth the sun’s: the other bodies of the system being not worth considering in the account. Fragments of superficially-melted solid, or splashes of fluid, sent flying away from the main com- pound mass could not possibly by tidal action or other resistance get into the actual orbits of the planets, whose evolution requires some finer if more complex fore-ordina- tion than merely the existence of two masses undisturbed by any other matter in space. I shall only say in conclusion :—Assuming the sun’s mass to be composed of portions which were far asunder before it was hot, the immediate antecedent to its in- candescence must have been either two bodies with details differing only in proportion and densities from the cases we have been now considering as examples ; or it must have been some number more than two—some finite number—at the most the number of atoms in the sun’s present mass, which is a finite number as easily understood and imagined as number 3 or number 123. The immediate antecedent to incandescence may have been the whole constituents in the extreme condition of subdivision—that is to say, in the condition of separate atoms; or it may have been any smaller number of groups of atoms making up minute crystals or groups of crystals—snowflakes of matter, as it were; or it may have been lumps of matter like this macadam- ising stone; or like this stone, which you might mis- take for a macadamising stone, and which was actually travelling through space till it fell on the earth at Possil, in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, on April 5, 1804; or like this—which was found in the Desert of Atacama in South America, and is believed to have fallen there from the sky—a fragment made up of iron and stone, which looks as if it has solidified from a mixture of gravel and melted iron in a place where there was very little of heaviness ; or this splendidly crystallised piece of iron, a slab cut out of the celebrated aérolite of Lenarto, in Hungary ;! or this wonderfully shaped specimen, a model of the Middlesburgh meteorite, kindly given me by Prof. A. S. Herschel, with corrugations showing how its melted matter has been scoured off from the front part of its surface in its final rush through the earth’s atmosphere when it was seen to fall on March 14, 1881, at 3.35 p.m. For the theory of the sun it is indifferent which of these varieties of configurations of matter may have been the immediate antecedent of his incandescence, but I can never think of these material antecedents without remem- bering a question put to me thirty years ago by the late Bishop Ewing, Bishop of Argyll and the Isles: “Do you imagine that piece of matter to have been as it is from the beginning ; to have been created as it is, or to have been as it is through alltime till it fell on the earth?” I had told him that I believed the sun to be built up of stones, but he would not be satisfied till he knew or could imagine, what kind of stones. I could not but agree with him in feeling it impossible to imagine that any one of these meteorites before you has been as it is through all time, or that the materials of the sun were like this for all time before they came together and became hot. Surely this stone has an eventful history, but I shall not tax your patience longer to-night by trying to trace it con- jecturally. I shall only say that we cannot but agree with the common opinion which regards meteorites as fragments broken from larger masses, but we cannot be satisfied without trying to imagine what were the ante- cedents of those masses. PROTOPLASM? T is a natural and beneficial result of the present energetic pursuit of biological science that every now and again some thinker comes forward to show us where we stand, and to what our thoughts are impelling us. Subordinate to the universal eminence and influence of a Linneus or a Darwin, the critics of a decade exert no small effect on contemporary investigation by suggesting new modes of viewing or expressing things; and even though the originality is not always happy, and the gene- ralisations are sometimes unfortunate, it is nevertheless a healthy sign that specialists of reputation, led to view matters with a severely critical eye as their work pro- gresses, occasionally turn round and warn us that it would be as well to take stock of the facts, and see what are the chances of solving some large problem. Moreover, it has to be borne in mind that as various branches reach a certain stage their results need overhauling by specialists in other departments, and it becomes a question who is to prepare the problems of biology, for instance, so that the mathematician or the physicist may criticise them. As much on this account as for his own contributions to the store of facts, we must welcome Dr. Berthold’s clever “Studies” as an earnest and important attempt to contribute to a knowledge of the mechanics of life. Of course it is always a difficulty to decide how far a special- ist may be expected to take an accurate view of a large problem to the direct solution of which his own re- searches can contribute but little; but experience has shown that more is to be looked for from the deep insight obtained by close investigation than from the few brilliant suggestions scattered through volumes of merely clever thinking. In the present case, the moderate tone of the book, and the easy earnestness of the writer, should at least insure careful reading of the 324 pages of text in which Dr. Berthold expresses his bold ideas ; and whether the conclusions stand or fall, the reader will be amply repaid by the observations collected and the criticisms on several questions now agitating the minds of botanists. * The three aérolites now exhibited belong to the Hunterian Museum of the University of Glasgow, and have been kindly lent me for this evening by the Curator, Dr. Young. * ‘Studien iiber Protoplasmamechanik.” of Botany in the University of Géttingen. By Dr. G. Berthold, Professor (Leipzig: Arthur Felix, 1886.) ese! . Fan. 27, 1887] NATIORE 301 The title of the book must be taken in a comprehensive sense, for the whole “cell-theory” (if we possess one) is under review in the nine chapters into which the text is divided. This extensive aim is justified by the author’s treatment of the subject, which affords an admirable survey of current botanical speculation. Before proceeding to a closer examination of the work, we may state that there are seven well-executed plates, with descriptions which are too short. The index might have been more ample—it includes the names of plants and authors only—but the table of contents is very full and good. An introduction of eleven pages leads us at once to the chief position assumed by the author. So long as we do not understand the Awa, we must be in the dark as regards the mechanism of life in higher organisms. No- thing has been gained by regarding protoplasm as “living proteid,” or as containing “living” as opposed to “dead” proteids, and so forth: moreover, no clearness, but rather the contrary, has so far resulted from hypotheses as to the “structure” of protoplasm, or from distinctions be- tween “idioplasm” and other constituents. The author therefore inquired whether we are not perhaps treading an aimless path, and whether we should not go back and examine earlier views, and proceed anew. The conse- quence to his mind was the resumption of the old analogy between a drop of protoplasm and a drop of fluid, and he was led to inquire into the analogy more deeply, especially on finding that a detailed analysis of the problem had not before been seriously undertaken. As the general result of investigations begun in 1882, the author decides that protoplasm is to be regarded as a _ highly complex emulsion, differing in consistence in the different cases. There is nothing in the chemistry and metabolism known which need clash with this view of the fluid nature of the “ physical basis of life,’ and the author decides that the forces upon which the changes of form, internal movements, and so forth, depend, are the same as those which determine whether a fluid shall assume the form of a drop, or drops, or spread out and wet another body, and so on—in fact, the forces concerned in surface-tensions. The author frankly admits the difficulty, and even seem- ing impossibility, of imitating some of the conditions, or even of deciding whether the actions of protoplasm accord with the theory. This must naturally be the case; and of | course no one expects him to imitate all the conditions ex- perimentally. The method employed is essentially deduc- tive and analytic throughout, and for this reason the greatest possible care must be employed in taking any step forward. Partly on this account, and partly owing to other circumstances, the book needs cautious reading, and great difficulties will be felt in regard to many points. This is apart from an undoubted (though perhaps unavoid- able) blemish in the book, which consists in the author so often putting off for some pages the consideration of a subject commenced. _The key-note, as it were, of the work having been in- dicated, a few words must be said regarding some leading features in the various chapters. The first subject dealt with is the layered or stratified nature of the typical cell. A spore of £guisetum, for instance, may be regarded as a system of concentric layers. First there is a central nucleus ; then various layers of protoplasm, of which the innermost is colourless and contains certain minute granules, the second is thicker and carries the chlorophyll- corpuscles, the third is hyaline and contains lenticular refractive bodies of peculiar nature ; then follows the cell- wall, if nothing further. The cell-wall is usually com- posed of three or more layers. If we consider the cells of a tissue, Berthold points out that a given partition membrane must be regarded as dividing and belonging to two symmetrical plasmatic systems, and as being their middle and innermost layer. | mixtures. ' proteid or otherwise. But all cells are not systems of concentric layers. Not only are excentric layers found, but a complexity is intro- duced as soon as the sap-vacuoles appear, in many cases making the cell not monocentric but polycentric. The normal order of the layers, as exemplified by the spore of Equisetum, or any simple cell with one large vacuole, &c., may be distinguished from the zzverse order ex- hibited, for instance, by the cords in a Caulerpa, or the central mass in a cell containing raphides, or anywhere where the sap bathes the system of layers referred to. It is then shown that in many cases where oil-drops, &c., have usually been regarded as lying free ina cell, they are inclosed in an ingrowth from the cell-wall, reminding us of cystoliths. An examination of intercellular spaces follows : the most interesting question is as to the exist- ence of protoplasm in lacune between cells. Berthold quotes Aconitum Napellus as affording conclusive evi- dence, and confutes the contention of Gardiner and Schenck against Russow’s statements. Berthold goes much further, however. He finds a thin layer of proto- plasm overlying the cuticle of the epidermis and of spores, and, to put it shortly, concludes that the cell-wall is formed and embedded in protoplasm, and not excreted on its surface—the cell-wall is a supporting apparatus, not a protective one. Again, a cell forming part of a tissue cannot be forthwith compared with a unicellular Alga, for this reason: the latter may be regarded as consisting of two parts, (1) the inner protoplasmic system with its contiguous share of cell-wall, (2) the outer strata of cell- wall A/us the hypothetical covering of protoplasm. Only the first of these two parts of the algal cell can be com- pared with a tissue-cell. The relation of these ideas to Sachs’s view, that we are to regard a plant asa whole cut up into cell-chambers, and not as a whole built up of single cells, is obvious to all who have followed recent speculations in botany. It is, of course, impossible to go at any length into the contents of all the chapters. The second is concerned with the finer structure of the cell—nucleus, chlorophyll- corpuscles, and other cell-contents. Incidentally we may note the emphatic statement that starch is z0¢ formed in the Melanophycee (p. 57); that the word “ microsome” has no definite meaning, and had better be discarded (p. 61). Later on the author expressly states his inability to confirm Strasburger’s and Schmitz’s conclusions that microsomes are enployed in building up the cell-wall (p. 208), and even hints at confusion between crystalline particles and microsomes in the case of Spevogyra / If protoplasm is an emulsion, it follows that the various processes of separation of sap-vacuoles, oil- drops, crystalline and other particles, have to be ex- plained as according with similar separations in lifeless Berthold finds no difficulties insuperable here, and even discusses the probable origin and disappearance of chlorophyll-corpuscles and nuclei on the assumption that they are part of the protoplasm. Although they now always arise by the division of those previously existing, they must have been formed from protoplasm in the first instance. The action of external stimuli offers a fertile subject for discussion. As regards geotropism, the author regards ‘‘the primary effect of gravitation ” as consisting in the different rates of movement of sub- stances of different specific gravity. The supposition that anything is explained by regard- ing protoplasm as essentially “ living proteid,” is severely criticised on pp. 74 and 75, and the author agrees with Baumann that the arguments which exalt proteids into the position of being the most essential constituent of protoplasm would apply equally well to water. The “ living substance of organisms” is always an extremely complex mixture. At the same time, it would seem that the author here raises some gratuitous difficulties, since no biologist really regards protoplasm as a simple substance, One consequence of the discussion 302 NATORE [Fan. 27, 1887 might almost be foreseen: Berthold proposes to recast the definition of protoplasm, and to subordinate to it— the fluid mixture absent from no living cell—cytoplasm, nucleus, chlorophyll-bodies, vacuoles, tannin and oil- drops, &c., as so many’parts, of the protoplasm as a whole. He urges that the introduction of the ideas cytoplasm, ectoplasm, and so on, have driven the time-honoured word protoplasm out of the field, whereas its usefulness as a comprehensive word —though with a somewhat different meaning from the current one—for the whole is undoubted. Moreover, it is to be insisted upon that the protoplasm is active as a whole. The discussion as to the meaning of the term “ organ- ised” must be here passed over, with many other points of interest. In the third chapter we have a long analysis of the movements of naked masses of protoplasm. All turns upon the tendency of a mass of protoplasm to assume the form of aspherical drop; this can only be due to the same causes which impel a drop of any accepted liquid to assume the drop condition. Justice could not be done by summarising this analysis, and the demonstration that cylinders of protoplasm, like cylinders of liquids, tend to break up in a definite way. The end result of a long argument is, that the amoeboid condition depends upon the degree of wetting of the environment by the fluid protoplasm and vice versd. If three fluids which do not mix are in contact with one another, the tensions at their surfaces can be mathe- matically investigated, and Berthold maintains that the principles here concerned govern the behaviour of a drop of protoplasm as they do that of an ordinary liquid under the given conditions. The phenomena of spreading out, putting forth and withdrawing pseudopodia, rounding off, &c., are due to the same causes and ruled by the same laws as the flowing of one liquid over another, or its with- drawal from it (glycerine and alcohol e.g.), or its assump- tion of the drop form, and so on. Of course amceboid movements are complex, because the liquid amceba is not a simple fluid, but is undergoing rapid changes due to its metabolism and exchanges with the environment, pro- cesses which are acting with different energy at different places. It must be clearly understood that a rapid survey of Berthold’s position cannot do justice to his argument : whether his position is accepted or rejected, there is no doubt that he clearly sees and provides for many important difficulties, some of which seem to have been overlooked. It will be regarded as a startling idea by some (though the idea is not altogether new) that fine pseudopodia are not the results of activity on the part of the amoeba: such pseudopodia must be looked upon as drawn out by the surrounding medium, not pz out into it. Here, again, exceptions occur where blunt processes are driven forth by local contractions and other causes, but the sum total of all the argument is (as expressly stated again on p. 109) that the amceboid condition is the symptom that the organism wets the substratum and displaces the surrounding medium, indi- cating that the intensity of the tension between the medium and the protoplasm is but small. The discussion as to the causes and effects of the internal movements in protoplasm must here be passed over, with the simple remark that the author sees no difficulty which cannot be explained from our knowledge of the mechanics of liquids. On p. 106 is proposed an explanation of the remarkable filaments observed by F. Darwin on Dépsacus sylvestris. Chapter IV. deals with what is practically a continua- tion of the second chapter—the symmetry or arrangement of the cell-contents. The stratified or shell arrangement is again expressly referred to, and an attempt made to explain it on the main assumption of the book. The arrangement referred to is a consequence of exchanges (diffusion, absorption, &c.) with the environment : passive | particles suspended in the cell would have to assume | i 1 1 positions which are definite ; active particles (z.e. particles which themselves exchange with the layer in which they are embedded) might interfere with the simple shell arrangement, and we have systems within a system. After examining what occurs in the case of a spherical system or cell, the author extends the analysis to an ellipsoid and other anisodiametric systems, and finds the results accord with what is found in Nature. The ques- tion of the “ Hautschicht” is then attacked, and De Vries’ late statements as to the existence of a pellicle or “wall” around the vacuole are criticised. Berthold, to put it shortly, condemns this pellicle as an artificial pro- duct—a “ precipitation-membrane”—in many if not in most cases. On p. 154 it is still more emphatically stated that the cell-wall inside the cell is formed “ always in the interior of the protoplasm, never on its surface,” and it is probable “that the same is the case even when free masses of protoplasm surround themselves with a mem- brane.” The membrane stated to exist around the nucleus is condemned, with a certain reserve, as a pro- bable precipitation-membrane. Other interesting points must be passed over. : The fifth chapter is practically concerned with showing that in spite of the great variety of forms exhibited by the chlorophyll-bodies of different plants, especially Algae, their position, consistence, changes in form, division, &c., can be explained in accordance with the view that they are parts of an emulsion. Other cell-contents are con- sidered also—oil-drops, tannin, nucleus, vacuoles, &c.— but at less length. The chlorophyll-corpuscles of higher plants are compared to drops resting on a substratum which they do not wet, their shape being in part due to radial pressures. When they are more extended and amceboid, their actions are explained according to the principles (contact of three surfaces, &c.) employed before. Spirogyra and other Conjugate present difficulties. While the “chlorophyll-apparatus” displays a relatively large surface, the converse is the case with nuclei and other cell-contents, and the form of the spherical drop (maximum cubic contents with minimum superficial area) is usual ; though exceptions exist and are investigated. The division of chlorophyll-corpuscles is then examined, and this leads naturally to the division of the nucleus and cell, which is treated separately. A spherical mass of fluid must increase its surface if it divides: this implies a diminution of tension at the common surface (as with the formation of pseudopodia), and concentric shells in the medium or in the mass of fluidin question. All the conditions fulfilled, pseudopodia can be formed either from the medium into the mass, or from the mass into the medium. An annular pseudopodium would divide the spherical (or spheroidal) mass into two. This is, shortly put, the position as Berthold views it. He then again applies the analysis of dividing cylinders, and proceeds to apply the results to what is observed ina cell. The radial pressure, and growth in one direction of the cell, may be important factors. But the real difficulty is met with when considering the division of spherical bodies in the cells of the growing-points, for instance ; and the same applies to cell-division. Why should a sphere—a stable form—pass over into an elongated body, which then divides? It must be assumed that “under the in- fluence of its own metabolism, and that of its environment a bi-polar symmetry arises in the chlorophyll-corpuscle, in consequence of which the division takes place equa- torially.” is This leads to the sixth chapter, which is in many, respects the most important, as it is the most interesting. After reviewing the process of cell-division generally, the author separates the essential from the unessential pro- | cesses, and agrees with Strasburger that the division of the nucleus must be regarded as an accompanying phenomenon. The division of the ovum of Zchznus and Ciona is described: soon after the male and female ene tae -of his positions. Fan. 27, 1887] nuclei have fused, two centres appear in the egg, each with radii—the required bi-polarity is established. The exchanges and movements in the protoplasm are then followed ; the result is that certain constituents accumu- late to excess in the equator between the two radiating centres, or “suns.” The chief points are illustrated by diagrams. The two “suns” are the centres of the future daughter-cells ; the still single nucleus lies between them in a bridge of the same protoplasm as the “suns ” (these “suns,” by the bye, are the Attractions-Kugeln of Van Beneden, and the Po/-Kzgeln of others) are embedded in: the more peripheral protoplasm of the cell (ovum) has accumulated chiefly around the nucleus—z.e. in the equa- torial plane. This equatorial protoplasm then begins to cut in two the nucleus, which has assumed the “karyo- kinetic” condition. Passing over many details, we may sum up the explanation shortly. The superficial shells of protoplasm are assumed to put forth pseudopodia between the “suns ”—z.e. the author regards it as fundamentally a wetting process, due to changes at the surfaces. The processes are essentially of the same nature in vegetable cells, though it is impossible in a short space to sum- marise Berthold’s discussion as to the relative importance of the numerous details which occur in different cases. Obviously the stumbling-block which is best worth further attack is the origin of bi-polarity ina spherical mass : that Berthold’s suggestions do not satisfy the requirements will probably occur to everyone. The explanation offered to account for the complex karyokinesis cannot be re- garded as fully satisfactory. At the same time some advantage may accrue from the new lights in which he puts the central figures of cell-division. We are here only half through the book however, and must proceed, confining our remarks still more closely. Chapter VII. treats of the cell-network of plants, and the directions of cell-divisions, &c. It isin great measure a criticism of Sachs’s celebrated view of the structure of the higher plants, and deals at some length with several Of course, Berthold assumes primarily that the plant is to be regarded as chambered—cut up into cells, not built up of them. Two main principles are then employed. (1) The cell-divisions are, as a rule (at least in growing-points, &c.), halvings—z.e. each daughter- cell has the same cubic contents. This leads to a dis- cussion of very many cases. Of course the shape of a segment does not forthwith enable us to judge of its relative contents, and difficulty occurs sometimes on this account: it is impossible to summarise the remarks, and especially since reference to the figures is necessary. (2) The second fundamental principle is that which re- gulates the position of fluid lamellae elsewhere—the prin- ciple of least areas. The rule is that the new cell-wall takes such a direction that its area is the smallest possible. There are exceptions, e.g. cambium cells; but at least one feature appears to indicate a tendency to follow the principle—cell-walls never abut in the angles of cells. Sachs’s law of rectangular division is comprehended as a particular case of Berthold’s more general law: it fails where simultaneous divisions result in the formation of polygonal cells—e.g. in the embryo-sac—with walls inclined at angles greater than the right-angle. The eighth chapter deals with the sculpturing on the interior of cell-walls, and allied phenomena ; while Chapter IX. (the last) is devoted to “free cell-forma- tion.’ Enough has been said to show the wide scope of the book, though full criticism of it will only be possible after some of Berthold’s test-cases have been worked over. Of course, from the nature of the work, it is open to the charge of being transcendental ; but at the same time it must be allowed that we are getting into serious diffi- culties with protoplasm, and good, bold, shaking criticism is beneficial. In any case, several investigators will, no doubt, have something to say to Berthold’s statements, | NATURE 393 for there is no lack of observations, old and new, as well as hypothesis, in the book we dismiss with this short review. H. MarSHALL WARD ON THE EXPLOSION OF METEORITES E have received from M. Hirn a tévage & part of a communication to Z’Astronomie, in which he dis- cusses the various phenomena accompanying the ex- plosion of meteorites, with a view to explaining their causes. M. Daubrée, a long time ago, pointed out how very striking and difficult of explanation the noises are which are often heard in connection with the passage of meteor- ites, and called in question the explanation which had been given of their being really due to a veritable explosion. M. Hirn, in his paper, begins by considering the causes which are at work in the production of the thunder which accompanies electric discharges, and of this he writes as follows :—“ The sound, which we call thunder, is due, as everybody knows, to the fact that the air traversed by an electric spark, that is, a flash of lightning, is suddenly raised toa very high temperature, and has its volume more- over considerably increased. The column of gas thus suddenly heated and expanded is sometimes several miles long ; as the duration of the flash is not even a millionth of a second, it follows that the noise bursts forth at once from the whole column ; but for an observer in any one place it commences where the lightning is at the least distance. In precise terms, the beginning of the thunder- clap gives us the minimum distance of the lightning ; and the length of the thunder-clap gives us the length of the column. It must be remarked that when a flash of light- ning strikes the ground, it is not necessarily from the place struck that the first noise is heard.” M. Hirn then gives an interesting case which proves the truth of this remark. He next points out that a bullet whistles in tra- versing the air, so that we can to a certain extent follow its flight ; the same thing happens with a falling meteorite just before striking the earth. The noise actually heard has been compared to the flight of wild geese or the sound produced when one tears linen: it is due to the fact that the air rapidly pushed on one side in front of the pro- jectile, whether bullet or meteorite, quickly rushes back to fill the gap left in the rear. The most rapid cannon-shots scarcely attain a velocity of 600 metres a second, while meteorites penetrate the air with a velocity of 40,000 or even 60,000 metres per second ; and this increased velocity gives rise to pheno- mena, which, although insignificant where cannon-shots. are in question, become very intense and important when we consider the case of the meteorite. With that velocity the air is at once raised to a temperature of from 4000° to 6000°C. The matter on the surface of the meteorite will be torn away by the violence of the gaseous friction pro- duced, and will be vaporised at the same time by the heat. This is undoubtedly the origin of the smoke which meteorites leave trailing behind them. We have, then, precisely as in the case of lightning, a long narrow column of air, which is expanded, not so in- stantaneously certainly as by lightning, but at all events in an extremely short time and through a great length. Under these circumstances we should have an explosicn in one case as in the other: a clap of thunder followed by a rolling noise more or less prolonged If a cannon- ball could have imparted to it a velocity of 100,000 metres per second, it would no longer whistle, it would thunder, and at the same time it would produce a flash, as of lightning, and would be instantly burnt up. M. Hirn depends upon this line of reasoning to show that meteoric thunder need not necessarily have anything to do with an actual explosion. He then points out that the intensity of the noise produced in every point of its trajectory 304 NATURE [ Yan. 27, 1887 depends, (1) on the height ; (2) on the velocity of the meteorite ; (3) on its size ; and (4) on the configuration of the country over which it passes. He refers to the observation of Saussure that a pistol fired at a height of 5000 metres makes very little noise: he then points out that at a height of 100,000 metres the density of the air is reduced to the small value of 0°000,000,004 krg. ; the temperature being supposed to be — 200°C. In such a medium as this a meteorite could produce no sound, although it might give out a very brilliant light, because its temperature and light depend not on the absolute value, but on the rapid change of density. SIR JOSEPH WHITWORTH o Saturday night last, Sir Joseph Whitworth died at the English Hotel, Monte Carlo. In the de- partment of mechanical engineering there is, perhaps, no greater name, and his career was one upon which his countrymen may well look back with pride and pleasure. He was born on December 21, 1803, at Stockport, where his father was a schoolmaster. At the age of twelve he was sent from his father’s school to Mr. Vint’s academy at Idle, near Leeds, where he remained until he was four- teen, when he was placed with his uncle, a cotton-spinner in Derbyshire. Here he made himself familiar with the construction and working of all the machines then used in cotton-spinning. If he had chosen, he might perhaps have inherited his uncle’s property, but he was already con- scious of the true bent of his genius, and after six years’ ser- vice, being unable to emancipate himself in a more regular manner, he ran away to Manchester. At Manchester he remained for four years, working in the shops of Messrs. Crighton and other employers, and obtaining a thorough mastery of the methods of manufacturing cotton-machi- nery. Recognising the necessity of wide experience, he went to London when he had secured all the practical knowledge that could be obtained in his special line at Manchester, and he was fortunate enough to be employed by Maudslay, who soon learned to appreciate his excep- tional gifts, and took him into his own private workroom, and placed him next to Hampson, the best workman in the establishment. From Maudslay’s, Mr. Whitworth went to Holtzapfel’s, and afterwards to Clements’s, where Babbage’s calculating-machine was being constructed. During his residence in London, Mr. Whitworth began the splendid series of inventions which were to secure for him the foremost place among the mechanical engineers of his period. His first important self-imposed task was to construct the true plane, by which tool-makers might be enabled to produce, for all kinds of sliding tools, surfaces on which the resistance arising from friction would be re- duced to a minimum. ‘The work to be achieved was one of immense difficulty, and his fellow-workman, Hampson, used to laugh at him for having undertaken an impossible job. Mr. Whitworth, however, was a man of extraordinary tenacity of purpose, and did not allow himself to be dis- couraged. At last he succeeded, and showed his friend the perfect plane he had produced. “You've done it,” said Hampson, who was astounded by a result which he had always thought to be beyond the reach of human effort. In 1833, at the age of thirty, Mr. Whitworth, feeling that he might now safely trust to his own energies, re- turned to Manchester and opened a shop for the manu- facture of engineers’ tools. He was far from thinking that his first triumph had given the full measure of his powers. Already he had been working at another very complicated problem—how to do away with the incon- veniences caused by variations in the pitch and thread of the screws used in the construction of machinery. In this enterprise he was as successful as in his first great undertaking. Obtaining specimens of the screws made by leading manufacturers, he constructed one which, without being exactly like any one of those before him, was the average of them all. It was everywhere accepted, and its introduction marked an era in the history of the manufacture of machinery. The advantage derived from the invention is that every screw of the same diameter has now a thread of the same pitch and of the same number of turns to the inch, and that all screws of the same size - are interchangeable. His next achievement was the con- struction of an instrument capable of measuring the one- millionth part of aninch. This instrument was so deli- cate that when a steel bar 3 feet in length was warmed by momentary contact with a finger-nail, it at once indi- cated the expansion due to this slight cause. As a maker of engineers’ tools Mr. Whitworth of course soon became famous, and in 1853 he was sent to America as one of the Royal Commissioners to the New York Exhibition. Afterwards he drew up a remarkable report on American manufacturing in- dustry. On his return to England it was suggested by the late Lord Hardinge that the great mecha- nician, whose fame was now firmly established, should be asked by the Government to design and _ pro- duce machinery for the manufacture of rifles for the army. The rifles at that time issued to the army were carefully examined by him, and he decided that if his services were to be of any avail it would be necessary for him to deter- mine the form and dimensions which would produce the best results. With an alacrity very unusual in such matters, the Government consented to erect in his private grounds at Rusholme, near Manchester, a shooting-gallery 500 yards long. Here Mr. Whitworth laboured assiduously, trying many kinds of experiment, and at every stage of his progress making absolutely sure of his ground before advancing a step towards fresh conclusions. The result of his investigations was to revolutionise the manufacture of rifles. As the Zzmes has said, “he determined, by absolute and precise experiment, the effects of every con- ceivable pitch and kind of rifling,and of every length of pro- jectile, from the sphere toone of twenty diameters in length; and he settled once for all the conditions of trajectory and of accuracy of flight.” The significance of his efforts began to be understood by every one when, at the first Wimbledon meeting, Her Majesty fired the first shot from a Whitworth rifle, placed on a mechanical rest sliding upon true planes. At 400 yards’ range the bullet struck the target on its vertical diameter, one inch and a quarter above the intersection of the horizontal. What he esta- blished with regard to rifles he found to be in the main true with regard to weapons of a larger calibre, and he proved the importance of this fact by constructing a series of magnificent cannon. In the course of his inquiries as to the principles which ought to be observed in the manufacture of rifled small arms and ordnance, Mr. Whitworth became penetrated by the conviction that a new material must be provided, since mild steel was apt to be rendered unsound by the imprisonment of escaping gases during the process of cooling from the molten state. He solved the problem by using great hydraulic presses for the squeezing of the molten metal in the act of cooling, so that the particles might be brought into closer contact and the gases liberated. The steel produced by this method is remark- able for its lightness, strength, and tenacity, and is largely used in the construction of boilers, screw-propeller shafts, and for other purposes. In 1869 Mr. Whitworth was created a baronet, and he had already been for some years a Fellow of the Royal Society and a D.C.L. of Oxford. He had amassed wealth, and thoroughly appreciated all the advantages it secured for him. He was, however, a man of enlight- ened ideas and generous impulses, and early in 1869 he did splendid service to mechanical and engineering in- dustry by founding the Whitworth Scholarships, which ? 4 3 ot . \ Fan. 27, 1887] he endowed to the extent of 100,000/. He was twice married—first, in 1825, to Fanny, youngest daughter of Mr. Richard Ankers; then, in 1871, to Mary Louisa, widow of Mr. Alfred Orrell. Notwithstanding his un- wearied attention to business, he contrived to have some leisure time, and he spent it very agreeably at bis estate of Stancliffe, in Derbyshire, where he devoted himself to landscape gardening. He also derived a great deal of pleasure from his horses and his herd of short-horns. For some time his health had been failing, and until lately he went every winter to the Riviera. Two years ago he made for himself at Stancliffe a winter garden, hoping that he might thus be able to spend the winter at home. Last year he went abroad again, and now, at the age of eighty-three, his long and great career has come toanend. The whole civilised world may be said to be familiar with his name, and he will always be remem- bered as the most illustrious English mechanician of the present age. Few men of his time have done more for the nation than Whitworth. His “ Scholarships” have had the most important influence upon the knowledge and training of the rising generation of engineers. There are now nearly 200 Whitworth Scholars throughout the land, and they will doubtless be largely represented at his funeral. NOTES SINCE our last week’s number was issued, Prof. Huxley has sent an important letter to the Z?es on the subject of the true functions of the Imperial Institute. From this letter we make the following extract :—‘* That with which I did intend to ex- press my strong sympathy was the intention which I thought I discerned, to establish something which should play the same part in regard to the advancement of industrial knowledge which has been played in regard to science and learning in general, in these realms, by the Royal Society and the Universities. I | pictured the Imperial Institute to myself as a house of call for all those who are concerned in the advancement of industry ; as a place in which the home-keeping industrial could find out all he wants to know about colonial industry and the colonist about home industry ; as a sort of neutral ground on which the capitalist and the artisan would be equally welcome ; as a centre of inter- communication in which they might enter into friendly discussion of the problems at issue between them, and, perchance, arrive at a friendly solution of them. I imagined it a place in which the fullest stores of industrial knowledge would be made acces- sible to the public ; in which the higher questions of commerce and industry would be systematically studied and elucidated ; and where, as in an industrial University, the whole technical education of the country might find its centre and crown. [f I earnestly desire to see such an institution created, it isnot because I think that or anything else will put an end to pauperism and want—as somebody has absurdly suggested—but because I believe it will supply a foundation for that scientific organisation of our industries which the changed conditions of the times render in- dispensable to their prosperity. Ido not think I am far wrong in assuming that we are entering, indeed have already entered, upon the most serious struggle for existence to which this country has ever been committed. The latter years of the century promise to see us embarked in an industrial war of far more serious im- port than the military wars of its opening years. On the east, the most systematically instructed and best informed people in Europe are our competitors ; on the west, an energetic offshoot of our own stock, grown bigger than its parent, enters upon the struggle possessed of natural resources to which we can make no pretension, and with every prospect of soon possessing that cheap labour by which they may be effectually utilised. Many circum- stances tend to justify the hope that we may hold our own if we are careful to ‘organise victory.’ But, to those who reflect NATURE | tion, however meritorious in its way. 395 seriously on the prospects of the population of Lancashire and Yorkshire—should the time ever arrive when the goods which are produced by their labour and their skill are to be had cheaper elsewhere—to those who remember the cotton famine and reflect how much worse a customer famine would be, the situation appears very grave. I thought—I still think—that it was the in- tention of the Prince of Wales and his advisers, recognising the existence of these dangers ahead, to make a serious effort to meet them, and it was in that belief that I supported the proposed Institute.” We are glad to see that in the pamphlet which is now being circulated by the organisers of the Imperial Institute it is acknowledged that in this communication Prof. Huxley ‘*has clearly defined the functions of the Imperial Institute as recognised by the propounders of the scheme.” THE Royal Society of New South Wales offers its medal and a prize of 25/. for the best communication (provided it be of sufficient merit) containing the results of original research or observation upon any one of a list of subjects which it has pub- lished. Communications on the following subjects must be sent in not later than May 1 next:—On the silver ore deposits of New South Wales ; origin and mode of occurrence of gold- bearing veins and of the associated minerals ; influence of the Australian climate in producing modifications of diseases ; and on the Infusoria peculiar to Australia. A year later the Society will receive papers on the anatomy and life-history of the Echidna and Platypus ; the anatomy and life-history of Mollusca peculiar to Australia ; and the chemical composition of the products from the so-called kerosene shale of New South Wales. The subjects on which communications must be sent in not later than May 1, 1889, are :—On the chemistry of the Australian gums and resins ; on the aborigines of Australia ; on the iron ore deposits of New South Wales ; list of the marine fauna of Port Jackson, with descriptive notes as to habits, distribution, &c. The competition is open to all without any restriction whatever, excepting that a prize will not be awarded to a Member of the Council for the time being ; neither will an award be made for a mere compila- The communication to be successful must be either wholly or in part the result of original observation or research on the part of the contributor. THE Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et I’Industrie is organising an expedition, composed of geologists and others, for the exploration of the Upper Congo and its tributaries. WE regret to announce the death of Mr. Edward Livingstone Youmans, a well-known American writer on science. Mr. Youmans was born in New York in 1821, and though suffering much from defective vision, prosecuted from his early youth the study of science. He became well known as a public lecturer. He planned the ‘International Scientific Series” in 1871, in connection with which he made several visits to Europe. In 1872 he established the Popular Science Monthly in New York. Mr. Youmans died on Thursday last, January 20. Ir is sometimes said that intellectually Scotland does not stand on so high a level as in former times. This may be true so far as literature is concerned, but it is certainly not true with regard to science. Ata recent meeting of the Royal Society of Edin- burgh Mr. John Murray, of the Cha//enger, one of the Vice- Presidents, declared that he questioned whether any country in the world, taking its size into consideration, could show a better record of scientific work or a greater mass of scientific literature than Scotland during the past ten or twenty years. In making this statement Mr. Murray’s object was not to glorify his own country but to show that its scientific establishments have a solid claim to better treatment than they have hitherto received at the hands of the Government. Money grants, he stated, of consider- able annual value are devoted to the maintenance of learned Societies in London and Dublin. In Scotland, according to Mr. 306 Murray, the only grant of the kind is 300/. annually to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and this is repaid to a Government Depariment in the form of rent. With regard to London, Mr. Murray, we think, should verify his references, as we know of no Society which receives ‘‘a money grant of considerable value.” THE death is announced of M. Feil, the well-known glass- founder, who prepared so many disks for the large telescopes in use in several Observatories; and of M. Mercadier, Pro- fessor of Physics to the Polytechnic School of Paris, and author of the only French book on electrical measures. M. Feil was seventy-four years of age ; M. Mercadier ten years younger. THE French are making use of their occupation of Mada- gascar to gain a thorough knowledge of the natural history of the island. There have already issued from the national press several fascicules of a magnificent ‘‘ Histoire physique, natur- elle, et politique de Madagascar,” edited by M. Alfred Grandi- dier, to be completed in thirty volumes quarto. The subjects to be comprised in this work are : (1) physical and astronomical geo- graphy ; (2) meteorology and magnetism ; (3) ethnology, anthro- pology, and linguistics ; (4) political, colonial, and commercial history ; (5) natural history of mammals ; (6) natural history of birds ; (7) natural history of fishes ; (8) natural history of rep- tiles ; (9) natural history of Crustacea ; (10) natural history of terrestrial and freshwater mollusks; (11) natural history of plants ; (12) geology and paleontology. The various sections are intrusted to competent authorities ; and the geological por- tion is to be illustrated by about 500 chromolithographs or coloured plates, the anatomical details being represented in lithography and photography. The total number of plates will not be less than 1200. PREPARATIONS for the first general meeting, at Rome, of the International Statistical Institute are being made by the Executive Committee, consisting of Sir Rawson W. Rawson, K.C.M.G., C.B. (the President), M. E. Levasseur and Prof. von Neumann-Spallart (Vice-Presidents), Signor Luigi Bodio (General Secretary), and Mr. John Biddulph Martin (Treasurer). The arrangements will be announced by the Committee in due course. On Friday evening last an important lecture on ‘‘ Modern War-Ships ” was delivered at the Mansion House by Mr, W. H. White, Director of Naval Construction and Assistant Controller of the Navy. The lecture, which was illustrated by diagrams and models, was one of a series given by members of the Com- pany of Shipwrights. Mr. White’s object was to place before the meeting facts and fizures illustrating the progress of war-ship building in recent years, and he confined his attention almost exclusively to the period between 1859, when the ironclad reconstruction of the Royal Navy began, and the present year. He pre ented a very lucid and interestinz account of the extra- ordinary changes which haye taken place during this time in the methods of war-ship building. Dr. HOopkinson’s account of the electric lighthouses of Macquarie and of Tino, which was read before the Institution of Civil Engineers last month, has just been issued in pamphlet form, with a report of the oral and written discussion to which it gave rise. IT is stated that the Lake District in New Zealand is showing signs of fresh disturbances. Tremors have been felt at Rotorua, and Tarawera has emitted dense volumes of steam. The Wahanga Peak appeared most active. No fire was visible, and after this outburst everything quieted down again. WE have before us the first number of the ‘‘ Bulletin of Mis- cellaneous Information,” issued from the Royal Gardens, Kew. WATURE [ Fan. 27, 1887 The ‘‘ Bulletin” will appear from time to time as an occasional publication, and will contain notes, too detailed for the Annual Report, on economic products and plants to which the attention of the staff of the Royal Gardens has been drawn in the course of ordinary correspondence, or which have been made the sub- ject of particular study at Kew. These notes will serve the purpose of an expeditious mode of communication to the numer- ous correspondents of Kew in distant parts of the Empire, and they will be useful to members of the general public interested in planting or agricultural business in India and the colonies. The present number contains much valuable information about Teff, one of the cereals indigenous to Abyssinia, and about Oil of Ben, Messrs. GINN AND Co., publishers, Boston, U.S.A., are about to issue a Fournal of Morphology, which will be devoted principally to embryological, anatomical, and _histo- logical subjects. Mr, C. O. Whitman, Milwaukee, Wis., will be the editor. For the present only two numbers a year will be issued. The agent for Great Britain is Mr. W. P. Collins. Messrs. DE LA RUE AND Co. have in the press the second volume of ‘* A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (Methods of Measurement and Applications),” by E. Mascart, Professor in the Collége de France, and Director of the Central Meteorological Bureau, and J. Joubert, Professor in the College Rollin. The work is translated by Dr. E, Atkinson, Professor of Experi- mental Science in the Staff College. Messrs. CASSELL AND Co. have just issued the first part of “Our Earth and its Story,” a serial which will be completed in thirty six parts, and they are about to publish ‘‘ Practical Elec- tricity,” by Prof. Ayrton. M. BécLarD has presented some interesting statistics to the Academical Council of Paris on the number of female students in the Faculty of Medicine in the University there. He reports that since Germany closed the doors of its Universities to women, the number in Paris has been constantly increasing. At present the numbers of the various nationalities are : Russians 83, English 11, French 7, Americans 3, Austrians 2, Roumanian 1, and Turk 1. The greater number of these do not pursue their studies as far as the doctor’s degree. The large proportion of Russian ladies is due to the closing of the female medical school recently founded at St. Petersburg. M. Béclard thinks that the number of students has now reached the maximum, and will probably decline, since the preliminary studies of the Faculty for both sexes have been ma de alike. ALTHOUGH the competition which takes place annually for the vacancies in the assistantships in the Paris hospitals is not over, it is known that among the zfernes whose names will be pubiished in some days, there will be one woman. Miss Klumpke js the first woman who has successfully competed for the concours delinternat. In the written examination she ranked second (ex @guo with one or tw) others). She obtained 27 marks, the maximum being 30, and the highest number secured being 28. A good deal of grumbling is going on among thestudents. The idea of being distanced by a woman is not agreeable to them. Miss Klumpke has done very good work in neuro-pathology, and her name is known to all who study this branch of medicine. THERE are at present nine female students at the Upsala University, three of whom study medicine, five philosophy, and one jurisprudence. THE Aquarium constructed by the Executive of the Fisheries Exhibition in 1883 has just been sold by the Royal Commis- sioners by public auction, the property realising 100/. in the aggregate. Until recentlyxit was expected that this Aquarium would be maintained as a part of the Buckland Museum. Many TT Pe at Fan. 27, 1887] NATURE 397 of the fish with which it made the British public familiar were hatched from ova of foreign fish. There were various Trans- atlantic forms; and fishes indigenous to India, China, Brazil, Austria, and many other countries were exhibited. Considering the fact that this Aquarium was the only one in London worthy of note, naturalists and the public have good reason to regret that it has been abolished. Mr. Z. Nurratt, of the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass., has been led to some interesting results by the study of the Mexican codices. Familiarity with certain phonetic sym- bols of frequent recurrence in these picture-writings enabled him to perceive that identical symbols are reproduced on the so- called Calendar Stone, the Sacrificial Stone, and other equally well-known Mexican monoliths. The Calendar Stone was, he maintains, the Market Stone of the city of Mexico, and he thinks that from the fixed market days recorded on it the Mexican calendar system may have sprung. The so-called Sacrificial Stone seems to him to have been a Law Stone, re- cording the periodical collection of certain tributes paid by subjugated tribes, and by others whose obligation it was to contribute to the common wealth of Mexico. Mr. Nuttall expresses his belief that many of the large stone receptacles which are generally called ‘‘ vessels for containing the hearts and blood of human victims,” were in reality standard measures kept for reference in the market place, WE regret to hear of the death of Dr. Julius Liittich, the well- known astronomer, who died in Rome on January 3; also of Prof. Jean Louis Trasenster, who died on the same day. M. Trasenster was Professor of Engineering and Mining at the Liege University. Tue Report of the Kew Committee for 1836, lately published, shows that the well-known work of the Kew Observatory has been actively carried on during the year. To particularise in certain subjects, it may be mentioned that in the magnetic observations four notable magnetic disturbances were recorded, occurring severally in the months of January, March, July, and’ October, and that the diurnal range of the declination for the summer and winter seasons, as well as the whole year, is given in a table in the Appendix. In solar observations the results of sketches of sunspots in continuation of Schwabe’s enumeration are also recorded in the Appendix. The adoption of a new graphic process for determining cloud heights and motions, devised by Prof. Stokes, has been very satisfactory in saving computation when reducing the photographic pictures. Whilst thus adding its valuable yearly contributions to science, the Observatory is becoming more and more useful in results of im- mediate utility to the general public. In this respect the rating of watches is a matter of growing conyenience to those who require a good time-keeper accompanied with a trustworthy certificate as to the performance of the watch they are about to purchase. Chronometers are also now rated here, and from the 35 days’ period of trial in a range of 30°\0f temperature to which these instruments are subjected by the staff of the Observatory, there is every reason to believe in the ascertained rates. It is encouraging to note that increasing good work points to the necessity for enlarging the existing accommodation afforded by the buildings. WE have received the third volume of the Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. It relates to the year 1885. Among the scientific articles may be mentioned “* The Artistic Faculty in Aboriginal Races” and ‘‘ Paleolithic Dexterity,” by Dr. Daniel Wiison; ‘‘A Natural System in Mineralogy, with a Classification of Native Silicates,” by Dr. T. Sterry Hunt ; ‘‘ The Mesozoic Floras of the Rocky Moun- of the St. John Group, continued,” by Mr. G. F. Matthew ; “Catalogue of Canadian Butterflies, with Notes on their Distri- bution,” by Mr. W. Saunders; and ‘‘ The Skull and Auditory Organ of the Siluroid Hypophthalmus,” by Mr. R. Ramsay Wright. AN elaborate paper on ‘‘ The Right Hand and Left-Handed- ness”? was lately read before the Royal Society of Canada by Dr. Daniel Wilson, President of University College, Toronto. His final conclusion on this difficult subject, which he has repeatedly discussed from various points of view, is, that left- handedness is due to an exceptional development of the right hemisphere of the brain. Dr. Wilson, who is himself left- handed, concludes his paper with the expression of a hope that after his death his own brain may be ‘‘ turned to account for the little further service of settling this physiological puzzle.” ‘* If my ideas are correct,” he says, “‘I anticipate as the result of its examination that the right hemisphere will not only be found to be heavier than the left, but that it will probably be marked by a noticeable difference in the number and arrangement of the convolutions.” THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week inclule a White-whi kered Swine (Sws /eucomystox 2 ) from Loochoo Islands, presented by Mr. H. Pryer, C.M.Z.S ; two Blackiston’s Eagle Owls (BSbo dlackistoni) from Yesso, Japan, presented by Mr. J. H. Leech, F. Z.S.; two Schlegel’s Doves (Cale felie puella) from West Africa, presented by Mr. H. C. Donovan; a Macaque Monkey (MJacacus cynomolgus) from India, a Suricate (Sur icata tetradacty/a) from South Africa, deposited; a Red Kangaroo (MJucropus rufus 2), a Yellow- footed Kangaroo (Pxtrogale xanthopus ¢), born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN THREE New Comets.— The discovery of a great comet is tele- graphed from several southern Observatories. So far as is yet known it was discovered by Mr. Thome at Cordoba on January 18. It was then situated in the constellation Grus ; apparently not far from y Gruis. On the following evening the tail only was seen at Melbourne, projecting some 30° above the south- western horizon, On January 20 it was remarked at Adelaide ; here again the tail only was seen. In its physical appearance the comet strongly recalls the great southern comet of 1880, being long, narrow, and straight. It is not brilliant, though readily visible to the naked eye in the twilight. The tail was traced as far asa Toucani. It is expected that the comet will become very brilliant. The nucleus was observed at Adelaide and Melbourne on January 23. ‘Ihe Melbourne observation is as follows :—January 23d. 8h. om., R.A, 2th, 20m. 28s. ; daily motion + 7m. 44s., Decl. 44° 17'S., daily} motion + 51’. Another comet was discovered on January 22 by Mr. W. H. Brooks, of the Red House Observatory, Phelps, New York, Its place on that day at 6h. 54m. was R.A. 18h. om., Decl. 71°N. It was faint, and was moving slowly in an easterly direction. A third comet has been discovered by Mr, E. E. Barnard, Nashville, Tennessee; and observed at Harvard College as follows:—January 24d. 17h. 55°7m., R.A. 19h. Iom. 17°4s., daily motion + 2m. 36s., Decl. 25° 57’ 45” N., daily motion — 0° 35’. The co net is faint. New Varrasies.—Mr. S. C. Chandler, Jun., writes in Gould’s Astronomical Fournal, No. 149, to state that the period of the new variable of the Algol type, D.M. + 34° No. 4181, the discovery of which we announced last week (p. 282), is not yet precisely known. It is either 5'997d. or some aliquot part thereof, but not either the third or fifth part. The approximate elements supplied by Mr. Chandler are as follows :-— 1886 Decembei 9°458d. G.M.T. + (See ) n where 2 can be neither 3 nor 5. The period may therefore be about three days, one day and a half, or a shorter period still. An examination of the relation which the duration of the oscillation in the light of the other stars of the type tain Region,” by Sir W. Dawson; ‘Illustrations of the Fauna | bears to the whole period leads Mr. Chandler to conclude 308 that the most probable period is one of td. 11h. 59m., or if not that, 20h. 34m., or possibly 18h, 6m. The following table shows that the shorter the period of the variable, the higher is the ratio which the period of oscillation bears to it. In the present star the oscillation probably occupies about six hours; a period so great as three days or much shorter than one day would make it, therefore, an exception to the rule followed by the other seven stars of the same order. Star Benod Orillation Ratio U Ophiuchi 20°13 50 0°248 6 Libre 55°35 120 0214 U Cephei 59°82 10'0 0'167 Algol 68°81 9°15 0134 U Coron 82°85 9°75 o'11s A Tauri 94°87 10°0 , O'105 S Cancri 227°63 21°5 a 0094 The variable was discovered by Mr. Chandler and not by Dr. Gould as at first reported. Mr. Espin, in Circular No. 12 of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, notes the variability of a star om. 35s. f and o° 8 x of @ Tauri. It is probably a variable of long period ranging from gm. + to below 12m. Its place for 1885 ois R.A. 4h. 21m. 25s., Decl. 15° 50'°7 N. THE WASHINGTON OBSERVATORY.—The Annual Report of the U.S. Naval Observatory, dated October 30, 1886, has re- cently been issued. Commodore G. E. Belknap, who was Superintendent of the Observatory at the date of the last Report, retired from that post on June 7, and was succeeded by Com- mander Allan D. Brown, who therefore is the writer of the Report now before us. In connection with the Chronometer and Time-Service Department, under Lieut. S. C. Paine, it is remarked that the time-service continues to increase in popu: larity, and its usefulness is daily becoming more apparent to the public. The time-balls that have been established have been much appreciated, and are of great value to the shipping and commercial interests. Much attention appears also to have been given to the chronometer trials, it evidently being the desire of the Observatory to afford makers every assistance in its power in obtaining data that will tend to the improvement of chrono- meters. The 26-inch refractor, in charge of Prof. Asaph Hall, has been used in observations of satellites, of double stars, and of Saturn. Observations of stellar parallax have also been made. The reduction of the observations of Iapetus and of the six inner satellites of Saturn, as well as those for stellar parallax, have been completed, and the results published. The transit-circle has been employed in observations of stars of the American ephemeris, of the sun, moon, and planets, and such miscellaneous stars as were necessary to complete the data for the proposed transit-circle Catalogue. The whole number of observations since the last Report has been 5180, The reduc- tions have also been proceeded with as rapidly as possible. The instrument remains in charge of Prof. J. R. Eastman. Photo- graphs of the sun have been taken with the photo-heliographic apparatus lately belonging to the Transit of Venus Commission, whenever practicable. The work was commenced on January II, 1886 ; and up to and including September 30, 1886, there have been obtained ninety-eight negatives showing spots on the sun’s | surface. Hitherto no photographs have been taken, except when the sun showed spots on his disk, and then one only near noon. This work has been intrusted to Ensign A. G. Winterhalter, who hopes that in the future the number of photographs in a given period will be considerably increased, better arrangements having been made for securing them between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1887 /ANUARV 30—FEBRUARY § (POR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at ; Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed. ) At Greenwich on January 30 Sun rises, 7h. 44m. ; souths, 12h. 13m. 31°8s. ; sets, 16h. 43m. ; decl. on meridian, 17° 39’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, th, 21m. Moon (at First Quarter on February 1) rises, 10h. 23m. ; souths, 16h. 50m, ; sets, 23h. 27m. ; decl. on meridian, 4° 40’ N. NATURE [ Fan. 27, 1837 Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h. m. h. m. h. m. Pre Mercury 7 46 II 55 16 4 20 56S. Venus ... 8 25 TUL L757) roe DAMS Mars 8 31 13 29 18 27 12 40S. Jupiter... O35 aceite Sey 10 39 2 1395 Satimnies ie. 04 20n eee SO 6 43° 22) 00 Ne * Indicates that the setting is that of the fol owing morning. Occultations of Stars by the Moon (visible at Greenwich) Corresponding angles from ver- Jan Star Mag. Disap. Reap tate riches inverted image h. m. h. m 5 a 50s yeRiscium) ... 4x «-1 20 24 ce 22) 15) ee eos ezOo Feb. 2B con AOMMAUTI 25) gers §0 | ] 11] re | 23] 14 | 6] x8 Il. Schools in which Science Classes only are held Schools . to5 | 36 | 24 | 32 I 2 4 2 I I Teachers 3 4 5 6 7 8 CoP H| fine Coie [ne 5 [meee Yay [re The progress of the central institution—the “school of the highest class, capable of affording the best in- struction”—has been in its own way not less remark- able. The removal of some of the courses of the School affording the best instruction and the most perfect train- | of Mines to South Kensington greatly increased the Feb. 3, 1887] number of students, partly because the instruction was rendered more thorough and efficient by the addition of laboratory and practical instruction in physics, mechanics, biology, and geology, and partly because South Kensing- ton was more convenient for students than Jermyn Street or Oxford Street. The school was also rendered more useful by the fact that, after the transfer, a few teachers, and promising students who undertook to become teachers, were brought up to London to be trained. This system has been developed, and now from fifty to sixty teachers are annually trained in different branches of science. A system of short summer courses for teachers has also been organised, and this opportunity of improv- ing themselves is highly valued by the teachers, about 180 or 200 of whom are selected annually from some 500 or 600 applicants. The affiliation of the School of Mines to the Normal School of Science in 1881 marked an era in the history of the institution and in the history of scientific work and education in this country. Students of all classes receive in these united schools systematic instruction in the various branches of physical science. The institution is primarily intended for the instruction of teachers and of students of the industrial classes selected by competition in the examinations of the Science and Art Department, but other students are admitted so far as there may be accommodation for them, on the payment of fees fixed at a scale sufficiently high to prevent undue competition with institutions which do not receive State aid. All this is fully and clearly set forth in the “ Calendar and General Directory,” where also the reader will find ample details as to the Science Collections, the aid granted to local museums, the Committee on Solar Physics, the relation of the Government to scientific research, the Geological Survey, the Museum of Practical Geology, the Mining Record Office, and the scientific establishments of Edinburgh and Dublin. In an article on “ National Education in Science and Art,” the Z7zes on Monday last expressed a doubt whether, after all, any country can be much ahead of England in the number and excellence of its scientific institutions. The 7zmes takes far too favourable a view of the relative position of the United Kingdom in such matters. Re- cent Consular reports have shown that our traders are being steadily beaten by German competitors in many great foreign markets; and the explanation is that, not- withstanding the progress we have made, our system of scientific instruction will not compare, in comprehensive- ness and thoroughness, with that which has grown up in Germany, The 7zmes, although unwilling to admit the superiority of our rivals, readily grants that as a nation we do not yet do enough for the promotion of science, It says :— “When the general condition of popular artistic and scientific instruction is viewed, there can be no question that it is not in accordance with national responsibilities, whatever the average may be elsewhere. A _ primary result of the discovery is to abate some of the admiring content which study of the contents of the Science and Art Department’s ‘Calendar and Directory’ is calculated to produce. To the Science and Art Department has been committed the task of imbuing the nation with those two extensive branches of human learning. The depreciatory estimates so freely offered in these days of the industrial attainments of the nation in each of them suggest either that the Department is not altogether equal to the enter- prise, or that it has not been provided with the proper instruments.” The 7imes urges, with much force, that wealthy men have a magnificent opportunity of serving their country by following the example of the late Sir Joseph Whit- worth in the endowment of scholarships, exhibitions, and prizes for students of science. With its remarks on this point all who are interested in science will agree ; but it NATURE 22m is necessary to point out that, however generous private persons may be, they cannot possibly meet the wants of England, with regard to science, in our time. This task can be properly undertaken only by the community as a whole, acting through its organ, the State. If it is not undertaken on the scale which circumstances have ren- dered necessary, we must be prepared to pay the penalty in diminished commerce and industry. On the other hand, the success which has attended our efforts in the right direction in the past ought to encourage us to make further sacrifices. There cannot be the slightest doubt as to the eagerness with which increased opportunities for scientific education of the highest order would be taken advantage of. At South Kensington there is not nearly room enough for the large number of students who annually seek admission, and like pressure will probably soon be experienced at many less important centres of scientific training. Here the 7zmes speaks out strongly and well :— “Tf the industrial classes in England be more or less deficient in taste and technical intelligence, it is from absence, not of natural aptitude, but of educational oppor- tunities. Keenness of Continental competition may be far from an unmixed evil if it frighten Englishmen who have the ability into using it for the remedy of the short- coming. Dulness and mental lethargy are in themselves evils, apart from the danger they cause of a loss of trade. A workman without insight into the meaning of the work he is doing, and with no perception of its real capabilities, is a mere bondsman to his occupation, instead of its master. While we suspect, as we have intimated, the existence of an exaggerated tendency to extol foreign technical training, the British mechanic will have no reason to regret the propensity, if it conduce to his equipment with the means of industrial enlightenment needed to convert his vocation from base drudgery into an art.” That the working classes are becoming alive to the necessity of an improved system of scientific and technical instruction may be inferred from the resolution on the subject which Mr. Howell proposes to move in the House of Commons. This resolution we print elsewhere, and our readers will agree with us in wishing Mr. Howell all success in the admirable enterprise he has undertaken. THE PROGRESS OF ASTRONOMICAL PHOTOGRAPHY (3 the Annuaire for the present year, published by the Bureau des Longitudes, is an important article by Admiral Mouchez, the Director of the Paris Observa- tory. The article is really a history of the various appli- cations of photography used by astronomers up to. the present time, and the history is very well done. ‘The article contains many details relative to the work which has recently been going on in the Paris Observatory, which we think will be read with very general interest. In the new instruments which the Brothers Henry have recently constructed at the Observatory, before a plate is taken the telescope is pointed approximately to a bright star, which is examined with an ordinary eye-piece, armed with a blue glass. In this way a slide can be placed very near the chemical focus, but in order to determine the focus exactly, an image of a star is made to run six or seven times along a very small plate at different marked distances inside and outside the focal point, as previously determined. An inspection by a magnifying glass of the different trails left by the star on the c/zché shows which was the most exact chemical focus employed to produce them. This when once done really needs no repetition, but as a matter of fact the operation is repeated once a month. Another point which the Brothers Henry have already settled is, that in the case of very many photographic plates of extreme sensitiveness the plates are practically a2 useless unless they are prepared almost immediately before they are required, so that as a matter of fact very sensitive plates are now avoided. Another limit to the sensitiveness which can be utilised is the diffused light proceeding from the atmosphere, either from the gas of a large town, as in Paris, or from the presence of the moon. Very sensitive plates are liable to be fogged even by diffused light in the case of very long exposures. We have before referred to the arrangements employed for enabling the images of stars to be differentiated from any accidental spots or dots on the plate. The plate is practically exposed three times to the region of the heavens, with such a small variation of position, however, that the three images of the star on the plate appear as one to an observer who looks at it casually, and a magnifying glass is really necessary to discover the triple nature of the image. This method of working has been found to have advantages which were not anticipated in the first instance; thus, for the same total time of ex- posure the images of much more feeble stars are recorded with the three successive exposures than with one alone. This arises from the fact that the stars of the lower mag- nitudes, only being represented by very small points from 1/30 to 1/40 of a millimetre in diameter, would escape all observation by the naked eye, and would not be visible at all on paper copies ; while the three exposures give a larger image visible to the naked eye, and perceptible on a paper positive. Moreover, if a small planet is included in the region being photographed, the deformation of the small triangle would instantly betray its presence, even with an exposure of a quarter of an hour. Admiral Mouchez has calculated that a planet at twice the distance of Neptune would be easily recognised in three successive exposures of an hour each,—the motion of Neptune in half an hour quite destroying the triangle which it, like the stars, would make were it at rest. The real and serious objection to the triple exposure is the wonderful patience and skill that are required to keep the instrument for three consecutive hours, without a moment’s relapse, pointed rigorously towards the same spot in the sky. This is very trying work, and apt to overstrain those who perform it. Admiral Mouchez is alive to the fact that the way to obviate this difficulty is to increase the aperture of the object-glass, and this is what probably will be done before very long. Some very interesting information is given regarding the microscopical appearances of the images of the stars seen on the negatives :—‘‘ The microscopical study of the clichés presents, moreover, much interest from many points of view, and the appearances of the images of the stars is so characteristic that it is impossible to confound them with accidental spots, as has been generally sup- posed ; were this point of view alone regarded, it would perhaps be useless to multiply the exposures of the same plate. The stars appear on the plate, in fact, not under the simple form of a round spot of uniform black tint diminishing and becoming clearer as the star gets smaller, but as a mass of small, round, black points, very close to- gether towards the centre for stars of the ten or twelve larger magnitudes, and more and more sprinkled, still retaining their blackness, for the fainter stars ; and at the extreme limit beyond those stars which give a definite and certain image, there still appear on the c/iché some small groups of little points scattered sparsely, but evi- dently recording still fainter stars, the existence of which can only be suspected without any means of further con- firmation. “Unfortunately, whatever progress we may make in optics or in photography whatever, penetrating and sensitive power we may hope to give to our instruments, it is evident that we shall never succeed in seeing the most distant stars, and that at whatever limit we may arrive, there will always be beyond it an infinity of others lost in NATURE (Webra, a 887 the profundity of the heavens which will always escape our knowledge, but it is by photography and the scientific study of negatives that we shall be able to go further than by any other means, From achemical point of view also the microscopical examination of the stellar images will not be without interest, because it will help us to under- stand how the light acts upon the molecules of the in- soluble salts of silver which are contained in the stratum of organic material which forms the sensitised plate. It is not, as I have already stated, in giving a uniform tint, more or less decided, according to the magnitude of the star, over the whole image, but really in decomposing a greater or less number of particles of salts of silver over this area, that the light works; so that we can define the image of a very feeble star as a resolvable nebula, and the others as insolvable nebula surrounded by a resolvable portion. JI have never seen around any of these images the rings referred to by several astronomers, which have the appearance of diffraction rings seen in telescopes. “ To establish the relationship between the scales of the optic and photographic magnitude of the stars, Bond has made a series of interesting experiments by varying the time of exposure and the aperture of the object-glass. These experiments have led him to an interesting result on the mode of action of light. He has found that a certain time elapsed before the action manifested itself at all, and then that it did so suddenly, ten or a dozen mole- cules of salts of silver in each superficial second of arc were attacked by the light ; after this the number increased very rapidly according to the time of exposure. This mode of action seemed to him obscure and difficult to explain. But it seems to follow from these facts, and from the examination of our c/échés, that in the manufac- ture of the bromide of silver, and the preparation of sensitive plates, it is of the highest importance to obtain the finest possible pulverisation of the salt.” As there is to be a Conference of Astronomers at Paris next Easter to discuss the whole question of astronomical - photography, it is well that Admiral Mouchez and his staff are accumulating so many facts to help in the discussion. METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS AT THE TIME OF THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT TARAWERA, NEW ZEALAND N the Government Sanatorium at Rotorua there is a self-registering barometer kept by Dr. Ginders. This shows that at 9 a.m. on June 9, the atmospheric pressure was 29°30 (at about 1c0o feet above the sea). It decreased and reached its lowest point of 29'00 at 4 p.m. on the oth. It then began to rise. At midnight it was 2908, and at 1 a.m. on the roth—just before the eruption—it was 29°10. This pressure was maintained all through the principal part of the eruption, after which the glass began to rise again, reaching 29°25 at noon on the roth. ‘The curve, elsewhere smooth and even, shows from 3.30 a.m. to 6 a.m. a number of small oscillations which treble its thickness. None of these oscillations are recorded before and none after 6 a.m. on the oth, except a single one at 5 p.m. on Friday, the 11th. These oscillations are attributed to earthquakes, but, whatever may have been their cause, they certainly mark the outburst of Rotomahana and the crisis of the eruption. Another barometer at Ohinemutu, belonging to Mr. Edwards, of the Native Lands Court, read as follows :— June: 19), LO%a sm yee siienss ones 29°30 inches 43 4.30 p.m. . 29°00 ,, 53 EO), LESS anes oeteeess 20%20) 5 The following is the rainfall at Rotorua :— LE R4I ec Uichiarseeieeeidpiansee eit sleet 1°25 inches sath Sicenctale sateen CONS OM ae Feb. 3, 1887] NATURE 379 . There was no rain at Rotorua between the 5th and the eruption, but it rained on the gth at Wairoa and at Ateamuri, on the Waikato. At Rotorua the slight mud-shower fell in directions from south-east to south-west, but most from the south- east, as ascertained by an examination of the telegraph les. At Taheke, on Lake Rotoiti, the mud must have fallen with a south-south-east wind. At Galatea, eighteen miles east-south-east from Rotomahana, no mud fell ; but the scoria was thicker on the north-west than on the south-east side of the houses: evidently no strong wind was blowing. The night of the 9th was calm and fine. During the earlier portion of the eruption there was a slight south- westerly wind at Wairoa, which increased to a strong gale at3a.m. At Rotorua there wasa slight south-easterly wind up to 4a.m., when the south-westerly gale reached there from Wairoa. At Taheke, on Lake Rotoiti, the wind changed to south-west at 9 a.m, but there was no gale. At Napier a southerly gale commenced at 4 a.m.; at Gisborne, in Poverty Bay, a south-westerly gale was blowing ; at Waiapu a strong north-westerly wind was blowing from 3.15 a.m. to 4.30 a.m., when it changed to the south-west. At the East Cape there was a strong southerly gale. It appears therefore that the south-west- erly gale at Wairoa had no direct connection with the eruption, for it commenced about the same time all over the east coast from Napier to the East Cape. I was surprised to find that the eruption had caused no great atmospheric disturbance, except in its immediate neighbourhood, and that there was no evidence at all of any indrawing currents. The reason for this, no doubt, is that the area over the openings which was violently dis- turbed is small, so that equilibrium was restored at very short distances around. For this reason a volcanic erup- tion has none of the effects of a cyclone. The eruption was, as usual, the cause of much electrical disturbance, but this did not affect the weather. F. W. Hurron A FEW OF OUR WEATHER TERMS RECENT skirmish in the 77es, on certain words in common use among English meteorologists, and prevalent in our weather reports, suggests that a little overhauling of these and similar terms may be from time to time desirable. In a branch of knowledge which, simultaneously with its growth, becomes more and more popular, new terms expressive of new ideas should not only be accurately descriptive of facts, but should be adapted to popular imagination. If we cannot have such terms as “helix” and “ ant- helix,” the Meteorological Department cannot be on safer ground than in their adoption of the terms “ cyclone” and “cyclonic,” “anticyclone” and “ anticyclonic ”; these words being precisely antithetical, and expressive of phenomena which are the opposites of each other in almost all their characteristics. To both of these words, however, objections have been raised, and these objec- tions have been somewhat inconsistently based on differ- ent reasons. The word cyclone has been objected to because it terrifies our women; but its equivalent, “re- volver,” would produce at least as alarming an effect. They would soon, however, get accustomed to the use of either. The most unscientific people will quickly under- stand that when the laws which govern a particular kind of atmospheric circulation have once been proved to be identical, whether that circulation be violent, moderate, or feeble, it becomes desirable to have a single term descriptive of such a circulation. Such nouns as “ hurri- cane,” “storm,” &c., can be employed, if we please, to denote that the disturbance is of a violent or severe character ; while we have plenty of adjectives, strong or mild, to be employed at discretion. Perhaps this \ will be still more fully realised when the public un- derstands that, in any particular instance, the circulat- ing winds may vary between the most violent and the lightest during the progress of the disturbance. As Mr. Abercromby clearly states it: ‘“‘ The same cyclone may develop the energy of a hurricane soon after its birth in the West Indies, and, after a long and stormy life in its passage across the Atlantic, die surrounded by gentle summer winds on the rocky coasts of Norway.” The original use of the term “cyclone” was almost limited to the phenomenon in its acutest stage; and, owing partly to this fact, meteorologists have been disposed to apply the expressions “ cyclonic system” and “cyclonic dis- turbance,” &c., to the gentler instances or stages of this kind of circulation, rather than the word “ cyclone” itself; but the latter word might now be used without hesitation, for it is most true that “a progressive science uses words provisionally to express provisional ideas, and as the ideas increase in clearness and precision ” (and, we may add, in extension) “the word has to take on new meanings.” The term “ anticyclone” has been recently objected to as possessing absolutely no significance, an objection which is not in itself worthy of discussion in these pages. This objection is, however, probably founded on one of a more serious nature, viz. that anticyclones are merely interspaces between cyclones. Such interspaces do, of course, exist, and they occasionally travel on without undergoing any very rapid change of form in company with the cyclones. But the interspaces between circles or ovals are not circular or oval; and further (as is more important to observe, and as has long ago been shown to be true) the anticyclone proper has characteristics of its own which distinguish it from these interspaces: its movements are often slow, or it is stationary for a con- siderable period, while in both hemispheres it has the power of deflecting the course of the cyclones moving in its vicinity more or less towards the right, except in par- ticular positions. Now let us look at the word “depression” and the ideas associated with it. It would probably be an im- possible as well as an undesirable task to get rid of this term altogether, but for this reason it becomes all the more necessary clearly to define its meaning. Originally it signifies a lowering of the surface of the barometric column due to a diminution of pressure on the surface of the mercury in the cistern. It is equally well employed to designate a “taking off” or diminution of atmospheric pressure. In any case, it might be employed to designate such a diminution of pressure as takes place during the lessening or the passing off of an anticyclone. But by common usage it has come to be practically equivalent to cyclone, the only difference being (1) that it naturally refers to the diminution of pressure within the cyclone, and not the circulating winds, and (2) that it can be use- fully applied to areas diverging considerably from the circular form. The ease with which the idea of a saucer- shaped hollow in the ocean of atmosphere is entertained, and the associations of the word “gradient” (a word valuable, suggestive, but figurative—a word for which I can find no substitute, unless it be a coined one), have certainly led to some misconceptions. Over the front or ascensional part of a cyclone, atmospheric pressure is greater at the level of four, five, or six miles above the earth’s surface than over surrounding regions at the same level. It would be well for our storm-warnings if more people were careful to observe the violent north-westerly upper-current prevailing immediately in front of, and over, the southerly winds which we feel when a cyclonic disturbance is coming upon us from west-south-west. The few who have noticed this cannot fail to be struck by the fact that at the level of the cirrus the pressure must increase with extreme rapidity at the same time that pres- sure is decreasing at the earth’s surface. It is true that in the rear of the disturbance an extension of the great 324 polar area of depression in the higher regions of the atmosphere is shown by the movements of the higher clouds. Any one who will be at the trouble to chart out these phenomena will feel that the neat little orographical maps of the atmosphere with which some of our popular writers on weather would present us are exceedingly different from the realities. The terms “col,” ridge,’ “trough,” &c., for a similar reason, while assisting the popular imagination, perhaps assist it in the wrong direction, and I would, though with much deference to better authorities, suggest that such terms as “arm,” “ band,” “belt,” “extension,” &c., might be employed with a little more safety. To the terms “deep,” “depth,” “high,” “height,” might not my own respectable old words, “ intense,” “intensity,” even now be found preferable? and for the word ‘‘shallow” the word “slight” in many cases be advantageously substi- tuted? I am aware that in a magazine article or in a weather report some variation of terms and expressions is frequently desirable, but the cover has not yet been fairly drawn; and an abundance of useful words is still available, without recourse being had to terms either borrowed from foreign languages or expressive of incorrect ideas. W. CLEMENT LEY NOTE ON INSTANTANEOUS SHUTTERS HE introduction of rapid dry plates having made a general demand for mechanical shutters, a large variety are now offered for sale by the various makers. Many of these shutters are neat and ingenious, but nearly all have a tendency to shake the camera during exposure, and in the only one which I have seen for sale in which this mistake has been avoided the photographic efficiency of the arrangement has been impaired by the opening being made to assume the form of a gradually expanding and contracting hole; the idea being, I am told, that while the opening is small it will act as a stop and secure definition. This, of course, is true to a certain extent— how far, I will inquire presently. I do not know whether the general theory of mechanical shutters has been discussed, but if it has it is certainly sot well known, and perhaps the following remarks, which point out what the photographic elficiency of the various classes of shutters is and their effect on the steadiness of the camera, may be of some use. Shutters may be divided into two chief classes, viz. those in which the principal moving part consists of a single piece, and those where the moving parts are multiple ; the great difference between them being that, while the first class must exert either a force or a couple on the camera during exposure, the second class may be so designed as to exert neither. The first class con- sists of drop-shutters and revolving disks with an aperture which passes across the lens, and of those shutters where a sliding piece rises and falls or a hinged piece opens and shuts. Cf the second class I only know of one as being in the market, though probably many amateurs may, like myself, have made them for their own use. position of the ordinary stop in the lens, separate and come together again. Each plate has a deep V-shaped notch in it ; the apex of each Y when the shutter is closed being in the axisof the lens. The opening is therefore a quadri- lateral figure which gradually expands and contracts. The mechanical arrangements of nearly all the shutters, except those belonging to the revolving disk and drop- shutter class, are such as to make the motion of the shutter a simple harmonic function, or nearly so, of the time from the commencement of exposure, while in the drop-shutters and disks the aperture may be taken as mov- ing across the lens with a nearly uniform velocity. This, of « course, would not be true if the motion of the parts NATURE In this shutter two plates, occupying the | [ Fed. 3, 1887 was quite free under the action of the driving force, but . friction enters largely into the account; and even if it did not, no large error will be introduced in calculating the photographic effect of shutters of this class by assuming that velocity of the moving part is uniform during exposure and equal to its mean velocity. The photographic effect of a shutter is measured by the sum of the products of each element of aperture brought into action by the shutter and the time for which that element acts. This measures the total amount of light which passes through the lens during exposure, but it does not necessarily follow that the light should be uniformly distributed on the sensitive plate. This, indeed, only happens when the shutter is at the optic centre of the combination. In mathematical notation, if the path of a point in the shutter be along a line x, and if U/ be the area of the lens expressed in terms of 2, and 7, the time for which aU, the element of area exposed in passing from x to x«-+ dx, acts, then the photographic effect of the shutter is | 7,.daU, taken between the proper limits of x. The photographic efficiency of a shutter may be taken as the ratio of this quantity to the whole area of the lens, multiplied by the whole time of exposure, or 7’U’. The result of integrating the above expression may always be put in the form al'U', where a is a numerical constant, which therefore expresses the efficiency of the particular shutter considered. I subjoin a few results showing the efficiency of several different types of shutter ;— Efficiency (1) Drop-shutter with circular eee (uni- form velocity) oes ee a—rAS (2) Harmonic opening from one side (x pro- portional to cos #7) 236 e='5 (3) Harmonic opening from centre, the open- ing being a circular hole of radius p (pr portional to “sin £2) a0e eve a (= 5 (4)! Harmonic “opening from centre, the aperture being formed by the edges of two plates which recede from a diameter of the lens and the boundary of the lens (x pee Ore to sin f7) oo a0 a="764 It will be seen that as ss as Recency goes cite drop- shutter is lowest on the list. The next two have the same efficiency, but while the second has a tendency to shake the camera the third has not. If, instead of assuming that the aperture in this case was circulatywe had made it square, as in the shutter before referred to, the efficiency would not have been quite as great as ‘5. No. 4 has the highest efficiency of any, viz. "764, and differs from the last merely in having no V-shaped notches in the plates which close the aperture, so that the opening begins as a slit instead of a point. Thus by the adoption of the square expanding aperture nearly 40 per cent. of possible efficiency is lost. The gain in definition caused by the aperture acting as a stop may be estimated by comparing the amount of light (Z,) admitted while the opening is small enough to make the definition good, with the total amount of light admitted (Z) minus (Z,), remembering that the greater the aperture up to which the shutter may open without sensibly impairing the definition the less is the possible gain in definition from the use of a stop. Thus, suppose the greatest aperture consistent with good definition to be p? X full aperture (/?). Then the use of a stop of radius p can only reduce the radius of ee circle of confusion about R- the image of a point by a times what it would have ' This is the form which I use, but I am not aware of any shutter of the kind being in the market. Feb. 3, 1887] been had the whole aperture been employed. The im- provement in definition, then, due to the expanding shutter acting as a stop is given by the expression— R-p E R L-Ly The curve below shows the improvement in definition calculated from this expression, the abscisse being pro- portional to-P. It has a maximum value of 1°5 nearly when £ is about °8, but falls away rapidly on either side of this value. Thus when a stop of *8 times the full aperture is suffi- cient to secure definition, the square expanding aperture may be said to answer the purpose. But a better result with less exposure could be obtained by the use of shutters of type (4) with a separate stop of the right size; for it may be shown that with the square expanding aperture the amount of light admitted while more than eight-tenths open is not more than 8 per cent. of the whole, and not more than 8 per cent. of the light would be lost if a ‘8 stop were used. But a shutter of type (4) admits nearly 40 per cent. more light than the expanding square, so that there would be a gain of something more than 30 per cent. in light by using it. This is rather understating the case, for the efficiency of a shutter as defined above is increased by the use of a stop, R-S 4 Ra 1-57 H 0 4 the whole aperture of the stop being uncovered for a finite time while the whole aperture of the lens is only uncovered for an instant. To see what effect an unbalanced shutter has on the steadiness of the camera and definition of the image, the mass of the unbalanced moving part of the shutter, the mass of the camera, its period of vibration on its support, and its radius of gyration must be taken into account, as well as the time of exposure. The exact investigation of the motion is very much lite that given by Helmholtz of the motion of a pianoforte-wire when struck by a hammer. But without entering into mathematical details it is easy to approximate to the required result in a large group of cases, viz. where the time of exposure is short compared with the natural period of the camera on its supports. This will apply to cameras held in the hand for all exposures which could be effectively used with such a support, and in most other cases when the exposure is less than a fiftieth of a second. The camera and shutter may now be compared to a fly- wheel free to turn with a small load on its rim, which, by some mechanism on the wheel, can be made to vary its position. If the fly-wheel is at rest to begin with, the motion of the system when the load is caused to move is NATURE 325 given by the condition that the moment of momentum of the fly-wheel and load together is nothing, which implies that mass of load ~ mass of rim> velocity of rim of wheel velocity of load Suppose that the camera is replaced by a fly-wheel which has the same moment of inertia and a radius equal to the distance of the centre of oscillation of the camera on its support from the shutter, the mass of the equivalent fly-wheel will be less than that of the camera on account of its distribution, so that the angular motion of the camera about the centre of oscillation will be somewhat greater than mass of shutter X_ travel of shutter mass of camera X radius of oscillation As an example, suppose the ratio of the masses to be 1/100 and the travel of the shutter one inch, if the radius of oscillation lies between one foot and six inches, the augular movement of the camera will be between three and six minutes of arc, or from one-tenth to one-fifth of the apparent diameter of the sun or moon. In the case of drop-shutters acting by gravity, the camera begins to move upwards at the moment the shutter is released, and will go on moving upwards until it is as much above the new position of equilibrim which it would assume on the removal of the weight of the shutter as it was below it when the latter was attached. So that if the time of exposure be half as long as the natural period of the camera, the whole extent of the angular motion will show on the sensitive plate. I have recently made some experiments to see how, when the camera was held in the hand, the accidental motions of the support compared with those due to the action of the shutter. It would, I think, at first sight be sup- posed that the former were the more important of the two. The experiments were made by weighting a piece of looking-glass to represent the camera, and then, holding itas the camera would be held, reflecting the sun ona dis- tant screen and noting thedisplacement of the patch of light. I found it in my own case to be continual, vibrating at a rate of something like four per second, through an angle of about one in six hundred to one in eight hundred, im- plying, of course, half this motion in the camera ; that is, from three to two minutes of arc. The time of the whole vibration being about one-fourth of a second, if the time of exposure was as much as one-eighth of a second the whole of this would show on the plate, but for exposures of one-twentieth of a second the loss of definition from this source would hardly be appreciable. The weight of the camera in this case was small—little more than a pound—and so unfavourable for steadiness. The general conclusions to be gathered from the “fore- goingremarks are: (1) That there is room forgreat improve- ment in the photographic efficiency of shutters ; (2) that all the ordinary kinds shake the camera when the exposure is rapid ; but that (3) for comparatively long exposures, say more than one-tenth of a second, almost any kind of shutter will do when the camera is mounted on a stand ; and (4) that for cameras which are to be held in the hand, in order to secure fine definition the shutters must be dynamically balanced or exceedingly light. A. MALLOCK ON SOME PHENOMENA ,.CONNECTED WITH THE FREEZING OF AERATED WATER HE elimination in the gaseous form, on the freezing of liquids, of the air and gases held in solution pre- sents some features in its process which may be worth recording. Bubbles in ice are familiar ; but their arrangement and progressive development in the process of freezing-over 326 NATURE [ Fed. 3, 1887 present some points which I do not think have been generally observed. Aquatic plants at the bottoms of ponds give off oxygen gas, and marsh gas is emitted from decaying vegetable matter. These two sources of supply will, to some extent, account for the entanglement of bubbles in ice on a pond surface, but only to a very small extent, and may be left out of consideration in dealing with the develop- ment of air-bubbles in ice. This takes place independ- ently of any extraneous source of supply other than atmospheric air, and may be as well seen in a glass or earthenware vessel as over a weedy pond surface. The following facts must be noticed :— (1) Ice over deep water invariably contains fewer bubbles of included air and gas than ice formed over shallow water, and probably from this cause ice obtained from over deep water is more durable for storage than ice obtained from shallow pools. (2) The upper or surface portion of a coating of ice invariably contains less included air than its under or lower portion, and this is more obvious in ice formed over shallow than in that over deep water. In each case there is a fairly regular gradation in the quantity of entangled air, increasing from the surface downwards. I ascertained that the included air from the upper surface (a, Fig. 1) of Fig. 2. a thin coat of ice was scarcely appreciable in quantity, and | one pound weight from its lower surface (4, Fig. 1) con- tained 0°08 of a cubic inch of entangled air. (3) There is more included air in ice formed over water in a small vessel (Fig. 1) than in ice formed over a large body of water. (4) There is more included air (weight for weight of ice) in an entirely frozen mass of ice (Fig. 2, @) than in surface ice from a partly frozen vessel of water. In an entirely frozen mass (Fig. 2, @) t pound of ice contained 0°59 cubic inch of included air; and surface-ice (a, 0, Fig. 1), over unfrozen water, one pound weight contained o'15 cubic inch. (5) In freezing separately the water from which the first frozen coat of ice had been removed (Fig. 1, c), the ice contained a much larger proportion of included air (0°89 cubic inch) than either the surface ice (Fig. 1, a, 6) or the ice obtained from entirely freezing a body of water (Fig. 2, @). (6) On re-freezing water which had been frozen and thawed, there was but a very slight further release of air, which had been almost entirely released in the first freezing ; one pound of the second ice contained but o'005 cubic inch of air. (7) In completely freezing a vessel of water (Fig. 2), not only does the entangled air increase in quantity down- wards, but at the base of the frozen mass occurs a large air-cavity (e, Fig. 2). All these facts, and the results of the experiments, seem to point to the fact that, in the process of freezing, the elimination of the air and gases in solution is taking place in two directions: (1) a part of the air is taken into solution by the w#frozen water as it is progressively rejected by the thickening coat of ice; and (2), a part of it is extruded as bubbles of air, which become entangled in the ice. If each stratum of ice eliminated the whole of its own proportion of air in solution in the gaseous form, the bubbles would be distributed with fair regularity through- out the collective mass, but their progressive increase in a descending direction exactly agrees with the continuous surcharging of the underlying unfrozen water with the air in solution rejected by the ice above, till, at the end of the freezing process of the mass, the remnant is ex- truded as one large bubble (Fig. 2, e) at its base. The rejection of the air into continued solution would seem to take precedence of its extrusion in the gaseous form, and would go on as long as there was a sufficient body of adjacent water in a condition to receive it ; but the gradual surcharging of a limited body of water with the rejected air is necessarily accompanied by its pro- gressively increased extrusion in the gaseous form. The comparative absence of air-bubbles in ice over deep water is accounted for by the fact of there being a sufficient body of adjacent water in a condition to receive the rejected air into solution in preference to its extrusion as gas. To briefly recapitulate the experimental results :—(1) In a thin ice-coating, the upper or surface half contains barely a trace of eliminated air, whilst its under or bottom half contained o'08 cubic inch of air in each pound of ice. (2) A surface coating of ice 14 inch thick contained 015 cubic inch of air in each pound weight, whilst an entirely frozen mass contained 0°59 cubic inch of air in each pound weight. (3) The freezing of a limited body of water which had been first frozen over and the surface ice removed points still more strikingly to the con- centration of air in solution ; for this contained 0°89 cubic inch of air in each pound weight, compared with 0°15 cubic inch in surface ice, and o'59 cubic inch in an entirely frozen mass. The water employed in these experiments was from the _ East Surrey Waterworks. GEORGE MAW NOTES THE following notice of motion has been given by Mr. Howell, M.P. :—‘‘ To call the attention of the House to the subject of technical education, and to move the following reso- lution :—‘ That, in the opinion of this House, it is essential to the maintenance and development of our manufacturing and agricultural industries, in view of the rapidly increasing compe- tition of other nations, both in home markets and abroad ; and in consequence of the almost universal abandonment of the system of apprenticeship ; that our national scheme of education should be so widened as to bring technical instruction, the teaching of the natural sciences, and manual training, within the reach of the working classes throughout the country.’” IT is stated that in consequence of the financial difficulties of the Bristol College, and lack of endowments, the salaries of all the Professors will be reduced by the Council, and some Chairs are to be abolished. The course pursued by the Council has given rise to much correspondence in the local papers during the past month, It is earnestly to be hoped that circumstances may yet 4 Feb. 3, 1887] NATURE 327 be found to cause the Council to reconsider their position, and that a course so diastrous to the College—an institution which, in spite of its insecure position, has done excellent educational work—and to the town itself, may yet be averted. Is Bristol so flourishing that the citizens can afford to neglect the only true foundation for prosperous trade and commerce at the present time, when we are trying to compete in the markets of the world with men more highly trained than ourselves ? THE Guthrie Memorial Fund, which will shortly be closed, has now nearly reached the sum of 1400/, As we explained some time ago, Prof. Guthrie was too exclusively devoted to teaching and scientific research to be able to make adequate pro- vision for his family. The object of the fund is to place his children as nearly as possible in the position they would have occupied but for his untimely death ; and subscribers have been glad to have this opportunity of expressing their appreciation of his personal character and scientific labours. Weare glad to learn that the University Extension Scheme, which has led to such excellent results in England, is likely to be tried in Scotland. The question has been for some time under the consideration of the University Court of Glasgow, and now the matter has been taken in hand by some energetic University men in Edinburgh. The proposal is that the avail- able lecturing power of the Scottish Universities shall be united, so that while any town would naturally in the first place be supplied as far as possible from the nearest University, any desired course might be drawn froma more distant one. It is hoped that in the larger towns Extension Colleges may be established. These institutions might be made permanent by means of small endowments, or towns might secure them as centres of regular teaching for a certain number of years by subscribing a few hundred pounds to make up the deficit from fees. Dr. LEuTHNER, of Vienna, author of a remarkable memoir on the Odontolabini, a subdivision of the Coleopterous family Lucanidz, published in the Zoological Society's Transactions in 1885, will shortly leave Europe on a collecting expedition to South Arabia and Socotra, where much work remains to be done, notwithstanding seve’al recent excursions to the same district. Dr. Leuthner’s expedition is of a private nature, but he has the full support of the Austro-Hungarian Government, and a free passage in their ships. Pror. G, S£E has recently published a new book, concerning diet in disease (‘‘ Du Régime alimentaire: Traitement hygiénique des Malades”’). M. Sée, although he has never studied phy- siological questions in a special manner, always writes useful books, being familiar with English and German, and very well posted inall foreign experiments and work, The most interesting part of his book, from a physiological point of view, is that in which he discusses the question of foods and their constituents. Criticising the food-ration of the French army, he says that too much bread is allowed, and too little meat. THE volume of the Jndian Antiguary for the past year contains a most interesting series of papers by Mr. H. G, M. Murray-Aynsley, under the modest title, ‘‘ Dis- cursive Contributions towards the Comparative Study of Asiatic Symbolism.” They commence in the March number, and, with the exception of the issues for June and July, are, continued consecutively down to, and including, the November number, and are not yet completed. One feature of special value to the European student is the method of illustration adopted. The plates are numerous, and beautifully executed, and a large number describe objects collected by the writer him- self in Northern India, which have probably never before been seen by the majority of Western scholars. It is to be hoped that Mr. Murray-Aynsley will ultimately collect these papers into a volume; at present we can do no more than barely indi- cate the outlines of their contents. His chief object is to make a collection of facts bearing upon the subject of customs and symbols, and, after a general introduction, a chapter is devoted to each of the following divisions :—(t) Sun and cup (or moon) symbols; (2) sun-worship ; (3) the Svas¢ika, or emblem of fire ; (4) stones worshipped in India, and their counterparts in Scandina- via and other parts of Europe ; (5) the land of departed souls ; (6) the trees which have been held sacred in the East and in Europe ; (7) snake-worship ; (8) amulets and charms; (9) the evil eye ; (10) the wild huntsman of Northern Europe and his possible Asiatic origin ; (11) Eastern architecture compared with certain old churches and houses in Norway ; (12) Asiatic sym- bolism in Spain. While this may give a notion of the general contents of these papers, it gives none whatever of the mass of facts collected from different sources, principally by the author himself in India and Cashmere. The coloured illustrations of the Svastika symbol, showing the wide area over which it is employed, are very interesting. In addition to many others given, the author might well have added that it is almost uni- versal in this country as a bordering to the commoner kinds of linoleum and other floor-cloths, the manufacturers having pro- bably borrowed it from the designs on Central Asian carpets and rugs. AN important addition has just been made to the Zoological Society’s Collection in the Regent's Park, in the shape of three fine specimens of the sea-lion or eared seal of the Auckland Islands (Otaria hookeri). These animals, originally four in number, one having been lost during the transit home, were captured in the Auckland Islands, which lie in the Antarctic Ocean, some 900 miles south of Tasmania, by Capt. John Fairchild, master of the New Zealand Government steamer A/izemoa, and were sent to London in the steamship Zoxgarira by the Hon. W. J. M. Larnach, C.M.G., Minister of Marine of New Zealand, as a present to the Zoological Society. The Zoological Society’s menagerie already contained specimens of the sea-lion of the Falkland Islands (O¢aria ~jubata), and of the Cape sea-lion (Otaria pusilla), but no example of the present rarer species has been previously brought alive to Europe. There are, however, stuffed specimens of this animal in the Museum of Natural History in the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. In the Report of the Fish and Game Commissioners of Massachusetts for 1886, there is an interesting paper by Mr. George Dimmock on certain fish-destroying insects in the United States. The largest of them, and the most dangerous to fishes, are those which belong to the family called Belostomide. They are provided with powerful fore-legs, and strong, some- what oar shaped hind-legs for swimming ; and, when full-zrown, they have vigorous wings, and are capable of long-suStained flight. In seizing wpon fishes or other small animals, they grasp their prey with their fore-feet, holding it firmly in their claws. Then they pierce it with their beak or proboscis, and suck its blood. They are stronzly attracted by the electric light, and Mr. Dimmock suggests that it might be used as a means of destroying them, as it would be easy to contrive a trap that would retain them when they fall after striking the glass. An illuminated trap beneath the surface of the water might, he thinks, be more effective than one above the surface, for the Belostomide do not often leave the water, apparently, except when they quit it for the purpose of migration. THE United States Fish Commission print in one of their recent Bulletins an excellent report by Mrs. Emma Metcalf Beckley, Curator of the Hawaiian National Museum, on ‘‘ Hawaiian Fishing Implements and Methods of Fishing.” The writer gives some curious details about octopus-fishing. The smaller kinds of octopus, which live in shallow water, are caught by women, who do their work with remarkable skill. They can 328 NATURE [/eb. 3, 1887 tell whether an octopus is in a hole whose entrance is no larger than a silver dollar, and, plunging their spears in, they invariably draw one out. The larger kinds of octopus, which are always found in deep water, are caught by men with cowries, generally of the Mauritiana, but sometimes of the tiger species. An octopus will not rise to a large-spotted or ugly cowry, so the fishermen have to take care that the spots on the back of the shell are very small and red, breaking through a reddish-brown ground. Cowries with suitable spots, but objectionable otker- wise, are slightly steamed over a fire of sugar-cane husks, a pro- cess which gives them the desired hue. The fisherman, having arrived at his fishing-grounds, first chews and spits on the water a mouthful of candle-nut meat, which renders the water glassy and clear; he then drops the shell with hook and line into the water, and swings it over a place likely to be inhabited by an octopus. The moment an octopus perceives a cowry, it shoots an arm out and clasps the shell. If the shell is of the attractive kind, onearm after the other comes out, and finally the whole body of the octopus is withdrawn from the hole and attaches itself to the cowry, which it closely hugs, curling itself all around it. The creature remains very quiet while being rapidly drawn up through the water. Just as it reaches the surface, the fisherman pulls the string so as to bring its head against the edge of the canoe, and it is killed by a blow from a club which is struck between the eyes. This must be done rapidly, before the animal has time to become alarmed ; for if it lets go the cowry, it becomes a dan- gerous antagonist, and there is risk of the fisherman being squeezed to death. The cutting off of one or more of its eight arms does not affect the rest in the least. WE have received Studies in Microscopical Science, vol. iv. No. 6, Sections 1-4. The text of the first three sections relates to botanical, animal, and pathological histology; that of the fourth to marine Alge. The plates are very delicately executed. WE have also received the seventh, eighth, and ninth parts of the Transactions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. Among the contents is an interesting presidential address on ‘‘ The Fathers of Yorkshire Botany,” delivered, in 1884, by Mr. J. G. Baker, F.R.S., President of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union. THE Selborne Society intend to issue letters, from time to time, on its objects and work, They will be written by members who have a special knowledge of the subjects discussed. The first of the series, which has just been published, is on the feed- ing and protection of wild birds in winter. The next will be on the Wild Birds Protection Acts of r880 and 1881, and their bearing on bird-catching and bird-nesting during the close season. Other letters will follow on birds, trees, and plants, and it may be hoped that the scheme will be of considerable service in disseminating a knowledge of practical natural history. THE French Government has purchased the hillock of Sansan (Département du Gers), which is famous for its richness in fossil animal remains. M. E. Lartet was the first discoverer of this paleontological treasure. M. Filhol, the naturalist, has recently examined the hillock ; he was commissioned by the Professor of Palzontology at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. This gentleman, supported by M. Cavareé, found fossil remains not only of Masto- dons, Macrotheria, Chalicotheria, &c., but also of bears, stags, dogs, and cats. Noteworthy are some stags’ horns, with two main branches, or so-called Dicroceri. All these fossils will be deposited in a museum to be built at Sansan, and will be described in a catalogue by M. Filhol. Pror. W. J. TSINGER, at Moscow, is busily engaged in pre- paring his bulky work on the flora of Middle Russia, including the floras of the fifteen central provinces. A LEARNED Society called the Societa Italiana Asiatica has been formed in Italy for the investigation of Eastern languages and archeology. Prof. Amari has been elected Honorary President. The Society has obtained the collaboration of the best Italian Orientalists, and has nominated twenty-four foreign honorary members, among whom are Profs. Bohtlingk, Max Miller, Roth, Fleischer, Renan, Weber, Whitney, Rawlinson, Maspero, Legge, Brugsch, and Friedrich Miiller. THE Anthropological Society of Bombay, the establishment of which less than a year ago has been noticed in these columns, has already over 300 members, and has published the first number of its Transactions. Mr. Tyrrell Leith, the founder of the Society, has a paper on divination by Hazirat among the Indian Mussulmans; Dr. Dymock writes on the hairy man of Burmah, and Indian necromancy ; Dr. Weir, on sacrifice in India as a means of preventing epidemics; and Dr. Basu, on embalming in Ancient India, and on Nisi, the night demon. There are other papers, but this list is sufficient to show the activity and utility of the new Society. THE author of the paper on ‘‘ Mexican Codices and Graven Inscriptions” inadvertently referred to in a Note last week as ‘Mr. Z. Nuttall,” is ‘‘Mrs. Zelia Nuttall,” one of two American ladies elected to the honorary position of ‘‘ Special Assistant” of the Peabody Museum of Archeology, Cam- bridge, Mass. The paper in question was communicated to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in August last, when Mrs. Zelia Nuttall announced her discovery of ‘‘de- terminative signs,” forming a key to Aztec phonetic manuscript records and graven inscriptions, and presented, in support of her statements, comparative tables of phonetic signs for inspec- tion to the Section of Anthropology. Mrs. Zelia Nuttall has recently contributed to the American Fournal of Archeology an account of the terra-cotta heads of Teotihuacan. These little clay heads, of most varied types, are frequently found in the vicinity of the great pyramids at San Juan Teotihuacan, about 30 miles north-east of the city of Mexico. They had been gener- ally considered the work of different races of people, inhabit- ants of the valley of Mexico at successive periods, and were therefore held to be of considerable antiquity. Mrs. Zelia Nuttall’s comparative researches prove them to be of Aztec workmanship, and thus of more modern date. She found that several of the most typical head-dresses modelled in clay were identical with those worn by Aztecs of different social grades, as depicted in Spanish chronicles at the time of the conquest of Mexico. Mrs. Nuttall adduces satisfactory proofs that these little clay heads were the portrait-models of dead persons adorned with the insignia of their rank. Attached to bodies of perishable materials, they served as effigies of the dead, and were placed on the coffers or jars containing the cremated remains, which were kept ia the household dwellings of the relatives. Food and wine were offered before them, incense was burnt, and, at certain prescribed recurrent ceremonials, animals were sacrified in their honour. WE notice, in the last Bulletin of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, a valuable preliminary sketch of the avifauna of the western spurs of the Pamir plateau and its northern border-ridge, the Altai Mountains, by V. Bianchi. The birds were collected by M. Grum-Grzimailo, and the collection in- cludes 136 species, which probably represent about one-third of the species inhabiting the region. With the exception of nine species, the same were found by Dr. Severtzoff in Bokhara, and described in the Yournal of Ornithology, 1875 ; and only five species are not yet known in Russian Turkestan, It thus appears that the avifauna of the Western Pamir is very similar to that of the region situated on the other slope of the Kashgar-daban Mountains. Nearly a hundred species out of the Feb. 3, 1887] above-mentioned 136 are also found in the Western Himalayas, but this last region has a number of endemic species which give it its special character. The poverty of the fauna of the Pamir plateau is obviously the consequence of its valleys being at a height of no less than 10,000 feet above the sea-level. The presence of the following species in the region will be interest- ing to zoo-geographers :—Saxicola finschi, Cyanecula leucocyana, Herbivocula neglecta, Acanthopneuste nitida, Trochalopterum lineatum, Microcichla scouleri, Cyanistes flavipectus, Rhodo- pechys sanguinea, and Nisactus fasciatus. In the Zeitschrift fiir Instrumentenkunde for September 1886 there is a paper entitled ‘‘ Ueber eine Methode zur Messung kleiner Winkeldifferenzen,” by Herr Hugo Langner, of Breslau. It describes a method of measuring the angle between two plane reflecting surfaces when it is nearly an aliquot part of two right angles, by measuring the difference between the required angle and the nearest aliquot part. It is known that in looking into the angle formed by two such surfaces the image of any small object lying between them will be seen repeated. If the angle be nearly = (sy Ga n n will be a certain portion of the space between the two reflecting _ planes where both th images can be seen, but if 8 be negative, there will be a space where neither can be seen. If, again, for a small object a scale be substituted, then when 6 is + two images will be seen, and a certain portion of the scale will be seen in both images; while if 6 be — there will bea portion which is in neither image, and this superfluous or defective portion will be a measure of-d. Herr Langner proposes to place in front of the angle, and at a considerable distance from it, a scale bent to a cylinder whose axis is the intersection of the reflecting planes. Observing with a telescope looking into the angle, the position where a division of one image of the scale falls on the other image can be read, and, if the radius of the scale be known, the angle subtended by the relative displacement of the images, and thence the difference between the approximate and real values of the angle between the reflecting surfaces found. Herr Langner gives as an example the determination of the angle of a right angled prism of glass, of which a single determination would seem not to be liable to a greater error than 4” or 5”. And he suggests that the method might be applied advantageously to determine the movements of a magnet by determining from time to time the changes of the angle between a mirror fixed to the needle, and one which is absolutely fixed, and to measure small varia- tions of an angle in other cases. -3 ) then when 4 is positive, there Tue little marine laboratory connected with the Johns Hopkins University is almost as old as the great laboratory at Naples. A sketch ofits history is presented in a recent report by Dr. W. K. Brooks, Director of the Marine Laboratory, to the President of the Johns Hopkins University. In 1878 a small appropriation was made by the Trustees of the University to enable a party of biologists to spend a few weeks at the sea- shore in the study of marine zoology ; and the scientific results of the season’s work were printed in an illustrated volume, the cost of publishing which was borne by some citizens of Balti- more. The next year the appropriation was renewed, and in 1880 the Trustees voted that the laboratory should be continued for three years more, providing 4500 dollars for outfit and an annual sum of 1000 dollars for current expenses. The scheme worked so well that at the end of three years the institution was maintained. After an examination ofall the available localities, the town of Beaufort, N.C., about 400 miles south of Baltimore, was selected as the site for the laboratory ; and a vacant house, suitable for the accommodation of a small party, was found, and rentel as a laboratory and lodgings. This house has been occu- pied during five seasons, and much good work has been done in NATURE 329 it. During the season of 1886 a party of seven students went, under the direction of Dr. Brooks, to carry on zoological investi- gation in the Bahama Islands. THE additions to the Zoological Society’s Gardens during the past week include three Hooker’s Sea Lions (O/aria hookeri 639) from New Zealand, presented by the Government of New Zealand; a Blue Penguin (Zudyptula minor) from New Zealand, presented by Dr. Bernard Lawson ; a Domestic Sheep (Ovws aries $, four-horned var.) from Cashmere, presented by Major Roland Poole ; two Wood Hares (Lefus sylvaticus) from North America, presented by Mr. Walter Ingram, F.Z.S.; a Blotched Genet (Genetta tigrina) from South Africa, presented by Capt. J. Robinson; a Grey Ichneumon (Herfestes griseus) from India, presented by Mr. Stanlake Batson ; a Spotted-billed Duck (Anas pacilorhyncha) from India, received in exchange ; three Lions (/¢dis Zeo), an Axis Deer (Cervus axis §) born in the Gardens. OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN Tue New ALGoL-TYPE- VARIABLE.—Mr. Chandler has been able (Gould’s Astronomical Fournal, No. 150) to secure some further observations of this star, which, so far as they go, tend to confirm the hypothesis of a period of about three days. Minima were observed on January 2 and 11, but these were: inconclusive as to the period. The star was, however, observed on January 12, between 17h. 15h. and 18h. 5m., to be apparently of its normal maximum brilliancy, whereas the first rough ele- ments formed would have given a minimum at 17h. 50m., had the period been 1°4992d. or 0°7496d. Further observations are much desired. It unfortunately happens, from the star’s period being very closely commensurable with the mean solar day, that further observations of minima will be scarcely possible in Northern Europe or Eastern North America for many months. Gore’s VARIABLE NEAR x! Or10nIs.—Dr. G. Miiller, from a series of observations extending from 1886 November 9 to 1887 January 8, finds that the star attained its maximum on 1886 December 12. Assuming the light-curve the same at the preceding maximum, it will have been at its brightest on 1885 December 13, so that the period will be about 364 days. THE SOUTHERN CoMET.—The following telegram has been received from Cape Town, from which it appears that the new southern comet resembles that of 1880 I. in its orbit as well as in its physical appearance :—‘‘Cape Town, January 26.—No condensation observable ; riband of light 35° long, narrowing towards sun, position narrowest part near as can observe, January 22°317 G.M.T., R.A. = 322° 31’, N.P.D. = 135° 48". The orbit presents a close resemblance to Comet 1880 I. _Peri- helion, January 11, noon.” The comet is rapidly diminishing in brightness, and it is already invisible to the naked eye. A SHoRTt METHOD FOR CoMPuTING RErFRACTIONS.—In the Astronomische Nachrichten, No. 2768, Mr. Schaeberle, of the Ann Arbor Observatory, explains a short and convenient method for computing astronomical refractions between o° and 45° zenith distance. Let & and & be respectively the true and mean refractions when z= 45°, then for any other zenith distance less than 45° the approximate true and mean refractions. would be given respectively by r= k tan z, r, — & tan 2, from which is derived ay an expression which, for the assigned limits of zenith distance,. will give the true refraction within o”’or, provided the true value of 7, is used in the second member of the equation. The hyp = will, however, be constant only so long as the 0 barometer and thermometer readings remain unchanged. To: allow for changes in these quantities, let 7, and /, denote respectively the values of these factors at the times 7, and 7% ;. factor 339 NATURE [ Fed. 3, 1887 the value of the factor at any intermediate time 7 will be given by imma h 1 - Ty which can be easily taken from a table of double entry with the arguments barometer reading and thermometer reading. Such a table, together with one giving the values of the mean re- fractions computed to hundredths of a second of arc for every ten minutes of zenith distance, and a convenient multiplication table, are all that is required for the practical application of Mr. Schaeberle’s method. Comet Brooks (1887 2) —A Science Observer Circular (No. 19) gives the following elements and ephemeris for this object :— Ti Piss (% - ), T = 1887 March 28°63 G.M.T. m= 121 20 Q = 204 45; Mean Eq. 1887°0 dee log g = o'1016 Ephemeris for Greenwich Midnight 1887 R.A. Decl. Brightness Jan. 31... 305 24 79 15 semmmal Feb. 4 337 32 79) 159) BS) 8 39 77 41 12 28 4 72 57 1°95 The brightness at discovery is taken as unity. ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1887 FEBRUARY 6-12 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.) At Greenwich on February 6 Sun rises, 7h. 32m. ; souths, 12h. 14m. 18°5s. ; sets, 16h. 56m. ; decl. on meridian, 15° 37’ S.: Sidereal Time at Sunset, 2h. 2m. Moon (Full on February 8) rises, 14h. 54m. ; souths, 22h. 49m. ; sets, 6h. 37m.*; decl. on meridian, 18° 2’ N. Planet Rises Souths Sets Decl. on meridian h. m ey ris h. m, ans Mercury 7 46 12 16 16 46 1738'S: WeniGemiese eeOmna: 03) 17, 18 20 II 47 5S. Mars 8 14 13 23 18 32 10 39 S. Jupiter... 0 10 5 11 WO) HA ose) USS Saturn... 2 13 5Same-, 122) 6 614%. ..22 tO) IN. * Indicates that the setting is that of the following morning. Feb. h. fon: Onc 0 Saturn in conjunction with and 3° 21’ north of the Moon. 6 18 Mercury in superior conjunction with the Sun. 8 _ A partial eclipse of the Moon occurs in the morning, not visible in Europe. Saturn, February 6.—Outer major axis of outer ring = 45"°8 ; outer minor axis of outer ring = 18’°8; southern surface visible. Variable Stars Star R.A. Decl. h. om. 5 ee h. m. S| Ceti «.. © 18°3.... 9 °57'S. ... Feb. 11, 100 17 U Cephei OG 2Ps ON MLOUN. ove sy) LOneeMmmnO) 72 Algol 3 7028 ...40 30 N. a, 45 Shmekumme’ (772 3) LOezuaal 72 V Tauri soo NSO) onan Uf DRAINS ae lies M @Geminorum —.-) "655754... 20 aa IN... 55 Se rAgO. 772 U Monocerotis PVA coo Cl SIS oo an Gh M S Cancri Sag735)..099).20)'N. ... 45, L2OmmS 772 5 Libree PLAPSASOMe TS I4rOe--- 5) Opies 72 U Corone ... VoL SOM Seay Nemes 55) NC aESESO: 72 U Ophiuchi... L7, TOI cs. sICZOUNS 2c, 5 9, sudo 7 and at intervals of 20 8 B Lyre... 18 45°9 ... 33 14N. ... Feb.. 8, 0-0 ee 1) Ol S Vulpeculze 19) 43:8)... 27)